Podcasts about civil war reconstruction

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Best podcasts about civil war reconstruction

Latest podcast episodes about civil war reconstruction

The Valley Today
Tourism Tuesday: Celebrating Local Art and History in Clarke County

The Valley Today

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 10, 2024 26:28


In this episode, host Janet Michael welcomes Nathan Stalvey, the Director of the Clarke County Historical Association, for a special Tourism Tuesday Berryville/ Clarke County edition. The conversation revolves around the upcoming 'Art at the Mill' event and other significant projects by the association. Nathan shares exciting details about the 'Art at the Mill' event, including the massive undertaking of organizing it, the large number of artists participating, and the variety of artworks displayed. The event is scheduled to run from September 21st to October 6th, with flexible visiting hours and opportunities for visitors to meet the artists. Nathan also highlights the diversity of artwork ranging from oils, pastels, and watercolors to sculptures and woodturning. The second segment discusses CCHA's initiatives, notably the Mill dam project. Nathan provides an update on the fundraising efforts, partnerships, and the significant preparations involved in preserving the historical mill dam. Janet and Nathan also touch on the upcoming talk by archivist Melanie Garvey about the post-Civil War Reconstruction era in Clarke County, emphasizing its importance and the unique insights derived from letters, diaries, and newspapers of that time. Learn more on their website: https://www.clarkehistory.org/ 

director history tourism mill local art clarke county civil war reconstruction janet michael
NAPS Chat
Episode 210 July 2, 2024 -- "A True Postal Patriot, Postmaster General John 'AJ' Creswell"

NAPS Chat

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 2, 2024 22:31


In honor of Independence Day, NAPS Chat continues its tradition of exploring our consequential postal past. Newly appointed US Postal Service Historian Steve Kochersperger joins Bob to discuss one of our more compelling postmaster generals, John "AJ" Creswell. Creswell, who served as PMG during post-Civil War Reconstruction, began to integrate the postal workforce, improved postal performance, reduced expenses, took on Congress, and introduced new postal products and innovations.  

History Homos
Ep. 195 - Texit? with Legalman

History Homos

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 25, 2024 85:28


This week we welcome back fan favorite Legalman, Texas lawyer and film star. We discuss the recent happenings related to the burgeoning Texas Secession movement. We also discuss the seminal Texas Vs. White case which made secession incredibly difficult back in the Civil War Reconstruction year of 1869. Check out Legalman's podcast The Quash wherever you find podcasts and at patreon.com/thequash follow him on twitter @USCrimereview and donate to get his next film made on Indiegogo Don't forget to join our Telegram channel at T.me/historyhomos and to join our group chat at T.me/historyhomoschat The video version of the show is available on Youtube, bitchute, odysee. For weekly premium episodes or to contribute to the show subscribe to our channel at www.rokfin.com/historyhomos Any questions comments concerns or T-shirt/sticker requests can be leveled at historyhomos@gmail.com Later homos --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/historyhomos/support

texas telegram texit civil war reconstruction
Selwyn’s Law Podcast
What do the Civil War-Reconstruction Amendments, the 13th 14th and 15th Amendments to the US Constitution, enacted between 1865 – 1870, have to do with all the Controversy Surrounding the Presidential Election taking Place in 2024?

Selwyn’s Law Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 23, 2023 25:13


12-23-23See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Vital Center
The contested meaning of American freedom, with Jefferson Cowie

The Vital Center

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 27, 2023 64:24


What do we mean when we talk about freedom? Jefferson Cowie, a professor of history at Vanderbilt University, addressed this question in his monumental work Freedom's Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power, which won this year's Pulitzer Prize for History. The book focuses on Southern white resistance to federal authority — in the name of freedom — over two centuries in Barbour County in southeastern Alabama (particularly in its largest town, Eufaula). The tale begins in the early nineteenth century with the efforts by whites to illegally seize and settle lands retained by the Muscogee Creek Nation — a conflict that, ironically, forced the Creeks to rely for protection on federal forces sent by President Andrew Jackson, despite his notorious hostility toward Native Americans. In the post-Civil War Reconstruction era, Barbour County whites resisted federal efforts to impose a biracial democracy, culminating in an 1874 massacre of African-American citizens attempting to vote. Jim Crow segregation prevailed in Barbour County for the better part of the following century. Elite rule and white supremacy were enforced not just through sharecropping and disenfranchisement but also through the brutal actions of convict leasing and lynching. Finally, with the coming of the civil rights era of the 1950s and ‘60s, Alabama Governor George Wallace – a Barbour County native – fought federal integration efforts and vowed to uphold “segregation forever!” Wallace's successes in Democratic presidential primaries — well beyond the South — in 1968 and 1972 showed the populist potency of combining racial resentment with opposition to federal power. In all of these episodes, Cowie demonstrates that white Alabamians defined freedom, not just in terms of individual liberty and civic participation, but also of their freedom to enslave and dominate. This latter conception of freedom frequently pitted local and state authorities against federal authority. In this podcast discussion, Cowie acknowledges that federal authority frequently fell far short of its stated aims and principles. Nevertheless, it was the only hope for those who sought political rights and equality before the law. Although the successes of the civil rights struggle in the American South have been uneven and partial, Cowie emphasizes that “you do everybody a disservice if you call a mixed bag a failure.”

Thecuriousmanspodcast
Marvin Blake Interview Episode 70

Thecuriousmanspodcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 25, 2023 41:54


Matt Crawford speaks with author Marvin Blake about his book: Precious In His Sight: A Novel. Precious In His Sight tells the story of multiple characters whose lives are inextricably linked by post-Civil War Reconstruction policies. Freed black slaves trying to find their identity, plantation owners trying to set back those freedoms, Plains Indians living on reservations and how we as a society are dealing with all of these shifts while trying to come together anew.

War Books
U.S. Civil War – Reconstruction & The War On Freedom – Kidada Williams

War Books

Play Episode Listen Later May 31, 2023 43:51


Ep 022 - Nonfiction. “If we understand the violence of reconstruction, we can understand the violence of today.” Kidada E. Williams joins me to discuss her illuminating new book, 'I Saw Death Coming: A History of Terror and Survival in the War Against Reconstruction.'Support local bookstores & buy Kidada's book here:https://bookshop.org/a/92235/9781635576634Subscribe to the War Books podcast here:YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@warbookspodcastApple: https://apple.co/3FP4ULbSpotify: https://spoti.fi/3kP9scZFollow the show here:Twitter: https://twitter.com/warbookspodcastFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/warbookspodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/warbookspodcast/

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The Majority Report with Sam Seder
3090 - Reconstruction Didn't Fail: It Was Sabotaged w/ Kidada E. Williams

The Majority Report with Sam Seder

Play Episode Listen Later May 15, 2023 78:21


Happy Monday! Sam hosts Kidada E. Williams, associate professor of history at Wayne State University, to discuss her recent book I Saw Death Coming: A History of Terror and Survival in the War against Reconstruction. Sam begins the show by talking about the upcoming debt ceiling battle, and how it seems increasingly likely that Biden is going to cave to Kevin McCarthy and the Republicans by agreeing to some spending caps and additional work requirements, when he absolutely doesn't have to if he and his administration had any creativity whatsoever. Then, Kidada joins the show and Sam and her start off by recapping what The "Dunning School" of history was, how it came about, and what its essential project was (sanitizing the Confederacy, as well as the racist, violent legacy of post-Civil War Reconstruction.) Sam and Professor Williams also marvel at how successful the project of the Dunning School was, highlighting anecdotally how minimal amounts of time and resources were dedicated in classrooms to fully fleshing out the harmful Reconstruction's effects on black Americans actually were. Professor Williams then dives into her scholarship, where she located direct testimony from families taken in the field by members of Congress in the post-Civil War South, and how these testimonies paint a picture of what really happened after the Civil War supposedly "ended": the fighting became a sort of guerrilla war against free black people, and the war itself didn't neatly "end", so to speak. Professor Williams recounts, per her research, the gratuitous and brutal violence free black people faced even after being released from bondage, and even after receiving the rights that they did not possess before prior to the Civil War. They wrap up the conversation by centering the issues of white supremacy and how crucial they are to what happened during Reconstruction: a concerted effort and investment in the furtherance of white supremacy, not just by white Southerners, but by white Northerners too, in the project of continuing to marginalize and subjugate free black people. And in the Fun Half, Sam talks about Latino truckers taking to social media to call for a boycott of Florida because draconian immigration laws proposed under Gov. Ron DeSantis, Elon Musk's free speech crusades on Twitter resulting in censoring people on the site to not upset the Turkish government, a decision that even pissed off Enes Kanter Freedom. Protesters with Climate Defiance demonstrate at Sen. Amy Klobuchar's book event ("The Joy Of Politics", in stores near you!), and the weekend Fox & Friends crew get upset with President Biden for daring to utter the words "white supremacy" when talking about the famously not-racist United States.  Plus, your calls & IM's! Check out Kidada's book here: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/i-saw-death-coming-9781635576634/ Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the ESVN YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/esvnshow Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/ Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Get the free Majority Report App!: http://majority.fm/app Check out today's sponsors: HelloFresh: No matter your lifestyle or meal preferences, HelloFresh has recipes sure to please everyone at your table. From Fit & Wholesome to Veggie or Family-Friendly, you'll always find something even the pickiest eaters will enjoy. Go to https://hellofresh.com/majority16 and use code majority16 for 16 free meals plus free shipping! That's https://hellofresh.com/majority16. Seder's Seeds!: Sam tried to grow some cannabis last year, didn't know what he was doing, but now has some great cannabis seeds! Use code "420" and get 20% off your entire order! AND Seder's Seeds is launching a loyalty program, every 10 dollars spent earns you a point! Go to http://www.sedersseeds.com and MajorityReporters now and enter coupon code "SEEDS" for free shipping! Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattBinder @MattLech @BF1nn @BradKAlsop Check out Matt's show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/ Check out Ava Raiza's music here! https://avaraiza.bandcamp.com/ The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/

Democracy Works
Is America in a third reconstruction?

Democracy Works

Play Episode Listen Later May 1, 2023 47:11


Peniel E. Joseph, author of The Third Reconstruction: America's Struggle for Racial Justice in the 21st Century, joins us this week to discuss how the era from Barack Obama's election to George Floyd's murder compare to the post-Civil War Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement. Joseph argues that racial reckoning that unfolded in 2020 marked the climax of a Third Reconstruction: a new struggle for citizenship and dignity for Black Americans, just as momentous as the movements that arose after the Civil War and during the civil rights era. However, Chris Beem and Candis Watts Smith are not so sure he's right about that conclusion. We hope you'll listen to the arguments and think critically about where you land on the question of whether America has experienced or is in the midst of a Third Reconstruction.Joseph is based at the University of Texas at Austin, where he holds the following titles:Associate Dean for Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Barbara Jordan Chair in Ethics and Political Values, Professor of History and Public Affairs, and Founding  Director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy. His career focus has been on "Black Power Studies," which encompasses interdisciplinary fields such as Africana studies, law and society, women's and ethnic studies and political science. He is a frequent commentator on issues of race, democracy and civil rights.

America at War
143 The Civil War: Reconstruction

America at War

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 10, 2023 22:31


The period from the end of the Civil War until 1877 was known as Reconstruction. As the name suggests, it was the country's attempt to reconstruct and, perhaps, transform the South. The hope was to not only stitch the country back together again, but provide the freedmen a step up, to integrate the formerly enslaved population back into society. Tensions between Congress and the President led to an uneven and imperfect process. The Army was the only institution that could provide stability, but never had enough men to stamp out the violence and change the attitudes prevalent in the South. By 1877, the north had lost interest and the south put into place a system of control that would not be overturned for a century. Have a question, comment, or compliment? Contact us at americawarpodcast@gmail.com. You can also leave comments and your questions on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/americaatwarpodcast/. Thanks for listening!

Creating Wealth Real Estate Investing with Jason Hartman
1848 FBF: Do-It-Yourself Property Management Strategies & Evaluating the Real Estate Investment Market in Birmingham Alabama

Creating Wealth Real Estate Investing with Jason Hartman

Play Episode Listen Later May 27, 2022 57:38


Today's Flashback Friday is from episode 281 released last October 9, 2012. Jason Hartman has his mom back on the show to discuss her DIY property management/self-management strategies and one of her tenants who has occupying a property for 23 years - no vacancy! Then Jason interviews his Birmingham, Alabama Local Market Specialist (LMS) and talks to a caller/listener with some good real estate investing questions. Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia on this market: Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. The city's population was 212,237 according to the 2010 United States Census. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area had a population of about 1,128,047 according to the 2010 Census, which is approximately one-quarter of Alabama's population. Birmingham was founded in 1871, during the post-Civil War Reconstruction period, through the merger of three pre-existing farm towns, notably, former Elyton. It grew from there, annexing many more of its smaller neighbors, into an industrial and railroad transportation center with a focus on mining, the iron and steel industry, and railroading. Birmingham was named for Birmingham, one of the major industrial cities of the United Kingdom. Many, if not most, of the original settlers who founded Birmingham were of English ancestry. In one writer's view, the city was planned as a place where cheap, non-unionized, and African-American labor from rural Alabama could be employed in the city's steel mills and blast furnaces, giving it a competitive advantage over industrial cities in the Midwest and Northeast. From its founding through the end of the 1960s, Birmingham was a primary industrial center of the South. The pace of Birmingham's growth during the period from 1881 through 1920 earned its nicknames The Magic City andThe Pittsburgh of the South. Much like Pittsburgh, Birmingham's major industries were iron and steel production, plus a major component of the railroading industry, where rails and railroad cars were both manufactured in Birmingham. In the field of railroading, the two primary hubs of railroading in the Deep South were nearby Atlanta and Birmingham, beginning in the 1860s and continuing through to the present day. The economy diversified during the later half of the twentieth century. Though the manufacturing industry maintains a strong presence in Birmingham, other businesses and industries such as banking, telecommunications, transportation, electrical power transmission, medical care, college education, and insurance have risen in stature. Mining in the Birmingham area is no longer a major industry with the exception of coal mining. Birmingham ranks as one of the most important business centers in the Southeastern United States and is also one of the largest banking centers in the United States. In addition, the Birmingham area serves as headquarters to one Fortune 500 company:Regions Financial. Five Fortune 1000 companies are headquartered in Birmingham. In the field of college and university education, Birmingham has been the location of the University of Alabama School of Medicine (formerly known as the Medical College of Alabama) and the University of Alabama School of Dentistry since 1947, and since that time, it has also become provided with the University of Alabama at Birmingham (founded circa 1969), one of three main campuses of the University of Alabama, and also with the private Birmingham-Southern College. Between these two universities and Samford University, the Birmingham area has major colleges of medicine, dentistry, optometry, pharmacy, law, engineering, and nursing. Birmingham is home to three of the state's five law schools: Cumberland School of Law, Birmingham School of Law, and Miles Law School. Birmingham is also the headquarters of the Southeastern Conference, one of the major U.S. collegiate athletic conferences.     Follow Jason on TWITTER, INSTAGRAM & LINKEDIN   https://twitter.com/JasonHartmanROI https://www.instagram.com/jasonhartman1/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonhartmaninvestor/ Learn More: https://www.jasonhartman.com/   Get wholesale real estate deals for investment or build a great business – Free course: JasonHartman.com/Deals Free White Paper on The Hartman Comparison Index™:  https://www.hartmanindex.com/white-paper   Free Report on Pandemic Investing: https://www.PandemicInvesting.com   Jason's TV Clips: https://vimeo.com/549444172 Free Class: CYA Protect Your Assets, Save Taxes & Estate Planning: http://JasonHartman.com/Protect Special Offer from Ron LeGrand:  https://JasonHartman.com/Ron What do Jason's clients say?  http://JasonHartmanTestimonials.com Contact our Investment Counselors at: www.JasonHartman.com Watch, subscribe and comment on Jason's videos on his official YouTube channel: YouTube.com/c/JasonHartmanRealEstate/videos Guided Visualization for Investors: JasonHartman.com/visualization Jason's videos in his other sites: JasonHartman.com/Rumble JasonHartman.com/Bitchute JasonHartman.com/Odysee Jason Hartman Extra: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0qQ…   Real Estate News and Technology: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPSy…

American POTUS
The Personal & Presidential struggles of Andrew Johnson

American POTUS

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 21, 2022 44:47


Breaking out of Abraham Lincoln's shadow would've been tough for anybody, much less a Southern Democrat who struggled with his own sense of racism.  Regardless, Andrew Jackson now had the job and had to deal with Civil War Reconstruction – no easy task.  It didn't take long for this stubborn accidental President to make a lot of political enemies, but one stands out above the rest – activist Frederick Douglass.  And even though they only met once, their worlds would collide over and over with their own beliefs of what should be done, and how quickly!  The combative presidency of Andy Johnson is on this episode of American POTUS!

Anti-Neocon Report
Kill Stream Civil War Reconstruction plus Maxwell update

Anti-Neocon Report

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 2, 2022 135:05


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ryandawson.substack.com/subscribe

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Anti-Neocon Report
Kill Stream Civil War Reconstruction plus maxwell update

Anti-Neocon Report

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 31, 2021 124:50


https://www.ancreport.com/shop/2022-anc-calendar/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ryan-dawson01/support

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Midnight Train Podcast
Christmas Disasters

Midnight Train Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 21, 2021 115:39


For bonuses and to support the show, sign up at www.patreon.com/themidnighttrainpodcast   This week is our Christmas special here on the train. First, we've covered Krampus, Christmas killings, and ghost story Christmas traditions. Then, in keeping with our tradition of crazy Christmas episodes, today, we bring you some crazy Christmas disasters! Christmas isn't immune to crazy shit going on, from natural disasters to fires. Not only that, we're giving you guys a pretty good dose of history today. So with that being said, let's get into some crazy Christmas stuff!   While this first topic isn't necessarily a disaster in the usual sense, it definitely caused nothing but problems. And yes, it's a disaster. In 1865 on Christmas Eve, something happened that would change things for many people in this country and still causes grief to this day. While most people in the u.s. were settling down for the night with their families, leaving milk out for Santa, and tucking the kids in for the night, a group of men in Pulaski, Tennessee, were getting together for a very different purpose. Frank McCord, Richard Reed, John Lester, John Kennedy, J. Calvin Jones, and James Crowe were all officers with the Confederacy in the civil war. That night, they got together to form a group inspired at least in part by the then largely defunct Sons of Malta. While it started as a social club, within months, it would turn into one of the most nefarious groups around, the Ku Klux Klan. According to The Cyclopædia of Fraternities (1907), "Beginning in April, 1867, there was a gradual transformation. ...The members had conjured up a veritable Frankenstein. They had played with an engine of power and mystery, though organized on entirely innocent lines, and found themselves overcome by a belief that something must lie behind it all – that there was, after all, a serious purpose, a work for the Klan to do." It borrowed parts of the initiation ceremony from the sons of Malta with the same purpose: "ludicrous initiations, the baffling of public curiosity, and the amusement for members were the only objects of the Klan," according to Albert Stevens in 1907. In the summer of 1867, local branches of the Klan met in a general organizing convention. They established what they called an "Invisible Empire of the South." Leading Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest was chosen as the first leader, or "grand wizard," of the Klan; he presided over a hierarchy of grand dragons, grand titans, and grand cyclops. The organization of the Ku Klux Klan coincided with the beginning of the second phase of post-Civil War Reconstruction, put into place by the more radical members of the Republican Party in Congress. After rejecting President Andrew Johnson's relatively lenient Reconstruction policies from 1865 to 1866, Congress passed the Reconstruction Act over the presidential veto. Under its provisions, the South was divided into five military districts. Each state was required to approve the 14th Amendment, which granted "equal protection" of the Constitution to formerly enslaved people and enacted universal male suffrage. From 1867 onward, Black participation in public life in the South became one of the most radical aspects of Reconstruction. Black people won elections to southern state governments and even the U.S. Congress. For its part, the Ku Klux Klan dedicated itself to an underground campaign of violence against Republican leaders and voters (both Black and white) to reverse the policies of Radical Reconstruction and restore white supremacy in the South. They were joined in this struggle by similar organizations such as the Knights of the White Camelia (launched in Louisiana in 1867) and the White Brotherhood. At least 10 percent of the Black legislators elected during the 1867-1868 constitutional conventions became victims of violence during Reconstruction, including seven who were killed. White Republicans (derided as "carpetbaggers" and "scalawags") and Black institutions such as schools and churches—symbols of Black autonomy—were also targets for Klan attacks. By 1870, the Ku Klux Klan had branches in nearly every southern state. The Klan did not boast a well-organized structure or clear leadership even at its height. Local Klan members, often wearing masks and dressed in the organization's signature long white robes and hoods, usually carried out their attacks at night. They acted on their own but supported the common goals of defeating Radical Reconstruction and restoring white supremacy in the South. Klan activity flourished particularly in the regions of the South where Black people were a minority or a slight majority of the population and were relatively limited in others. Among the most notorious zones of Klan activity was South Carolina, where in January 1871, 500 masked men attacked the Union county jail and lynched eight Black prisoners. Though Democratic leaders would later attribute Ku Klux Klan violence to poorer southern white people, the organization's membership crossed class lines, from small farmers and laborers to planters, lawyers, merchants, physicians, and ministers. In the regions where most Klan activity took place, local law enforcement officials either belonged to the Klan or declined to act against it. Even those who arrested Klansmen found it difficult to find witnesses willing to testify against them.    Other leading white citizens in the South declined to speak out against the group's actions, giving them implicit approval. After 1870, Republican state governments in the South turned to Congress for help, resulting in three Enforcement Acts, the strongest of which was the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871.   For the first time, the Ku Klux Klan Act designated certain crimes committed by individuals as federal offenses, including conspiracies to deprive citizens of the right to hold office, serve on juries and enjoy the equal protection of the law. In addition, the act authorized the president to suspend the habeas corpus, arrest accused individuals without charge, and send federal forces to suppress Klan violence. For those of us dummies that may not know, a "writ of habeas corpus" (which literally means to "produce the body") is a court order demanding that a public official (such as a warden) deliver an imprisoned individual to the court and show a valid reason for that person's detention. The procedure provides a means for prison inmates or others acting on their behalf to dispute the legal basis for confinement.   This expansion of federal authority–which Ulysses S. Grant promptly used in 1871 to crush Klan activity in South Carolina and other areas of the South–outraged Democrats and even alarmed many Republicans. From the early 1870s onward, white supremacy gradually reasserted its hold on the South as support for Reconstruction waned; by the end of 1876, the entire South was under Democratic control once again.   Now, this was just the first version of the Klan. A second version started up in the early 1900s and later on another revival which is the current iteration of the Klan. We're not going to go into the later versions of the Klan because well…. Fuck 'em! We've already given them too much air time! But… This most definitely qualifies as a Christmas disaster.   Next up, we have a couple natural disasters.    First up, Cyclone Tracy. Cyclone Tracy has been described as the most significant tropical cyclone in Australia's history, and it changed how we viewed the threat of tropical cyclones to northern Australia.   Five days before Christmas 1974, satellite images showed a tropical depression in the Arafura Sea, 700 kilometers (or almost 435 miles for us Americans) northeast of Darwin.   The following day the Tropical Cyclone Warning Center in Darwin warned that a cyclone had formed and gave it the name Tracy. Cyclone Tracy was moving southwest at this stage, but as it passed the northwest of Bathurst Island on December 23, it slowed down and changed course.   That night, it rounded Cape Fourcroy and began moving southeast, with Darwin directly in its path.   The first warning that Darwin was under threat came at 12:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve when a top-priority flash cyclone warning was issued advising people that Cyclone Tracy was expected to make landfall early Christmas morning.   Despite 12 hours' warning of the cyclone's impending arrival, it fell mainly on deaf ears.   Residents were complacent after a near-miss from Cyclone Selma a few weeks before and distracted by the festive season.   Indeed in the preceding decade, the Bureau of Meteorology had identified 25 cyclones in Northern Territory waters, but few had caused much damage. Severe Tropical Cyclone Tracy was a small but intense system at landfall.   The radius of the galeforce winds extended only 50 kilometers from the eye of the cyclone, making it one of the most miniature tropical cyclones on record, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).   Records show that at least six tropical cyclones had severely impacted Darwin before Tracy.   The worst of these was in January 1897 when a "disastrous hurricane" nearly destroyed the settlement, and 28 people died.   However, unlike Tracy, it is thought this cyclone did not directly pass over Darwin.   And while Tracy was reported as a category four cyclone, some meteorologists today believe it may have been a category five shortly before it made landfall.   At midnight on Christmas Day, wind gusts greater than 100 kilometers or over 62 miles per hour began to be recorded.   The cyclone's center reached East Point at 3:15 a.m. and landed just north of Fannie Bay at 3:30 a.m.   Tracy was so strong it bent a railway signal tower in half.    The city was devastated by the cyclone. At least 90 percent of homes in Darwin were demolished or badly damaged. Forty-five vessels in the harbor were wrecked or damaged.   In addition to the 65 people who died, 145 were admitted to the hospital with serious injuries.   Vegetation was damaged up to 80 kilometers away from the coast, and Darwin felt eerily quiet due to the lack of insect and birdlife.   Within a week after the cyclone hit, more than 30,000 Darwin residents had been evacuated by air or road. That's more than two-thirds of the population at that time.   Cyclone Tracy remains one of Australia's most significant disasters.   As Murphy wrote 10 years after the cyclone: "The impact of Cyclone Tracy has reached far beyond the limits of Darwin itself. All along the tropical coasts of northern Australia and beyond a new cyclone awareness has emerged."   Merry fucking Christmas! Damn, that sucks. The information in this section came from an article on abc.net.au   Next up, we are going way back. The Christmas Flood of 1717 resulted from a northwesterly storm, which hit the coastal area of the Netherlands, Germany, and Scandinavia on Christmas night of 1717. During the night of Christmas, 1717, the coastal regions of the Netherlands, Germany, and Scandinavia were hit by a severe north-western storm. It is estimated that 14,000 people died. It was the worst flood for four centuries and the last significant flood to hit the north of the Netherlands.   In the countryside to the north of the Netherlands, the water level rose up to a few meters. The city of Groningen rose up to a few feet. In the province of Groningen, villages that were situated directly behind the dikes were nearly swept away. Action had to be taken against looters who robbed houses and farms under the fraudulent act of rescuing the flood victims. In total, the flood caused 2,276 casualties in Groningen. 1,455 homes were either destroyed or suffered extensive damage. Most livestock was lost.   The water also poured into Amsterdam and Haarlem and the areas around Dokkum and Stavoren. Over 150 people died in Friesland alone. In addition, large sections of Northern Holland were left underwater and the area around Zwolle and Kampen. In these areas, the flood only caused material damage. In Vlieland, however, the sea poured over the dunes, almost entirely sweeping away the already-damaged village of West-Vlieland.   We also found this report from a German website. It's been translated, so our apologies if it's wonky.    "According to tradition, several days before Christmas, it had blown strong and sustained from the southwest. Shortly after sunset on Christmas Eve, the wind suddenly turned from west to northwest and eased a little. The majority of the residents went to bed unconcerned, because currently was half moon and the next regular flood would not occur until 7 a.m. At the time when the tide was supposed to have been low for a long time, however, a drop in the water level could not be determined. Allegedly between 1 and 2 a.m. the storm began to revive violently accompanied by lightning and thunder. Between 3 and 4 o'clock in the morning the water reached the top of the dike. The current and waves caused the dike caps to break, so that the tide rolled over the dike into the flat land with a loud roar of thunder. Many only had time to save themselves in the dark on the floor under the roof. Most of the time there was not even time to take clothes, drinking water and some food with you. Numerous houses could not withstand the rising water and the current. In the higher and higher water and the increasing current, windows were Doors and entire walls dented. Allegedly the hurricane and the storm surge raged against the coast for three full days, so that it was not until December 28 that the water fell so far that one could come to the aid of one's neighbors with simply built "boats." In many places, the dykes had been razed to the ground, which meant that in lower-lying areas, every regular flood caused renewed flooding. At the places where the dykes were broken, deep valleys, some of which were large, formed. In many places where the dike is led around in a semi-arch, these walls, also known as pools or bracken, are still visible and testify to the force of the water. At that time, many people are said to have believed that the march was forever lost. In the low-lying areas, the water was later covered with ice floes, sometimes held up for months. Up until the summer months, bodies were said to have been found repeatedly during the clean-up work on the alluvial piles of straw and in the trenches. Many people who survived the flood later fell victim to so-called marching fever. New storm surges in the following years ruined the efforts for the first time to get the dike back into a defensible condition, and many houses, which were initially only damaged, have now been completely destroyed. Numerous small owners left the country so that the Hanover government even issued a ban on emigration."   Looks like the Netherlands got a proper Christmas fucking as well! Some towns were so severely destroyed that nothing was left, and they simply ceased to exist. Damn.    Cyclones and floods… What else does mother nature have for us? Well, how's about an earthquake! On Friday, December 26, 2003, at 5:26 a.m., Bam city in Southeastern Iran was jolted by an earthquake registering a 6.5 magnitude on the Richter scale. This was the result of the strike-slip motion of the Bam fault, which runs through this area. The earthquake's epicenter was determined to be approximately six miles southwest of the city. Three more significant aftershocks and many smaller aftershocks were also recorded, the last of which occurred over a month after the main earthquake. To date, official death tolls have 26,271 fatalities, 9000 injured, and 525 still missing. The city of Bam is one of Iran's most ancient cities, dating back to 224A.D. Latest reports and damage estimates are approaching the area of $1.9 billion. A United Nations report estimated that about 90% of the city's buildings were 60%-100% damaged, while the remaining buildings were between 30%-60% damaged. The crazy part about the whole thing… The quake only lasted for about 8 seconds.   Now I know what you're thinking… That's not Christmas… Well, there spanky, the night of the 25th, Christmas, people started to feel minor tremors that would preface the quake, so fuck you, it counts.   We have one more natural disaster for you guys, and this one most of you guys probably remember. And this one was another that started last Christmas night and rolled into the 26th, also known as boxing day. So we're talking about the Boxing Day Tsunami and the Indian ocean earthquake in 2004.    A 9.1-magnitude earthquake—one of the largest ever recorded—ripped through an undersea fault in the Indian Ocean, propelling a massive column of water toward unsuspecting shores. The Boxing Day tsunami would be the deadliest in recorded history, taking a staggering 230,000 lives in a matter of hours.   The city of Banda Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra was closest to the powerful earthquake's epicenter, and the first waves arrived in just 20 minutes. It's nearly impossible to imagine the 100-foot roiling mountain of water that engulfed the coastal city of 320,000, instantly killing more than 100,000 men, women, and children. Buildings folded like houses of cards, trees, and cars were swept up in the oil-black rapids, and virtually no one caught in the deluge survived.   Thailand was next. With waves traveling 500 mph across the Indian Ocean, the tsunami hit the coastal provinces of Phang Nga and Phuket an hour and a half later. Despite the time-lapse, locals and tourists were utterly unaware of the imminent destruction. Curious beachgoers even wandered out among the oddly receding waves, only to be chased down by a churning wall of water. The death toll in Thailand was nearly 5,400, including 2,000 foreign tourists.   An hour later, on the opposite side of the Indian Ocean, the waves struck the southeastern coast of India near the city of Chennai, pushing debris-choked water kilometers inland and killing more than 10,000 people, primarily women and children, since many of the men were out fishing. But some of the worst devastations were reserved for the island nation of Sri Lanka, where more than 30,000 people were swept away by the waves and hundreds of thousands left homeless.   As proof of the record-breaking strength of the tsunami, the last victims of the Boxing Day disaster perished nearly eight hours later when swelling seas and rogue waves caught swimmers by surprise in South Africa, 5,000 miles from the quake's epicenter.   Vasily Titov is a tsunami researcher and forecaster with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Center for Tsunami Research. He credits the unsparing destructiveness of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami on the raw power of the earthquake that spawned it. The quake originated in a so-called megathrust fault, where heavy oceanic plates subduct beneath lighter continental plates.    "They are the largest faults in the world and they're all underwater," says Titov.   The 2004 quake ruptured a 900-mile stretch along the Indian and Australian plates 31 miles below the ocean floor. Rather than delivering one violent jolt, the earthquake lasted an unrelenting 10 minutes, releasing as much pent-up power as several thousand atomic bombs.   In the process, massive segments of the ocean floor were forced an estimated 30 or 40 meters (up to 130 feet) upward. The effect was like dropping the world's most giant pebble in the Indian Ocean with ripples the size of mountains extending out in all directions.   Titov emphasizes that tsunamis look nothing like the giant surfing break-style waves that many imagine.   "It's a wave, but from the observer's standpoint, you wouldn't recognize it as a wave," Titov says. "It's more like the ocean turns into a white water river and floods everything in its path."   Once caught in the raging waters, the debris will finish the job if the currents don't pull you under.   "In earthquakes, a certain number of people die but many more are injured. It's completely reversed with tsunamis," says Titov. "Almost no injuries, because it's such a difficult disaster to survive."   Holy fuck… That's insane!   Well, there are some crazy natural disasters gifted to us by mother nature. So now let's take a look at some man-made disasters… And there are some bad ones.    First up is the 1953 train wreck on Christmas Eve in New Zealand. So this is actually a mix of mother nature fucking people and a man-made structure failing. This event is also referred to as the Tangiwai disaster. The weather on Christmas Eve was fine, and with little recent rain, no one suspected flooding in the Whangaehu River. The river appeared normal when a goods train crossed the bridge around 7 p.m. What transformed the situation was the sudden release of approximately 2 million cubic meters of water from the crater lake of nearby Mt Ruapehu. A 6-meter-high wave containing water, ice, mud, and rocks surged, tsunami-like, down the Whangaehu River. Sometime between 10.10 and 10.15 p.m., this lahar struck the concrete pylons of the Tangiwai railway bridge.   Traveling at approximately 65 km per hour, locomotive Ka 949 and its train of nine carriages and two vans reached the severely weakened bridge at 10.21 p.m. As the bridge buckled beneath its weight, the engine plunged into the river, taking all five second-class carriages with it. The torrent force destroyed four of these carriages – those inside had little chance of survival.   The leading first-class carriage, Car Z, teetered on the edge of the ruined bridge for a few minutes before breaking free from the remaining three carriages and toppling into the river. It rolled downstream before coming to rest on a bank as the water level fell. Remarkably, 21 of the 22 passengers in this carriage survived. Evidence suggested that the locomotive driver, Charles Parker, had applied the emergency brakes some 200 m from the bridge, which prevented the last three carriages from ending up in the river and saved many lives. Even still, 151 of the 285 passengers and crew died that night in the crash.   This information was taken from nzhistory.gov.    Next up is the Italian Hall disaster.    Before it was called Calumet, the area was known as Red Jacket. And for many, it seemed to be ground zero for the sprawling copper mining operations that absorbed wave after wave of immigrants into the Upper Peninsula.   Red Jacket itself was a company town for the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company, a large firm that in the 1870s was known as the world's largest copper producer. For a time, C&H had the world's deepest copper mines.   But the company wasn't immune from the organized labor push that swept across the Keweenaw Peninsula and other parts of the U.P. in 1913. Miners in Montana and Colorado had unionized, and in July of that year, the Western Federation of Miners called a strike against all Copper Country mines. According to a mining journal published that year, they were pushing for a $3 daily wage, 8-hour days, safer working conditions, and representation.   "The strike took place in a very complicated time in American history," said Jo Holt, a historian with the National Park Service's Keweenaw National Historical Park. "We had all these different things coming together. An increasingly industrialized country was grappling with worker's rights, gender issues, and immigration. We were moving from a gilded age into a progressive era, and recognizing the voice of labor.   "We see this event happen in the midst of that struggle."   "The reason it resonates today is we are still having these conversations. How do we create a just economy that functions for everybody? ... We are still, almost hundred and 10 years later, in the midst of these conversations."   As the strike wore into fall and the holiday season, a women's auxiliary group to the WFM organized a Christmas Eve party for the miners' families at the Italian Benevolent Society building, better known as the Italian Hall.   It was a big, boisterous affair, researchers have said. The multi-story hall was packed, with more than 600 people inside at one point. Children were watching a play and receiving gifts. Organizers later said the crowd was so large that it was hard to track who was coming in the door.   When the false cry of "Fire!" went up, pandemonium reached the sole stairway leading down to the street.   "What happened is when people panicked, they tried to get out through the stairwell," Holt said. "Someone tripped or people started to fall, and that's what created the bottleneck. It was just people falling on top of each other."   The aftermath was horrifying. As the dead were pulled from the pile in the stairwell, the bodies were carried to the town hall, which turned into a makeshift morgue. Some families lost more than one child. Other children were orphaned when their parents died.   One black and white photo in the Michigan Technological University Archives shows rows of what looks like sleeping children lying side-by-side. Their eyes are closed. Their faces were unmarred. The caption reads: "Christmas Eve in the Morgue."   After the dead were buried, some families moved away. Others stayed and kept supporting the strike, which ended the following spring.   Rumors emerged later that the Italian Hall's doors were designed to open inward, preventing the panicked crowd from pushing them outward to the street. Those were debunked, along with the suggestion in Woody Guthrie's "1913 Massacre" song that mining company thugs were holding the doors shut from the outside that night.   Damn… Mostly kids. On Christmas. That's a tough one.   Here's another touchy one. A race riot erupted in Mayfield, Kentucky, just before Christmas 1896. Although slavery in the U.S. ended after the Civil War, the Reconstruction period and beyond was a dangerous time to be black. Things were awful for non-whites in the former Confederacy, amongst which Kentucky was especially bad for racial violence. In December 1896, white vigilantes lynched two black men within 24 hours of each other between the 21st and 22nd, one for a minor disagreement with a white man and the other, Jim Stone, for alleged rape. A note attached to Stone's swinging corpse warned black residents to get out of town.   In response to this unambiguous threat, the local African-American population armed themselves. Rumors spread amongst the town's white people that 250 men were marching on the city, and a state of emergency was called. The whites mobilized, black stores were vandalized, and fighting broke out between the two sides on December 23. In the event, three people were killed, including Will Suet, a black teenager who had just got off the train to spend Christmas with his family. It was all over on Christmas Eve, and a few days later, an uneasy truce between the races was called.   Ugh! Y'all know what time it is? That's right, it's time for some quick hitters.   Many of us enjoy the Christmas period by going to the theatre or watching a movie. In December 1903, Chicago residents were eager to do just that at the brand-new Iroquois Theatre, which had been officially opened only in October that year. 1700 people in all crammed themselves in to see the zany, family-friendly musical comedy, Mr. Bluebeard. But just as the wait was over and the show started, a single spark from a stage light lit the surrounding drapery. The show's star, Eddie Foy, tried to keep things together as Iroquois employees struggled to put the curtains out in vain.   However, even the spectacle of a Windy City-native in drag couldn't stop the terrified crowd stampeding for the few exits. These, preposterously, were concealed by curtains and utterly inadequate in number. When the actors opened their own exit door to escape, a gust of wind sent a fireball through the crowded theatre, meaning that hundreds died before the fire service was even called. 585 people died, either suffocated, burned alive, or crushed. The scene was described in a 1904 account as "worse than that pictured in the mind of Dante in his vision of the inferno". Next up, the politics behind this ghastly event are pretty complicated – one Mexican lecturer described the massacre as "the most complicated case in Mexico" – but here's an inadequate summary. The small and impoverished village of Acteal, Mexico, was home to Las Abejas (the bees'), a religious collective that sympathized with a rebel group opposing the Mexican government. Thus, on December 22, 1997, members of the then-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party crept down the steep hill slopes above the village. They chose their moment to attack carefully as people gathered at a prayer meeting when they finally slunk into Acteal.   Over the next few hours, assassins armed with guns executed 45 innocent people in cold blood. Amongst the dead were 21 women, some of whom were pregnant, and 15 children. Worst of all, investigations into this cowardly act seem to implicate the government itself. Soldiers garrisoned nearby did not intervene, despite being within earshot of the gunfire and horrified screams. In addition, there was evidence of the crime scene being tampered with by local police and government officials. Though some people have been convicted, there are suspicions that they were framed and that the real culprits remain at large.   -Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring… except the Soviet Union. The Marxist-Leninist Khalq and Parcham parties had ousted the Afghan president in April 1978. Still, communism was so unpopular in Afghanistan that the mujahideen succeeded in toppling them just over a year later. So Khalq and Parcham turned to the Soviet Union for help, and on Christmas Eve that year, they obliged by sending 30,000 troops across the border into Afghanistan by the cover of darkness. Bloody fighting ensued, and soon the Soviet Union had control of the major cities.   The Soviets stayed for nine years, at which time the mujahideen, backed by foreign support and weapons, waged a brutal guerrilla campaign against the invaders. In turn, captured mujahideen were executed, and entire villages and agricultural areas were razed to the ground. When the Soviets finally withdrew in February 1989, over 1 million civilians and almost 125,000 soldiers from both sides were killed. From the turmoil after the Afghan-Soviet War emerged, the Taliban, installed by neighboring Pakistan, and with them Osama bin Laden. This indeed was a black Christmas for the world.   -How about another race riot… No? Well, here you go anyway. Although, this one may be more fucked up. The Agana Race Riot saw black and white US Marines fight it out from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day, 1944. Guam was host to both black and white US Marines in 1944. But instead of fighting the enemy, the white troops elected to turn on the all-black Marine 25th Depot Company. First, the white Marines would stop their fellow soldiers from entering Agana, pelt them with rocks, and shout racist obscenities at them. Then, on Christmas Eve 1944, 9 members of the 25th on official leave were seen talking to local women, and white Marines opened fire on them. Then, on Christmas Day, 2 black soldiers were shot dead by drunken white Marines in separate incidents.   Guam's white Marines were decidedly short on festive cheer and goodwill to all men. Not content with these murders, a white mob attacked an African-American depot on Boxing Day, and a white soldier sustained an injury when the 25th returned fire. Sick of their treatment by their fellow soldiers, 40 black Marines gave chase to the retreating mob in a jeep, but further violence was prevented by a roadblock. Can you guess what happened next? Yep, the black soldiers were charged with unlawful assembly, rioting, and attempted murder, while the white soldiers were left to nurse their aching heads.   One more major one for you guys, and then we'll leave on a kind of happier note. This one's kind of rough. Be warned.    In late December 2008 and into January 2009, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) brutally killed more than 865 civilians and abducted at least 160 children in the northern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). LRA combatants hacked their victims to death with machetes or axes or crushed their skulls with clubs and heavy sticks. In some of the places where they attacked, few were left alive.   The worst attacks happened 48 hours over Christmas in locations some 160 miles apart in the Daruma, Duru, and Faradje areas of the Haut-Uele district of northern Congo. The LRA waited until the time of Christmas festivities on December 24 and 25 to carry out their devastating attacks, apparently choosing a moment when they would find the maximum number of people altogether. The killings occurred in the Congo and parts of southern Sudan, where similar weapons and tactics were used.   The Christmas massacres in Congo are part of a longstanding practice of horrific atrocities and abuse by the LRA. Before shifting its operations to the Congo in 2006, the LRA was based in Uganda and southern Sudan, where LRA combatants also killed, raped, and abducted thousands of civilians. When the LRA moved to Congo, its combatants initially refrained from targeting Congolese people. Still, in September 2008, the LRA began its first wave of attacks, apparently to punish local communities who had helped LRA defectors to escape. The first wave of attacks in September, together with the Christmas massacres, has led to the deaths of over 1,033 civilians and the abduction of at least 476 children.   LRA killings have not stopped since the Christmas massacres. Human Rights Watch receives regular reports of murders and abductions by the LRA, keeping civilians living in terror. According to the United Nations, over 140,000 people have fled their homes since late December 2008 to seek safety elsewhere. New attacks and the flight of civilians are reported weekly. People are frightened to gather together in some areas, believing that the LRA may choose these moments to strike, as they did with such devastating efficiency over Christmas.   Even by LRA standards, the Christmas massacres in the Congo were ruthless. LRA combatants struck quickly and quietly, surrounding their victims as they ate their Christmas meal in Batande village or gathered for a Christmas day concert in Faradje. In Mabando village, the LRA sought to maximize the death toll by luring their victims to a central place, playing the radio, and forcing their victims to sing songs and call for others to come to join the party. In most attacks, they tied up their victims, stripped them of their clothes, raped the women and girls, and then killed their victims by crushing their skulls. In two cases, the attackers tried to kill three-year-old toddlers by twisting off their heads. The few villagers who survived often did so because their assailants thought they were dead.   Yeah...so there's that. We could go much deeper into this incident, but we think you get the point.    We'll leave you with a story that is pretty bizarre when you stop and think about it. But we'll leave you with this story of an unlikely Christmas get-together. This is the story of the Christmas truce.    British machine gunner Bruce Bairnsfather, later a prominent cartoonist, wrote about it in his memoirs. Like most of his fellow infantrymen of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, he was spending the holiday eve shivering in the muck, trying to keep warm. He had spent a good part of the past few months fighting the Germans. And now, in a part of Belgium called Bois de Ploegsteert, he was crouched in a trench that stretched just three feet deep by three feet wide, his days and nights marked by an endless cycle of sleeplessness and fear, stale biscuits and cigarettes too wet to light.   "Here I was, in this horrible clay cavity," Bairnsfather wrote, "…miles and miles from home. Cold, wet through and covered with mud." There didn't "seem the slightest chance of leaving—except in an ambulance."   At about 10 p.m., Bairnsfather noticed a noise. "I listened," he recalled. "Away across the field, among the dark shadows beyond, I could hear the murmur of voices." He turned to a fellow soldier in his trench and said, "Do you hear the Boches [Germans] kicking up that racket over there?"   Yes," came the reply. "They've been at it some time!"   The Germans were singing carols, as it was Christmas Eve. In the darkness, some of the British soldiers began to sing back. "Suddenly," Bairnsfather recalled, "we heard a confused shouting from the other side. We all stopped to listen. The shout came again." The voice was from an enemy soldier, speaking in English with a strong German accent. He was saying, "Come over here."   One of the British sergeants answered: "You come half-way. I come half-way."   In the years to come, what happened next would stun the world and make history. Enemy soldiers began to climb nervously out of their trenches and meet in the barbed-wire-filled "No Man's Land" that separated the armies. Typically, the British and Germans communicated across No Man's Land with streaking bullets, with only occasional gentlemanly allowances to collect the dead unmolested. But now, there were handshakes and words of kindness. The soldiers traded songs, tobacco, and wine, joining in a spontaneous holiday party in the cold night. Bairnsfather could not believe his eyes. "Here they were—the actual, practical soldiers of the German army. There was not an atom of hate on either side."   And it wasn't confined to that one battlefield. Starting on Christmas Eve, small pockets of French, German, Belgian, and British troops held impromptu cease-fires across the Western Front, with reports of some on the Eastern Front as well. Some accounts suggest a few of these unofficial truces remained in effect for days.   Descriptions of the Christmas Truce appear in numerous diaries and letters of the time. One British soldier, a rifleman, named J. Reading, wrote a letter home to his wife describing his holiday experience in 1914: "My company happened to be in the firing line on Christmas eve, and it was my turn…to go into a ruined house and remain there until 6:30 on Christmas morning. During the early part of the morning the Germans started singing and shouting, all in good English. They shouted out: 'Are you the Rifle Brigade; have you a spare bottle; if so we will come halfway and you come the other half.'"   "Later on in the day they came towards us," Reading described. "And our chaps went out to meet them…I shook hands with some of them, and they gave us cigarettes and cigars. We did not fire that day, and everything was so quiet it seemed like a dream."   Another British soldier, named John Ferguson, recalled it this way: "Here we were laughing and chatting to men whom only a few hours before we were trying to kill!"   Other diaries and letters describe German soldiers using candles to light Christmas trees around their trenches. One German infantryman described how a British soldier set up a makeshift barbershop, charging Germans a few cigarettes each for a haircut. Other accounts describe vivid scenes of men helping enemy soldiers collect their dead, of which there was plenty.   One British fighter named Ernie Williams later described in an interview his recollection of some makeshift soccer play on what turned out to be an icy pitch: "The ball appeared from somewhere, I don't know where... They made up some goals and one fellow went in goal and then it was just a general kick-about. I should think there were about a couple of hundred taking part."   German Lieutenant Kurt Zehmisch of the 134 Saxons Infantry, a schoolteacher who spoke both English and German, described a pick-up soccer game in his diary, which was discovered in an attic near Leipzig in 1999, written in an archaic German form of shorthand. "Eventually the English brought a soccer ball from their trenches, and pretty soon, a lively game ensued," he wrote. "How marvelously wonderful, yet how strange it was. The English officers felt the same way about it. Thus Christmas, the celebration of Love, managed to bring mortal enemies together as friends for a time."   So much more can be said about this event, but that seems like an excellent place to leave off this Christmas episode! And yes, when you really do stop and think about it… That's a pretty crazy yet fantastic thing.   Greatest disaster movies of all time   https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-greatest-disaster-movies-of-all-time

christmas love american black children lord chicago australia english starting action mexico british americans land french germany colorado fire reading australian german new zealand tennessee south santa south africa african americans congress afghanistan indian kentucky iran cold mexican stone union disasters republicans south carolina christmas eve enemy sick louisiana thailand sons netherlands democrats civil war amsterdam curious montana rumors soldiers doors marine united nations democratic belgium fuck pakistan constitution christmas day frankenstein uganda taliban knights bureau massacre soviet union sri lanka congo bloody marines amendment forty afghan belgians sudan republican party malta ka leipzig no man krampus holt buildings bam richter reconstruction miners laden organizers boxing day allegedly numerous bois scandinavia windy city mayfield guam democratic republic us marines confederacy osama indian ocean soviets kampen ku klux klan national park service western front human rights watch klan groningen chennai battalion northern territory hanover john kennedy meteorology congolese woody guthrie morgue andrew johnson sumatra phuket upper peninsula bluebeard national oceanic haarlem iroquois friesland pulaski zwolle christmas truce fraternities eastern front calumet congo drc duru atmospheric administration noaa lra john ferguson klansmen wfm daruma east point nathan bedford forrest c h boxing day tsunami red jacket christmas well banda aceh charles parker john lester dokkum richard reed invisible empire keweenaw peninsula mt ruapehu cyclone tracy one british civil war reconstruction jim stone cyclop agana acteal institutional revolutionary party white brotherhood
History, Politics and Beer
Special Election Edition #8: Reconstruction..."A Moment in the Sun"

History, Politics and Beer

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 22, 2021 48:23


Matt and Jeff finish their discussion on Civil War Reconstruction and ponder a "What if?" of history.

Speak Your Piece: a podcast about Utah's history
Season 2, Ep. 3 (Part 2 of 4) Leo Lyman's Deep Dive into the “Sausage Making” of Utah's Statehood

Speak Your Piece: a podcast about Utah's history

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 13, 2020 30:56


Podcast Content for Part 2 of 4: Concerning Utah's statehood story, the oft heard quote comes to mind, attributed to German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, who said: “laws and sausage, if they are to be enjoyed, should never be watched made.” Lyman's well written book argues for the opposite: knowing the stories behind political actions are essential to a vibrant and strong democracy.  Lyman's “sausage making” history which spans over fifty year in 19th century Utah and the United States, reveals many significant historical insights useful to both modern Utahns and Americans.  It is also a complex, elusive story, that has been largely untold until now.Podcast #2 of 4 - Topics Discussed Utah's Christian churches are closely connected with national Christian missionary and anti-Mormon efforts and organizations.Salt Lake Tribune feeds news reports to a broader national syndicated press; the nation's press is largely unified in its anti-polygamy coverage. George Q. Cannon's mastery of federal legislative and executive branch lobbying is described.  Church leaders and territorial leaders support the LDS Church's First Presidency creating a “Committee for Statehood,” essentially a closed group made-up of the LDS Church First Presidency, tasked with quietly strategizing and negotiating, behind the scenes in Washington, D.C., for Utah statehood.Committee for Statehood work with and paid America's railroad lobbyists (including Leland Stanford of California); the lobby represented the largest more powerful industry in American society during the second half of the 19th century.Railroad lobbyists execute a nationwide public relations campaign, working with newspaper syndicates, powerful publishers and editors, paying them for a “more balanced” treatment in America's larger regional newspapers; it focuses on Utah's people, its industries and the territory's good faith efforts at becoming “Americans,” and thus qualifying for statehood. LDS Church leaders call for a complete public ban of speaking about polygamy; over the pulpit and especially in the church's General Conference (this is not entirely successful). Railroad, national mining and industry leaders, Wall Street, want Utah's statehood issue resolved, to aid in foreign and national investments and business expansion across the Intermountain West.  Former Washington lobbyist and son of Brigham Young John W. Young, developed close ties with the national Democratic Party, and business and corporate leaders; however the Committee for Statehood see Young's expenses growing high, and his “returns” too few; instead, the Committee for Statehood turns to the national Republican Party, based on advice from the railroad lobby.Utah native son, Isaac Trumbo, who was a California lobbyist and involved in the Eureka, Utah Bullen Beck Mine, and various other Utah industries begins working—along with others including Alex Bodlem—in lobbying and persuading key national Republican leaders, concerning Utah's interests, as not so far from those held by national Republican Party.In the 4th quarter of the 19th century the Republican Party became less ideologically inclined, focusing instead on industry and business interests, pushing for protectionist tariffs in support of American commodities and industry. The Party turn incrementally away from being “America's moral police,” thus surrendering efforts at post-Civil War Reconstruction in the South, offering less Anti-Roman Catholic rhetoric, and fighting less for the eradication of Mormon polygamy. Utah 1880s and 1890s political landscape is described with the People's Party (largely the Mormon Church party) and the Liberal Party (largely non-Mormons and former Mormons' party).

Tepper Reads
Tepper Reads Fall 2020 Podcast #4 - Dr. Rich Purcell

Tepper Reads

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 12, 2020 31:28


Dr. Rich Purcell is an Associate Professor of English at Carnegie Mellon University, as well as Director of the Literary and Cultural Studies Program. In this episode we talk about a day in the life of an English faculty member, post-Civil War Reconstruction in the U.S., voting rights, changing the pop culture narrative, inclusive, democratic leadership, and confronting our past and the literal and figurative bones beneath our feet.

Notes From The Pen
Episode 32 - 13th Amendment; Prison Slavery And Other Listener Questions

Notes From The Pen

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 2, 2020 52:36


In addition to Bobby talking about forced labor behind bars...he also addresses the distress or uneasiness of mind caused by the fear of the institutional hammer coming down on his head at any moment. As Bobby says, "living the LOP life". The guys also answer more viewer questions. If you thought slavery was abolished with the 13th Amendment you'd be wrong! Slavery is alive and well in America, just ask any prisoner. "ROOTS OF FORCED LABOR Forced labor in prisons has its roots in the post-Civil War Reconstruction period, when Southern planters faced the need to pay the labor force that had long worked for free under brutal conditions to produce the economic capital of the South. Though the 13th Amendment abolished “involuntary servitude,” it excused forcible labor as punishment for those convicted of crimes. As a result, Southern states codified punitive laws, known as the Black Codes, to arbitrarily criminalize the activity of their former slaves. Loitering and congregating after dark, among other innocuous activities, suddenly became criminal. Arrest and conviction bound these alleged criminals to terms of incarceration, often sentenced to unpaid labor for wealthy plantation owners." You can read more about Bobby and prison reform on our website: notesfromthepen.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/NotesFromThePen You can also find us on the following podcast platforms: Anchor Apple Podcasts Breaker Google Podcasts Radio Public Spotify Stitcher For those who’ve asked about helping with donations, please go to our website above for more info.

We the People
Founding Stories of America’s Founding Documents

We the People

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 10, 2020 43:44


Constitution Day— the anniversary of the signing of the Constitution on September 17th, 1787—is next week! As we look forward to Constitution Day, this week’s episode shares founding stories of America’s founding documents from three key periods: the Declaration of Independence and the Revolution, the Founding era, and post-Civil War Reconstruction, sometimes referred to as the “second founding.” Renowned teachers of the Constitution, Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and professor Kurt Lash, tell the stories of: Thomas Paine’s Common Sense: the power of words and a single person to change the course of American history Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration of Independence, and how Jefferson’s words may have impacted abolition James Madison’s rejection of the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798 and how it may have influenced abolitionists' fight for the freedom of formerly enslaved people like Joshua Glover The creation of the Electoral College The story of the adoption of the 14th amendment from different perspectives The debate over whether the Constitution is pro or anti-slavery What unites us in how we understand the story of our Constitution Tune into the NCC’s Constitution Day programming next Thursday! See the schedule here: https://constitutioncenter.org/learn/civic-calendar/constitution-day-civic-holiday

We The People
Founding Stories of America’s Founding Documents

We The People

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 10, 2020 43:44


Constitution Day— the anniversary of the signing of the Constitution on September 17th, 1787—is next week! As we look forward to Constitution Day, this week’s episode shares founding stories of America’s founding documents from three key periods: the Declaration of Independence and the Revolution, the Founding era, and post-Civil War Reconstruction, sometimes referred to as the “second founding.” Renowned teachers of the Constitution, Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and professor Kurt Lash, tell the stories of: Thomas Paine’s Common Sense: the power of words and a single person to change the course of American history Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration of Independence, and how Jefferson’s words may have impacted abolition James Madison’s rejection of the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798 and how it may have influenced abolitionists' fight for the freedom of formerly enslaved people like Joshua Glover The creation of the Electoral College The story of the adoption of the 14th amendment from different perspectives The debate over whether the Constitution is pro or anti-slavery What unites us in how we understand the story of our Constitution Tune into the NCC’s Constitution Day programming next Thursday! See the schedule here: https://constitutioncenter.org/learn/civic-calendar/constitution-day-civic-holiday

James True
#094 – Ku-Klux Kountry

James True

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 30, 2020 68:40


The origins of the Ku Klux Klan and Civil War Reconstruction and it’s similarities to Antifa and Black Lives Matter today.

Uchronia 101 - History Lessons Within Parallel Timelines
What If Post US Civil War Reconstruction Was A Success Part 4 - Ghosts of the South

Uchronia 101 - History Lessons Within Parallel Timelines

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 24, 2020 30:00


Here we are...the end of our 4 part series, What If Post US Civil War Reconstruction Was A Success!  The Reconstruction era was the period in American history which lasted from 1863 to 1877. It was a significant chapter in the history of American civil rights.  Reconstruction ended the remnants of Confederate secession and abolished slavery, making the newly freed slaves citizens with civil rights ostensibly guaranteed by three new constitutional amendments We highly recommend that you download parts 1, 2 and 3 before listening to part 4Find out more about History's What If PodcastWebsiteFacebookInstagramTwitter

Uchronia 101 - History Lessons Within Parallel Timelines
What If Post US Civil War Reconstruction Was A Success Part 3 - President Frederick Douglass

Uchronia 101 - History Lessons Within Parallel Timelines

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 17, 2020 56:12


The Reconstruction era was the period in American history which lasted from 1863 to 1877. It was a significant chapter in the history of American civil rights.  Reconstruction ended the remnants of Confederate secession and abolished slavery, making the newly freed slaves citizens with civil rights ostensibly guaranteed by three new constitutional amendments.This episode, Jerry Landry of Presidencies of the United States podcast joins us as we continue reviewing this parallel time with Part 3 - President Frederick Douglass For more information about Jerry and the Presidencies of the United StatesWebsite Facebook Instagram TwitterThe PBS documentary mentioned about reconstitution in our current timelineFind out more about History's What If PodcastWebsiteFacebookInstagramTwitter

Uchronia 101 - History Lessons Within Parallel Timelines
What If Post US Civil War Reconstruction Was A Success Part 2 - The Impeachment & Removal of President Johnson

Uchronia 101 - History Lessons Within Parallel Timelines

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 10, 2020 25:55


The Reconstruction era was the period in American history which lasted from 1863 to 1877. It was a significant chapter in the history of American civil rights.  Reconstruction ended the remnants of Confederate secession and abolished slavery, making the newly freed slaves citizens with civil rights ostensibly guaranteed by three new constitutional amendments.This episode we continue reviewing this parallel time with the The Impeachment & Removal of President JohnsonThe PBS documentary mentioned about reconstitution in our current timelineFind out more about History's What If PodcastWebsiteFacebookInstagramTwitter

Uchronia 101 - History Lessons Within Parallel Timelines
What If Post US Civil War Reconstruction Was A Success Part 1 - 1863 - 1867

Uchronia 101 - History Lessons Within Parallel Timelines

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2020 37:04


The Reconstruction era was the period in American history which lasted from 1863 to 1877. It was a significant chapter in the history of American civil rights.  Reconstruction ended the remnants of Confederate secession and abolished slavery, making the newly freed slaves citizens with civil rights ostensibly guaranteed by three new constitutional amendments.Most agree that reconstruction was America's greatest missed opportunities. Thankfully, with the help of PUG, during Black History month, was are going to explore reconstitution in a 4 part series called What If Post US Civil War Reconstruction Was A SuccessThe PBS documentary mentioned about reconstitution in our current timelineFind out more about History's What If PodcastWebsiteFacebookInstagramTwitter

WPKN Community Radio
Reconstruction, Reparations and the struggle ahead: an interview with Prof. Gerald Horne

WPKN Community Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 13, 2019 52:28


The Resistance panel interviews Dr. Gerald Horne, author and professor of African American Studies at the University of Houston, about lessons to be learned from the Civil War Reconstruction and the national conversation about reparations for slavery. Panel: Scott Harris, Richard Hill, Ruthanne Baumgartner

WIDU - Inspiration & Information
Conversation on the N.C. Civil War & Reconstruction History Center Part 6

WIDU - Inspiration & Information

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 6, 2019 22:13


This is part 6 of 6 in the discussion on the N.C. Civil War & Reconstruction History Center here in Fayetteville, NC.

WIDU - Inspiration & Information
Conversation on the N.C. Civil War & Reconstruction History Center Part 5

WIDU - Inspiration & Information

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 6, 2019 25:56


This is part 5 of 6 in the discussion on the N.C. Civil War & Reconstruction History Center here in Fayetteville, NC.

WIDU - Inspiration & Information
Conversation on the N.C. Civil War & Reconstruction History Center Part 4

WIDU - Inspiration & Information

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 6, 2019 28:02


This is part 4 of 6 in the discussion on the N.C. Civil War & Reconstruction History Center here in Fayetteville, NC.

WIDU - Inspiration & Information
Conversation on the N.C. Civil War & Reconstruction History Center Part 3

WIDU - Inspiration & Information

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 6, 2019 22:44


This is part 3 of 6 in the discussion on the N.C. Civil War & Reconstruction History Center here in Fayetteville, NC.

WIDU - Inspiration & Information
Conversation on the N.C. Civil War & Reconstruction History Center Part 2

WIDU - Inspiration & Information

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 6, 2019 22:45


This is part 2 of 6 in the discussion on the N.C. Civil War & Reconstruction History Center here in Fayetteville, NC.

WIDU - Inspiration & Information
Conversation on the N.C. Civil War & Reconstruction History Center Part 1

WIDU - Inspiration & Information

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 6, 2019 28:31


This is part 1 of 6 in the discussion on the N.C. Civil War & Reconstruction History Center here in Fayetteville, NC.

ALL SIDERIS PODCAST
Colossians - Civil War Reconstruction - Audio

ALL SIDERIS PODCAST

Play Episode Listen Later May 12, 2019 43:16


How does the Christ reconcile you to God and make you able to sit once again in his full presence?

god jesus christ civil war colossians reconciliation reconcile blood of jesus scripture: colossians 1:21-1:23 civil war reconstruction series: colossians part#3
Tides of History
The Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Gilded Age: An Interview with Stanford's Professor Richard White

Tides of History

Play Episode Listen Later May 2, 2019 47:54


The Civil War and its decades-long aftermath continue to define American life well into the twenty-first century. Today we chat with Stanford's Professor Richard White, author of The Republic For Which It Stands: The United States During Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896, to get a grip on this pivotal and under-discussed era of history.You can listen to the back catalog of Tides of History, completely ad-free, only on Stitcher Premium. For a free month of Stitcher Premium, go to stitcherpremium.com/wondery and use promo code WONDERY.Support this show by supporting our sponsors! Simplisafe - Go to SimpliSafe.com/TIDES to get started today.Cayman Jack - Cayman Jack provides premium prepared cocktails for those with good taste and little time. Find Cayman Jack at a store near you by visiting caymanjack.com. Please drink responsibly. Premium malt beverage. American Vintage Beverage Co. Chicago, Illinois.Roman - Go online and get checked at GetRoman.com/TIDES

UNAPOLOGETIC: A Black Love Manifesto
S1:E5 - Eb & J on Politics: Black Liberation Now & Other Ish!

UNAPOLOGETIC: A Black Love Manifesto

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 19, 2016 47:14


E5 - Politics: Black Liberation Now & Other Ish! Today’s episode we take up just some of the issues that impact Black politics and liberation. This one is a bit meandering, but stay with us as we take up the following topics and more: Clay v. United States/Muhammad Ali Conscientious Objection Supreme Court case, Fredrick Douglass, Richard Allen, Benjamin Banneker, 2016 Roots Mini-series, Laverne Cox, Black Alliance for Just Immigration, (post Civil War) Reconstruction, Underground Series, Amistad “Give us, us free!”, Victoria, Guyana, privilege, Laith Ashley, Trans Women of Color Collective, Oligopoly, Oligarchy, Million Man March, Hotep, Rachel Dolezal, Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, India.Arie/”I am not My Hair”, Beyonce Clothing Line and Slave Labor Accusations, and Collar Bones.

Nostalgia Trap
Nostalgia Trap - Episode 41: Eric Foner

Nostalgia Trap

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 25, 2015 55:04


Professor Eric Foner is a leading contemporary historian, whose work focuses on American political history, shifting notions of freedom and liberty, and (perhaps most famously) on the period of post-Civil War Reconstruction. He spoke about growing up in a politically-active family (both his father and uncle were blacklisted American historians), and told me about his encounters and interactions with figures from Paul Robeson and W.E.B. DuBois to Richard Hofstadter, Herbert Gutman, and Eugene Genovese. We also talked about the origins of his historical methodology, his thoughts on contemporary politics, and his latest book, Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad.

Creating Wealth Real Estate Investing with Jason Hartman
CW 281: Do-It-Yourself Property Management Strategies & Evaluating the Real Estate Investment Market in Birmingham Alabama

Creating Wealth Real Estate Investing with Jason Hartman

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 9, 2012 56:52


Jason Hartman has his mom back on the show to discuss her DIY property management/self-management strategies and one of her tenants who has occupying a property for 23 years - no vacancy! Then Jason interviews his Birmingham, Alabama Local Market Specialist (LMS) and talks to a caller/listener with some good real estate investing questions.Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia on this market:Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. The city's population was 212,237 according to the 2010 United States Census. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area had a population of about 1,128,047 according to the 2010 Census, which is approximately one-quarter of Alabama's population. Birmingham was founded in 1871, during the post-Civil War Reconstruction period, through the merger of three pre-existing farm towns, notably, former Elyton. It grew from there, annexing many more of its smaller neighbors, into an industrial and railroad transportation center with a focus on mining, the iron and steel industry, and railroading. Birmingham was named for Birmingham, one of the major industrial cities of the United Kingdom. Many, if not most, of the original settlers who founded Birmingham were of English ancestry. In one writer's view, the city was planned as a place where cheap, non-unionized, and African-American labor from rural Alabama could be employed in the city's steel mills and blast furnaces, giving it a competitive advantage over industrial cities in the Midwest and Northeast.From its founding through the end of the 1960s, Birmingham was a primary industrial center of the South. The pace of Birmingham's growth during the period from 1881 through 1920 earned its nicknames The Magic City andThe Pittsburgh of the South. Much like Pittsburgh, Birmingham's major industries were iron and steel production, plus a major component of the railroading industry, where rails and railroad cars were both manufactured in Birmingham. In the field of railroading, the two primary hubs of railroading in the Deep South were nearby Atlanta and Birmingham, beginning in the 1860s and continuing through to the present day. The economy diversified during the later half of the twentieth century. Though the manufacturing industry maintains a strong presence in Birmingham, other businesses and industries such as banking, telecommunications, transportation, electrical power transmission, medical care, college education, and insurance have risen in stature. Mining in the Birmingham area is no longer a major industry with the exception of coal mining. Birmingham ranks as one of the most important business centers in the Southeastern United States and is also one of the largest banking centers in the United States. In addition, the Birmingham area serves as headquarters to one Fortune 500 company:Regions Financial. Five Fortune 1000 companies are headquartered in Birmingham. In the field of college and university education, Birmingham has been the location of the University of Alabama School of Medicine (formerly known as the Medical College of Alabama) and the University of Alabama School of Dentistry since 1947, and since that time, it has also become provided with the University of Alabama at Birmingham (founded circa 1969), one of three main campuses of the University of Alabama, and also with the private Birmingham-Southern College. Between these two universities and Samford University, the Birmingham area has major colleges of medicine, dentistry, optometry, pharmacy, law, engineering, and nursing. Birmingham is home to three of the state's five law schools: Cumberland School of Law, Birmingham School of Law, and Miles Law School. Birmingham is also the headquarters of the Southeastern Conference, one of the major U.S. collegiate athletic conferences.

High Noon Lecture Series
February 23, 2011 - Railroads, Race and Remembrance: Greenville Post-Civil War Reconstruction

High Noon Lecture Series

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 27, 2012 46:10


Shotguns and Sugar
S1 E5 Post Civil War Reconstruction on the World Stage

Shotguns and Sugar

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 31, 1969 14:12


Although Europe largely panned the process of reconstructing the south after the Civil War, the end of the war had a broad based significant impact throughout the World. This podcast describes key elements of this influence. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/shotguns-and-sugar/donations

world civil war world stage civil war reconstruction