Episode 53: Robert Smalls & the Death of Lincoln: A Civil War Story

We're taking "the cutting room floor" to a new level. Rachel and I go over all the stories we couldn't fit into "The Real Forrest Gump" story.  Enjoy this new series and a full conversation, including Josh Norton: The Emperor of the United States. 

Before there was a movie, there was a man who lived it. We all know the story of the accidental hero who wandered through history, rubbing elbows with presidents and changing the world by mistake. But what if that story wasn't fiction? In this episode, we trace the impossible footsteps of a figure who defined the 19th century.Follow the journey of a man who: Survived the rugged Oregon Trail during the height of the expansion. Navigated the treacherous Mississippi as a high-stakes steamboat captain. Chased a fortune as a silver and gold miner in the wild West. Crossed the Atlantic Ocean six times, becoming one of the first true global celebrities. Revolutionized modern life by inventing and patenting the everyday bra strap clasp. He wasn't just a witness to history—he was the one writing it. Join us as we peel back the layers of a life so cinematic, it’s hard to believe he was ever real. You might think you know who we’re talking about, but the final destination is a name you’d never expect to find sitting on that bench.

In 1894 Jacob Coxey decided to take thousands of unemployed and March on Washington. Well, that was just the prequel to 1964 March for Civil Rights. But it's how A. Philip Randolph was indoctrinated to the idea. And crazily this store involves both Mark Twain and Jack London, in addition to Pullman Porters, the Ferris Wheel, Eugene V Debs, the May Day Riots, Frederick Douglass, and even the Statue of Liberty.  

The word Hello showed up just as the world was changing . . . in the absolute biggest ways ever. Nothing was the same after "Hello". In this episode we cross paths with Michigan J Frog, Tin Pan Alley, the Phonograph, Western Union, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Alexander Graham Bell, Scott Joplin, the telephone operator, Thomas Edison and J. N. Pattison.

Can you imagine a group running on perfect communism, flourishing in the capitalist market and then eventually spawning the Patriot Missile - to fight actual Communists. And it happened twice. In this episode we cross paths with Quaker Oatmeal, microwave popcorn, Vennevar Bush, the Amana Colonies, Oneida Silverware, Bob Hope and Raytheon. 

Somewhere along the way, we lost the truth. The questions we ask about the truth haven't been the same since Orson Welles' War of the World's Broadcast in 1938, but that doesn't mean we haven't stopped trying. In this episode we cross paths with William Moulton Marston, Alice Guy-Blache, Frye Vs The United States, John Houseman, Alan Turing, The Shadow, Wonder Woman, Artificial Intelligence, FDR, IBM and Orson Welles. 

In today’s episode we’re discussing three of the history's most amazing "status symbol" stories. The story involves the Silk Road, Sulieman the Magnificent, Tulipomania, Carolus Clusius, Chuck Berry, Christopher Columbus, Henry Ford, James Dole, Madame C.J. Walker, and Mahalia Jackson. 

In this episode we explore Simon & Garfunkel, Louis Braille, Charles Barbier, Valentin Haüy and René-Jus Haüy, Marvel Comics, Popular Science Magazine, Plato and even George Washington. How the world has fought Darkness has been pretty amazing . . . and crazily it's all because of one family 

This is the story of Edward Lloyd and his London Coffee Shop . . . and how they were able to change the world. Amazingly this story touches on the New York Stock Exchange, Bruce Springsteen, George Lucas, Lorenzo de Tonti, the Origin of the Tontine, Robert Louis Stevenson, Lloyds of London and Rosa Parks. Be prepared to be amazed. 

The 1890 closing of the Frontier by the US Census Bureau is a major milestone in the history of the United States. The outcome of that change affected the mindset of the Americans. . . and from that comes some of our most loved fiction. But on the flip side, also the darkest stain on the United States. In this episode we cross paths with Thomas Jefferson, Johnny Weissmuller, Edgar Rice Burroughs, H.G. Wells, Frank Munsey, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., the Great Chicago Fire, and Davy Crockett