What was it like to live on Alcatraz? And was it possible to escape? In this episode, Don speaks to a historian with the unique experience of growing up there.

Jolene Babyak's father worked on Alcatraz during its 29 years as a federal maximum-security prison. She and Don discuss the origins of the prison, the people who were imprisoned there and the escape of 1962.

Jolene is the author of a number of books about the history of Alcatraz, including 'Breaking the Rock: The Great Escape from Alcatraz'.

Edited by Tim Arstall. Produced by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

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Driven from the United States, the Mormons journeyed West to build a new society in the desert- one that would challenge the political, economic, and moral norms of the nation they had left behind. But when the United States lay claim to the Utah Territory, a tense standoff developed between the two sides...

Our guest today is Prof. Peter Coviello, University of Illinois, who studies American literature and queer theory. His book, Make Yourselves Gods: Mormons and the Unfinished Business of American Secularism was published in 2019 and was a finalist for the John Whitmer Historical Association award for best history book.

Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Produced by Tomos Delargy. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

All music from Epidemic Sounds.

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chicago is the third most populous city in the United States. It's the windy city, the railroad capital, and home of countless film and tv hits.

But when was it founded? Who were the first people living and working on this land? And when did Chicago become Chicago.

Don is joined by Ann Durkin Keating, Professor of History at North Central College. Her book on this subject is ‘Rising Up from Indian Country: The Battle of Fort Dearborn and the Birth of Chicago’.

Edited by Tim Arstall. Produced by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

All music from Epidemic Sounds.

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1831, a rebellion erupted in Virginia that sent shockwaves across the United States, and challenged the brutal system of slavery in a way that white slave-owners had long feared. Led by an enslaved man named Nat Turner, he and his followers carried out one of the most significant slave rebellions in American history.

To help us in the retelling of this event, we’re lucky to be joined by Dr. Vanessa Holden of the University of Kentucky, where she is the Associate Professor of History of African American & Africana Studies and serves as Director of the Central Kentucky Slavery Initiative. Her work includes the award winning ‘Surviving Southampton: African American Women and Resistance in Nat Turner’s Community.’

Edited by Tim Arstall. Produced by Tomos Delargy. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

All music from Epidemic Sounds.

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Their name is synonymous with power, influence ... and tragedy. And with so much of the latter, many have taken to speculating - are the Kennedy family cursed?

To find out more, Don is joined by Professor Barbara Perry, co-chair of the Presidential Oral History Program at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center.

What is the Kennedy Curse? How far back does it go? And how do the family interpret it?

Edited by Tim Arstall. Produced by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

All music from Epidemic Sounds.

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Trail of Tears is one of the darkest chapters in American history: the forced removal of thousands of Native Americans from their ancestral lands in the Southeast to territories west of the Mississippi River. In this episode we focus specifically on the experiences of the Choctaw people.

In this final episode of our 'Frontier' miniseries, we are lucky to welcome Ryan Spring to take us through this story. Ryan is a Cultural Research Associate in the Historic Preservation Department of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Produced by Tomos Delargy. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

All music from Epidemic Sounds.

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, best known as the Shakers, emerged in the UK in the 18th Century. So how is it that the three remaining Shakers are based in the US? How did this religion cross the Atlantic? And where did they get their nickname from?

Don is joined for this episode by Professor Doug Winiarski, professor of Religious Studies at the University of Richmond, and editor of upcoming 'Shakers at the Centre: Manifesting Spirits and Spectacles in 19th Century America'.

Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Produced by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

All music from Epidemic Sounds.

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We've all heard of the Texas Rangers: an undoubted icon of the American West.

In this week’s instalment of our Frontier series, we’ll be exploring the history of lawmen famed for riding across a violent and uncertain landscape. But how much of their reputation reflects the realities of the frontier, and how much was shaped by legend? Were the Rangers truly defenders of order in a lawless land, or agents of expansion whose actions came at a devastating cost to neighbouring Indigenous and Mexican communities?

To help take us through this story, we welcome Ben Johnson, professor of history at Loyola University Chicago, onto the show. Ben is the author of numerous works, including ‘Texas: An American History,’ and ‘Revolution in Texas: How a Forgotten Rebellion and Its Bloody Suppression Turned Mexicans into Americans.’

Check out more of Ben's work: https://refusingtoforget.org/the-history/

Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Produced by Tomos Delargy. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

All music from Epidemic Sounds.

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.