Our American Stories

On this episode of Our American Stories, Ron Brown grew up in Chicago and lost contact with his father at a young age. Over time, the absence became permanent, and he eventually came to believe his father had died. But after Ron appeared on  Family Feud  and introduced himself on air, his father, who was still alive and watching, recognized him. He followed the details shared during the...

On this episode of Our American Stories, at a funeral home in Iowa, a number of urns had gone unclaimed for years, with no clear path back to family. Lanae Strovers was asked to try to track someone down, but many of the names led nowhere or to people who could not take them. Instead of leaving them there, she arranged the burials herself and made sure each person was treated with care. Here&rsquo...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Jackie Robinson didn’t plan to make history. He only wanted to play ball. But in a country that had barred Black baseball players for more than sixty years, that simple dream came with impossible expectations. After a short stint in the Negro Leagues in Kansas City, he became the first to cross into the majors, carrying not only a bat but the burden o...

On this episode of Our American Stories, in May 1862, Robert Smalls carried out a daring escape from slavery in Charleston Harbor. Forced to work aboard the Confederate ship Planter , he learned its routes and the signals required to pass the harbor’s defenses. When the officers left the ship one night, Smalls stepped into their place and guided the vessel past Confederate guns toward the Un...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Dennis Peterson, our regular contributor from South Carolina, reflects on his grandmother and the role grandparents play in the lives of their grandchildren, remembering a set of hands that carried the weight of a family and offered comfort when it mattered most, even while dealing with painful arthritis. Support the show ( https://www.ouramericanstories.co...

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before the Muppets became a part of American television, Jim Henson was experimenting with a camera and a homemade puppet that would eventually become Kermit the Frog. He saw something others missed: a way to use television to give a puppet a sense of life. As his work found its way onto more screens, the Muppets became a familiar part of life across t...

On this episode of Our American Stories, in November 1863, Abraham Lincoln arrived in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, just months after one of the bloodiest battles in American history. What he saw there, the devastation, the loss, and the sacrifice, would shape the words he was about to deliver. At just 269 words, the Gettysburg Address would go on to become one of the most famous speeches in history....

On this episode of Our American Stories, before Devon Westhill became the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, he learned the meaning of perseverance from the woman who raised him. His mother faced poverty, long hours, and the weight of raising a family on her own in rural Florida. Yet through every setback, she refused to let her children see defeat. Her sto...

On this episode of Our American Stories, the week of April 1865 brought both the end of the Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. At Ford’s Theatre on Good Friday, a senior Washington police superintendent, largely forgotten to history, named A.C. Richards witnessed John Wilkes Booth enter the presidential box and fire the shot that would kill the nation’s leader. Ford&rs...

On this episode of Our American Stories, after RMS Titanic  struck an iceberg on April 14, 1912, two young men spent the next 160 minutes sending frantic distress calls across the North Atlantic to anyone who could hear them. Their names were Jack Phillips and Harold Bride. They kept working as the ship took on water, using one of the most advanced communication systems of its time to reach n...

On this episode of Our American Stories, while sitting in grad school, Hank Brown decided he’d had enough and signed up for the Navy. Within days, he was on his way to Vietnam, flying missions as a forward air controller during the early years of the war. Former Colorado Senator Hank Brown shares his journey to the front lines of the Vietnam War and what he learned from it all. Support the s...

On this episode of Our American Stories, during the Vietnam War, then 20-year-old Jon Hovde was nearly killed when his vehicle struck an anti-tank mine. Doctors didn’t expect him to survive, but that day Jon made three promises to God. What happened next would shape the rest of his life and inspire the people back home who knew him best. Linda, from Jon’s hometown of Fertile, Minnesota...

On this episode of Our American Stories, most people know how Abraham Lincoln died. The assassination in 1865, carried out by John Wilkes Booth, is one of the most well-known moments in American history. What people don’t usually hear is what happened after he died. A group of counterfeiters in Chicago came up with a plan to steal Abraham Lincoln’s body from his tomb and hold it for ra...

On this episode of Our American Stories, when people hear the name Butch Cassidy, they usually think of Paul Newman in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid , the classic 1969 film that turned two outlaws into near folk heroes. But long before the movie, a different reputation was taking shape in the American West. Wild West historian and Our American Stories regular contributor Roger McGrath traces...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Kevin Briggs’ job is talking people off a ledge, or more specifically, the Golden Gate Bridge’s ledge. Here’s Kevin to share how he has saved more than two hundred people from taking their own lives by asking a simple question: “How are you doing?” Kevin shares the story of why he does what he does. Support the show ( https://w...

On this episode of Our American Stories, in July 1864, the Battle of Monocacy became one of the most important Civil War battles that many Americans have never heard of. Fought near Monocacy Junction in Maryland, it ended in a Union loss. Even so, the stand there delayed Confederate General Jubal Early long enough to help save Washington, D.C., from a far more dangerous attack. Mark Leepson, autho...

On this episode of Our American Stories, while in prison for preaching without a license, John Bunyan wrote what would become one of the most influential works in English literature: The Pilgrim’s Progress , a book telling the story of a man fleeing the City of Destruction and searching for salvation as he travels toward the Celestial City. As copies made their way to the New World, it becam...

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the early 1800s, as the American frontier pushed west, a small group of trappers and traders began moving through the Rocky Mountains, learning the land long before most Americans ever saw it. Thomas Fitzpatrick was one of the most important among them. After losing his parents at a young age, Fitzpatrick headed west and built a life in the fur trade, ea...

On this episode of Our American Stories, in April 1865, just days after the Civil War ended, Abraham Lincoln experienced what many described as one of the happiest periods of his life. The war was coming to a close, and Lincoln’s schedule reflected a shift toward rebuilding the nation. However, during what was supposed to be a relaxing night at the theater, John Wilkes Booth carried out the...

On this episode of Our American Stories, before he was known as a country music artist, Jelly Roll had a record that included multiple arrests and time behind bars. Years later, after turning his life around and using his music to help others facing the same struggles, his story entered Tennessee’s pardon process. That process brought his case before Governor Bill Lee. But when Lee spoke abo...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Colin Bettles, an  Our American Stories  listener from Australia, had never heard of buffalo wings until a trip to upstate New York in the early 1990s. One plate was enough. The tender chicken, the heat of the sauce, and the cool bite of blue cheese made it love at first bite, and sparked a lifelong pursuit. From discovering the dish’s roots...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Nala Ray was an early success story on OnlyFans, building a large following and earning significant income as the platform was still evolving. Over time, she began to feel a growing disconnect between her life online and who she wanted to be. Despite her lucrative career, she stepped away and turned her focus toward redefining her relationship with God. Nal...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Doug and Mary Ketchum moved to Tennessee to open a liquor store, only to run into a state residency law that blocked them from getting a license. What followed was a long legal battle that reached the Supreme Court, raising questions about constitutional law and whether states can limit who is allowed to run a business within their borders. For our  Ru...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Brian Wilson didn’t record “Good Vibrations” the way most songs were made at the time. He built it section by section, using different studios and techniques to create a new kind of sound. The result pushed the boundaries of pop music and influenced the evolution of rock. For our  Story of a Song  series, our own Greg Hengler sha...

On this episode of Our American Stories, during the American Civil War, inventor Richard Gatling set out to solve a problem he believed defined modern warfare: too many soldiers were dying not only in battle, but from disease in overcrowded armies. His solution was the Gatling gun, a hand-cranked, rapid-fire weapon capable of firing hundreds of rounds per minute. It would reshape how wars would be...