Stuff You Missed in History Class

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Society & Culture History

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Join Holly and Tracy as they bring you the greatest and strangest Stuff You Missed In History Class in this podcast by HowStuffWorks.

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Benjamin Lay, the Quaker Comet

08.21.2019

Benjamin Lay was a Quaker and a radical abolitionist who lived in the period between when the Religious Society of Friends began and when it started formally banning slave ownership among its members. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers

Stuff You Missed in History Class episodes:

08.21.2019 Benjamin Lay, the Quaker Comet Benjamin Lay was a Quaker and a radical abolitionist who lived in the period between when the Religious Society of Friends began and when it started formally banning slave ownership among its members. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
08.19.2019 The Rise of the Traffic Light There are multiple contenders when it comes to the question of who invented the traffic light. This episode looks at a few of the moments in traffic light history that got us to where we are today, as well as ...
08.17.2019 SYMHC Classics: Diogenes of Sinope Today we reach back to our 2015 episode on Diogenes of Sinope, the father of the Cynicism school of philosophy. He was also an incredibly eccentric figure who spoke out against pretense, and he used humor to convey his ideals ...
08.14.2019 A Brief History of Thalidomide, Part 2 We’re finishing out our two-parter on thalidomide. This episode covers the response, including criminal trials, changes to drug laws, and debates about the legality of abortion, and how this has continued to evolve for thalidomide survivors until today. Learn more ...
08.12.2019 A Brief History of Thalidomide, Part 1 Thalidomide has been described as the biggest man made medical disaster of all time. This first part covers what thalidomide is, the animal testing that lead its manufacturer to market it as safe, and its release into the market. Learn ...
08.10.2019 SYMHC Classics: Freya of Arabia Today revisits a 2012 episode from previous hosts Sarah and Deblina. After a childhood spent roaming Europe, Freya Stark began saving money to take Arabic lessons. Once fluent, she traveled into areas few outsiders had ever been, documenting her travels ...
08.07.2019 The Peterloo Massacre The Peterloo Massacre took place during a peaceful protest for parliamentary reform in Manchester, England. And there was a lot feeding into why people in Britain, and specifically in the region around Manchester, thought that reform was needed. Learn more ...
08.05.2019 William Maclure and New Harmony’s Boatload of Knowledge When Robert Owen founded his utopian community, he wanted to have the best minds he could find running the educational system. He recruited William Maclure, who in turn brought many great minds with him. Their boat was nicknamed the Boatload ...
08.03.2019 SYMHC Classics: The Klondike Big Inch Land Promotion Today we revisit a fun 2014 episode. In the mid-20th century, one ad company had a wacky plan to actually dole out land deeds as part of a cereal promotion. How did they manage it? And was the land worth ...
07.31.2019 SYMHC Live: The New Harmony Utopias We did a live show for the Indiana Historical Society about the town of New Harmony, Indiana in the window from 1815-1827. In that period, two different communal societies occupied the town, one right after the other. But one was ...
07.29.2019 Unearthed in July, Part 2 Part two of this year's Unearthed! in July features some longtime listener favorites like edibles, potables and of course shipwrecks. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
07.27.2019 SYMHC Classics: Heaven on Earth, the Brook Farm Community Today we revisit a 2013 episode. In the 1840s, Boston's West Roxbury suburb -- which was completely rural at the time -- was home to an experiment in transcendentalist utopian living: the Brook Farm community. The idea was to create ...
07.24.2019 Unearthed in July, Part 1 It's time for the July edition of Unearthed! And this one is in two parts! Today, we have updates and connections to previous episodes. Then some things about Neanderthals and early humans, and the unearthed books, letters and works of ...
07.22.2019 Thomas Harriot: Mathematician, Astronomer, Relative Unknown Harriot's story is tied to SO MANY other notable historic things, including a lot of business with Sir Walter Raleigh. He’s really not a household name like many of his contemporaries, even though he was neck-and-neck with them in terms ...
07.20.2019 SYMHC Classics: Charles IX of France Today we revisit a 2015 episode about French royalty. Much like many of the other mad royals that have been discussed on the podcast through the years, Charles IX of France was prone to fits of rage so intense that ...
07.17.2019 The Port Chicago Disaster This was the worst stateside disaster in the United States during World War II. Apart from being a horrific tragedy, the disaster itself and its aftermath were threaded through with racism and injustice. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
07.15.2019 Ferdinand and Barbara, Married Mad Royals Despite ascending to power in a court filled with intrigue, juggling relations with Britain and France, and both likely having mental health conditions, the reign of Ferdinand VI of Spain and his wife Barbara was surprisingly stable. Learn more about ...
07.13.2019 SYMHC Classics: Ibn Battuta, the Traveler of Islam Today we revisit an episode from 2017 about Ibn Battuta, whose 14th-century travels were extensive. He was away from home for roughly 24 years and during that time traveled through virtually every Muslim nation and territory, becoming the traveler of ...
07.10.2019 Fearless, Feisty and Unflagging: The Women of Gettysburg Military history rarely focuses on the women who lived through conflict and worked on recovery efforts. This episode covers women who assisted troops, buried the dead, nursed the wounded, and managed to survive the fighting in Gettysburg Pennsylvania. Learn more ...
07.08.2019 Thomas Cook, John Cook, and the Rise of the Tourism Industry Thomas Cook and his son John Mason Cook were pioneers of the idea of a travel agency to manage tourist holidays. But Thomas Cook was initially motivated by his support of the temperance movement and his deeply held religious beliefs. ...
07.06.2019 SYMHC Classics: Hartford Circus Fire This 2015 episode covers an event in 1944, when one of the most disastrous fires in U.S. history broke out during a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus performance. Dozens of lives were lost and hundreds of people were ...
07.03.2019 Hatshepsut and the Expeditions to Punt One of our biggest sources of information on Punt comes from Hatshepsut, who sent a huge expedition there in the 15th century B.C.E. The expedition to Punt is also an important and illustrative part of Hatshepsut’s reign. Learn more about ...
07.01.2019 Sylvia of Hollywood – Beauty Consultant to the Stars In the 1920s and 1930s, Sylvia was famous for shaping up starlets, cementing the idea that Hollywood’s beauties were aspirational figures for the average woman. Many of Sylvia's ideas about fitness were totally sensible, but she could also be quite ...
06.29.2019 SYMHC Classics: The Compton's Cafeteria Riot This episode reached back to 2015 for some LGBTQ history. In 1966, a restaurant in San Francisco's Tenderloin district was the site of a violent incident in LGBT history. After the riot, a grassroots effort grew to improve relationships between ...
06.26.2019 Marie Laurencin: Avante-garde Painter of Paris Laurencin is a difficult painter to study. In addition to her work not quite falling in line with the artists who were her contemporaries, her personal papers are difficult to access, are censored, and have strict limitations put on their ...
06.24.2019 The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 The 1919 strike is the largest in Canada’s history, and shut Winnipeg down. While the strike started out as a simple labor dispute, there were many factors involved in how it played out, and a conspiracy theory that it was ...
06.22.2019 SYMHC Classics: Good Humor v. Popsicle Today we revisit a fun episode from 2015. There was a time when Popsicle and Good Humor couldn't stop suing one another about frozen treats on sticks. Many legal battles were fought over milk fat, the shapes of the desserts ...
06.19.2019 Packard v. Packard, Pt. 2 After being forcibly admitted to a mental hospital by her husband, Elizabeth Packard began advocating for herself as well as the improvement of treatment in such facilities. After her release, she lobbied for reform to the asylum system. Learn more ...
06.17.2019 Packard v. Packard, Pt. 1 Elizabeth Packard’s marriage started out well, but soon, her questioning nature exploration of new ideas about religion led her husband to decide she was mentally ill. He had her forcibly committed to the Illinois State Asylum and Hospital for the ...
06.15.2019 SYMHC Classics: Sisi - The Empress of Austria and Her Cult of Beauty We're traveling back to 2011 for this one! Empress Elisabeth of Austria, better known as Sisi, is often considered the public's "favorite" member of the Habsburgs. She only reluctantly carried out her duties, but her murder created an outcry across ...
06.12.2019 The General Slocum Disaster The P.S. General Slocum burned in the East River in New York on June 15, 1904. It had been chartered for a group outing that suddenly became a deadly maritime disaster. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
06.10.2019 The Advent of Radioiodine Therapy Humans have recognized thyroid disease for thousands of years. But in the 1930s. Saul Hertz had an insight after hearing a physicist's lecture that changed the treatment of hyperthyroidism forever. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
06.08.2019 SYMHC Classics: Mad King Ludwig Dines Alone In this 2010 episode, previous hosts Katie and Sarah look at Ludwig II of Bavaria. From his opulent, solitary dinners to the amazing Neuschwanstein Castle, it's no surprise that King Ludwig II was known as an eccentric. In fact, people ...
06.05.2019 A Brief History of Doughnuts Making basic pastes or doughs and frying them has been part of human civilization for centuries. From this, the doughnut eventually evolved, and also caused a number of heated debates along the way. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
06.03.2019 Red Summer, 1919 In the summer of 1919, a wave of racist violence played out in the U.S. In many ways, the violence of Red Summer was a response to (but NOT caused by) two earlier events: the Great Migration and the return ...
06.01.2019 SYMHC Classics: Lakshmi Bai -- Who is India's Joan of Arc? Today we revisit a 2011 episode of the podcast. Lakshmi Bai was born into wealthy family in 1830, but she was far from the typical aristocrat. In this episode, Deblina and Sarah recount the life and work of Lakshmi Bai, ...
05.29.2019 Samuel Pepys, Beyond the Diary We’re coming up on the 350th anniversary of Pepys’ last diary entry, written May 31, 1669, so it seemed like a good time to take a closer look not just at the diary, but also at who Pepys was beyond ...
05.27.2019 The Limerick Soviet For two weeks in 1919, the city of Limerick went on a labor strike. During that time, the strike committee managed the workings of the city, including food supplies, and it even began printing its own currency. Learn more about ...
05.25.2019 SYMHC Classics: A Brief History of Time Capsules Today, we're revisiting an episode from 2015! People feel very strongly about time capsules, even though the contents are often a little underwhelming. What actually qualifies as a time capsule, and what are some of the most notable ones? Learn ...
05.22.2019 The 'Mysterious' Birthplace of Chester A. Arthur When Arthur was selected as the Republican party’s vice presidential nominee in 1880, questions arose about whether he had been born in the United States and consequently whether he was eligible to be vice president at all. Learn more about ...
05.20.2019 To the Hon. Chester A. Arthur; Respectfully, Julia I. Sand In 1882 and 1883, decades before women had the right to vote, Julia Sand wrote a series of letters to President Chester A. Arthur that may have influenced his presidency. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
05.18.2019 SYMHC Classics: Lili'uokalan -- Who Was the Last Queen of Hawaii? Today we're revisiting a 2010 episode from previous hosts Katie and Sarah. Born in 1838, Lili'uokalani became the queen of Hawaii in 1891. Unfortunately, she was destined to be Hawaii's last monarch. Listen in and learn how Hawaii became a ...
05.15.2019 The Showings of Julian of Norwich Julian was a medieval mystic who wrote down her visions, which she called showings. In this episode, we talk about her life in context of mysticism and how it fit into the context of Christianity in medieval Europe. Learn more ...
05.13.2019 Godzilla: The Start of His Story When Godzilla first hit the big screen, there was no intention that it would launch a film franchise that would run for decades. Director Ishiro Honda intended to make a film warning of the dangers of nuclear testing and man's ...
05.11.2019 SYMHC Classics: Kamehameha The Great We're traveling back to 2010 to revisit this one from the archive! Born shortly after the appearance of Halley's comet over Hawai'i in 1758, Kamehameha was hailed as the king who would unite the Hawai'ian islands. But how did he ...
05.08.2019 They Were Her Property: An Interview With Stephanie Jones-Rogers Holly was lucky enough to chat with historian Stephanie Jones-Rogers, author of “They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South,” which pieces together details that add new understanding of slavery in the U.S. Learn more ...
05.06.2019 Alice Hamilton and the Birth of Occupational Medicine Dr. Alice Hamilton was a trailblazer in science and medicine, and dedicated her life to improving the workplace standards for laborers in an effort to reduce illnesses that came from working with toxic chemicals. Learn more about your ad-choices at ...
05.04.2019 SYMHC Classics: The Bawdy House Riots of 1668 We're going back to a 2016 episode today. In early modern London, there was a tradition of sorts where apprentices would amass on holidays and physically destroy brothels. One of the largest such riot took place during Easter week in ...
05.01.2019 Evil May-day Riots On May Day in 1517 a riot was carried out by apprentices, journeymen and other workers. While this was an uprising of laborers, this incident, called the Evil May-day or Ill May-day, was also rooted in immigration and xenophobia in ...
04.29.2019 Hennig Brand and the Discovery of Phosphorus Spoiler alert: Hennig Brand discovered phosphorous by boiling pee. And phosphorous is the first element whose discoverer we can name. But he was really trying to do something else: He thought the secret to the philosopher’s stone might be found ...

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