Unsung History

In his bestselling childcare manual American pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock advised new moms:“If you begin to feel at all depressed, go to a movie, or to the beauty parlor, or to get yourself a new hat or dress.” Although puerperal insanity had been a recognized diagnosis at the end of the 19th Century, doctors in the early 20th century dismissed the postpartum onset of psychiatric symptoms as “pure coincidence.” It would take decades of activism by both parent groups and clinicians for the effects of postpartum depression, anxiety, and psychosis to be recognized and studied, with limited federal funding for programming finally being approved in late 2016. Joining me in this episode is Dr. Rachel Louise Moran, Associate Professor of History at the University of North Texas and author of Blue: A History of Postpartum Depression in America.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Alone with the Darkness,” by NaturesEye; the music is available via the Pixabay Content License. The episode image is a photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

Additional Sources:

• The International Marcé Society for Perinatal Mental Health
• Postpartum Support International
• “Postpartum Depression Support Groups in the U.S. & Canada,” Postpartum Progress.
• “Perinatal Depression,” National Institute for Mental Health.
• “Shedding More Light on Postpartum Depression,” by Rachel Ewing, Penn Medicine News, January 4, 2016.
• “New treatment for postpartum depression offers hope, but the stigma attached to the condition still lingers,” by Nicole Lynch and Shannon Pickett, The Conversation, October 19, 2023.
• “The Neurobiology of Postpartum Anxiety and Depression,” by Jodi S Pawluski, Joseph S Lonstein, and Alison S Fleming, Trends in Neurosciences, 2017, 40 (2), pp.106-120. ff10.1016/j.tins.2016.11.009ff. Ffhal01452985f.
• “Exploring predictors and prevalence of postpartum depression among mothers: Multinational study,” by Amer, S.A., Zaitoun, N.A., Abdelsalam, H.A. et al.,  BMC Public Health 24, 1308 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-18502-0.
• “Federal Legislative History,” Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance (MMHLA).

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Between 1921 and 1948, every Southern and border state, except Delaware, set up scholarship programs to send Black students out of state for graduate study rather than admit them to historically white public colleges or build graduate programs in the public HBCUs. While the individual Black students often benefited from graduate education at top-tier universities, the segregation scholarships created hardships for those same students and took money that could have been used to build up the public HBCUs. Joining me in this episode is Dr. Crystal R. Sanders, Associate Professor of African American Studies, at Emory University and author of A Forgotten Migration: Black Southerners, Segregation Scholarships, and the Debt Owed to Public HBCUs.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “He’s a College Boy,” composed by Theodore F. Morse, with lyrics by Jack Mahoney, and performed by the American Quartet on September 3, 1910, in Camden, New Jersey; the recording is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is “As University of Oklahoma dean of admissions J.E. Fellows, Thurgood Marshall, ad Amos T. Hall look on, Ada Sipuel again applies for admission to the University of Oklahoma Law School in 1948;” Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Additional Sources:

• “Segregation Scholarships,” PBS Chasing the Dream.
• “Major Landmarks in the Progress of African Americans in Higher Education,” The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.
• “History of HBCUs,” Thurgood Marshall College Fund.
• “Reconstruction-Era Politics Shaped Historically Black Colleges and Universities,” by Leigh Soares, Progress: A Blog for American History.
• “STATE OF MISSOURI et rel. GAINES v. CANADA et al.,” Legal Information Institute, Cornell University Law School.
• “Fisher, Ada Lois Sipuel (1924-1995),” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, Oklahoma State HIstorical Society.
• “4 decades of desegregation in American colleges, charted,” by Jeff Guo, The Washington Post, December 17, 2014.

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In 1946, the National Football League began the process of reintegration after a “gentleman’s agreement” had stopped teams from hiring Black players for over a decade. Even as the NFL began to re-integrate, though, racist stereotypes kept teams from drafting Black players into so-called “thinking” positions like quarterback. Black players who started at quarterback in college would be drafted into the NFL, only to be converted into running backs or wide receivers. On September 30, 1979, for the first time in NFL history, two Black quarterbacks (Doug WIlliams of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Vince Evans of the Chicago Bear) faced off against each other. In this episode, we look at Williams, Evans, and the history of Black quarterbacks in the NFL. I’m joined in this episode by historian Dr. Louis Moore, Professor of History at Grand Valley State University and author of The Great Black Hope: Doug Williams, Vince Evans, and the Making of the Black Quarterback.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “American Football Game (Drum Corps Percussion Action) Bumper,” by FlorewsMusic, used under the Pond5's Content License Agreement. The episode image is “Washington Redskins quarterback Doug Williams preparing to throw the ball during an offensive play in 1987,” published in 1988 for the Redskins Police football card set; the image is in the public domain and is available via Wikimedia Commons.

Additional Sources:

• “NFL founded in Canton on Sept. 17, 1920,” Pro Football Hall of Fame.
• “The Reintegration of the NFL,” NFL Football Operations. 
• “How the media helped overturn the NFL’s unwritten ban on black players,” by Nathan Fenno, Los Angeles Times, January 28, 2017.
• “Meet Four Men Who Broke The NFL's Color Line,” NFL Players Association.
• “Bucs Edge Bears,” by Dave Brady, The Washington Post, September 30, 1979.
• “Doug Williams,” Washington Commanders.
• “QB Evans Made History Before Joining Raiders,” by Tom LaMarre, Sports Illustrated, June 23, 2023.
• “Why It Took So Long for Two Black Quarterbacks to Face Off in the Super Bowl,” by Robert Silverman, Rolling Stone, February 12, 2023.
• “No matter who wins, the first Super Bowl with 2 Black quarterbacks will make history,” by Becky Sullivan, NPR Morning Edition, February 8, 2023.
• “Nine Decades After NFL Banned Black Players, Super Bowl LVII Is The First To Feature Two Black Starting Quarterbacks,” National Urban League, February 3, 2023.

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In the Continental Army, one company of patriots in Charleston, South Carolina, was a majority Jewish, and at least fifteen Jewish soldiers in the Army achieved the rank of officer during the American Revolution, something unheard of in European armies at the time. Though their numbers were small (in proportion with their population in the colonies), Jewish patriots participated in the war, and in the Early Republic they insisted on their full citizenship in the new nation. I’m joined in this episode by Dr. Adam Jortner, the Goodwin Philpott Eminent Professor of Religion in the Department of History at Auburn University and author of A Promised Land: Jewish Patriots, the American Revolution, and the Birth of Religious Freedom.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Jewish Longing,” by Ashot Danielyan from Pixabay, used in accordance with the Pixabay content license. The episode image is a drawing of a colonial American couple with a Hanukkah menorah; the image is believed to be in the public domain, and the source is unknown.

Additional sources:

• “Recife,” Dutch Port Cities Project,  the Global Asia initiative, New York University.
• “From Haven to Home: 350 Years of Jewish Life in America, Timeline 1700s,” Library of Congress.
• “Total Jewish Population in the United States (1654 - Present),” Jewish Virtual Library.
• “Jews in Early America: From Inquisition to Freedom,” Touro Synagogue Foundation.
• “Men of Mordechai: Jewish Americans in the U.S. Armed Forces,” by Jessie Kratz, Pieces of History, National Archives, May 18, 2021.
• “One Jew’s Financial Support for the Revolutionary War,” The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.
• “Francis Salvador, the First Jewish Member of a Legislative Assembly in American History,” by Nathan Dorn, Library of Congress Blog, May 5, 2020.
• “Washington’s Letter,” George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom.
• “The Bill of Rights: How Did it Happen?” National Archives.
• “First Amendment and Religion,” United States Courts. 

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Abigail Smith Adams, wife to the second U.S. president and mother of the sixth U.S. president, may be best known for exhorting her husband to “remember the ladies” as he worked with his colleagues to form a new government, but that was just one of her many strongly-held political views. Adams, who lacked formed education and whose legal status was subsumed under that of her husband, never stopped arguing for greater educational opportunities and legal rights for women. Because of her prolific correspondence, including more than 1,100 letters between her and John, and because the care with which her descendents preserved her writing, we have an extraordinary view into the inner life of a woman who helped shape the country. Joining me in this episode is presidential historian Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky, the Executive Director of the George Washington Presidential Library and author of Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents That Forged the Republic.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Yankee Doodle,” performed by the United States Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. The episode is a painting of Abigail Adams around 1766 by Benjamin Blyth; the image is in the public domain and available via Wikimedia Commons

Additional Sources:

• “Abigail Adams: A Life,” by Woody Holton, Atria Books, 2010.
• “Biography: Abigail Adams,” PBS American Experience.
• “Abigail Adams,” UVA Miller Center.
• “John and Abigail Adams: A Tradition Begins,” by Betty C. Monkman, White House Historical Association, Spring 2000.
• “Coverture: The Word You Probably Don't Know But Should,” by Catherine Allgor, National Women’s HIstory Museum, September 4, 2012.
• “More Power to You: Abigail Adams advocated dismantling the 'masculine system' that denied property and legal rights to married women,” by Lindsay Keiter, Colonial Williamsburg, October 2, 2020.
• “Abigail Adams to John Adams, 31 March 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives.
• “John Adams to Abigail Adams, 14 April 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives.
• “Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 25 February 1787,” Founders Online, National Archives.
• “John Adams to Abigail Adams, 22 March 1797,” Founders Online, National Archives.
• “Will of Abigail Adams, 18 January 1816,” Founders Online, National Archives.

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In March 1778, while he was camped at Valley Forge, Commander in Chief George Washington sent a lock of his hair to the daughter of the New Jersey Governor. It wasn’t a romantic gift; rather, Washington was responding to a common request made to celebrities of his time, similar to the autographed photo one might request today. Because hair is so long-lasting, people of the 18th and 19th centuries often collected, wore, and displayed the hair of their loved ones and the notable people they met or were inspired by. Even in the 20th century, when Jackie Kennedy took her last look at JFK’s body before the funeral, she cut a lock of his hair to keep. In this episode I look at the practices around collecting hair and making hair artwork; I’m joined by Ted Pappas, author of Combing Through the White House: Hair and Its Shocking Impact on the Politics, Private Lives, and Legacies of the Presidents.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair,” composed by Stephen Collins Foster, and sung by Lambert Murphy, accompanied by an orchestra conducted by Rosario Bourdon on June 29,1922, in Camden, New Jersey; the recording is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is “Child named Carl who became a soldier; with handwritten note and lock of hair in case,” United States, ca. 1856; the photograph is available via the Library of Congress, and there are no known restrictions on publication.

Additional Sources:

• “Hair! At the Library? Yes, and Lots of It,” by Neely Tucker, Library of Congress Blog, August 11, 2022.
• “Beethoven may have had lead poisoning,” by Ari Daniel, NPR All Things Considered, May 18, 2024.
• “A lock of love,” by Vicky Iglikowski-Broad, UK National Archives, June 1, 2015.
• “The Real Rules of Courtship: Dating in the Regency Era,” by Dr. Sally Holloway, PBS Masterpiece.
• “George Washington to Kitty Livingston,” George Washington’s Mount Vernon.
• “Hair as Historic Artifact,” George Washington’s Mount Vernon.
• “These Strands of Lincoln’s Locks Could Sell for Thousands of Dollars. What’s Behind the Fascination With Presidential Hair?” by Olivia Waxman, Time Magazine, August 23, 2018.
• “Why Victorians Loved Hair Relics,” By: Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily,  April 8, 2019.
• “Daniel Webster mourning brooch,” Massachusetts HIstorical Society.
• “Charles T. Menge's price list of ornamental hair jewelry and device work, nos. 32 and 34 John Street, New York,” Smithsonian Institution Library, 1873.
• “The Intricate Craft of Using Human Hair for Jewelry, Art, and Decoration,” by Anika Burgess, Atlas Obscura, January 12, 2018.
• “Homegrown Thread: The Art of Human Hairwork in the Gilded Age,” by Marsha Borden, Piecework Magazine, July 26, 2023.
• “The Curious Victorian Tradition of Making Art from Human Hair,” by Allison Meier, Artsy, February 13, 2018.
• “Hair Wreaths – Sentimental or Spooky?” Maine State Museum.
• “A Little Off the Top for History,” by Jerry Guo, The New York TImes, July 13, 2008.

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At the Republican National Convention in July 1964, Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith’s name was placed in nomination for the presidency, and she received votes from 27 delegates, the first time a woman was placed in nomination at a major party’s presidential convention in the United States. It was only one of many firsts Smith would achieve in her remarkable decades-long career that included speaking out against McCathyism on the floor of the Senate in 1950 and being the first woman of Congress to break the sound barrier in 1957. Joining this episode to help us learn more about Senator Smith is Dr. Teri Finneman, Associate Professor in the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas and author of Press Portrayals of Women Politicians, 1870s-2000s: From Lunatic Woodhull to Polarizing Palin.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The in-episode audio is from the 1964 Margaret Chase Smith Presidential Campaign Announcement, courtesy Northeast Historic Film Archive, available via C-SPAN. The episode image is “Senator Margaret Chase Smith, ca. 1954,” Records of the U.S. Information Agency, National Archives.

Additional Sources:

• “No Place for a Woman: A Life of Senator Margaret Chase Smith,” by Janann Sherman, Rutgers University Press, 1999.
• “Biography,” Margaret Chase Smith Library.
• “Margaret Chase Smith; Congressional Trailblazer,” by Staff Sgt. Jarred Martinez, Mountain Home Air Force Base, August 26, 2021.
• “Women in Military Service; the Role of Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith,” by Senator Susan Collins, June 26, 2023.
• “Declaration of Conscience,” delivered by Senator Margaret Chase Smith to the United States Senate on June 1, 1950.
• “Margaret Chase Smith: Breaking the Barrier,” by Jessie Kratz, National Archives, October 15, 2020.
• “The Moment That Presaged a Maine Senator’s Downfall,” by Rachel Slade, DownEast, May 2020.
• “Margaret Chase Smith Is Dead at 97; Maine Republican Made History Twice,” by Richard Severo, The New York Times, May 30, 1995.

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Even before Democrats met in Chicago in August to choose their presidential nominee, the year 1968 had been a turbulent, and often violent, time in the United States. In Chicago, the tumult of an open convention inside the International Amphitheatre was matched by the huge anti-war protests downtown. While the Democrats inside the convention hall voted down a peace plank and nominated the incumbent vice president, despite objections, the police on the streets, given free reign by Mayor Richard J. Daley, beat and tear gassed protesters, reporters, and even passers-by. Joining me in this episode to tell the story of the 1968 DNC is Dr. Heather Hendershot, the Cardiss Collins Professor of Communication Studies and Journalism at Northwestern University and author of When the News Broke: Chicago 1968 and the Polarizing of America.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Audio in the episode is “March 31, 1968: Remarks on Decision not to Seek Re-Election,” and from “The 1968 Democratic National Convention” from the National Archives. The episode image is “Young ‘hippie’ standing in front of a row of National Guard soldiers, across the street from the Hilton Hotel at Grant Park, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, August 26, 1968,” photographed by Warren K. Leffler; there are no known restrictions on publication, and the image is available by the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Audio in the episode is “March 31, 1968: Remarks on Decision not to Seek Re-Election,” from the National Archives. 

Additional Sources:

• “Remembering 1968: LBJ Surprises Nation With Announcement He Won't Seek Re-Election,” by Ron Elving, NPR Weekend Edition Sunday, March 25, 2018.
• “The 1968 Republican Convention,” by Sarah Katherine Mergel, We’re History, July 21, 2016.
• “Shoot to Kill. . . Shoot to Maim” by Christopher Chandler, Chicago Reader, April 4, 2002
• “Politics: Thousand of U.S. Troops Mobilized for Guard Duty at Democratic Convention,” by John Kifner, The New York TImes, August 25, 1968.
• “Chicago: Law and Disorder: ‘There were two Americas in Chicago, but there always are.’”
• “1968: CBS News' Dan Rather gets roughed up while trying to interview a Georgia delegate [video],” CBS News.
• “‘Violence Was Inevitable’: How 7 Key Players Remember the Chaos of 1968’s Democratic National Convention Protests,” by Olivia Waxman, Time Magazine, August 28, 2018.
• “Looking back at the 1968 Democratic National Convention,” By Lee Hudson, Politico, April 11, 2023.

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In 1926, American Sigrid Schultz became one of the first women to head a foreign bureau for a US newspaper when she was named the chief correspondent for the Berlin bureau of the Chicago Tribune. In her 26 years with the Tribune, Schultz, using her command of German and French, her knowledge of German politics and history, and her wide range of contacts, reported on the rise of Nazism and warned American readers to take Hitler seriously. Joining me in this episode to tell the story of Sigrid Schultz and her journalistic career is writer Dr. Pamela Toler, author of The Dragon From Chicago: The Untold Story of an American Reporter in Nazi Germany.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Over There,” composed by George M. Cohan, and performed by the Peerless Quartet, in New York City on June 13, 1917; the audio is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is “Journalist Sigrid Schultz,” a photo taken in 1943 and in the public domain; it is available via Wikimedia Commons.

Additional sources:

• “Sigrid Schultz Papers, 1835-1980,” Wisconsin Historical Society.
• “Dragon Lady: The Life of Sigrid Schultz,” Westport Museum for History and Culture.
• “Dragon Lady,” Chicago Tribune, Originally published September 11, 1988, and updated August 8, 2021.
• “Sigrid Schultz is dead; Early Berlin correspondent,” Chicago Tribune, May 17, 1980.
• “Sigrid L. Schultz, Reporter Who Covered Rise of Nazism, Is Dead; Tribune's Bureau Chief,” by George Goodman, Jr., The New York Times, May 17, 1980.
• “Newly Discovered Photos Reveal Childhood of Groundbreaking Journalist,” by Jay Shefsky, WTTW, January 16, 2020.

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When the 1934 World’s Fair in Chicago was looking for an aquatic act to complement their new underwater lights, organizers turned to physical educator Katherine Curtis, who put together a wildly popular show called the Modern Mermaids. No one could quite figure out what to call it, trying out water ballet and figure swimming until a radio announcer landed on “synchronized swimming.” Soon synchronized swimming teams were forming and competing, but while the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) quickly embraced the sport, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) resisted, with the president of the IOC sneeringly referring to the sport as aquatic vaudeville. Finally, decades after the origin of synchronized swimming, the IOC voted to include it in the 1984 games in Los Angeles. Joining me in this episode to tell this history is writer and masters synchronized swimmer Vicki Valosik, author of Swimming Pretty: The Untold Story of Women in Water.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Come Take a Swim in My Ocean,” composed by Gus Edwards with Lyrics by Will Cobb; this recording was performed by the Haydn Quartet in New Jersey on June 4, 1909; it is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is “Swimmers,” Harris & Ewing, photographer, 1936; the image is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress.

Additional Sources:

• “History of Artistic Swimming,” USA Artistic Swimming.
• “The amazing life of Australia’s ‘million-dollar mermaid,’” by Luke Buckmaster, BBC, November 2, 2017.
• “The General Slocum Disaster of June 15, 1904,” by Valerie Wingfield, New York Public Library Archives Unit, June 13, 2011.
• “Commodore Wilbert E. Longfellow (USA),” International Swimming Hall of Fame
• “Water Pageants, Games and Stunts,” by Olive McCormick, A. S. Barnes, incorporated, 1933.
• “1933 Modern Mermaids [video]” Property of Chicago Film Archives.
• “Rhythmic Swimming: A Source Book of Synchronized Swimming and Water Pageantry,” by Katharine Whitney Curtis, Burgess publishing Company, 1942.
• “1952: Avery Brundage, fifth IOC President,” International Olympic Committee.
• “No male artistic swimmers at Olympics after U.S. leave May out of squad,” by Lori Ewing, Reuters, June 8, 2024.

Synchro Routines:

• "Team Gold Medal [video],” Russian Olympic Committee, Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games
• “Duet Gold Medal [video],” Romania, Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games.

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