In this episode of Public History with Justin, Jake, and Molly, Jake and Molly are joined by public historian Rich Condon to explore the Port Royal Experiment - an early, improvised effort to build freedom during the Civil War. Long before Reconstruction formally began, formerly enslaved people tested land ownership, education, and self-governance in coastal South Carolina. Listen to the episode.
In this "emergency" episode of Public History with Justin, Jake, and Molly, Jake and Molly respond to the quiet removal of slavery interpretation at Philadelphia’s President’s House ahead of America’s 250th. Listen to the full episode.
In this episode of Public History with Justin, Jake, and Molly, Jake talks with author David Fleming about the Pottsville Maroons - coal miners turned football stars whose 1925 NFL championship was stripped away. It’s a story of early professional football that still resonates a century later. Listen to the episode.
In this episode of Public History with Justin, Jake, and Molly, we revisit The Patriot (2000) as both a Revolutionary War story and a product of its time. The conversation digs into mythmaking, historical shortcuts, and how Hollywood action tropes still shape how Americans imagine the Revolution. Listen to the episode.
This episode of the Public History podcast looks beyond the Irish Brigade to the everyday lives of Irish-born Union soldiers. We dig into letters, pension files, class, money, and memory with historian Damien Shiels and why Irish Civil War service has long been misunderstood on both sides of the Atlantic. Listen to the episode.
What feels like a modern fight over Confederate monuments began at Gettysburg in the 1880s. In this episode of the Public History Podcast, Codie Eash shows how veterans battled over memory, treason, and power - and how the Lost Cause was challenged by US veterans from the start on America’s most famous battlefield. Read the full story.
2025 was a full, difficult, and meaningful year—spent writing, traveling, podcasting, and chasing stories from Pennsylvania’s Coal Region to Ireland’s northwest coast and beyond. This reflection looks back at the moments, places, and people that shaped the work. Read the full story.
This holiday episode of the Public History podcast revisits It’s a Wonderful Life as more than a Christmas classic. We unpack the war trauma behind Jimmy Stewart’s performance, the clash between Bedford Falls and Potterville, and why Frank Capra’s critique of power still feels uncomfortably relevant today. Read the full story.
Before the Civil War, slavery didn’t just haunt the South - it sent shockwaves into small Northern towns, too. In this episode, I sit down with public historian EJ Murphy of the Destination Freedom Project to talk about Waverly, Pennsylvania and the secret routes that helped people escape bondage—linking communities across Northeastern Pennsylvania. We get into what the Fugitive Slave Act changed on the ground, how you tell this story when sources are thin, and why visitors keep saying the same thing on these tours: I grew up here…and I had no idea. Listen to this episode of Public History.
On October 8, 1871, Peshtigo, Wisconsin vanished in a wall of fire, leaving more than 1,200 dead. It remains the nation's deadliest wildfire. This podcast episode traces the disaster’s origins and its eerie legacy that lingers today. Listen to the latest episode of the Public History podcast.