Stuff You Missed in History Class

A lively look at a trailblazing comedian whose career spanned decades and reshaped stand-up. The story delves into mysteries about her birth and family, and examines her rise from vaudeville and the chitlin' circuit to Broadway and television. Listeners hear about her boundary-pushing persona, ambiguous personal life, sharp political satire, activism, and lasting influence on generations of performers.

They explore Emile Coué and the rise of autosuggestion and positive self-talk. Personal memories of self-help workshops and using affirmations during caregiving come up. They weigh scientific support versus popular overreach. A live auto-suggestion moment brings humor. They also retell the Pompey Stone April Fools hoax and why communities cling to local wonder stories.

A quirky 19th century hoax about a carved stone found in upstate New York and the drama that followed. Local sleuthing, early scholarly endorsement, and national attention fueled wild theories about 16th century explorers. Later forensic tool-mark analysis and a confession revealed a practical joke that kept historians debating for decades.

A look at Émile Coué’s rise from pharmacist to pioneer of autosuggestion. They trace his shift from mesmerism and hypnosis to a simple daily phrase and the law of reversed effort. Coverage includes his U.S. tour and media frenzy, the spread of Coué institutes, and how his ideas echo in modern self-help and neuroscience studies.

A lively look at Louis Daguerre's journey from theater painter to photography pioneer. They describe his spectacle-making dioramas and how clever lighting and mechanics wowed Paris. The story follows lab experiments, chemical shifts to silver salts, and the famous mercury development tale. It ends with the public reveal and how the process spread worldwide.

A lively dive into puzzling gaps in Richard Peters' life and unclear evidence about his stance on slavery. Exploration of Atlanta's civic legacy, Oakland Cemetery debates, and quirky local airport stories. Curious inquiry into Elizabeth Fulhame's textile experiments, sparse biography, and how she fit into the scientific world of her time.

A mysterious 18th century chemist and her ahead-of-her-time 1794 book get spotlighted. The episode traces her textile and precious-metal dye experiments and her lively role in the combustion debate between phlogiston and oxygen. It highlights an early description of catalysis and surprising links to proto-photography. The story also follows contemporary reception, translations, and later rediscovery.

A 19th century entrepreneur turns surveyor-engineer and helps rename Terminus into a growing Southern city. He builds railroads, starts transit and hospitality ventures, and shapes streets, parks, and institutions. His complicated Civil War stance and postwar land deals steer urban rebuilding and the emergence of modern Atlanta.

A deep dive into early contraceptive safety controversies and the rise of informed consent. They explore trial abuses, conflicting research on blood clots, and how regulatory changes followed high-profile scandals. The story follows activist pressure, landmark congressional hearings, and the push for patient-readable drug information.

A discussion of Elizabeth Peratrovich and the legal fight that shaped Alaska anti-discrimination history. Reflections on how Indigenous stories appear in children’s media. A detailed personal account of choosing, inserting, and later removing a copper IUD. A look at historical controversies linking IUDs to eugenics and how medical conversations around pain and consent have changed.