Episode 1: March 7-13

In this bonus episode of How We Got Here, we take a look back at the day President Abraham Lincoln visited Richmond. On April 4, 1865, just two days after Confederate troops evacuated the city, President Lincoln and his son Tad visited the still smoldering ruins of the South’s former Capital. Mike Gorman with the Richmond National Battlefield Park takes us through this bizarre and unprecedented day when the President known as the great emancipator walked the streets of Richmond.

In this bonus episode of How We Got Here - we go behind the sounds with Host Rachel DePompa, Executive Producer Colten Weekley and Digital Director Kate Albright to dive deep into how we made this season. You’ll hear about some of our favorite guests and which segments really stuck with us.

In this episode of How We Got Here - the early days of Thomas Jefferson. While much of the focus on Jefferson’s life turns to his later years, we dive into what is known about juvenile Jefferson and how experiences as a boy molded him into the man he became. Plus, a tribute to the lives lost in the Virginia Tech mass shooting.

In this episode of How We Got Here - Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. What you don’t know about the 90-minute meeting that signaled the end of the Civil War. Plus – born enslaved in Virginia, Booker T. Washington used his experience to shine an early light on civil rights and lay the groundwork for those who followed. And the legacy of Pocahontas in Virginia, whose story was enshrined by white colonists and corporations.

In this episode of How We Got Here - the burning of Richmond. Confederates fleeing the city aimed to set fire to warehouses, but Mother Nature had different plans that April day in 1865. Plus – how the 10th President of the United States rose up through the political sphere in Virginia before becoming known as “His Accidency” in the Oval Office. Finally, how women in Virginia fought inflation and food prices as their families starved. How the “Bread Riots” of the Civil War came raging into Richmond.

In this episode of How We Got Here - the famous plea for independence that Patrick Henry gave from a pew inside a church that still stands today. Plus, how an enslaved man in Richmond hid as cargo to try and find freedom, earning him the nickname Henry ‘Box’ Brown. Finally, we take you back 400 years to an attack on colonists in Virginia on Good Friday. How the Powhatan Indians could have ended Britain’s North American experiment once and for all.

In this episode of How We Got Here - The birth of James Madison. Learn how the father of the Constitution was shaped by his early years at Montpelier and his contemporaries that included fellow Virginian Thomas Jefferson. Plus, the privileged, youthful Frenchman who sailed to the defense of a fledgling nation – only to play a crucial role in the bloodshed on Virginia soil. Why the Marquis de Lafayette was out for revenge against the British.

In this episode of How We Got Here - the birth of the ironclad. From the depths of the Chesapeake Bay rose a former Union warship that the Confederacy would craft into a juggernaut, unlike anything the world had seen. Plus, the rise and fall of Circuit City, the electronics retail giant that got its start along West Broad Street in Richmond.

Season 6 launches on Monday, March 7. How We Got Here, presented by NBC12 in Richmond, Virginia, is a podcast highlighting Virginia’s rich history, one week at a time.

In this bonus episode of How We Got Here - we go behind the sounds with Host Rachel DePompa, Executive Producer Colten Weekley and Digital Director Kate Albright to dive deep into how we made this season. You’ll hear about some of our favorite guests and which segments really stuck with us.