The American Epistles podcast explores our history through the letters, journals, and diaries of “ordinary” Americans. It is the story of our country, one letter at a time.

SeriES

Chinese Immigration

“The Chinese were in a pitiable condition …”

Westward Expansion

1 | “See that shack over yonder?”

2 | “They told us the Indian ways were bad.”

Elinore Pruitt Rupert

1 | “Everything is just lovely for me.”	7 | “A very angry Aggie strode in…”
2 | “Such a snowstorm I never saw!”	8 | “…We were almost starved.”
3 | “I am making a wedding dress.”	9 | “Horse-thieves and desperate men seemed too remote…”
4 | “I had a confession to make …”	10 | “The old sorrow is not so keen now.”
5 | “The ‘rheumatiz’ would get all the money …”	11 | “She gave him a dose of morphine and whiskey.”
6 | “The wind was shrieking, howling, and roaring.”	12 | “Your pork and beans must be out of a can.”
13 | “We were all children of polygamous parents.”

West Virginia Mine Wars

1 | “The worst of the explosion occurred in Mine No. 8.”

2 | “They hit me and they threw me down.”

3 | “They’re going to bomb us!”

Enslaved Americans’ Pursuit of Literacy

1 | “I would take my child and hide in the mountains.

2 | “It was only by trickery that I learned to read.”

3 | “The more I read, the more I fought against slavery.”

Freedom Summer

1 | “Mississippi is going to be hell this summer.”

2 | “We are afraid to speak for our rights.”

Women’s Welfare Work in WWI

1 | “We washed the men and the floors.”

2 | “Don’t drop them pies!”

3 | “We fed them what we had.”

The Great Migration

1 | “We have to be shot down here like rabbits.”

2 | “We will do any kind of work.”

3 | “Nothing here but money.”

Mini Episodes

“Our child cries for you.” (Loved Ones of Black Civil War Soldiers)

“My wound is all healed.” (The 372nd Infantry)

“I have the right not to vote.” (Women’s Suffrage)

“I was awakened … by the low roar of guns.” (Hello Girls)

“His Intelligence from the Enemy’s Camp were Industriously Collected …” (James Armistead Lafayette)