In the Margins

History Series / 1 Season

In the Margins covers the history they didn’t teach in school, exploring obscure, yet captivating tales that offer unique insights into their time and place.

14m 42s

America’s Problematic History of Water Rights

S1 E14 / 12m 44s

Water isn’t just a resource — it’s a battleground where the sacred meets the stolen. As the Great Salt Lake loses its vitality, who gets clean water? Who profits from scarcity? And who gets left to dry?

How Alabama Became the Nation's Toilet

S1 E13 / 14m 42s

Why are states with stringent environmental regulations dumping their toxic waste onto a poor Alabama town? Emelle, a rural Black Belt community in Sumter County, is home to one of the nation’s largest hazardous waste landfills with a decades-long history of environmental justice concerns. Learn the real cost of unimpeded toxic waste creation and the danger racism poses to unprotected communities.

Broken Promises And Black Revolutionary War Soldiers

S1 E12 / 10m 52s

What were the promises made by the Continental and British armies to the thousands of Black soldiers during the American Revolution and what were the the actual outcomes of those promises? Through the Black soldier experiences, we uncover the broken promises, the United States’ paradoxical commitment to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and the fight for abolition that followed the Revo

What Does It Take to be a Federally Recognized Tribe?

S1 E11 / 15m 27s

The 1830 Indian Removal Act led to the forced relocation of nearly 50,000 indigenous people. What happened to the ones that stayed? This is the story of one small southern Alabama tribe’s ongoing fight for federal recognition.

How History Ignored Women in Baseball

S1 E10 / 11m 44s

Did you know that women have been playing baseball for nearly as long as men? So who are the women who first broke the gender barrier, and who are the women pushing the sport forward today? In The Margins is a series that covers the history they didn’t teach in school, exploring obscure, yet captivating tales that offer unique insights into their time and place.

What is the Conway Effect and What Does It Reveal About Society?

S1 E9 / 9m 53s

The contributions and innovations made by BIPOC, women, and LGTBQ+ folks in the tech industry have long been dismissed – sometimes even erased. This phenomenon has been dubbed the ‘Conway Effect’ by Lynn Conway, the late transgender microchip genius whose inventions forever changed our tech landscape. What exactly is the Conway Effect? And what does it say about our culture?

The Truth about Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap

S1 E8 / 14m 42s

Black-owned banks were going to close the racial wealth gap—so what happened? Harini Bhat dives into the history books to explore the financial struggles faced by Black Americans from segregation to redlining and examines the role Black banks have played in the economic empowerment of the communities they serve.

The Black Explorer Erased From History

S1 E7 / 13m 7s

In 1909, the North Pole was at the center of a heated controversy: Who had made it there first, Robert Peary or Frederick Cook? But overlooked in the debate was a third explorer, a Black man named Matthew Henson. In The Margins is a series that covers the history they didn’t teach in school, exploring obscure, yet captivating tales that offer unique insights into their time and place.

Why Was Utah The First State for Women to Vote In?

S1 E6 / 11m 57s

In 1870, 50 years before the 19th Amendment was ratified, thousands of Utah women voted under equal suffrage law, a first in the nation. Leaders of the women’s suffrage movement hoped that Utah would blaze a path for the women’s suffrage and liberation. But the plan completely backfired and Utah women's vote was taken away just 17 years after it was granted.

How did a VA hospital became a civil rights battleground?

S1 E5 / 11m 48s

How did the Tuskegee VA Hospital spark the fury of the KKK? To provide more equitable care to Black Veterans returning from WWI, the first and only Black VA Hospital was established, but it opened with an all-white staff. This is the story of the hard-won battle to ensure an all-Black healthcare staff would serve America’s Black Veterans.

How A Supreme Court Case Redefined Whiteness

S1 E4 / 12m 43s

In 1923, the Supreme Court revoked an Indian man’s citizenship which would go on to have devastating consequences for other Indian immigrants as well. The reason? He wasn’t white. What does this case, United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, tell us about the larger history of race, white supremacy, and citizenship in America?

How Urban Renewal and a Sports Arena Wiped Out This Japantown

S1 E3 / 11m 21s

Salt Lake City’s Japantown was once a thriving community for thousands of Japanese Americans. In 1966 city officials destroyed it for a glitzy new sports arena, one justified by an Olympic bid that ended in failure. Here’s how the controversial practice of “urban renewal” nearly wiped out Japantown and how the Japanese American community is fighting to protect what remains.

How Did This Rural Town Become a Stop On the Chitlin’ Circuit?

S1 E2 / 10m 49s

So many towns across America created for and by Black Americans have vanished, but a few survive. How did Hobson City, Alabama—a small, rural town—survive 125 years and become a notable stop on the Chitlin’ Circuit? This episode explores one town's fight for independence from Jim Crow to today.

How Two Free Black Women Upended the Religious Establishment

S1 E1 / 13m

The story of Rebecca Cox Jackson and Rebecca Perot, two free Black women in the 19th century who were partners in life and upended the religious establishment to create their own spiritual Shaker community.

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