The American Tapestry Project

You probably know the names Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, but what exactly did they do? You might not know the names Lydia Maria Child, Margaret Fuller, Elizabeth Miller Smith, Amelia Bloomer, Sarah and Angelina Grimke, Elizabeth Blackwell, Sojourner Truth, Lucy Stone, Carrie Chapman Catt, Frances Willard, Mary Church Terrell, Anna Howard Shaw, Ida B. Wells, and Alice Paul – but you should. In this first of a multi-part series “The Birth of the Women’s Movement”, The American Tapestry Project examines the life and times of those 19th century women who fought for women's rights by appealing to America's foundational values. In doing so, they changed the world and shaped the future.

In this second episode of a two-part series on the life and times of Irving Berlin, The American Tapestry Project asks “What are the Top Ten Irving Berlin Songs NOT Named “White Christmas” or “God Bless America”. Hear the songs and learn their backstories as we continue exploring the life, times, and music of an American icon – Irving Berlin.

This episode of The American Tapestry Project begins a two-part series on the life and times of Irving Berlin – The American Songbook and the invention of American popular music culture. In Part One we’ll meet Berlin, discover his immigrant heritage, his experiences on Tin Pan Alley, on Broadway, and in Hollywood musicals as his music sings of America. Meet Irving Berlin and hear the sounds of “American pop” being born on The American Tapestry Project

This episode of American Tapestry is part 2 to a collaboration with WQLN's We Question & Learn. Narrated by Dr. Andrew Roth featuring and educational and most entertaining program entitled 'A Caroling We Will Go.'

You can find part 1 here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/we-question-and-learn/episodes/A-Caroling-We-Will-Go-Pt--1-e2bllbg

This episode of The American Tapestry Project explores things Americans love – holidays! How many holidays do Americans celebrate? Where did they originate? In Harvest Festivals, we begin that exploration by examining Halloween’s roots in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, check out one or two Halloween songs and then ask “When was the first Thanksgiving”? What actually happened at Plymouth Plantation in 1622? Who were Sarah Josepha Hale, sometimes called the “Mother of Thanksgiving” and Lydia Maria Child – two women who helped define how Americans celebrate? And concludes by asking “Why is Thanksgiving in late Novemeber?” and listening to a reading of Child’s “Over the woods to grandfather’s house we go”. “All this and more” on The American Tapestry Project.

In this fifth episode of The American Tapestry Project’s “Americans and Their Games: Sports in American History and Culture” we examine the immigrant experience in America through the lens of sports. Picking up from Part 4, we meet the rise of Jewish and Italian boxers like Max Baer and Rocky Marciano in the earlu 20th century and New Americans like Martina Navratilova, Charles Jock, and Patrick Ewing in the 21st century, as we continue to explore how sports has been an assimilationist path into American society for generations of new American immigrants.

In this fourth episode of The American Tapestry Project’s “Americans and Their Games: Sports in American History and Culture” we examine the immigrant experience in America through the lens of sports. From Irish and German immigrants dominating baseball in the 19th century to the rise of Jewish and Italian boxers like Max Baer and Rocky Marciano in the 20th century to Martina Navratilova, Charles Jock, and Patrick Ewing in the 21st century, we’ll explore how sports has been an assimilationist path into American society for generations of new American immigrants. That’s in Episode #37 of The American Tapestry Project.

In this third episode of The American Tapestry Project’s “Americans and Their Games: Sports in American History and Culture” we examine the quest for women’s rights through the lens of sports. From Catharine Beecher in the 19th century advocating physical education for girls through the New Woman at the turn of the 20th century to Babe Didrickson Zaharias and Althea Gibson pre-Title IX to 1972’s Title IX’s epoch shaking transformation of women’s sports to todays’s Women’s World Cup we’ll trace the interconnectedness of women’s sports and women’s quest for political and legal equality. That’s in Episode #36 of The American Tapestry Project.

This episode of The American Tapestry Project explores how Americans celebrate freedom through holidays and music. Who was Francis Scott Key and why did he write “The Defence of Fort McHenry” and how did that become “The Star-Spangled Banner”? Which child of immigrants wrote “Stars and Stripes Forever” and “The Washington Post March”? Which other immigrant wrote “God Bless America”? And who was “the Yankee Doodle Dandy” who wrote “It’s a Grand Old Flag”? And who was Katharine Lee Bates, the poet Boston.com called “a gay, feminist badass from Massachusetts” who wrote “America the Beautiful”? Like they say on the late night infomercials, ‘all this and more’ as we explore American patriotic music and the freedom of which it sings – American freedom holidays on The American Tapestry Project.

In this second episode of The American Tapestry Project’s “Americans and Their Games: Sports in American History and Culture” we examine the experience of the Indigenous People and African Americans through the lens of those first excluded’s struggle for inclusion in the Story of America. We’ll discover lacrosse’s origins, meet Jim Thorpe, learn about the great Black jockeys who won 7 of the first 8 Kentucky Derby’s, meet Jack Johnson, and trace the story of minorities fighting for inclusion through the pathway of sports from pre-Civil War American down to the 21st century. That’s in Episode #35 of The American Tapestry Project.

In this episode The American Tapestry Project begins a new series – “Americans and Their Games: Sports in American History and Culture”. Why are Americans so passionate about sports? What does their sports passion tell us about the American Story? What impact did sports have on minority civil rights, women’s quest for equality, and the assimilation of immigrants into American culture? And, just how big a business is the business of sports? “All this and more”, as they say on late night TV, on Episode 34 of The American Tapestry Project.

This episode of The American Tapestry Project revisits that uniquely American art form – baseball music. From 1858’s “The Baseball Polka” to the Dropkick Murphy’s 21st century punk rock recreation of the Boston Red Sox’s “Tessie”, we’ll hear the music and learn the backstory behind some classic American tunes celebrating America’s grand old game – baseball. “All this and more”, as they say on late night TV, on Episode 33 of The American Tapestry Project.

The struggle for full participation in American society continues by all Americans continues – from the ongoing effort to ensure equal access to voting for all Americans to the role of sports in American history and culture as an engine of social progress. This episode explores “Our Unfinished March” in seeking equal access to the ballot and “Passion Plays” about how religion shaped American sports and American sports shaped American culture

What’s the hardest job in the world? Is it the American presidency? With four or five Baby Boomer presidents, as the internet meme “OK Boomer” implies, did the Boomers, as some claim, break America? All these questions explored (if not answered) in Episode 30 of The American Tapestry Project.

Seeking to create a unified American culture, in the early and mid-19th century Americans created their own fashion for celebrating Christmas – The American Way of Christmas. In this episode we explore that creation and the folks who made it – Washington Irving, Clement Clarke Moore, Charles Dickens, Sarah Josepha Hale, and Thomas Nast. Ho, ho, ho -- all this and more” on Episode 29 of The American Tapestry Project.

This episode reprises The American Tapestry Project’s exploration of Christmas music as A-caroling We Will Go, looking into the history of American Christmas carols – both religious and festive. What was the first American carol? Is it true “Jingle Bells” was written as a drinking song for hot rodding sleigh racers? How is it that many of the iconic American Christmas songs were written by Jewish artists. Yes, a-caroling we will go discovering the back story to many of America’s best loved Christmas songs. All this and more” on Episode 28 of The American Tapestry Project.

In this episode we chat with St. Bonaventure University historian Phil Payne about how he became a historian, what’s the difference between commemoration and history, how and why the President of the United States became the avatar of all of American cultures; hopes and fears!

In this episode The American Tapestry Project  we chat with Chris Magoc about his book A Progressive History of American Democracy Since 1945: American Dreams, Hard Realities. We’ll discover the Freedom Train, hear Sam Cooke sing “A Change is Gonna Come” and learn what Jackson Browne thought about ‘60s rebels become ‘80s Yuppies. That’s this week on The American Tapestry Project Episode #26

In this episode of The American Tapestry Project asks “Who owns history?” Building on the work of Eric Foner, this episode explores the current hullabaloo about what constitutes “accurate” American history and who gets to decide and why. Who owns history -- on The American Tapestry Project Episode #26.

In this episode The American Tapestry Project examines patriotic American poetry. We ask who is a patriot, what does patriotism mean, what have America’s poets said about an open-eyed American patriotism? We’ll hear what Whitman, Howe, McKay, Longfellow, Sandburg and many others past and present understood about patriotism American style. One if by land, two if by sea said Paul Revere! Whether by land or sea, that’s on The American Tapestry Project Episode #24.

What are the American Tapestry meta-threads – stories of exclusion and inclusion. Who was Antonin Dvorak? Who was Harry Burleigh? Burleigh was Dvorak’s student. Dvorak wrote the American Tapestry theme – String Quartet #12 in F major – the “American”. Burleigh was his student, collated most of the great African American spirituals and made them a key component of American culture. This episode shares it all and like they say on the late night infomercials, ‘all this and more’ as we explore the American Story on The American Tapestry Project.

Celebrating Freedom

This episode, which first aired in July, 2021, asks “Who was Francis Scott Key and why did he write ‘The Defence of Fort McHenry’ and how did that become ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’”? Which child of immigrants wrote “Stars and Stripes Forever” and “The Washington Post March”? Which other immigrant wrote “God Bless America”? And who was “the Yankee Doodle Dandy” who wrote “It’s a Grand Old Flag”? And who was Katharine Lee Bates, the poet Boston.com called “a gay, feminist badass from Massachusetts” who wrote “America the Beautiful”? Like they say on the late night infomercials, ‘all this and more’ as we explore American patriotic music and the freedom of which it sings – American freedom holidays on The American Tapestry Project.

This episode of The American Tapestry Project explores that uniquely American art form – baseball music. From 1858’s “The Baseball Polka” to the Dropkick Murphy’s 21st century punk rock recreation of the Boston Red Sox’s “Tessie”, we’ll hear the music and learn the backstory behind some classic American tunes celebrating America’s grand old game – baseball. “All this and more”, as they say on late night TV, on Episode 22 of The American Tapestry Project.

This episode of The American Tapestry Project explores the story of Benjamin Franklin – Hiding in Plain Sight. We’ll explore and ask “who was this man whose name you probably know as well as your own but about whom you probably know very little at all? We’ll ask and answer “who was this son of an immigrant candle maker and his wife, who, born into obscurity, upon his death was one of the most famous men in the world? “All this and more”, as they say on late night TV, on Episode 20 of The American Tapestry Project.

This episode of The American Tapestry Project celebrates Women’s History Month by telling the stories of four 19th century women who changed America. Tune in and meet Margaret Fuller, Sarah Josepha Hale and Lydia Maria Child. Never heard of them? All the more reason to hear their stories and how they prepared the way for the modern American woman. Fuller, Hale, Stone and Child – four names you need to know! “All this and more”, as they say on late night TV, on Episode 20 of The American Tapestry Project.

This episode of The American Tapestry Project continues exploring those things Americans love in common – holidays!  In this episode we look at the history of New Year’s celebrations, ask why champagne, where did New Year’s resolutions begin, are there any great New Year’s tunes, who was Robert Burns and what does Auld Lang Syne mean, where did it originate and what is its definitive version? All this and more” on Episode 18 of The American Tapestry Project.

This episode of The American Tapestry Project continues exploring those things Americans love in common – holidays!  Today we’re going caroling looking into the history of American Christmas carols – both religious and festive. What was the first American carol? Is it true “Jingle Bells” was written as a drinking song for hot-rodding sleigh racers? How is it that many of the iconic American Christmas songs were written by Jewish artists. Yes, a-caroling we will go discovering the back story to many of America’s best loved Christmas songs. All this and more” on Episode 17 of The American Tapestry Project.

This episode of The American Tapestry Project begins a series exploring those things Americans love in common – holidays! How many holidays do Americans celebrate? Where did they originate? In Harvest  Festivals, we begin that exploration by examining Halloween’s roots in  the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, check out one or two Halloween songs and then ask “When was the first Thanksgiving”? What actually happened at Plymouth Plantation in 1622? Who were Sarah Josepha Hale, sometimes called the “Mother of Thanksgiving” and Lydia Maria Child –  two women who helped define how Americans celebrate? And concludes by asking “Why is Thanksgiving in late November?” and listening to a  reading of Child’s “Over the woods to grandfather’s house we go”. “All this and more” on Episode 16 of The American Tapestry Project.

This episode of The American Tapestry Project concludes our  exploration of  Protest Songs – that music of the excluded showing the  truth of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s exhortation that “the greatness  of America is the right to protest for rights”. We’ll ask, “Was Bob  Dylan  a protest singer?” He rejected that title long ago, yet several his  songs are still among the greatest protest songs of the 20th century.  We’ll discover who the girl from the north country was, hear selections  from Dylan’s songs conclude by asking “If Bob Dylan wasn’t a protest  singer, might he still be our generation’s greatest poet?” Along the way  we’ll preview the Jefferson Educational Society’s upcoming Global  Summit XIII highlighted by former President George W. Bush. Like they  say on the late-night infomercials, ‘all this and more’ as we explore  protest music and the music of Bob Dylan on The American Tapestry Project.

This episode of The American Tapestry Project continues our exploration of Protest Songs – that music of the excluded demonstrating the truth of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s exhortation that “the greatness of America is the right to protest for rights”. We’ll explore the music of the women’s movement then pivot to the Civil Rights Movement’s antecedents in gospel music and anti-slavery abolitionist music before asking who were the great Black artists singing songs of freedom seeking civil rights. Finally, we’ll hear a clip from the song many consider the greatest protest song of all time. Like they say on the late night infomercials, ‘all this and more’ as we explore American patriotic music and the freedom of which it sings – American freedom holidays on The American Tapestry Project.

This episode of The American Tapestry Project is the first of three exploring Protest Songs – that music of the excluded demonstrating the truth of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s exhortation that “the greatness of America is the right to protest for rights”. We’ll explore what is protest music, its global origins and examples from Beethoven’s celebration of the rights of man in the 9th Symphony’s “Ode to Joy” and Irish songs of rebellion, but we’ll focus on American protest music from “Yankee Doodle” to abolitionist songs to labor anthems to the great Civil Rights songs of mid-20th century America to anti-war songs during the Viet Nam War era down to today and songs seeking racial justice. Like they say on the late night infomercials, ‘all this and more’ as we explore American patriotic music and the freedom of which it sings – American freedom holidays on The American Tapestry Project.

This episode of The American Tapestry Project is the second of two exploring how Americans celebrate freedom through holidays and music. Who was Francis Scott Key and why did he write “The Defence of Fort McHenry” and how did that become “The Star-Spangled Banner”? Which child of immigrants wrote “Stars and Stripes Forever” and “The Washington Post March”? Which other immigrant wrote “God Bless America”? And who was “the Yankee Doodle Dandy” who wrote “It’s a Grand Old Flag”? And who was Katharine Lee Bates, the poet Boston.com called “a gay, feminist badass from Massachusetts” who wrote “America the Beautiful”? Like they say on the late night infomercials, ‘all this and more’ as we explore American patriotic music and the freedom of which it sings – American freedom holidays on The American Tapestry Project.

This episode of The American Tapestry Project is the first of  two exploring how Americans celebrate freedom through holidays and  music. What was Decoration Day and how did it become Memorial Day? What  Longfellow poem defined the day? Why did Julia Ward Howe write The  Battle Hymn of the Republic and what was the origin of Taps? What happened on June 19, 1865 and how did it evolve into Juneteenth? How do Swing Low Sweet Chariot and Lift Every Voice and Sing shine a light on  Juneteenth? Finally, before The Star-Spangled Banner what was the American national anthem?

We’ll rediscover Hail Columbia, America (My Country Tis of Thee) and Yankee Doodle as we chart how Americans  celebrate the Fourth of July. Music and the freedom of which it sings – American freedom holidays on The American Tapestry Project.

This episode of The American Tapestry Project continues our exploration of how Americans weave the common objects of their love into the fabric of their national story through the things they celebrate, the games they play and sometimes the politics they forget. We’ll meet more Unsung American heroes – people who changed America who you might not know. Who was Ann Reeves Jarvis and her daughter Anna Maria Jarvis and what did they have to do with Mother’s Day? Who was Sonora Smart Dodd and Marian McQuade? Everyone knows Jackie Robinson, but who were Larry Doby, William Clarence Matthews and Moses “Fleetwood” Walker? Who was  Ed Abbaticchio? And, although he’s scarcely unsung, who was Henry Clay and what was his “The American System”?

We’ll begin with Henry Clay’s “The American System” which invented the business model upon which America was built. Then we’ll switch to Freedom’s Faultlines and The Immigrant’s Tale exploring baseball, segregation & immigration. And, since this program first airs on Mothers’ Day, we’ll conclude with a detailed look into the origins of those venerable American holidays – Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Grandparent’s Day.

Who was Irene Morgan Kirkaldy? John Stark? Frances Perkins? Or, more famously, Levi Strauss? This episode of The American Tapestry Project explores yet another new thread in the stories of how Americans weave the common objects of their love into the fabric of their national story by introducing you to some Unsung American Heroes. The Cambridge Dictionary defines unsung as “not noticed or praised for hard work, courage or great achievements”. An unsung hero does great deeds but receives little or no recognition for them.

We’ll begin correcting that by telling you their story and the contribution they made to America’s tapestry of stories from Fred Harvey to Elizabeth Peratrovich, from Sergey Brin to Lydia Maria Child. While we’re at it, we’ll also answer listener questions about some books of interest behind the series: Jill Lepore’s The Case for the Nation, Joseph Ellis’ His Excellency and John Lewis Gaddis’ The Landscape of History.

How many holidays do Americans celebrate? 256! That’s probably a low count based only on those listed by timeanddate.com. American holidays range from the mega-famous to the obscure, from Christmas and Thanksgiving to August 21st Senior Citizens Day, from July 4th to Colorado’s Francis Xavier Cabrini Day.

This episode of The American Tapestry Project explores a new thread in the stories of how Americans weave the common objects of their love into the national fabric by examining American holidays.  First airing on March 14th with St. Patrick’s Day following in three days, we’ll launch our journey through America’s holidays by perusing America’s many ethnic holidays as a nation of immigrants celebrates their origins. We’ll study in some detail St. Patrick’s Day, Juneteenth and Columbus Day and a number of other vital but less famous ethnic celebrations, such as National Tartan Day, Leif Erikson Day and St. David’s Day. While were at it, we’ll begin the episode by also answering listener questions about books of interest behind the series.

Continuing our weaving of The American Tapestry Project, today, searching for the “common objects of our love”, we’ll examine America’s great diversity in three classic American songs – Irving Berlin’s God Bless America, Woody Guthrie’s This Land Is Your Land and James Weldon Johnson’s Lift Every Voice and Sing. We’ll also ask whatever happened to Washington’s Birthday and what is the Uniform Monday Holiday Act that created Presidents Day? Speaking of Washington’s birthday, in a mini-bio we’ll examine George Washington, the man whose name everyone knows and about whom most know nothing at all beyond he could not tell a lie (he could) and he chopped down a cherry tree (he didn’t). Whose view of Washington is correct – the 1776 Project Report that says he is “a peerless hero” or the San Francisco Board of Education, who, scorning him, removed his name from a school building? (Hint – neither; he is both greater and more complicated than either seem to understand).

The American Tapestry Project: We Tell Ourselves Stories concludes in Episode #6: The Immigrant’s Tale and The Fusion Thread. ‘The Immigrant’s Tale’ explores the history of immigration to America from John Smith and John Winthrop in the 17th century to the Irish and Catholic Germans in the mid-19th century to the great influx of southern and Eastern Europeans  in the late 19th/early 20th centuries to the post-1965 surge in Asian, African and Latino immigration with side stops examining the meaning of “citizenship”, evolving immigration law and a look at the Know Nothings of the 19th century and their 21st century white nationalist cousins. The series concludes with The Fusion Thread – Roth’s sense of the “American Story” as the interwoven threads of American ideals (freedom, equality & opportunity), the ongoing experiment in self-government and the ever-expanding definition of “We” in our founding documents, as in “We the People…”

Tracing the story of The American Dream: Success Stories, Horatio Alger and a Nation of ‘Hustlers, Episode 5 of The American Tapestry Project analyzes the tension between two stories: our Jeffersonian sense of ourselves as yeoman farmers living in small towns versus the reality that we live in Alexander Hamilton’s world of high finance, manufacturing and entrepreneurial zeal.

In addition to such famous success stories as John D. Rockefeller and Jeff Bezos, we’ll also encounter African-American entrepreneurs Annie Malone and Pennsylvanian Stephen Smith. We’ll examine the American-created self-improvement industry beginning with Benjamin Franklin proceeding through Dale Carnegie to Joel Osteen and the success-gospel.

If Americans hustle, in the sense of work hard, which they do, some are also “hustlers” who know how to cut a corner. We’ll meet P.T. Barnum and Tom Thumb, William Thompson – the original Confidence-Man who gave us the expression “Con-Man” – and we’ll ask “Why is The Godfather so enduringly popular? It’s all here in Episode 5: The American Dream: Success Stories, Horatio Alger and a Nation of ‘Hustlers’.

Freedom’s Fault Lines: Tales of Race and Gender explores the stories of race (black, brown, red and white) in America and women’s quest for full citizenship. From Jamestown 1619 to the Naturalization Act of 1790 limiting citizenship to “any…free white person” to The Trail of Tears to the Civil War; from The Lost Cause, Jim Crow, the Klu Klux Klan and the Civil Rights Movement of the middle-twentieth century to Steve Bannon and Breitbart News to Black Lives Matter and the Washington Redskins & Cleveland Indians changing their names; from Abigail Adams request that the founders “remember the ladies” to Seneca Falls to the 19th Amendment and Second Wave Feminism and Hilary Clinton winning the presidential popular vote by almost three million votes – it’s all here: Freedom’s Faultlines: Stories of Race and Genderas Americans continually struggled with one another about who was excluded, who was included in “We the People…”

What is the story of American freedom? What is the paradox at its heart vexing us from the start and into tomorrow? How many ways has it been defined? Who did the defining? Who did it include; who did it exclude? What does freedom mean? What does liberty mean? What is the American Creed and what truths did Franklin – yes, Franklin, not Jefferson – say were “self-evident”? What is Lincoln’s government “of the people, by the people, for the people”? What is American exceptionalism? American universalism? And why did Thomas Paine say “We have it to begin the world anew”. What does it mean to be “as a City Upon a Hill”? What is Manifest Destiny? Why did American’s think it their moral duty to make the world safe for democracy, to be evangelists for democracy, freedom and liberty? What are FDR’s Four Freedoms?

The story of American Freedom at Home & Abroad abounds with fundamental questions and unforgettable characters as Americans continue to answer Crevecoeur’s ‘What is this American’?

Why are stories important? Humans seek meaning by asking questions. Where did we come from? Who are we? Where are we going? Humans are also storytellers. Asking questions and telling stories in reply are how humans make sense of their experience. As Joan Didion said, “We tell ourselves stories in order to live”.

The American Tapestry Project explores Americans; sense making and story-telling as they negotiate the passage to now since 1968, when Smithsonian magazine said “America shattered”. What shattered? The American story, or the consensus that there ever was such a thing. If the story shattered, so too did the culture. The ensuing culture wars so famously declared by Pat Buchanan at the 1992 Republican Convention contest whose story will define the culture, who will define freedom at home and abroad; who will define freedom’s Fault lines; who will define the American dream; who will define the immigrant’s tale; who will decide who is excluded, who is included in “We the People…”

If 1968 was the year of ‘the far side of the moon & the birth of the culture wars’, it was also the year, according to Smithsonian magazine, “The American Story” shattered. This first of a multi-part series The American Tapestry Project about America’s tribal tales & culture wars anchors the series in  “The ‘60s” shattering of American norms: post-1968’s politics as angry  theater, identarian politics (Black Power, Women’s Liberation, Chicano,  Asian & Gay Rights), the libertarian sexual revolution, New Age  Religion, the counter-culture and a music drenched, media saturated  society in search of itself. 1968 – the year some call the worst year in  modern American history – suffered political assassinations, riots in  the streets, women on the march for equality, the War in Vietnam, the  Poor Peoples Campaign, the full blooming of the sexual revolution, the  counterculture’s “turn on, tune in, drop out” and music, music, music.  As they say on Madison Avenue, ‘all this and more’!