American History Hit

A far-right hate group known the world over, the Ku Klux Klan emerged in the aftermath of the Civil War. So why did it emerge? Where did it get its name from? And how has its size, focus and influence changed in the years since?

To demystify this terrorist organisation, Don spoke to Professor Kristofer Allerfeldt from the University of Exeter, England. Kristofer is the author of 'The Ku Klux Klan: An American History'.

Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Anisha Deva...

Inaugurated into the thick of secession and assassinated just weeks after Confederate surrender, there is no separating the story of Abraham Lincoln from the Civil War.

So in this second part of our series on Lincoln, Don speaks to Adam Smith about Lincoln's leadership of the Union army during the war.

Adam is a professor at the University of Oxford and Director of their Rothermere American Institute...

In July 1860, half a century after the importation of captive slaves was banned under federal law, a ship docked in Alabama carrying around 110 enslaved people.

To find out who was still engaging in the Atlantic slave trade, how these people were forced onto the Clotilda and what happened to them after landing in the United States, Don speaks to Hannah Durkin.

Hannah is the author of 'Survivors: The Lost Stories of the Last Captives of the Atlantic Slave Trade'...

When it comes to US Presidents, it’s not easy to agree on much these days. But one thing that has remained consistent is the man widely considered to be the best president in history: Abraham Lincoln.

In this first episode of our three part series, we're finding out about Lincoln's rise to power and key policies as the President of the United States...

The Cold War, Prohibition, the Gold Rush, the Space Race. Every part of your life - the words you speak, the ideas you share - can be traced to our history, but how well do you really know the stories that made America? We'll take you to the events, the times and the people that shaped our nation. And we'll show you how our history affected them, their families and affects you today. Hosted by Lindsay Graham (not the Senator)...

On February 18th, 1965, the University of Cambridge hosted one of the most legendary debates in history. Author James Baldwin and conservative intellectual William F. Buckley Jr took to the floor to discuss whether the American Dream was achievable only at the expense of black Americans.

To find out more about this debate, often overshadowed by other significant civil rights events of the same era, Don speaks to Nicholas Buccola...

On 23 June 1972, a man boarded American Airlines Flight 119 in St Louis. He sat most of the way to Tulsa before donning a wig and a pair of gloves in the restroom, taking out a gun and handing a member of the cabin crew a note.

'Don't panic. This is a ransom hijacking.'

To find out more about this man, what he hoped to gain from his crimes, and how he and others were inspired by D.B. Cooper, Don speaks to John Wigger...

The city of Tulsa is perhaps best known in history books for the events of 1921. In 36 hours, hundreds of residents of the Greenwood district were murdered and more than 30 blocks of housing and businesses were razed to the ground.

In this episode, Don is with Victor Luckerson to go beyond the story of that one day in Tulsa...

From 1857 to 1861, James Buchanan held the office of President of the United States. It was a pivotal moment in the history of America, a bitterly divided nation that would very soon descend to its darkest depths during the Civil War...

From financial to conspiratorial to sexual, the words 'Clinton' and 'scandal' are regularly found in each others' vicinities. But why?

Don is talking to Professor Peter Ling today to take us back to before Bill Clinton became president, before Monica Lewinsky became a household name, to find out about the scandals that have lurked in the Clintons' shadows.

Peter, from the University of Nottingham, is working on a study of presidential scandals from Watergate to Trump...