Covering every hamlet and precinct in America, big and small, the stories span arts and sports, business and history, innovation and adventure, generosity and courage, resilience and redemption, faith and love, past and present. In short, Our American Stories tells the story of America to Americans.
About Lee Habeeb
Lee Habeeb co-founded Laura Ingraham’s national radio show in 2001, moved to Salem Media Group in 2008 as Vice President of Content overseeing their nationally syndicated lineup, and launched Our American Stories in 2016. He is a University of Virginia School of Law graduate, and writes a weekly column for Newsweek.
For more information, please visit ouramericanstories.com.
Before I Love Lucy, Lucille Ball Spent Years Being Told No
A Family Speaks At Their Fallen Hero's Funeral: Colorado Deputy Micah Flick
On this episode of Our American Stories, on February 5, 2018, Colorado Deputy Micah Flick was killed in the line of duty while responding to a call in Colorado Springs. His death was one of many law enforcement line-of-duty deaths that year, and it left a family, a department, and a community grieving the loss of a young officer who had dedicated his life to public service.
Our American Stories remembers Deputy Flick through the words spoken at his funeral. His widow and brother-in-law reflect on the life he lived, the man they knew, and the moments that made him more than a badge and a uniform.
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The Faith That Led One Company to Give Away Half Its Profits
On this episode of Our American Stories, when Steve Trice started Jasco Products in 1975, he didn’t set out just to build a successful and profitable company. Guided by his Christian faith, he believed his business could be a way to serve others.
That belief eventually led Jasco to make an extraordinary commitment: giving away half of its profits to charitable causes around the world. Steve Trice shares how faith, generosity, and a higher calling shaped both his company and its culture.
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A Small-Town Iowa Fourth of July in 1907
On this episode of Our American Stories, Joy Neal Kidney, a regular contributor of Our American Stories, shares the tale behind a cherished family photograph taken on the Fourth of July in 1907. Through the memoirs of Leora Goff, we're transported to small-town Iowa, where parades, brass bands, picnics, and fireworks filled a long summer day of celebration in 1907. It is a vivid snapshot of how Americans celebrated Independence Day more than a century ago.
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The Decision That Turned Johnsonville Into America’s Top Sausage Brand
On this episode of Our American Stories, Johnsonville Sausage grew into the best-selling sausage brand in the United States, but the company’s success did not come from product alone. It also came from a culture that placed unusual trust in its employees.
When a Johnsonville plant in Watertown, Wisconsin burned down, the company faced a difficult choice about what to do with the workers who suddenly had no place to work. Instead of layoffs, Johnsonville’s leadership made an unexpected decision.
Ralph Stayer, former CEO and board chairman of Johnsonville Sausage, shares the story of that moment and how a commitment to doing the right thing helped shape the company’s culture and long-term success.
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The Chinese Laundry Owner Who Took San Francisco to the Supreme Court
On this episode of Our American Stories, in the 1880s, San Francisco passed an ordinance regulating laundries that operated in wooden buildings. On paper, the law applied to everyone. In practice, city officials enforced it almost entirely against Chinese immigrant laundry owners.
One of those business owners was Yick Wo. When local authorities repeatedly denied him a permit to continue operating his laundry, he challenged the decision in court in what would soon become the landmark case Yick Wo v. Hopkins.
Kirk Higgins of the Bill of Rights Institute shares the story of the Chinese immigrant whose fight over a laundry business helped define equal protection in American constitutional law.
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The Colorado Company That Built Success by Hiring At-Risk Workers
On this episode of Our American Stories, across the United States, many young people labeled “at risk” struggle to find stable work and long-term career opportunities. In Colorado, one electrical contracting company decided to confront that challenge directly.
Weifield Group began hiring and training individuals who might otherwise be overlooked in traditional hiring processes.
Karla Nugent and Curt Andersen share the story of Weifield Group’s approach to hiring at-risk individuals and explain why investing in people has become a central part of the company’s success.
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Why Benjamin Franklin Printed the Sermons of a Man He Didn’t Believe
On this episode of Our American Stories, during the 1730s and 1740s, George Whitefield traveled through colonial America preaching revival sermons that drew enormous crowds. His voice became one of the defining forces of the First Great Awakening.
Among those who followed Whitefield’s rise was Benjamin Franklin. Working as a printer in Philadelphia, Franklin published many of Whitefield’s sermons and helped circulate them widely throughout colonial America. Although Franklin approached religion with skepticism and did not share Whitefield’s theology, the two men developed a lasting friendship built on mutual respect.
Randy Peterson, author of The Printer and the Preacher, shares the story of Benjamin Franklin and George Whitefield and explains how their partnership connected the revival culture of the Great Awakening with the expanding world of the colonial printing press.
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The Scout Never Called: Growing Up in Competitive Sports
On this episode of Our American Stories, Our American Stories listener from Iowa, Roger Rench, shares memories from his time playing various competitive sports throughout his life that are sure to put a smile on your face.
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Olive Oatman and the Tattoo That Marked a Life Between Cultures
On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1851, Olive Oatman was thirteen years old and traveling west with her Mormon family during the era of westward expansion. Along the way, her family was attacked, and Olive and her younger sister were taken captive.
For years, Olive lived among Native American tribes of the Southwest, including time with the Mojave, where she received a traditional chin tattoo that would later make her instantly recognizable. When she eventually returned to white society, she carried with her a story that unsettled the tidy narratives of the American frontier.
Bob Boze Bell of True West magazine shares the life of Olive Oatman, a figure caught between cultures during one of the most turbulent periods in American history.
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