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19TH Century Episodes

Aug. 9, 2021

The Nativist Riots of Philadelphia in 1844

In May of 1844, growing tensions between nativists and Irish Catholic immigrants in Philadelphia erupted into violence in the streets of the Irish Catholic Kensington district, prompted in part by a disagreement over whether ...
Aug. 2, 2021

Elizabeth Packard

Elizabeth Packard was born in Massachusetts in 1816 into a comfortable home where her parents were able to provide for her education. She taught briefly at a girls’ school before at age 23 agreeing at her parents’ urging to m...
Guest: Kate Moore
June 28, 2021

Sophonisba Breckinridge

Sophonisba “Nisba” Preston Breckinridge, born April 1, 1866, was a woman of firsts. Breckinridge was the first woman admitted to the Kentucky bar to practice law in 1895; the first woman to earn a PhD in Political Science at ...
Guest: Anya Jabour
June 21, 2021

Susie King Taylor

Susie King Taylor was born into slavery in Georgia in 1848. With the help of family members, she was educated and escaped, joining the Union army at the age of 14, to serve ostensibly as a laundress, but in reality as a nurse...
Guest: Ben Railton