Since 2002, December 12 has been known as Poinsettia Day, created by Congress to honor the passing of Paul Ecke, Jr., who helped commercialize the plant in the United States in the middle of the twentieth century.

Written by Lindsay Schakenbach Regele. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video and audio production by Laura Seeger and Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Textual and video versions of this podcast are available at https://origins.osu.edu/read/poinsettia-day-monroe-doctrine-and-us-mexican-relations.

Learn More:

Flowers, Guns, and Money: Joel Roberts Poinsett and the Paradoxes of American Patriotism (University of Chicago Press, 2023)

Ana Romero-Valderrama, “La coalición pedracista: elecciones y rebeliones para una re-definición de la participación política en México (1826-1828)” (PhD. Diss. Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologiìa, Mexico, 2011).

Jay Sexton, The Monroe Doctrine: Empire and Nation in Nineteenth-Century America (New York: Hill and Wang, 2011).

María Eugenia Vázquez Semadeni, “Del mar a la política: Masonería en Nueva España, México, 1816-1823,” Revista de Estudios Históricos de la Masonería Latinoamericana y Caribeña (Dec. 2015)

Torcuato S. Di Tella, National Popular Politics in Early Independent Mexico, 1820-1847 (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996).

United States' Mexican Company, Statement in relation to the United States' Mexican Company (Albany: Websters and Skinners, 1826).

This is a production of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our videos and podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit origins.osu.edu.

This presentation commemorates the 40th anniversary of the Bhopal Gas Disaster (2-3 December, 1984 in Bhopal, India), the world’s worst industrial disaster. Dr. Madhumita Dutta, Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at The Ohio State University discusses the disaster, the immediate and ongoing health repercussions for the people of Bhopal, and their global legal and activist fight for justice and corporate accountability.

Nicholas Breyfogle, Professor in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and Director of the Goldberg Center for Excellence in Teaching, serves as moderator.

This is a production of the College of Arts & Sciences and Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our videos and podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit http://origins.osu.edu.

Follow us on Facebook, Instragram and Bluesky: @Origins OSU.

While most of the books written about the Salem witch trials concern those who were accused of witchcraft and their accusers, Matt Goldish's new book, "Science and Specters" at Salem, turns the spotlight on the judges. They were, after all, the men who decided to accept these accusations and move the trials forward. Historians have long wondered why the judges accepted evidence based on visions of apparitions and "touch tests.” Goldish offers some unexpected answers.

Speaker Note: Matt Goldish would like to add a more complete response to one of the questions asked him after his talk. Not all those convicted in Salem were executed. Anyone who confessed was, paradoxically, kept alive, while those convicted who would not confess were executed. Presumably, those who confessed would have been executed eventually if the trials had been allowed to continue. In addition, Elizabeth Procter was spared because she was pregnant and the court wished to spare the life of the unborn child.

Presented by Matt Goldish, Samuel M. and Esther Melton Chair in History at The Ohio State University. The moderator is Nicholas Breyfogle, Co-Editor of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, Director of the Harvey Goldberg Center and Professor of History at Ohio State University. A transcript of this podcast can be found at ⁠https://origins.osu.edu/listen/history-talk/judges-salem-witch-trials⁠

This is a production of the College of Arts & Sciences and Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our videos and podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit http://origins.osu.edu.

Connect with us! Email: [email protected], Instagram: @OriginsOSU Facebook: @OriginsOSU Find transcripts, background reading, and more at origins.osu.edu

Musicals have sought to bring history to life onstage, with varying degrees of creative license. These are our top ten musicals based on real-life people and events that have shaped the theatre.

Written by Lauren Henry. Narrated by Nicholas Breyfogle. Video production by Laura Seeger and Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. A textual version of this podcast is available at https://origins.osu.edu/connecting-history/top-ten-historical-musicals.

This is a production of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our videos and podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit origins.osu.edu.

Presented by Lydia Walker, Provost Scholar Assistant Professor, Seth Andre Myers Chair in Global Military History, in the Department of History at The Ohio State University.

After the Second World War, national self-determination became a recognized international norm, yet it only extended to former colonies. Groups within postcolonial states that made alternative sovereign claims were disregarded or actively suppressed. This talk showcases their contested histories, highlighting little-known regions in South Asia and Southern Africa, marginalized individuals, and their hidden (or lost) archives. Personal connections linked disparate nationalist struggles across the globe through advocacy networks. However, these advocates had their own agendas and allegiances, which could undermine the autonomy of the claimants they supported.

This webinar features material from Lydia Walker’s new book, "States-in-Waiting" (Cambridge, 2024) which illuminates the unfinished and improvised ways that the state-centric international system replaced empire, which left certain claims of sovereignty perpetually awaiting recognition. The book is available Open Access for free download at https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/statesinwaiting/9446AB4E4355759A4500202B9C0F9C25

The Moderator is Nicholas Breyfogle, Professor of History and Director, Goldberg Center for Excellence in Teaching at The Ohio State University.

In the Year of Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo negotiated independence from Belgium to the rhythm of the country’s greatest export: Congolese rumba. The wildly popular and meaningful genre became a soundtrack to global change.

Written by Emily Hardick. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Production by Laura Seeger and Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video and text versions of this podcast are available at https://origins.osu.edu/article/year-of-africa-1960-rumba-pan-africanism-Kariba.

This is a production of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our videos and podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit origins.osu.edu.

Additional Resources:

Elkins, Caroline. Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya. Toronto: CNIB, 2008.

Fanon, Frantz. Toward the African Revolution: Political Essays. New York: Grove, 1952.

Lee, Christopher J. Making a World after Empire: The Bandung Moment and Its Political Afterlives. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2010.

Monson, Jamie. Africa's Freedom Railway: How a Chinese Development Project Changed Lives and Livelihoods in Tanzania. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009.

Phiri, Kings M. Malawi in Crisis: the 1959/60 Nyasaland State of Emergency and Its Legacy. Zomba, Malawi: Kachere, 2012.

Sartre, Jean-Paul. Colonialism and Neocolonialism. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 1964.

Tischler, Julia. Light and Power for a Multiracial Nation: the Kariba Dam Scheme in the Central African Federation. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

Collinet, Georges. “Hidden Meanings in Congo Music.” Afropop Worldwide, December 21, 2011. https://afropop.org/audio-programs/hidden-meanings-in-congo-music.

Gondola, Didier. The History of Congo. Westport, Conn: Greenwood, 2002.

Kazadi, Pierre Cary (Kazadi wa Mukuna). “The Genesis of Urban Music in Zaïre.” African Music 7, no. 2 (1992): 72–84.

Nzongola-Ntalaja, Georges. Patrice Lumumba. First edition. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2014.

White, Bob W. Rumba Rules: The Politics of Dance Music in Mobutu’s Zaire. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2008.

Iwa Dworkin, Congo Love Song: African American Culture and the Crisis of the Colonial State (University of North Carolina Press, 2017)

Kevin K. Gaines, American Africans in Ghana: Black Expatriates and The Civil Rights Era (University of North Carolina Press, 2006)

James Meriwether, Proudly We Can Be Africans: Black Americans and Africa, 1935-1961 (University of North Carolina Press, 2002)

Alice in Wonderland, the little girl created by Oxford mathematician and logician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, also known as Lewis Carroll, came to life in 1865. While her pinafore and his frockcoat and long wavy hair, which were old fashioned even for their time, catch our eye and distance them from us on the other side of the tumultuous 20th century, our ear tells us a very different story.

Written by Stephanie Lovett. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video and text versions of this podcast are available at https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/october-2015-everyone-s-inner-child-turns-150-years-old. Video production by Laura Seeger and Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle.

This is a production of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our videos and podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit origins.osu.edu.

Few phenomena are so steeped in wonder as the total solar eclipse. Cultures through history have heralded eclipses as portentous, ominous events.

Written by Matthew Smith. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video and text versions of this podcast are available at https://origins.osu.edu/read/solar-eclipses-american-history. Video production by Laura Seeger and Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle.

This is a production of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our videos and podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit origins.osu.edu.

The date, October 23, 1956, marked the beginning of the ill-fated revolution that ended with the re-imposition of Communist rule and the flight of some 200,000 Hungarians to Western Europe and the United States. It remains a somber anniversary of heroism in defeat that continues to resonate with Hungarians across the globe.

Written by Harrison King. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video and textual versions of this podcast are available at https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/october-2016-remembering-56-hungarian-revolution-sixty. Production by Katherine Weiss, Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle, and Laura Seeger.

This is a production of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our videos and podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit origins.osu.edu.

Public memory of the battle for Manila includes a mixture of gratitude toward the Americans, nationalistic defiance, and horror. The liberation claimed the lives of a thousand Americans, 16,000 Japanese, and 100,000 Manileños, one tenth of the population.

Written by Gregory Kupsky. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video and textual versions of this podcast are available at https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/february-2015-battle-manila. Video production by Katherine Weiss, Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle, and Laura Seeger.

This is a production of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our videos and podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit origins.osu.edu.