The Road to Now

Most Americans grow up learning about the civil rights movement from a very young age, but the stories we tell about the March on Washington, Dr. King's speeches, and the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of 1964-65 leave out the very real ways that the Jim Crow system continues to shape our world today. In this episode of The Road to Now, Ben's friend and colleague Louis Woods joins us to explain how federal policies in the 20th century, and particularly the GI Bill, excluded Black Americans from some of the most important sources of wealth acquisition in American history. We also talk about how the legacy of racism lives on in today's economy, society, and even in the way we teach music. Dr. Louis Lee Woods, II, is Associate Professor of African-American History and Director of the Africana Studies Program at Middle Tennessee State University. His research pays particular attention to the connection between discriminatory historical federal housing policies and contemporary racial wealth, health and educational disparities. Links to the articles discussed in this episode are available on his MTSU faculty page. For more on the history of racial discrimination in housing, including map overlays of many American cities, check out the website "Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America." The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network. For more information on this and all other episodes of our podcast, visit our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com

Slavery was an integral part of the American republic from the moment of independence until the abolition of the so-called "peculiar institution" with the ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865. The social and economic impact of the slave system, however, are much larger in terms of both time and geography. In this episode, Bob and Ben speak with Edward Baptist about slavery's origins, its evolution, and how enslaved people's work laid the foundation for modern capitalism. He also shares stories of the people who suffered under- and those who profited from- the inhumane system of American slavery. Dr. Edward E. Baptist is Professor of History at Cornell University and author of The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism (Basic Books, 2014), which won the 2015 Avery O. Craven Prize from the Organization of American Historians and the 2015 Sidney Hillman Prize. The Half Has Never Been Told is available as an audio book on libro.fm. Road to Now listeners can go to libro.fm & get a 3-month membership for the price of one (3 audiobooks for just $14.95) w/ promo code RTN. Click here to get The Half Has Never Been Told or get started by checking out our libro.fm playlist, which features books by past RTN guests. This episode was edited by Gary Fletcher. The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network. For more on this and all other episodes of RTN check out our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com

Most Americans identify themselves as middle class. But what does that mean? Bob & Ben talk with The Bell Policy Center's Scott Wasserman to talk about the challenges facing American workers, the difference between "middle class" and "working class," and the differences between the economy today and that of the 20th century. The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network. For more on this and all our other episodes, visit TheRoadToNow.com.

The 1970s was a pivotal decade in American history. In a ten-year span, the United States admitted defeat in Vietnam, saw a President resign in shame, and came face to face with many of the atrocities it had committed abroad. American citizens also faced a score of economic problems, including "stagflation," an energy crisis, and the realization that many of them would end the decade worse off than they had been when it began. In today's episode we reflect on what happened in the 1970s, and what we can learn from it, in a conversation with RTN favorite, Vanderbilt University's Jefferson Cowie. Dr. Jefferson Cowie is James G. Stahlman Professor of History at Vanderbilt University and the author of Stayin Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working (The New Press, 2010) and several other award-winning books on American history. Check out his other appearances on RTN in episode 24 and episode 70. You can find out more about Jefferson Cowie and his work at his website by clicking here. Stayin' Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class will be released on audiobook on December 18, 2018, and libro.fm is the place to get it! Click here and use promo code RTN to get three audiobooks for just $15 as a new libro.fm member. You can support The Road to Now, Jefferson Cowie, and your local bookstore, all while you learn more about the past! The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network.

Peter Kornbluh has spent his life working to shed light on US covert operations abroad. Along with his colleagues at the National Security Archive, Peter has helped to declassify documents related to the Bay of Pigs (1961) and Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), the coup against Chile's democratically elected government (1973) and the Iran-Contra Scandal (1980s). As it turns out, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives and many prominent politicians have a lot to hide. In this episode, Bob and Ben speak with Peter Kornbluh about the National Security Archive and how he and others have used the Freedom of Information Act to ensure that citizens have access to information about their government. Peter also explains the impact that these documents have had on modern politics at home and abroad, the difference between his work and that of Edward Snowden and Julian Assange (Wikileaks), and why he believes that access to government documents is essential to a strong democracy. He also shares one of the greatest "how I got here" stories we've ever heard on The Road to Now! Peter Kornbluh has worked at the Archive since April 1986. He currently directs the Archive's Cuba and Chile Documentation Projects. He was co-director of the Iran-Contra documentation project and director of the Archive's project on U.S. policy toward Nicaragua. He is the author of multiple books, the most recent of which, Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana (w/ William M. LeoGrande; UNC Press, 2014), received multiple honors and was a Foreign Affairs Best Book of the Year. You can get Back Channel to Cuba on audiobook through libro.fm! Click here and use promo code RTN to get three audiobooks for just $15 as a new libro.fm member. You can support The Road to Now, our guest, and your local bookstore, all while you learn more about the past! The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network. For more on this and all other episodes, visit our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com.

Bob and Ben sit down to talk about the current events and historical questions that have been on their mind lately. They cover the GI bill delays that student veterans are currently facing, the one war that Teddy Roosevelt didn't win, the tragedy of the 1970s and why Ronald Reagan is the Godfather of punk rock. They also talk about all the times and places that they've seen J. Mascis. For more on the GI Bill delays, check out this piece by WPLN's Sergio Martinez-Beltran on how missed payments are affecting students at Ben's home university, MTSU. Bob and Ben encourage you to contact your elected officials and ask that they do what it takes to ensure that those who have served our country get the education they've earned. We're also excited to announce a new partnership with Libro.fm, which lets you purchase audiobooks directly from your favorite local bookstore. You get the same audiobooks, at the same price as the other one (you know which one), but you'll be part of a much different story, one that supports community. Road to Now listeners can get a 3-month membership for the price of one (3 audiobooks for just $14.95) w/ promo code RTN. Get started by checking out our libro.fm playlist, which features books by past RTN guests! To see the articles and pictures discussed in this episode, check out our episode page. The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network.

At the beginning of the 20th century, most of the territory that we call the Middle East- including Syria, Iraq, Israel and Turkey- were part of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman alliance w/ Germany and Austria-Hungary during World War I provided Britain and France w/ the opportunity to divide the once-great empire into many states based on European imperial ambitions. In this episode Bob and Ben speak w/ Dr. Eugene Rogan to learn more about why the Ottoman Empire was divided, how that process explains a lot about the region today, and how this history can help us make better decisions today. Dr. Eugene Rogan is Director of the Middle East Centre at St Antony's College, University of Oxford. He is author of The Arabs: A History (Penguin, 2009, 3rd edition 2018), which has been translated in 18 languages and was named one of the best books of 2009 by The Economist, The Financial Times, and The Atlantic Monthly. His new book, The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East, 1914-1920, was published in February 2015. We'd also like to say a special thanks to the family of Roscoe L. Strickland Jr. for providing the support that brought Dr. Rogan to MTSU for our annual Strickland Scholars Program. For more on the Strickland program, click here. Additional thanks goes to Dr. Susan Myers-Shirk for her work in arranging for MTSU's Strickland Scholars to appear on our podcast. The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network. For more on this and all other episodes, visit our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com

On November 6, 2018, the people of Florida voted to amend their state's constitution to restore voting rights to an estimated one and a half million citizens who had lost this right due to a prior felony conviction. In recognition of this significant restoration of rights, we're re-airing our interview w/ Pippa Holloway on the history of felon disfranchisement and citizenship in America (originally aired Oct. 10, 2016) along with an additional interview w/ Pippa recorded Nov. 10, 2018 on the Florida amendment's implications and the path to ratification. Bob and Ben support the voters of Florida, and believe that understanding the history of felon disfranchisement laws is an important step in restoring voting rights to the more than 4 million citizens in other states who have fulfilled their debt to society yet continue to be denied their right to vote. To better understand the origins of felon disfranchisement laws, we invited Dr. Pippa Holloway of Middle Tennessee State University's Department of History to join us for a discussion about her most recent book Living in Infamy: Felon Disfranchisement and the History of American Citizenship (Oxford University Press, 2013). Pippa explains the ways that these laws were developed as a strategy to prevent black Americans from voting in the post-Civil War-era. This strategy was later exported to other states such as Idaho and Hawaii for the purpose of excluding groups whose interests were in opposition to the ruling party. Pippa also discusses the current impediments to Americans' right to vote, and offers suggestions to ensure that Americans are not denied a voice in our political process. The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network. For more on this episode and all others, visit our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com.

What does it mean to be American? This isn't just a question for us in 2018 -- it was an unanswered question for the country in the late 19th century when it came to musical identity. And of all the people to try to answer it, it may have been the Czech composer Antonin Dvorak who came closest, while living in New York City and a small town in Iowa during the 1890s. Dvorak harnessed what he experienced -- African-American folk tunes, Native American culture, sounds of nature -- and worked them into four pieces including his most famous, the symphony "From the New World." In this episode, Bob Crawford and Matt Negrin (neither of whom are experts on Dvorak but who did play viola like Dvorak) sit in the Russian Tea Room next to Carnegie Hall where the New World symphony debuted to discuss their favorite classical music composer, and what it must have been like to be Dvorak in America.

Note: Gerry Adams will be giving a public talk in the Civil Rights Room of the Nashville Public Library on Saturday, November 3rd at 10:00am. The talk is open to the public and Gerry invites you to come say hello! For more information, contact Greg O'Loughlin at 615-887-7547 or oloughlin@gmail.com. Gerry Adams has dedicated most of his life to finding an end to the conflict that has engulfed Northern Ireland since his youth. As the President of Sinn Féin, he played a crucial role in facilitating the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which brought about an end to a three decade-long period of violence known as "The Troubles." In doing so, he built connections with civil rights leaders from around the world, including Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela, and learned some valuable lessons about the humanity that connects all people regardless of their race, religion or national origins. In this episode of The Road to Now, Gerry shares his story of struggle and how he found a road to peace at a time when few believed it was possible. Also joining us on today's episode is Ben's friend and colleague, Dr. Mark Doyle, who was kind enough to help explain the history of Northern Ireland and why Gerry Adams was such a crucial figure in that country's history. Mark specializes in Irish history at Middle Tennessee State. His most recent book, Communal Violence in the British Empire: Disturbing the Pax (Bloomsbury, 2016) was joint winner of the 2017 Stansky Book Prize for the best book on British Studies since 1800. To learn more about Gerry Adams, pick up his autobiography, Before the Dawn. His new book of recipes, The Negotiators Cookbook, is out soon, and you'll know why it's worth picking up when you listen to the episode! A special thanks goes to Greg O'Loughlin for putting us in touch with Gerry and facilitating this interview! The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network. For more on this episode, including links to more information on Gerry Adams and Mark Doyle, visit our episode page.