History

National

How The Activism Of Stonewall Transformed Into The Fight Against AIDS

4:20pm June 28, 2019

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with journalist and filmmaker David France about how Stonewall gave rise to a new kind of activism in the gay community, which helped them tackle the AIDS crisis.

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Stonewall spurred the first Pride parade.

National

Why We Remember Stonewall

9:16am June 28, 2019

The Stonewall Inn is a sacred place for many in the LGBTQ community. Fifty years ago, a raid and series of riots outside the New York City bar helped launch a civil rights movement.

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Politics & Government

Presidential Debate History: Did George Washington Participate In A Debate?

8:59am June 27, 2019

NPR's Noel King talks to columnist and commentator Cokie Roberts, who answers listener questions about the history of presidential debates.

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Marchers at a candlelight vigil in San Francisco, Calif., carry a banner to call attention to the continuing battle against AIDS on May 29, 1989. The city was home to the nation's first AIDS special care unit. The unit, which opened in 1983, is the subjec

1st AIDS Ward '5B' Fought To Give Patients Compassionate Care, Dignified Deaths

2:48pm June 26, 2019

by Terry Gross

A new documentary tells the story of America's first inpatient unit dedicated to the care of people with AIDS. Nurse Cliff Morrison helped create 5B in 1983, and worked on it with Dr. Paul Volberding.

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Chronicling The LGBT Rights Movement Since The Stonewall Riots

6:23am June 25, 2019

Fifty years ago, a police raid on a New York City gay bar spiraled into two nights of violence. It's considered a galvanizing moment for the American LGBT rights movement.

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A bowl of tsampa flour pictured with other dishes in a typical Tibetan lunch. Counterclockwise from left: potatoes in turmeric and cumin; liangfen; mung bean jelly and spring onions with cilantro, triple-fried in red chili pepper; and black tea. To make <

Tsampa: The Tibetan Cereal That Helped Spark An Uprising

7:00am June 23, 2019

by Susie Neilson

This roasted barley flour has been a Tibetan staple for centuries. When China annexed Tibet in the 1950s, tsampa became a rallying point for the resistance. But will it catch on in America?

March 1950: Louis Armstrong plays trumpet in his dressing room before a show in New York.

Satchmo In His Adolescence: 1915 Film Clip May Show Young Louis Armstrong

1:38pm June 22, 2019

Music historian James Karst explains his recent research into the early life of the legendary Louis Armstrong.

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Singer Anita Bryant (right) is led to the voting booth at her Miami Beach polling place by volunteer Leah Dezen in 1977. Bryant was the leader of the opposition group Save Our Children, whose members pushed for the repeal of a gay-rights ordinance in Miam

The Culture Wars Live On Between The LGBTQ Rights Movement And The Religious Right

10:12pm June 20, 2019

by Leila Fadel

An uprising around a New York bar, Stonewall Inn, 50 years ago sparked a movement pushing for LGBTQ civil rights. The success of that movement saw a powerful backlash from the modern religious right.

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Original artwork created for the series by Al Smith.

Wade In The Water: An Introduction

3:17pm June 20, 2019

Produced in 1994 by NPR and the Smithsonian Institution, Wade in the Water is a 26-part documentary series detailing the history of American gospel music and its impact on soul, jazz and R&B.

Wade In The Water Ep. 2: In Search Of The Sacred

9:25am June 20, 2019

One woman's search for the broader meanings of the African American interpretations of religious beliefs as "the saved" and "the sacred."