History

In the decades leading up to the civil war, white Americans uncomfortable with the rising numbers of free blacks came up with a plan. Get rid of them. Specifically, convince them to resettle in Liberia. It was America's original "self-deportation" scheme. But things didn't go exactly according to plan.

List of stories from KUOW Presents,  May 15:

Coming up on Spotlight on Monday, April 29 at 8:00 p.m.

On September 16, 1920, a bomb exploded on Wall Street as workers took their lunch break. The explosion killed 38 people and injured hundreds. The targets? What today we’d call “the one percent” — powerful financiers who ran J.P. Morgan & Co. The Wall Street attack remained the deadliest terrorist bombing in the US until Oklahoma City in 1995. But at the time, people saw it as just one more bombing in a long string of anarchist attacks that historian Beverly Gage calls America's “First Age of Terror.”

Gage and the American History Guys explore the origins of domestic terrorism in the United States and the question of what kinds of people and movements have been identified as “terrorist.” The program traces the relationship between “terror” and the state; considers lynching as a tactic of terrorism; and takes a look at a little known and unfinished Jack London novel, in which the author grapples with the question: When, if ever, is terrorism justified?

The Washington, DC: Week In Review
What was it like to work in Washington, DC, last week? Lawmakers rejected all the gun control proposals despite testimony from Newtown parents. President Obama expressed his disappointment, calling it a "shameful day" for the country. Add to that, the contaminated letters and awful bombing in Boston. CBS News producer Jill Jackson brings us a week in review.

How Media Shapes History
Thousands of years ago, the development of writing gave power to writers. Today, the computer gives power to coders. William Bernstein chronicles the impacts technology has on human communication from its origins in Mesopotamia to our 21st century global society in his book, “Masters of the Word: How Media Shaped History.”

Interfaith Amigos: Ancient Texts In A Modern World
The Bible, the Torah and the Quran are ancient religious texts written for an ancient audience.  How do we adapt ancient teachings to a modern world? The Interfaith Amigos share their views.

In 1950 L. Ron Hubbard published "Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health" and 3 years later he founded the first church of Scientology. Ross Reynolds talks with Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Lawrence Wright about his detailed history of Scientology, "Going Clear."

In 1969, Major League Baseball arrived in the Pacific Northwest, when the Seattle Pilots played one ill-fated season before taking off to become the Milwaukee Brewers. Seattle wouldn’t get another professional team until 1977, when the Mariners were born. What happened? The answer has a lot to do with money and politics. Bill Mullins tells the story in “Becoming Big League: Seattle, the Pilots and Stadium Politics." Plus, the Mariners beat Oakland 2-0 last night to win their seventh straight opening day game. Sportspress Northwest's Art Thiel joins us with an outlook on their chances this season.

Journalist Ray Suarez just finished writing a new book called "Latino Americans." The way he sees it, American history as it's currently taught tends to ignore Latinos. He hopes to change that. His book starts in the 17th century and goes up until yesterday, when he sent the book off to his publisher. Suarez gives Ross Reynolds the long view of "Latino America." Below are highlights from the interview, along with excerpts from his 2010 speech, "The Browning of America."

Leslie Helm was born and raised in Yokohama, Japan. Most of his family members are of European descent, and you would be hard pressed to look into his face and see his half-Japanese grandparents reflected back. When he adopted Japanese children, he started exploring his own roots. Leslie Helm takes us along on his journey as a "Yokohama Yankee" — a story that outlines the racial and economic tensions that defined US and Japanese relations for much of the 19th and 20th centuries.

At the Duwamish Longhouse in West Seattle, Cecile Hansen traces her finger down a plaque of names. “Look at all our leaders, starting with the chief here,” Hansen says.

Charles Mitchell was a teenage slave of  Washington’s surveyor general, James Tilton. In 1860, with the help of the West’s underground railroad, Charles Mitchell escaped to Victoria, British Columbia, and won his freedom. Public historian Lorraine McConaghy tells Ross Reynolds the story and discusses how she came to write her latest book, "Free Boy: A True Story of Slave and Master."