Our American Stories

On this episode of Our American Stories, they say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree—but Appleton Oaksmith landed on another planet. His mother was a feminist who knew top abolitionists; his father, a cartoonist admired across party lines. Appleton? He was hunted internationally for presumed slave trading and a failed kidnapping in Cuba that may have threatened Lincoln’s reelection. Yet he later fought for Black voting rights. Jonathan W. White, author of Shipwrecked, shares the story—courtesy of the U.S. National Archives. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, Megan Bayer shares her touching letter of gratitude and healing to her constant companion through a struggle they will never forget. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, in Victorian America, makeup was taboo. Respectable women didn’t enhance their eyes—unless they were silent film stars or prostitutes. That changed with one family experiment that quietly sparked a beauty revolution. At just 19, Thomas Lyle Williams created what would become Maybelline, inspired by his sister’s homemade eyelash treatments. Mixed in teapots and sold by mail, the product became so popular that the family once hauled orders from the post office by wheelbarrow.Sharrie Williams, a member of the founding family and author of The Maybelline Story, tells the inside story of how a homemade beauty aid became a global brand—and how changing one small cultural rule helped change everything. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, a bill of rights depends on a government that actually manifests restraint. Otherwise, Justice Scalia suggests, it is just a bill of goods. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, after becoming an empty nester, Paul Bauer decided to get a dog, despite knowing almost nothing about dogs. What he got instead was Gizmo, a stubborn, charming King Charles Cavalier Spaniel who quickly made it clear who was really in charge.With humor and humility, Paul shares the lessons Gizmo has taught him about patience, routine, pride, and love, and how sometimes the best teachers arrive with fur, a strong will, and no interest in playing fetch. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the early months of the COVID pandemic, when fear and uncertainty were everywhere, Stephen Rusiniak received a call that stopped him cold. His brother was sick, struggling to breathe, and finally asking for help.What followed was a quiet, urgent drive to the hospital, shaped by fear, duty, and love. Stephen tells the story of a moment when concern for his own safety faded beside something stronger, the bond between brothers, and the simple truth that sometimes carrying the weight is not a burden at all. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, Before he became the most famous pilot in the world, Charles Lindbergh was a barnstormer, a daredevil wing walker, and a U.S. airmail pilot flying dangerous routes with little margin for error. Long before his historic Atlantic crossing, Lindbergh learned to trust machines, weather, and his own instincts in the air.Kirk Higgins of the Bill of Rights Institute shares the lesser-known story of Lindbergh’s early years and the unlikely experiences that prepared him to attempt what no one else dared: flying solo across the Atlantic when others insisted it could only be done with a crew. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1926, on the 150th anniversary of American independence, Calvin Coolidge delivered a Fourth of July address that went far beyond celebration. Speaking in Philadelphia, he argued that America’s prosperity did not create its founding ideals, but that its founding ideals created America’s prosperity.Coolidge warned that abandoning the principles of the Declaration of Independence would mean losing the very source of American freedom. Drawing on the same moral tradition invoked by Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, he defended equality, natural rights, and self-government as final truths, not outdated ideas. Vince Benedetto, joined by Coolidge interpreter Tracy Messer, share the story of a speech that still challenges Americans to remember the real heart of their independence. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, deep in Richmond, Virginia, a converted warehouse known as Libby Prison held more than 1,200 Union officers during the Civil War. Prisoners survived on rotting cornbread, slept on bare floors, and shared the space with rats that outnumbered both guards and captives. Escape or death were the only ways out. Historian Robert P. Watson, author of Escape!, shares the astonishing and forgotten story of the largest and most daring jailbreak of the Civil War, when Union officers dug a tunnel through raw sewage, emerged onto the streets of Richmond, and risked everything to rejoin the fight. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, few pop songs sound like nothing that came before them. Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime” is one of them, a hypnotic blend of rhythm, repetition, and existential wonder that has puzzled and inspired listeners for decades.Music critics and musicians alike have called it a perfect song, praising its strange power and its lyrics, which feel both meaningless and deeply profound. Our own Greg Hengler traces how the song came together, why it resonated so strongly, and how it became one of the most enduring and influential tracks in modern music. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.