On this episode of Our American Stories, in this continuation of Ambrose’s work on June 6, 1944, the battle comes into view through the voices of the men who survived it. He follows their push off the beaches, their losses, and their small gains, and how those efforts turned the invasion into a foothold that could not be pushed back. Ambrose also highlights the Army’s “soldier suggestion box,” an unusual program that invited frontline troops to offer ideas for improving equipment and tactics, and how those insights shaped the fight for Normandy.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, Indiana did not choose its nickname so much as grow into it. The term Hoosier appeared in jokes, travel accounts, and frontier banter, yet no one ever agreed on where it started. Despite the uncertainty, the name kept rising to the surface until it became part of the state’s character. What survives is a word tied closely to the people who shaped Indiana in its earliest years. Dr. Stephen Flick explains how a bit of regional language became a lasting identity.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, behind every bottle of Coors Light and every iconic pour of Coors Banquet is a family whose identity shaped the company more than any product ever could. Long before Coors became a national name, the family built the brewery on principles they considered nonnegotiable: faith, education, and a quiet sense of service. These tenets guided the decisions that turned a small Colorado operation into Coors Brewing Co., a brand that would help define what American beer could be. Here’s their story.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before the Statue of Liberty became a beacon for newcomers, it was simply a gift from France that struggled to find a purpose. To raise money for the statue's pedestal, Jewish American poet Emma Lazarus wrote a sonnet about the sculpture, never expecting it to be more than a throwaway donation. Years later, as anti-immigrant fervor spread through the country, her friend Georgina Schuyler returned to the poem and recognized the power in its plain plea for mercy.

Professor Elizabeth Stone shares the story of how Schuyler quietly worked to place The New Colossus inside the statue's pedestal and, in doing so, changed the meaning of the monument itself.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1896, the United States Supreme Court delivered one of the most damaging rulings in its history when it upheld segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson. The decision cemented the idea of separate but equal and gave legal cover to the rise of Jim Crow laws across the country.

More than a century later, Homer Plessy’s descendant, Keith Plessy, reflects on what that ruling cost generations of Americans. He also shares how the descendants of Plessy and Judge Ferguson have come together to confront the legacy of a landmark Supreme Court case that shaped civil rights for decades.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, before he became one of the most respected rodeo bullfighters in America, Leon Coffey was a father searching for a way to pay for a simple gift. Rodeos were familiar territory, but stepping into the arena as a rodeo clown was something else entirely. He found himself staring down bulls that outweighed him by a thousand pounds, learning to move with a kind of instinct that kept riders alive.

His path carried him all the way to the Cowboy and Western Hall of Fame, and along the way, he helped shape the modern understanding of the rodeo clown, a protector as much as a performer. We'd like to thank the Oklahoma Cowboy and Western Hall of Fame for allowing us access to this audio.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Bob McLalan let his recently divorced father crash on his couch, he expected a few days of awkward conversation. Instead, his dad arrived with an empty key ring, a suitcase, and the stubborn confidence of a man who still saw himself in command. What followed was eighteen months of two Marines trying to share a small apartment and figure out what respect looks like when both men believe they have earned it.

Bob’s story captures what living with parents can feel like when you are grown, independent, and suddenly navigating the weight of old habits and new circumstances.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, in May 1861, three enslaved men slipped across the James River to Fort Monroe, seeking protection from Union troops. Their arrival forced General Benjamin Butler to make a choice that would change the course of the war. Instead of returning them to bondage, he declared them “contraband of war,” setting off a chain reaction that pushed Abraham Lincoln, Congress, and the Union Army toward emancipation.

Historian Kate Masur joins our regular contributor, Jon Elfner, to tell the story of how freedom began not with a proclamation, but with three men who refused to wait for it.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before Alexander Hamilton helped shape the Constitution or design America’s financial system, he was a child on the island of Nevis, raised among the merchants and schools of a thriving Jewish community. For generations, historians assumed Hamilton’s faith was Christian, but recent research from historian Andrew Porwancher tells a different story.

In The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton, Porwancher pieces together overlooked records from Hamilton’s Caribbean youth and reaches a surprising conclusion: Hamilton was most likely born and educated in a Jewish household. That possibility casts new light on one of the nation’s most complex founders. Porwancher joins us to tell the story of a particular court case where Hamilton stood up for Jews. 

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.