american history

History and Family at The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum

David Guistina — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:12:00 +0000

The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, New York is in the midst of their countdown to the public opening of the Roosevelt Library's new permanent museum exhibits on June 30th.

"Ghosts of Jim Crow" by F. Michael Higginbotham

Joe Donahue — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:12:00 +0000

When America inaugurated its first African American president, in 2009, many wondered if the country had finally become a "post-racial" society.

In Ghosts of Jim Crow, F. Michael Higginbotham argues that America remains far away from that imagined utopia.

"Bunker Hill: A City, a Siege, a Revolution" by Nathaniel Philbrick

Joe Donahue — Thu, 02 May 2013 14:10:00 +0000

Boston in 1775 is an island city occupied by British troops after a series of incendiary incidents by patriots who range from sober citizens to thuggish vigilantes. After the Boston Tea Party, British and American soldiers and Massachusetts residents have warily maneuvered around each other until April 19, when violence finally erupts at Lexington and Concord.

Audiovisual Presentations at The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum

Joe Donahue — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 15:12:00 +0000

These exhibits will tell the story of the Roosevelt presidency beginning in the depths of the Great Depression and continuing through the New Deal years and World War II with an emphasis on both Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s relationship with the American people. Special inter-actives, immersive audio‐visual theaters, and rarely seen artifacts will convey the dramatic story of the Roosevelt era as the Roosevelt Library brings a New Deal to a New Generation.

To talk specifically about the upcoming audiovisual presentations, we welcome Herman Eberhardt, Supervisory Museum Curator for the Roosevelt Library and Steve Bressler, President of Monadnock Media.

"The 80s: The Decade That Made Us" on the National Geographic Channel

Sarah LaDuke — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 16:30:00 +0000

Tonight the National Geographic Channel will premiere their 6-part miniseries The 80s: The Decade that Made Us.

The series is based, in part, on the book Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live in Now--Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Everything by David Sirota.

WAMC's Sarah LaDuke spoke with Sirota in advance of tonight's premiere.

The Book Show #1290 - Tara Conklin

Joe Donahue — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 19:06:00 +0000

In Tara Conklin's debut novel, The House Girl: A Novel, two remarkable women, separated by more than a century, live lives that unexpectedly intertwine.

2004: Lina Sparrow is an ambitious young lawyer working on a historic class-action lawsuit seeking reparations for the descendants of American slaves.

1852: Josephine is a seventeen-year-old house slave who tends to the mistress of a Virginia tobacco farm—an aspiring artist named Lu Anne Bell.

The 12th Public History Conference on the Underground Railroad Movement

Joe Donahue — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 15:35:00 +0000

This Friday, Saturday, and Sunday – The Sage Colleges will host The 12th Public History Conference on the Underground Railroad Movement.

The conference is entitled “Milestones on the Road to Freedom: The Emancipation Proclamation, Harriet Tubman, and the March on Washington - a Legacy and a Future" – it is organized by the Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital Region, Inc. and Co-sponsored by: The Sage Colleges and The Department of History and Society, Russell Sage College.

Here to tell us all about it are Mary Liz Stewart and Paul Stewart - co-founders and directors of the Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital Region and conference organizers and Andor Skotnes, professor and chair of Sage's Department of History and Society, event organizer, and conference keynote speaker.

"Jefferson's Children" at Mount Holyoke College

Joe Donahue — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:12:00 +0000

The co-authors of Jefferson's Children: The Story of One American Family, join us this morning and they will be speaking at the Gamble Auditorium of the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum on April 5, 2013, at 7:00 p.m. The event is presented by Odyssey Bookshop.

Jane Feldman, an award-winning photojournalist, and Shannon LaNier, a descendent of President Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings, will speak on race, family and their complex, shared legacy as Americans. The presentation, titled “Jefferson’s Children: The Story of One American Family, the Journey Continues,” will be followed by a book signing and a chance to meet the authors.

Shannon LaNier, a ninth-generation descendant of Jefferson and Hemings, is a correspondent for the TV show Black Enterprise Business Report and the host of the popular Web series Celebrity Hustle. Feldman is a former New York City fashion photographer and an award-winning photojournalist who has dedicated much of her career to human rights.

"100 Days" Countdown to the public opening of the Roosevelt Library's new permanent museum exhibits

Joe Donahue — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 14:10:00 +0000

On Friday, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, New York kicked off their "100 Days" Countdown to the public opening of the Roosevelt Library's new permanent museum exhibits on June 30th. Today marks 97 days.

These exhibits will tell the story of the Roosevelt presidency beginning in the depths of the Great Depression and continuing through the New Deal years and World War II with an emphasis on both Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s relationship with the American people. Special interactives, immersive audio‐visual theaters, and rarely seen artifacts will convey the dramatic story of the Roosevelt era as the Roosevelt Library brings a New Deal to a New Generation.

To help us countdown, we welcome Lynn Bassanese, Director of the FDR Presidential Library and Museum and Felica Wong, President and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute.

"Eighty Days" - Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland race around the world

Joe Donahue — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 16:12:00 +0000

On November 14, 1889, Nellie Bly, the crusading young female reporter for Joseph Pulitzer’s World newspaper, left New York City by steamship on a quest to break the record for the fastest trip around the world.

Also departing from New York that day—and heading in the opposite direction by train—was a young journalist from The Cosmopolitan magazine, Elizabeth Bisland. Each woman was determined to outdo Jules Verne’s fictional hero Phileas Fogg and circle the globe in less than eighty days. The dramatic race that ensued would span twenty-eight thousand miles, captivate the nation, and change both competitors’ lives forever.