The History Cafe Podcast!

Was James Bond really in Austin? Is the Alamo the most historically important structure in Texas? Who was Cactus Jack? Can Texas divide itself into five states? The topic for this episode are the top ten myths and or interesting historical facts about Texas, both the independent Republic of Texas and the state of Texas. Please visit my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/ThreeMinutesofHistory/videosPlease check out the website for more of my podcasts! https://www.podpage.com/the-history-cafe/

Whenever the story of Alexander Hamilton or Thomas Jefferson is told, Aaron Burr always takes the role of villain. However, is that accurate? Is it time for Aaron Burr to get an image upgrade?Please check out my YouTube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/ThreeMinutesofHistory/videosMore of my podcasts episodes can be found here:https://www.podpage.com/the-history-cafe/Please check out the musically  talented Marielle Mimes:https://www.youtube.com/c/MarielleMimes

I am excited to do this episode because I have a very special guest, my Chinese Language teacher, Su, Yi-Wen. She was born in Taiwan and is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. She has been a Chinese language teacher for many years, teaching a variety of language learners, in a variety of settings. We will talk about the Chinese language in terms of its history and linguistic features as it relates to the English language.Here is her email address if you are interested in studying Chinese:yiwen10101@gmail.comAnd please check out my YouTube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/ThreeMinutesofHistory/videos

For this episode, we are going to the island nation of Japan. It is one of my favorite countries. I am fortunate to have lived there for several years, I still try to keep with the language as best I can, and I still keep in touch with many Japanese friends. So, I am well aware of the controversial nature of this topic. This episode will not take a side in the controversy. It will just give an historical presentation on Yasukuni Shrine (靖國神社) and attempt to answer the following question, why is it so controversial? Please visit my YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/ThreeMinutesofHistory/videosPlease visit the YouTube channel of the talented Marielle Mimes:https://www.youtube.com/c/MarielleMimes/videos

This episode will address the following question ~ why was a person like Sam Houston, who so important to the history of Texas, removed from the office of governor in 1861?  Please check out my YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/ThreeMinutesofHistory/videosPlease check out the link for the talented Marielle Mimes, she wrote and performed the theme song for my podcast:https://www.youtube.com/c/MarielleMimes/videos

This podcast episode will analyze the appeal of Malcolm X, through activities and speeches delivered to African Americans in northern American cities during the 1950s and 1960s. Does dismissing Malcolm X as the violent counterpart to the largely non-violent Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s overshadow his importance in advancing black self-esteem? Could it be that in the attraction to and the departure from the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X continued to affirm the cultural heritage and history of African Americans?The musically talented Marielle Mimeshttps://www.youtube.com/c/MarielleMimes/videosMy YouTube channelhttps://www.youtube.com/c/ThreeMinutesofHistory/videos

The topic for this episode is Bacon's Rebellion. It was the first popular revolt in England's North American colonies.  The questions that will frame our discussion is, what was the pivotal event that led the colony of Virginia to turn to enslaved Africans to solve its labor shortage? Was it the arrival of about 20 Africans in 1619? Or was it the aftermath of Bacon's Rebellion of 1675? Or was it something else? And historians who have specialized in the study of slavery in America, will be helping us! Check out my YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/ThreeMinutesofHistory/videosPlease check out the link to the musically talented Marielle Mimes:https://www.youtube.com/c/MarielleMimes/videos

On this episode we'll talk about the importance of the 1950 Supreme Court case Sweatt v Painter. That case began in Austin, TX when in 1946, Heman Marion Sweatt, a black man, applied for admission to the University of Texas Law School. State law restricted access to that university to whites, and Sweatt's application was, therefore, rejected. Please check out my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/ThreeMinutesofHistory/videosAnd please check out the YouTube channel of the talented Marielle Mimes ~ she wrote and performed my theme song!https://www.youtube.com/c/MarielleMimes/videos

The story of William Eaton and the Mission of 1805 represents the end of Federalist Party power and the rise of Thomas Jefferson's Democratic Republican Party. It also is a story in which the first time a nation declared war on the United States; the first time the American military was sent to a foreign country to engage in combat operations; the first time an American flag was raised in military victory on foreign soil; and America's first overseas covert operation.    

Throughout the Edo Period (江戸時代) to about five years after the Meiji Restoration (明治維新), that's 1603 to 1873, Christianity was banned in Japan. It wasn't just banned, but violently put down by the Tokugawa Shogunate (徳川幕府).   This led to many Christians hiding their faith. In time, they earned the name “Hidden Christians” or Kakure Kirishitan  (隠れキリシタン). For about two hundred years, this Japanese community continued to practice Christianity in secret.Please check out my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/ThreeMinutesofHistory/videos 

On September 23, 1952, California senator Richard Milhous Nixon reserved time on national television to make an important speech. Many historians consider it to be the most important speech of his political career. He hoped to silence claims that he had accepted $18,000 in illegal political contributions to help cover personal expenses. The speech, which came to be known as the “Checker's” speech, was the first ever nationally televised address. and convinced many in the American public that he had done no wrong.  In the years that followed, Richard Nixon would have a tumultuous political career. Is it fair to judge his presidential tenure within that political career as a failure because of one scandal? And yes, I know, he was the second US President to face impeachment proceedings and the first US President to resign, and resign in disgrace, because of that one scandal. But does this close association of President Nixon to the Watergate scandal overshadow anything else that may be considered positive for the country? Let's find out.And please check out my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/ThreeMinutesofHistory/videos

On this episode, I will explore the controversy over Chiang Kai-shek (蔣中正) within US foreign policy as well as in Taiwan. He was born on October 31, 1887 and was the leader of the Republic of China, first in mainland China from 1928 until 1949 and then in Taiwan until his death on April 5, 1975.Please check out my YouTUbe Channel https://www.youtube.com/c/ThreeMinutesofHistory/videos

We are heading to the Williamson County Courthouse is to talk about a series of trials that took place there from September 1923 to February 1924. Members of the Ku Klux Klan were put on trial, found guilty, and given significant jail time. These trials resulted in the first successful prosecution by jury trial in the US of members of the 1920s Klan. Please check out my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/ThreeMinutesofHistory/videos

In a general sense, the New Deal was a response to the calamity of the Great Depression. But over the course of a decade, it came to encompass a multifaceted domestic policy that transformed the role of the federal government, improved the lives of countless Americans, and marked the American landscape with an array of new public features, from swimming pools to hydroelectric dams. But was it a big deal? Please check out my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/ThreeMinutesofHistory/videos

The story for this podcast will be the Japanese holdouts (残留日本兵). They were soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy who continued fighting even after the surrender of Japan in August 1945. Japanese holdouts either doubted the veracity of the formal surrender or were not aware that the war had ended because communications had been cut off by Allied advances. More than 120 stragglers were rounded up on various islands throughout the Pacific between 1947 and 1974.Please check out my YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/c/ThreeMinutesofHistory/videos

This is the last of a three-part series. In the first episode I gave the political, economic, and social contexts of the Atlantic World ~ that is, Europe, Africa, and the Americas ~ to show that the Atlantic World as a defined frame work provides a transnational context for historical study. In the second episode I looked at the British colony of Virginia in the context of the Atlantic World and came to some conclusions about who was responsible for the development of exploitative practices in the colony. This episode will focus on French Colonial Louisiana.Please check out my YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/c/ThreeMinutesofHistory/videos

This is part two of a three-part series that will argue that local and regional factors facilitated policies of exploitation and that nothing was pre-determined in the Europeans assuming an exploitative balance of power.  The last episode gave the political and economic contexts of Europe,  Africa, and the Americas during the Age of Exploration. This episode will focus on the English Colony of Virginia. The next episode will focus on French Colonial Louisiana. Please check out my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/ThreeMinutesofHistory/videos

I am excited because this will be the first of a three-part series that examines on THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXPLOITATIVE PRACTICES IN THE ATLANTIC WORLD, by focusing on the English colony of Virginia in episode two and the French colony of Louisiana in episode three.  This episode will provide the context for the Age of Exploration and the subsequent Columbian Exchange that significantly altered the political, economic, and social landscape of the Atlantic World. Western Europe was transformed as the maritime nations of Portugal, Spain, England, and France became economic powerhouses. African political and economic systems were not radically altered as trade with Europeans remained largely insignificant. Africans taken to the Americas as enslaved laborers undoubtedly experienced profound changes. The native populations of the Americas also experienced profound change. The pace and degree of change varied from place to place but their political, economic, and social systems would never return to what they were before European and African contact.  Please check out my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/ThreeMinutesofHistory/videos  

The transcontinental railroad is considered to have been one of the greatest American technological accomplishments of the nineteenth century. It was completed on May 10, 1869 with the driving of the “golden spike” in Promontory Point, Utah and served as a vital link for trade, commerce, and travel by joining the eastern and western halves of the United States.  The story of the transcontinental railroad from its earliest conception to its completion, spans three decades; from the 1840s to the 1860s. During that time America had grown in size and population, fought wars with Mexico in 1846 and itself in 1861, and struggled to create a new national identity. Our story will include the political tensions over slavery and westward expansion as well as conflict with native populations west of the Mississippi River. I will also include the impact of the transcontinental railroad on the tendency of the federal government to collaborate with private businesses as well as its impact on the national economy, race, Native Americans in the west, and popular culture!Please check out my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/ThreeMinutesofHistory/videos 

In an earlier podcast episode, I argued that in Taiwan's history, the 17th century was the most important. It was significant because a failed attempt at European colonization was followed by a successful attempt by the Han Chinese. In a century when Taiwan could have developed along a similar history to the Philippines as a Spanish colony or Indonesia as a Dutch colony, Taiwan became Chinese. In this episode, I will return to the beautiful island nation. This time to discuss Taiwan in the 20th century; during which, Taiwan had experienced occupation by Japan, the relocation of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣中正) and the Nationalists Party (中國國民黨) from mainland China, and finally the struggle to exercise sovereignty as an independent nation. Please check out my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/ThreeMinutesofHistory/videos

Do you remember the Iran hostage crisis, from 1979 to 1981?  It was an event in which Iranian protestors seized 66 American citizens at the U.S. embassy in Tehran and held them hostage for 444 days. The crisis took place during the chaotic aftermath of the Iranian Revolution which resulted in the overthrow of the Pahlavi monarchy.  The crisis, as will be discussed in this podcast episode,  had dramatic effects on domestic politics in the United States, particularly the 1980 presidential election, and also served as the spark to ignite the reform of special operations within the United States military.Please check out my YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/c/ThreeMinutesofHistory/videos

Taiwan is an extremely beautiful island nation with a complicated history! Its complex history is still visible in the buildings, the culture, the faces of the people, and the food. Going over the important events in that history in just one podcast episode, however, would be impossible. This episode will focus on what I think was the most important century in Taiwan's history; the 17th century. It's significant because a failed attempt at European colonization was followed by a successful attempt by the Han Chinese. In a century when Taiwan could have developed along a similar history to the Philippines as a Spanish colony or Indonesia as a Dutch colony, Taiwan became Chinese.Please visit my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/ThreeMinutesofHistory/videos

My original plan was to present a straight forward history of conspiracy theories throughout the world. I thought it would be interesting to see how, if at all, conspiracy theories had changed over time. But once I got started with the research, I discovered two trends that piqued my interest and took me in a different direction. Firstly, regardless of time, place, culture, race, and religion, the proliferation of conspiracy theories occurred during periods of societal crises. Secondly, the attraction to conspiracy theories was less about ideology and more about a psychological response to said crises. The new topic, then, is how conspiracy theories, as a psychological response to crises, influence the way we think about history. In other words, because conspiracy theories reduce complex and complicated current events into an overly simplified story, does it have the same effect on events from the past?Please check out my YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/ThreeMinutesofHistory/videos  in which each video focuses on one question, is filmed in different locations, and is just three minutes in length! 

With the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 the United States for the first and only time in its immigration history had restricted immigrants specifically based on their race. Its passage resulted from decades of protest over the growing presence of Chinese laborers in the country. This  is the story of the enforcement of Chinese Exclusion laws in the state of Texas.  Why? Well, because Texas's Chinese population began only after the passage of Chinese Exclusion Laws. So, at a time when California and other states were limiting and restricting their Chinese populations, Texas's Chinese population actually grew and, in some cases, flourished. Please check out my YT channel https://www.youtube.com/c/ThreeMinutesofHistory/videos

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson are considered by many historians to be “the odd couple of the American Revolution.” Profoundly different in physical appearance and demeanor - Jefferson was tall, elegant and philosophical, while Adams was short, stout and prone to vivid outbursts of emotion ~ the two men nevertheless became close friends; for a while anyway.The context for this story of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson will be development of American federalism; centralized governmental power versus localized governmental power. In what ways did they disagree? How were they able to resolve these differences? What, if anything, can we learn from them? Please visit my YT channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsn9quoHQamqQYaQXvQii3w/videos

US presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Lyndon Baines Johnson stopped by for a visit! But that's not all ~ former Alabama Governor and candidate for US president on three occasions George Wallace and Lyndon Johnson's chief aide on civil rights, Lee White, also stopped by! The topic we'll explore is the development of racially segregated housing in the city of Austin, Texas. In order to fully understand the relationship between race and housing, this story will focus on housing policies at the local level. Why? Because the implementation of policies at the city level, this podcast episode  will argue, ultimately determined the pace and pattern of segregated housing in American cities. Please check out my YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ThreeMinutesofHistory/videos

For many Americans, the Boston Massacre is a well known event. It became the symbol of resistance to British policies. The subsequent trials, however are not as well known. These trials contributed to the development of an American system of law. In particular, they served to establish the principle of the rule of law. In a politically hostile environment two reasonably fair trials by jury were conducted. And one of the attorneys who defended the captain and the soldiers accused of firing upon unarmed Boston citizens, was future US president John Adams. Moreover, these trials represent an 18th century example of a white man, as an agent of law enforcement, being indicted for the murder of a black man. Please visit my YT channel, https://www.youtube.com/c/ThreeMinutesofHistory/videos To find more of my podcasts, please visit https://www.podpage.com/the-history-cafe/  

I am joined by Martin Luther King, JR and U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson! In the mainstream currents of absurd conspiracy theories within the right or the self-righteous militancy of woke culture within the left, my podcast is a safe place where history for the sake of history can be explored; where topics can be analyzed; and where popular historical interpretations can be complicated or challenged.   Learn more from this website; https://www.podpage.com/the-history-cafe/And please check out my YouTube channel, Three Minutes of History; https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsn9quoHQamqQYaQXvQii3w/videos