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HistorySociety & CultureExplicit

Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff

Cool Zone Media and iHeartPodcasts

As long as there’s been oppression, there’ve been people fighting it. This weekly podcast dives into history to drag up the wildest rebels, the most beautiful revolts, and all the people who long to be—and fight to be—free. It explores complex stories of resistance that offer lessons and inspiration for us today, focusing on the ensemble casts that make up each act of history. That is to say, this podcast focuses on Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff.

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  • 20 episodes
  • Updated Today
  • a few times a week
  • 46 min on average

Episodes 20

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  • Wednesday · 31 min

    CZM Rewind: Part Two: Crisis Hotlines: Of Course Queers Invented Them

    Margaret continues talking to you about the history of suicide prevention hotlines and the complications of state intervention in emergency mental health care Original Air Date: 10.22.2025 Sources: https://translifeline.org/about/history/ https://translifeline.org/response-to-988-cuts/ https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/10/27/359434925/bernard-mayes-nprs-first-chairman-founder-of-suicide-hotline-dies https://www.sfgate.com/living/article/Bernard-Mayes-to-be-honored-as-lifeline-to-3516576.php https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11447250/Bernard-Mayes-priest-obituary.html https://web.archive.org/web/20141026134947/http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/10/24/bernard-mayes-kqed-fms-first-general-manager-dies-at-85 https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45106/sonnet-116-let-me-not-to-the-marriage-of-true-minds https://www.sfsuicide.org/about/ https://translifeline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/The-Problem-With-988-Report-November-2024-Text.pdf https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11733462/ https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/facts/data.html https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6978712/ https://www.psychiatry.org/News-room/APA-Blogs/Marking-Two-Years-of-988-The-Suicide-and-Crisis-Li https://behavioralhealthlink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/988-History-Journal-Article_JohnDraper.pdf https://www.inclusivetherapists.com/blog/suicide-mental-health-crisis-resources-not-police https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/her-death-sparked-transgender-day-remembrance-22-years-later-still-n1233809 https://www.them.us/story/rita-hester-trans-remembrance-visibility-memorial https://translifeline.org/why-no-non-consensual-intervention/ https://www.them.us/story/trans-lifeline-report-988-police-interventions https://madattheinternet.substack.com/p/online-censorships-institutional https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32121226 https://glaad.org/tdor/ https://web.archive.org/web/20250107195548/https://cohost.org/lizthegrey/post/1520523-some-philanthropy-th See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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  • July 29 · 1 hr 3 min

    Part Two: Charlotta Bass: The Black Journalist Who Refused the Red Scare

    Margaret finishes her talk with Cristen Conger about an organizer who was the first Black American woman to own a newspaper and once scared off the Klan Sources: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-may-20-op-anderson20-story.html https://www.npr.org/2021/05/04/993605428/beneath-the-santa-monica-freeway-lies-the-erasure-of-sugar-hill https://americacomesalive.com/california-eagle-newspaper-black-readership-ahead-time/ https://www.pbs.org/blackpress/news_bios/ca_eagle.html https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf6c60052d The Untold Story of Charlotta Spears Bass, Groundbreaking Politician, Nicole A. Mansfield https://www.history.com/articles/nat-turner-rebellion-literacy-slavery https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2021/02/brown-s-first-black-female-graduate-ethel-robinson-s-legacy-on-college-hill https://ncph.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Redlining-and-Racial-Covenants_pdfversion.pdf https://www.segregationbydesign.com/los-angeles/sugar-hill https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/progressive-party-platform-1948 https://mutterhood.com/charlotta-bass/ https://www.blackwomenradicals.com/blog-feed/charlotta-spears-bass https://lamag.com/lahistory/charlotta-bass-kkk/ https://web.archive.org/web/20090819013517/http://www.socallib.org/SCLWebsite/hiseagle.htm https://www.myblackhistory.net/Charlotta_Bass.htm https://www.aaihs.org/charlotta-bass-and-the-cold-war-peace-movement/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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  • July 27 · 49 min

    Part One: Charlotta Bass: The Black Journalist Who Refused the Red Scare

    Margaret talks to Cristen Conger about an organizer who was the first Black American woman to own a newspaper and once scared off the Klan. Source: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-may-20-op-anderson20-story.html https://www.npr.org/2021/05/04/993605428/beneath-the-santa-monica-freeway-lies-the-erasure-of-sugar-hill https://americacomesalive.com/california-eagle-newspaper-black-readership-ahead-time/ https://www.pbs.org/blackpress/news_bios/ca_eagle.html https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf6c60052d The Untold Story of Charlotta Spears Bass, Groundbreaking Politician, Nicole A. Mansfield https://www.history.com/articles/nat-turner-rebellion-literacy-slavery https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2021/02/brown-s-first-black-female-graduate-ethel-robinson-s-legacy-on-college-hill https://ncph.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Redlining-and-Racial-Covenants_pdfversion.pdf https://www.segregationbydesign.com/los-angeles/sugar-hill https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/progressive-party-platform-1948 https://mutterhood.com/charlotta-bass/ https://www.blackwomenradicals.com/blog-feed/charlotta-spears-bass https://lamag.com/lahistory/charlotta-bass-kkk/ https://web.archive.org/web/20090819013517/http://www.socallib.org/SCLWebsite/hiseagle.htm https://www.myblackhistory.net/Charlotta_Bass.htm https://www.aaihs.org/charlotta-bass-and-the-cold-war-peace-movement/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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  • July 22 · 50 min

    Part Two: Robin Hood and the Legacy of Outlaws in Medieval England

    Margaret continuing talking to Joe Kassabian about how Robin Hood might not have been real, but bandits who supported the peasantry was. Sources: https://mercian-as.co.uk/chester.html https://entertablementabroad.com/2026/06/sheriffs-and-shires-the-geography-of-governance/ https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/culture-leisure/country-parks/history-of-sherwood-forest-robin-hood-and-major-oak https://mercian-as.co.uk/about_sherwood.html https://www.etymonline.com/word/tithe https://www.etymonline.com/word/tour https://www.jstor.org/stable/3678889 https://mercian-as.co.uk/outlaws.html https://sites.nd.edu/manuscript-studies/tag/sloth/ https://www.medievalists.net/2021/05/piers-plowman-great-uprising-1381/ https://robinhoodlegend.com/the-legend/ https://web.archive.org/web/20201116124922/https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/gest-of-robyn-hode https://traditionalbritain.org/blog/walter-scott-as-a-conservative-thinker/ https://web.archive.org/web/20201115204031/https://d.lib.rochester.edu/robin-hood/text/chandler-robin-hood-development-of-a-popular-hero https://www.academia.edu/6274298/Robin_Hood_and_the_Social_Context_of_Late_Medieval_Archery https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Robin_Hood See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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  • July 20 · 1 hr 3 min

    Part One: Robin Hood and the Legacy of Outlaws in Medieval England

    Margaret talks to Joe Kassabian about how Robin Hood might not have been real, but bandits who supported the peasantry was Sources: https://mercian-as.co.uk/chester.html https://entertablementabroad.com/2026/06/sheriffs-and-shires-the-geography-of-governance/ https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/culture-leisure/country-parks/history-of-sherwood-forest-robin-hood-and-major-oak https://mercian-as.co.uk/about_sherwood.html https://www.etymonline.com/word/tithe https://www.etymonline.com/word/tour https://www.jstor.org/stable/3678889 https://mercian-as.co.uk/outlaws.html https://sites.nd.edu/manuscript-studies/tag/sloth/ https://www.medievalists.net/2021/05/piers-plowman-great-uprising-1381/ https://robinhoodlegend.com/the-legend/ https://web.archive.org/web/20201116124922/https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/gest-of-robyn-hode https://traditionalbritain.org/blog/walter-scott-as-a-conservative-thinker/ https://web.archive.org/web/20201115204031/https://d.lib.rochester.edu/robin-hood/text/chandler-robin-hood-development-of-a-popular-hero https://www.academia.edu/6274298/Robin_Hood_and_the_Social_Context_of_Late_Medieval_Archery https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Robin_Hood See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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  • July 15 · 36 min

    Part Two: The First Labor Strike: How the Tomb Builders of Deir El-Medina Started It All

    Margaret finished telling you about labor and class struggle in Ancient Egypt Sources: https://historyrise.com/article/slavery-and-forced-labor-and-comparative-history-across-egypt/ https://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/slaves.htm https://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/medina.htm https://www.ancient-egypt-online.com/ancient-egypt-kingdoms.html https://vintage.tn/why-is-there-a-city-named-thebes-in-greece-and-a/ https://spokenpast.com/articles/egyptian-dream-book/ https://ancientegypt.fandom.com/wiki/Papyrus_Chester_Beatty_3 https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/egyptian-dream-book-001621 https://www.touregypt.net/kingtomb.htm https://blogs.nature.com/houseofwisdom/2013/01/voluntary-slavery-ancient-egyptians-paid-a-monthly-fee-to-become-temple-slaves.html https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jan/11/great-pyramid-tombs-slaves-egypt https://www.thecollector.com/hatshepsut-egyptian-queen-king/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitocris https://historicaleve.com/how-many-cleopatras-were-there-in-egypt/ https://www.thecollector.com/interview-queen-cleopatra-with-prof-paul-cartledge-oxford/ https://www.workingnowandthen.com/blog/wage-theft-the-50-billion-crime-against-workers/ https://www.thecollector.com/how-ancient-egyptians-lived-and-worked-in-the-valley-of-kings/ https://www.google.be/books/edition/Brotherhood_of_Kings/JTvRCwAAQBAJ?hl=fr&gbpv=1&dq=chiefs+of+punt&pg=PA143&printsec=frontcover https://www.wonderfulmuseums.com/museum/why-does-the-british-museum-not-return-artifacts/ https://www.history.com/articles/what-is-the-rosetta-stone Oral correspondence https://www.history.com/articles/mummy-unwrapping-parties-egyptomania https://editions.covecollective.org/content/egypt-and-orientalism https://everydayorientalism.wordpress.com/2023/08/11/orientalism-through-time-and-place-a-virtual-exhibit/ https://ninercommons.charlotte.edu/record/2825?v=pdf https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1089/the-first-labor-strike-in-history/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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  • July 13 · 34 min

    Part One: The First Labor Strike: How the Tomb Builders of Deir El-Medina Started It All

    Margaret talks to you about labor and class struggle in Ancient Egypt. Sources: https://historyrise.com/article/slavery-and-forced-labor-and-comparative-history-across-egypt/ https://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/slaves.htm https://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/medina.htm https://www.ancient-egypt-online.com/ancient-egypt-kingdoms.html https://vintage.tn/why-is-there-a-city-named-thebes-in-greece-and-a/ https://spokenpast.com/articles/egyptian-dream-book/ https://ancientegypt.fandom.com/wiki/Papyrus_Chester_Beatty_3 https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/egyptian-dream-book-001621 https://www.touregypt.net/kingtomb.htm https://blogs.nature.com/houseofwisdom/2013/01/voluntary-slavery-ancient-egyptians-paid-a-monthly-fee-to-become-temple-slaves.html https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jan/11/great-pyramid-tombs-slaves-egypt https://www.thecollector.com/hatshepsut-egyptian-queen-king/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitocris https://historicaleve.com/how-many-cleopatras-were-there-in-egypt/ https://www.thecollector.com/interview-queen-cleopatra-with-prof-paul-cartledge-oxford/ https://www.workingnowandthen.com/blog/wage-theft-the-50-billion-crime-against-workers/ https://www.thecollector.com/how-ancient-egyptians-lived-and-worked-in-the-valley-of-kings/ https://www.google.be/books/edition/Brotherhood_of_Kings/JTvRCwAAQBAJ?hl=fr&gbpv=1&dq=chiefs+of+punt&pg=PA143&printsec=frontcover https://www.wonderfulmuseums.com/museum/why-does-the-british-museum-not-return-artifacts/ https://www.history.com/articles/what-is-the-rosetta-stone Oral correspondence https://www.history.com/articles/mummy-unwrapping-parties-egyptomania https://editions.covecollective.org/content/egypt-and-orientalism https://everydayorientalism.wordpress.com/2023/08/11/orientalism-through-time-and-place-a-virtual-exhibit/ https://ninercommons.charlotte.edu/record/2825?v=pdf https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1089/the-first-labor-strike-in-history/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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  • July 8 · 1 hr 8 min

    Part Two: Alan Lomax: How to Record Everything and Mostly Make the World Better in the Process

    Margaret continues her talk with Bridget Todd about the origins of folk music and the man who dedicated his life to preserving traditional art. Sources: https://acousticguitar.com/alan-lomaxs-steel-string-discoveries/ https://pinemountainsettlement.net/biography-a-z/alan-and-elizabeth-lomax-visitors/ Alan Loman: The Man who Recorded the World, John Szwed Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly's Truths from Jim Crow's Lies, Sheila Curran Bernard Andy Cohen, personal correspondence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loYoTc7Aw0A See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • Transcript
  • July 6 · 48 min

    Part One: Alan Lomax: How to Record Everything and Mostly Make the World Better in the Process

    Margaret talks with Bridget Todd about the origins of folk music and the man who dedicated his life to preserving traditional art Sources: https://acousticguitar.com/alan-lomaxs-steel-string-discoveries/ https://pinemountainsettlement.net/biography-a-z/alan-and-elizabeth-lomax-visitors/ Alan Loman: The Man who Recorded the World, John Szwed Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly's Truths from Jim Crow's Lies, Sheila Curran Bernard Andy Cohen, personal correspondence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loYoTc7Aw0A See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • Transcript
  • July 1 · 1 hr 19 min

    Part Two: Lead Belly: How a Man Named Huddie Ledbetter Beat Everyone Who Tried to Keep Him Down

    Margaret continues her talk with Prop about the Texan musician who sung his way out of prison Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly’s Truths from Jim Crow’s Lies, Sheila Curran Bernard: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/bring-judgment-day/63271E8000571D588BF52B0F7CA2121E (BJD26 for 20% off) Sources: Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly’s Truths from Jim Crow’s Lies, Sheila Curran Bernard https://www.nytimes.com/1962/05/20/archives/if-youre-woke-you-dig-it-no-mickey-mouse-can-be-expected-to-follow.html https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/2022/12/22/what-is-woke-meaning-naacp-leaders-talk-about-the-word-martin-st-lucie-indian-river-treasure-coast/8091099001/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/03/09/what-is-woke-meaning/11425775002/ https://www.vox.com/culture/21437879/stay-woke-wokeness-history-origin-evolution-controversy https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/scottsboro-boys https://www.history.com/articles/scottsboro-boys https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/ledbetter-huddie-leadbelly See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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  • June 29 · 58 min

    Part One: Lead Belly: How a Man Named Huddie Ledbetter Beat Everyone Who Tried to Keep Him Down

    Margaret talks with Prop about the Texan musician who sung his way out of prison. Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly’s Truths from Jim Crow’s Lies, Sheila Curran Bernard: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/bring-judgment-day/63271E8000571D588BF52B0F7CA2121E (BJD26 for 20% off) Sources: Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly’s Truths from Jim Crow’s Lies, Sheila Curran Bernard https://www.nytimes.com/1962/05/20/archives/if-youre-woke-you-dig-it-no-mickey-mouse-can-be-expected-to-follow.html https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/2022/12/22/what-is-woke-meaning-naacp-leaders-talk-about-the-word-martin-st-lucie-indian-river-treasure-coast/8091099001/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/03/09/what-is-woke-meaning/11425775002/ https://www.vox.com/culture/21437879/stay-woke-wokeness-history-origin-evolution-controversy https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/scottsboro-boys https://www.history.com/articles/scottsboro-boys https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/ledbetter-huddie-leadbelly See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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