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Sandra Day O'Connor Institute
By Sandra Day O'Connor InstituteEducation
Sandra Day O'Connor Institute episodes
- Before It Became History | Laura Ingalls Wilder: Memory Meets the Federal Record
Behind the Little House novels lies a federal paper trail: land claims, sworn testimony, survey lines, railroad jobs, and treaties. We follow the Ingalls family from Osage land in Kansas to De Smet homesteads in a West the government built.
Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise of liberty and helped define our democracy.
This is history before it hardened into memory — and a conversation about what it means for us now.
You can find us at: https://oconnorinstitute.org/
Follow us on:
- YouTube
12 min - Before It Became History | The Homestead Act of 1862: 160 Acres, Five Years, and a Contested West
In 1862, Lincoln signed a law offering 160 acres to settlers who could live on it, farm it, and prove it up. We explore who could claim a homestead, what it actually took to keep one, and whose homelands became the public land it gave away.
Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise of liberty and helped define our democracy.
This is history before it hardened into memory — and a conversation about what it means for us now.
You can find us at: https://oconnorinstitute.org/
Follow us on:
- YouTube
15 min - Before It Became History | The Indian Removal Act: From Treaty Table to Trail of Tears
A brief 1830 law authorized land "exchanges" with Native nations — nothing in its text ordered a forced march. What followed was a decade of treaties, fraud, and coercion, and the Trail of Tears is only part of the story.
Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise of liberty and helped define our democracy.
This is history before it hardened into memory — and a conversation about what it means for us now.
You can find us at: https://oconnorinstitute.org/
Follow us on:
- YouTube
18 min - Before It Became History | Andrew Jackson: Frontier Orphan to President
Orphaned by war, forged on the battlefield, and elected on a cry against elite corruption — Andrew Jackson reshaped the presidency itself. War hero, populist icon, slaveholder: his record is as consequential as it is contested.
Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise of liberty and helped define our democracy.
This is history before it hardened into memory — and a conversation about what it means for us now.
You can find us at: https://oconnorinstitute.org/
Follow us on:
- YouTube
16 min - Before It Became History | Mexican Independence and the Colonization of Texas
Eleven years of war, a negotiated treaty, and an army's peaceful march into Mexico City in 1821 secured Mexican independence. What came next — colonization laws meant to secure the frontier — set the stage for Texas's Anglo-American story.
Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise of liberty and helped define our democracy.
This is history before it hardened into memory — and a conversation about what it means for us now.
You can find us at: https://oconnorinstitute.org/
Follow us on:
- YouTube
18 min - Before It Became History | From Republic to State: Texas's Long Road to Annexation
For nine years, Texas stood as its own republic — courted by Britain, rejected by one U.S. Senate vote, then finally admitted by a different route entirely. Mexico called it an act of aggression. Here's how Texas became the 28th state.
Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise of liberty and helped define our democracy.
This is history before it hardened into memory — and a conversation about what it means for us now.
You can find us at: https://oconnorinstitute.org/
Follow us on:
- YouTube
13 min - Before It Became History | The Mexican-American War Begins: Lincoln, Polk, and a War's Uncertain Origins
A skirmish on disputed land. A president's claim that blood had been spilled on American soil. In 1846, that argument pushed the U.S. and Mexico into war within weeks — one Congress itself would keep arguing over for years to come.
Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise of liberty and helped define our democracy.
This is history before it hardened into memory — and a conversation about what it means for us now.
You can find us at: https://oconnorinstitute.org/
Follow us on:
- YouTube
9 min - Before It Became History | The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: How One Signature Redrew a Nation
In 1848, a single treaty ended a war, handed the U.S. half of Mexico's land, and promised citizenship rights that weren't kept. Join us as we unpack the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo — the deal that redrew America's borders and its future.
Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise of liberty and helped define our democracy.
This is history before it hardened into memory — and a conversation about what it means for us now.
You can find us at: https://oconnorinstitute.org/
Follow us on:
- YouTube
7 min - Before It Became History | Tamsen Donner: A Voice Before the Disaster
Tamsen Donner wrote home from the trail in 1846, months before catastrophe struck her party in the Sierra snow. Her letters, and Patrick Breen's diary from the winter camp, offer a rare, unvarnished record of what really happened.
Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise of liberty and helped define our democracy.
This is history before it hardened into memory — and a conversation about what it means for us now.
You can find us at: https://oconnorinstitute.org/
Follow us on:
- YouTube
12 min - Before It Became History | The Untested Shortcut: Lansford Hastings and the Donner Party
In 1845, Lansford Hastings published a guidebook promoting a California shortcut he'd never traveled. In 1846, he urged wagon families onto it anyway. The Donner-Reed Party followed — and paid the price in the Sierra snow.
Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise of liberty and helped define our democracy.
This is history before it hardened into memory — and a conversation about what it means for us now.
You can find us at: https://oconnorinstitute.org/
Follow us on:
- YouTube
14 min
About Sandra Day O'Connor Institute
From the publisher's feed
This is the official podcast of the Sandra Day O'Connor Institute. Our mission is to continue the distinguished legacy and lifetime work of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor to advance American democracy…
through multigenerational civics education, civil discourse and civic engagement.