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American History Tellers

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The Cold War, Prohibition, the Gold Rush, the Space Race. Every part of your life - the words you speak, the ideas you share - can be traced to our history, but how well do you really know the stories that made America? We'll take you to the events, the times and the people that shaped our nation. And we'll show you how our history affected them, their families and affects you today. Hosted by Lindsay Graham (not the Senator). From Wondery, the network behind American Scandal, Tides of History, American Innovations and more.

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36 episodes
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Avg 34 min
English

Episodes 36

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S101 · E1
Today · 39 min
Greely Arctic Expedition | Farthest North | 1
In 1881, Army Lieutenant Adolphus Greely embarked with a team of men on a dangerous and ambitious journey over 1,000 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Their official mission was to collect scientific data on the Arctic climate, but Greely also harbored plans to break the record for reaching farther north than any human in recorded history. To prepare, Greely studied previous Arctic expeditions extensively and made meticulous plans to keep his men safe. But after arriving at their base, the remote location and harsh Arctic conditions soon made it clear that their mission would be more difficult than they imagined. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Monday · 6 min
Listen Now— Over My Dead Body: Operation Sideswipe
A Hollywood stuntwoman turned personal injury attorney. A handsome disbarred lawyer with a dark past. And an elaborate scheme that leads to murder. Vanessa Motta gives up a career of fake car crashes for real ones. But her law career in New Orleans gets off to a rocky start — until she meets Sean Alfortish, a charming man who offers her the perfect space for her law office. Vanessa and Sean fall hard for each other, and as a former lawyer himself, Sean becomes her mentor. So, what if he's done some prison time for fraud? When Sean introduces Vanessa to one of the city's most prolific case runners, Cornelius Garrison, the money starts rolling in. Cornelius brings her a steady stream of accident victims looking to sue. There's just one problem: the accidents aren't real. And once the secret gets out, someone will have to pay. Reported and hosted by Mitch Moxley, Over My Dead Body: Operation Sideswipe is a six-part series about greed, betrayal, and who gets thrown under the bus when everything is on the line. Audible subscribers can binge all episodes early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible App or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts. Listen now: HERE See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
S100 · E4
October 21 · 35 min
Ellis Island | Hope and Tears | 4
More than 70 years have passed since ferries of immigrants arrived at Ellis Island. But the site is still alive with the memories of all those who entered full of hope for the future — and anxious to become Americans. In this episode, Lindsay is joined by two people who work at the Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island Foundation. Stephen Lean is the director of the Records Discovery Center, and Riley Dominianni is a research assistant there. Both have found that the archives can be surprisingly personal. You can search for your family in the Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island Foundation’s database, the Arrival Records Collection, which contains records for Ellis island, but also for other points of entry across the U.S.— including Massachusetts, Florida, Hawaii, California, and more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
S100 · E3
October 14 · 38 min
Ellis Island | Alien Enemies | 3
In the immediate aftermath of America’s entry into World War I, federal agents began rounding up hundreds of German nationals and detaining them at Ellis Island, designating them as “alien enemies.” After the war, anti-immigrant sentiment intensified as eugenic theories of racial hierarchy gained popularity. By the 1920s, Americans were willing to accept sweeping changes to the nation’s immigration laws, with the introduction of quotas setting numerical limits on new arrivals. As the country closed the door on immigrants, Ellis Island was transformed into a facility for detention and deportation. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
October 12 · 9 min
Listen Now: Audible True Crime – Ghost Story
Audible True Crime is a dedicated podcast feed where we bring you the best podcasts in true crime, with episodes dropping every single week. Just in time for spooky season, we’re releasing a show called Ghost Story, a series about a hidden family secret, unexplainable events and jaw-dropping coincidences. Tristan Redman doesn’t believe in ghosts. But weird things happened in his teenage bedroom. And when he discovers later that occupants of his family home have seen the ghost of a faceless woman, he’s intrigued. Because it just so happens that his wife’s great grandmother, Naomi Dancy, was murdered in the house next door…killed by two gunshots to the face. Audible subscribers can binge all episodes on Audible True Crime early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible App or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts. Listen Now: HERE See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
S100 · E2
October 7 · 36 min
Ellis Island | The Human Tide | 2
In 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt vowed to crack down on the corruption and mistreatment that plagued Ellis Island. He appointed William Williams as the new Commissioner of Immigration and tasked him with cleaning up the Immigration Service. But Williams’ strict interpretations of federal immigration law drew criticism from German American and Jewish community leaders. As immigration to the United States reached an all-time peak, Ellis Island became the primary battleground in a fierce national debate over what it meant to become American. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
S100 · E1
September 30 · 39 min
Ellis Island | Yearning to Breathe Free | 1
In the 19th century, economic turmoil, political unrest, and religious persecution drove record numbers of Europeans to American shores — making New York City the busiest port of entry. But new immigrants faced a dizzying array of conmen and thieves eager to prey on their confusion. In 1892, the U.S. government reined in the chaos by establishing a federal immigration depot on Ellis Island in New York Harbor. Over the next three decades, a small group of government inspectors would confront one of the largest mass migrations in the history of the world. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
September 28 · 5 min
Listen Now: My Mom’s Murder
Lauren Malloy was a baby when her mother, Lori, was murdered in East Providence, Rhode Island. For thirty years, no one told her. Everyone said Lori died of natural causes. Then a stranger sent Lauren a message — and the lie collapsed. Now Lauren is investigating her own mother’s murder. She’s recorded hundreds of hours of interviews with law enforcement, family, childhood friends, and people who won’t stop contradicting each other. Every answer opens a darker question. Every person she trusts seems to be hiding something. And the closer she gets to the truth, the more she realizes the people she trusts may be the ones with the most to hide. A 10-part true crime investigation hosted by the victim’s daughter. Lauren’s mission: to finally uncover the identity of Lori’s killer. Audible subscribers can binge all 10 episodes early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible App or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts. Listen now: HERE See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
S99 · E4
September 23 · 47 min
FAN FAVORITE: Stonewall | Pride | 4
After a late-night police raid on the Stonewall Inn in June 1969, the LGBTQ community fought back in the streets of Greenwich Village. Suddenly, the LGBTQ rights movement found itself catapulted onto the national stage. But questions of how radical an approach to take would pit young activists against the pioneers of the 1950s and 1960s. Even with the formation of new organizations like the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activists Alliance, questions emerged. Would it be better to take part in the political process? Or to stage confrontational “zaps?” These new groups would soon be engulfed by in-fighting over goals, strategy, membership, and how the LGTBQ rights movement fit into the larger landscape of radical activism. Meanwhile, Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson would form their own group – one that would speak directly to issues facing unhoused people, and the trans community in New York city. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
S99 · E3
September 16 · 39 min
FAN FAVORITE: Stonewall | Why Don't You Do Something? | 3
Resistance at restaurants in San Francisco and Philadelphia showcased the building tension as trans activists challenged long-standing policies of discrimination. But leading gay rights groups continued to stress a calm, non-confrontational approach to reform. That all changed in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, when police raided the Stonewall Inn. For police, it was just another raid, but this time would be different: the Stonewall’s patrons would fight back. The clashes on Christopher Street would become an uprising against police oppression with long-lasting reverberations for the LGBTQ rights movement. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
S99 · E2
September 9 · 44 min
FAN FAVORITE: Stonewall | Turbulence | 2
As the 1960s dawned, LGBTQ activists began to voice frustration with the gradual approach to civil rights advocated by groups like the Mattachine Society. If LGBTQ people wanted to make real progress, they concluded, they would need to take direct action — starting with tactics shared with the Black civil rights movement. Through protests and sit-ins in places like New York, Washington DC, and San Francisco, LGBTQ activists started agitating for greater rights. They would tackle employment discrimination along with the widespread issues of police harassment, abuse, and entrapment, which targeted LGBTQ people nationwide. But as white gay activists pushed for acceptance by a white, middle-class American majority, transgender activists and people of color faced even greater challenges related to their race and gender identity. They would respond by forging their own communities and strategies to protect themselves from harassment and violence. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
S99 · E1
September 2 · 39 min
FAN FAVORITE: Stonewall | Evolutionary, Not Revolutionary | 1
In the summer of 1969, a police raid on the Stonewall Inn sparked a riot on the streets of Greenwich Village. The protest marked a turning point in the gay rights movement. But the famed resistance in New York capped a movement that had been building for nearly two decades in America, as LGBTQ people mobilized to fight widespread and pervasive discrimination. In the years following World War II, members of the LGBTQ community faced broad discrimination — from strict laws that oppressed them, churches that declared their very existence sinful, and a government that demonized them. They would push back against the American Psychological Association, the FBI and finally, the courts. Slowly, LGBTQ activism would emerge from out of the closet and onto the American scene. This series follows strands of the gay rights movement in America from 1950 until 1970. But it’s just the beginning of a story about a fight for social and political equality — a battle that’s still being fought today. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
S98 · E6
August 26 · 39 min
Frontier Legends | Buffalo Bill Cody | 6
Few people are more closely associated with the Western Frontier than William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody. Born in 1846, Cody came of age during the era of Westward expansion. As a young man, he began scouting for the 5th Cavalry and eventually built a reputation as a skilled frontiersman. He later took his exploits to the stage and then created Buffalo Bill’s Wild West arena show, which carried the image of the American West around the globe. In this episode, Lindsay is joined by Dr. Paul Andrew Hutton, author of the New York Times bestseller The Undiscovered Country: Triumph, Tragedy and the Shaping of the American West, and Tate Chair of Western History in the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming, to discuss Buffalo Bill’s central role in shaping the mythology of the Wild West. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
August 24 · 6 min
Listen Now: Audible True Crime
Introducing Audible True Crime, a dedicated podcast feed where we bring you the best podcasts in true crime, with episodes dropping every single week. Find your next bingeable series about unsolved murders, cold cases, scams and mysteries. This is the cream of the crop of Audible podcasts, featuring award-winning series and soon-to-be favorites. Stop pestering your friends or searching “best true crime podcast” on Google. Up first, Guru: The Dark Side of Enlightenment: A search for spiritual guidance leads a group of strangers to seek direction from a self-help guru. And not just any guru. James Arthur Ray is an Oprah endorsed motivational speaker and entrepreneur whose unorthodox methods that blend self-improvement and economic advice have won him praise and a growing following. He’s fast becoming a self-help superstar. But Ray’s increasingly extreme methods push his followers to their limits. What are they seeking? What does he offer? And what happens when it all goes too far, and people die? Listen to Audible True Crime wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge all episodes on Audible True Crime early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible App or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts. Listen now: link.pscrb.fm/6438e/fdaudibletruecrimeron-93b44 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
S98 · E5
August 19 · 35 min
Frontier Legends | Annie Oakley | 5
As a young girl in Ohio, Annie Oakley learned to hunt game to keep her impoverished family fed. By the time she was a teenager she’d grown skilled enough to easily beat a traveling sharpshooter named Frank Butler in a public shooting match – and win his heart in the process. The two soon married, and in 1885 Oakley joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, becoming an international sensation and an emblem of frontier womanhood, all while carefully shaping her own image. But after nearly two decades as a performer, a newspaper scandal would draw her into a legal battle to clear her name. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
S98 · E4
August 12 · 37 min
Frontier Legends | Butch Cassidy | 4
In 1894, a young Utah ranch hand named Robert LeRoy Parker – already going by the alias "Butch Cassidy" – was convicted of horse theft and sent to a Wyoming penitentiary. It was a minor crime that set the course for a much larger criminal career. After his release, he went on to earn a fearsome reputation as the mastermind of a gang of outlaws known as the Wild Bunch, before he and his partner, the Sundance Kid, led lawmen on an international manhunt that would cement his place as one of the West's most enduring legends. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
S98 · E3
August 5 · 37 min
Frontier Legends | Bass Reeves | 3
In 1875, Bass Reeves became one of the first Black men to serve as a deputy U.S. marshal in the West. Reeves had been born into slavery, but after a violent confrontation with his owner, he fled to Indian Territory, in present-day Oklahoma. There, for three decades he used his knowledge of Indian languages and his expert marksmanship to hunt down murderers, horse thieves, and bootleggers across 75,000 square miles of remote terrain. As stories of his exploits spread across the frontier, he would become one of the most renowned and feared lawmen in the history of the West. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
S98 · E2
July 29 · 38 min
Frontier Legends | Wild Bill Hickok | 2
In 1865, James Butler Hickok, an Army scout and itinerant gambler better known as “Wild Bill,” shot a man dead in the town square of Springfield, Missouri. The gunfight became known as the first recorded quick draw duel, and Hickok became famous overnight. He parlayed his newfound fame into a job as a deputy U.S. marshal, and before long he was one of the most recognizable lawmen on the frontier. But Hickok’s reputation as a fearless gunslinger and a high-stakes gambler put a target on his back – one that haunted him to the end of his days. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
S98 · E1
July 22 · 42 min
Frontier Legends | Davy Crockett | 1
In 1821, a little-known backwoods hunter named David Crockett won a seat in the Tennessee legislature, despite having little formal education and virtually no political experience beyond his gift for spinning a good story. It marked an unlikely turning point for a man who would become a symbol of the American frontier, which was then rapidly expanding as settlers pushed into land long inhabited by Indigenous peoples. Ultimately, Crockett's frontier persona would prove his greatest political asset, eventually carrying him all the way to Congress. But once there, he would break with his own party over Native removal, before heading to Texas for one final, fateful stand at the Alamo. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
S97 · E7
July 15 · 38 min
American Revolution | The Revolution Continues | 7
Today George Washington is remembered as the quintessential “Founding Father,” but his path to becoming an American hero was far from certain. Throughout the Revolution, Washington and countless others—including women, free and enslaved Black people, and Indigenous nations—had to make difficult choices about where their loyalties lay and what kind of future they hoped to secure. To help us uncover these often-overlooked stories, Lindsay is joined by Dr. Scott Stephenson, President and CEO of Philadelphia’s Museum of the American Revolution, where the nation’s founding is explored as an ongoing experiment in liberty, equality, and self-government. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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