UnTextbooked | A history podcast for the future

The History Co:Lab and Pod People

UnTextbooked is brought to you by teen change-makers who are looking for answers to big questions. Have you ever wondered if protests really can save lives, why assimilation required Native American kids to attend boarding schools, how Black-led organizations for mutual aid began, how the fear of communism led the United States to plan the overthrows of many leaders in Latin America, or why Brazilian cars run on sugar? Or maybe you've questioned when Asian Americans will stop being seen as "perpetual foreigners," how African heritage influences Black activism, or what resilience looks like for Iranian women?  Your textbooks probably didn't teach you how American Jews were an integral part of the Civil Rights Movement, if history’s greatest leaders were generalists or specialists, how a Black teenager and his young lawyer changed America’s criminal justice system, or if either the US or the USSR won the Cold War. Did you know some of the forgotten BIPOC women of history were spying in aid of the French Resistance, that there's more to being a leader than going down with your battleship, or that there is a long history of gender expression in Native American cultures that goes beyond the male/female binary? Listen in as we interview famous authors and historians who have the answers.  Context is the key to understanding topics like British imperialism, segregation, racism, criminal justice, identifying as non-binary and so much more. These intergenerational conversations bring the full power of history to you with the depth and vividness that most textbooks lack. Real history, to help you find answers to your big questions. UnTextbooked makes history unboring forever. read less
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Episodes

Bonus Episode: How Does a Chicana Activist Find Her Place in History?
Mar 7 2024
Bonus Episode: How Does a Chicana Activist Find Her Place in History?
In honor of Women’s History Month, we are sharing a special bonus episode featuring Chicana activist and artist Irma Lerma Barbosa. Her legacy will be preserved for years to come in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History Collections. Irma attended college at a time when the Chicano movement was just gaining momentum – and she jumped right into fighting for her community. Picture this – a legacy that includes being welcomed into Cesar Chavez's family home through her time in the United Farm Workers Movement, leadership with the Brown Berets, spearheading a free breakfast program to help her community, and eventually founding her own woman-led arts collective. Listen to our first episode with Irma Lerma Barbosa and Smithsonian Curator Veronica Mendez here.  Follow the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you listen. That way you never miss an episode.  Love the show? Consider writing us a review on your podcast app or telling a friend about the show. This really helps us spread the word.  Visit UnTextbooked.com for learning resources including a glossary of terms.  Show Notes: (00:00) - Introduction to Irma Lerma Barbosa, Chicano Movement, and Royal Chicano Air Force (3:42) - Being a Woman in Male-dominated Spaces (5:45) - Irma’s Place in History (7:04) - RCAF Women’s Mural named “Women Hold Up Half the Sky” (9:18) - Art as a Tool for Activism (10:47) - Co-Madres Artistas (13:30) - Standing Up Against Sexual Harassment (15:13) - Feeling Freedom with Art (15:58) - Closing Thoughts
What Can Anonymous & Hacker Collectives Teach Us About Internet Activism?
Feb 15 2024
What Can Anonymous & Hacker Collectives Teach Us About Internet Activism?
In 2008, Anonymous posted a video declaring war against Scientology. Some people flocked to join the hacker collective while corporations started re-evaluating their security protocols. This week on Untextbooked, producer Caroline Somers dives into the history of the hacker collective and asks what can we learn about internet activism.  Gabriella Coleman is the author of “Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous”. She is a full professor in the Department of Anthropology at Harvard University. She is the founder and editor of Hack_Curio, a video portal into the cultures of hacking. In 2022, she hosted the BBC4 radio and podcast series, The Hackers.  Listen to new episodes every Thursday. Follow the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you listen. That way you never miss an episode.  Love the show? Consider writing us a review on your podcast app or telling a friend about the show. This really helps us spread the word.  Visit UnTextbooked.com for learning resources including a glossary of terms.  Show Notes: (00:00) - Anonymous’s First Video  (1:42) - Introduction to Anthropologist Gabriella Coleman (3:18) - The Origins of Anonymous (4:25) - How did Anonymous Organize Hacks? (7:39) - Why did People Get Involved with Anonymous? (9:11) - Pseudonymous Names & Illegal Activity (12:02) - Trolling Culture & Chat Logs (14:56) - Anonymous Hacks & Leaks (19:35) - Phineas Fisher and Guayacama (21:59) - Reflections & Takeaways
How does Disneyland Reflect the American Dream?
Feb 1 2024
How does Disneyland Reflect the American Dream?
What does it mean to belong in the American imagination? That’s one question we explore on this week’s episode of UnTextbooked. In another installment of “UnTextbooking the Museum Collections”, we dive into the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History exhibit named “Mirror Mirror: Disney theme parks and American stories”. Producer Victor Ye speaks with original Disney Imagineer Bob Gurr about working with Walt Disney, designing original Disney rides, and queer identity. Smithsonian Curator Bethanee Bemis shares how Walt Disneyland is a microcosm of the American dream.   Listen to new episodes every Thursday. Follow the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you listen. That way you never miss an episode.  Love the show? Consider writing us a review on your podcast app or telling a friend about the show. This really helps us spread the word.  Visit UnTextbooked.com for learning resources including a glossary of terms.  Show Notes: (00:00) - Mirror, Mirror: Disney Theme Parks and American Stories (4:29) - Bob Gurr, Original Disney Imagineer (9:29) - Bob Gurr on Designing the Monorail (14:44) - Bethanee Bemis on Disneyland and American Values (18:25) - Splash Mountain & Song of the South (21:07) - “Gay Days” at Disney Parks (25:33) - Being Gay as an Early Disney Employee (27:00) - Bob Gurr on the Disney Omnibus for Pride (31:17) - Iconic Disney Ears (34:34) - Reflections & Legacy
What Can We Learn From Historic Youth Movements?
Jan 25 2024
What Can We Learn From Historic Youth Movements?
UnTextbooked is back with a new episode in our series, “UnTextbooking the Museum Collections.” We're sharing the untold story of Irma Lerma Barbosa, a Chicana activist and artist whose work will be preserved for years to come in the National Museum of American History's Collections. Curator Veronica Mendez tells us how this acquisition came to be and why it’s historically significant in telling the long history of the Latina/o Civil Rights Movement Irma attended college at a time when the Chicano movement was just gaining momentum – and she jumped right into fighting for her community. Picture this – a legacy that includes being welcomed into Cesar Chavez's family home through her time in the United Farm Workers Movement, leadership with the Brown Berets, spearheading a free breakfast program to help her community, and eventually founding her own woman-led arts collective. Listen to new episodes every Thursday. Follow the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you listen. That way you never miss an episode.  Love the show? Consider writing us a review on your podcast app or telling a friend about the show. This really helps us spread the word.  Visit UnTextbooked.com for learning resources including a glossary of terms.  Show Notes: (00:00) - Introduction to Irma Lerma Barbosa (3:06) - Veronica Mendez, Smithsonian Curator (4:25) - Irma’s early life & joining Brown Berets (8:14) - What is the Chicano Movement? (10:41) - Connection to the Black Panthers (13:04) - Smithsonian Acquisition (15:01) - Brown Berets Flag (20:15) - Royal Chicano Air Force (24:38) - Irma’s Place in History & Gender (30:49) - What Sustains Political Movements? (34:13) - What’s Special About Youth Activism? (38:53) - Outro
What Was the Black Panther Party Fighting For?
Dec 21 2023
What Was the Black Panther Party Fighting For?
In 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, police killed unarmed 17-year-old Bobby Hutton, and Aaron Dixon decided it was time to join the Black Panther Party. Aaron Dixon was co-founder and Captain of the Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party. As a college student at the University of Washington, Dixon played a key role in the formation of the Black Student Union (BSU) and the Seattle Chapter of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). In the spring of 1968, at the funeral of Bobby Hutton in Oakland, California, Dixon met Bobby Seale and later was appointed Captain of Seattle’s Black Panther Party, the first chapter outside of Oakland. He was 19 years old. Dixon led the chapter through its first four years, then moved to Party national headquarters in Oakland in 1972. There he worked with Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale, and served for a time as bodyguard to Elaine Brown.  Aaron Dixon’s  autobiography is titled “My People Are Rising: Memoir of a Black Panther Party Captain” (2012).   Listen to new episodes every Thursday. Follow the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you listen. That way you never miss an episode.  Love the show? Consider writing us a review on your podcast app or telling a friend about the show. This really helps us spread the word.  Visit UnTextbooked.com for learning resources including a glossary of terms. Show Notes:  00:00 - Who Were the Black Panthers? 1:39 - Why did Aaron Dixon Join the Black Panthers?  4:27 - Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.  6:06 - Little Bobby Hutton’s Death and Funeral  8:21 - Starting the Seattle Chapter  12:12 - Black Liberation & Rainbow Coalition  14:45 - COINTELPRO & “Enemy Number One” 16:32 - Assassination Attempts on Aaron Dixon’s Life  20:38 - Chicago Leader Fred Hampton’s Assassination 24:46 - Aaron Dixon’s Revolutionary Legacy  28:00 - Reflections
How Does The Legacy of Settler Expansion & Industrialization Destroy Indigenous Livelihood?
Dec 14 2023
How Does The Legacy of Settler Expansion & Industrialization Destroy Indigenous Livelihood?
Thousands of protestors joined Indigenous activists at Standing Rock to fight for clean drinking water. At its core, this fight echoes the legacy of broken treaties and settler industrialization. Producer Lily Sones talks with Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Colville Confederated Tribes) about how industrialization halted traditional indigenous food ways and how extractive industries cause health effects across today’s indigenous communities.  Dina Gilio-Whitaker is an award-winning journalist and columnist. She is a lecturer of American Indian Studies at California State University San Marcos, and independent consultant and educator on environmental justice and other Indigenous policy-related issues. She is the author of "As Long As Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice from Colonization to Standing Rock" and co-author with Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz of "'All the Real Indians Died Off' and 20 Other Myths About Native Americans." She lives in San Clemente, California. Listen to new episodes every Thursday. Follow the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you listen. That way you never miss an episode.  Love the show? Consider writing us a review on your podcast app or telling a friend about the show. This really helps us spread the word.  Visit UnTextbooked.com for learning resources including a glossary of terms.  Show Notes: (00:00) - Standing Rock Protests  (2:47) - Legacy of Broken Treaties  (6:06) - Settler Agricultural Complex & Eradication of Buffalo  (7:55) - Consequences of Industrialization  (12:14) - European vs Indigenous Ideas of Wilderness (14:48) - The Modern Environmental Movement & Indigenous Activism  (16:52) - Uranium Mining on Indigenous Lands (21:22) - Women of All Red Nations (23:51) - ‘Green Colonialism,’ Lithium Production, And What’s Changed Since Standing Rock?  (26:19) - Extractive Industry & Future of Society  (28:11) - Outro
Why is Spoken Word Poetry Not Seen as ‘Real’ Literature? With Dr. Joshua Bennett
Nov 30 2023
Why is Spoken Word Poetry Not Seen as ‘Real’ Literature? With Dr. Joshua Bennett
Spoken word poetry is an oral tradition dating back centuries. So why is this form of poetry not always taken seriously? Producer Sydne Clarke sits down with Dr. Joshua Bennett, the author of "Spoken Word: A Cultural History". His nonfiction debut is a personal investigation into the history of spoken word, specifically the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. This is a cultural hub that started in the Lower East Side living room of Miguel Algarin.  Bennett has authored several books of poetry, including  The Sobbing School, which was a National Poetry Series selection and a finalist for an NAACP Image Award. He has received fellowships and awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Whiting Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Society of Fellows at Harvard University. He is a Professor of Literature and Distinguished Chair of the Humanities at MIT.  Listen to new episodes every Thursday. Follow the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you listen. That way you never miss an episode.  Love the show? Consider writing us a review on your podcast app or telling a friend about the show. This really helps us spread the word.  Visit UnTextbooked.com for learning resources including a glossary of terms.  Show Notes: (00:00) - What is Spoken Word Poetry? (2:14) - Nuyorican Poetry (6:41) - Saul Williams (10:24) - Inspiration and Representation (14:36) - Is Slam Poetry the “Death of Art?”  (21:49) - Advice to Young Poets (23:47) - Outro
PTSD, Poetry and Brotherhood in World War One
Nov 16 2023
PTSD, Poetry and Brotherhood in World War One
In World War One, millions of soldiers saw industrial warfare unlike anything they’ve seen before: artillery shells, flame throwers, poison gas. Those who saw the war on the frontlines came home with psychological wounds the world had never quite seen before. At one military hospital in Scotland named Craiglockhart, early psychiatrists treat PTSD and soldiers turn to poetry and brotherhood to heal.  UnTextbooked producer Faith Stanley sits down to talk with journalist and author Charles Glass. His recent book “Soldiers Don't Go Mad” is a comprehensive history of the Craiglockhart Military Hospital and the now famous poets to have come through its doors. Glass has also written “Americans in Paris”, “Tribes with Flags”, and “The Northern Front: An Iraq War Diary”, among other books. He divides his time among the south of France, Tuscany, London, and the Middle East. Listen to new episodes every Thursday. Follow the show on Spotify, Apple podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you listen. That way you never miss an episode.  Love the show? Consider writing us a review on your podcast app or telling a friend about the show. This really helps us spread the word.  Visit UnTextbooked.com for learning resources including a glossary of terms.  Show Notes:  (00:00) - World War One & Psychological Toll  (02:57) - Craiglockhart Military Psychiatric Hospital  (3:35) - Dr. William Halse Rivers and Dr. Arthur Brock  (6:25) - Literary Journal “The Hydra” and Poet Wilfred Owen (9:25) - War Poet Siegfried Sassoon  (13:13) - The Role of Psychiatrists in War  (15:18) - Brotherhood and Poetry (18:31) - Outro
The Many Contradictions of Longtime FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
Nov 2 2023
The Many Contradictions of Longtime FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover was a man of contradictions. As the Director of the FBI from 1924 to 1972, he spearheaded homophobic, racist, and anti-communist policies – which arguably shaped half a century of the United States. But he also had an intimate personal relationship with a man and he believed in the role of government to support social conservatism.  Beverly Gage is the author of “G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century”, which won a Pulitzer Prize in Biography. She is a 20th-century American historian at Yale. She also wrote “The Day Wall Street Exploded” which examined the history of terrorism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Listen to new episodes every Thursday. Follow the show on Spotify, Apple podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you listen. That way you never miss an episode.  Love the show? Consider writing us a review on your podcast app or telling a friend about the show. This really helps us spread the word.  Visit UnTextbooked.com for learning resources including a glossary of terms.  Show notes:  (0:00) - Who is J. Edgar Hoover? (1:54) - Intimate Relationship with Clyde Tolson (3:17) - The Lavender Scare and Government  (6:16) - Early Years and Racist Fraternity (8:04) - FBI surveilling Civil Rights Movement Leaders (10:58) - Impact of Anti Communism and McCarthyism  (14:30) - Social Conservatism and Big Government (16:50) - Process of Writing Biography  (20:39) - An “Incredibly Honest” Paper Trail (22:31) - Legacy and Impact  (23:55) - Reflection
The ‘Stunt Work’ That Launched Women Into Investigative Journalism
Oct 26 2023
The ‘Stunt Work’ That Launched Women Into Investigative Journalism
Women including Ida B. Wells and Nellie Bly were on the front edge of investigative journalism in the 1800s. But even with these historical trailblazers, why were women excluded from reporting hard news until recent history?  Producer Jordan Pettiford sits down with author, journalist and professor Brooke Kroeger to find out. Brooke has authored six books and her most recent book is “Undaunted: How Women Changed American Journalism”.  Listen to new episodes every Thursday. Follow the show on Spotify, Apple podcasts, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen. That way you never miss an episode.  Love the show? Consider writing us a review on your podcast app or telling a friend about the show. This really helps us spread the word.  Learn more about the podcast at UnTextbooked.com.  Show Notes:  (00:00) - Introduction  (1:08) - Who is Ida B. Wells? (2:08) - Journalist Nellie Bly and the Insane Asylum  (6:04) - Women Journalists & ‘Stunt Work’ (8:03) - Ida B. Wells’ Entry Into Journalism (10:05) - Ida B. Wells & Lynching Investigations  (11:24) - ‘Sob Sisters’ and ‘Front Page Girls’ of the 1920s  (12:48) - Women as War Correspondents  (14:43) - Impact of The Civil Rights Act of 1964  (18:18) - Scrutiny Women Face in Broadcast Journalism  (20:46) - Female Executive Editors at Top News Organizations (23:13) - Brooke Kroeger’s Advice for Young Journalists (26:27) - Reflections