Episodes:

(For full information on the segment, including a transcript, information about the author, and further reading, click on individual titles below)

 

Karen Phoenix, “The Inland Northwest’s Ties to Ocean Shipping” (May 2021)

Before the shipping container, loading and unloading freight off ships was labor intensive and expensive. Then Spokane resident Keith Tantlinger invented the shipping container that transformed the shipping industry and gave rise to our globally interconnected manufacturing network.

Rob McCoy, “Sheep, Ranching, and the Beginnings of Industrial Agriculture in the Northwest” (April 2021)

When you think about industrial agriculture, you may think it started after World War II. But Rob McCoy, Associate Professor in WSU’s History Department says the process started way earlier. In this episode of Past as Prologue, we’ll learn how humble sheep ranchers in late-nineteenth century Eastern Oregon were already a part of complex agricultural and industrial systems that provided food, clothing and commodities to markets across the U.S.

Brian Stack, “Rural Places are Queer Places and the History of WSU’s LGBTQ+ Northwest” (April 2021)

The struggle over recognition for WSU’s Gay Awareness student group shows some of the similarities between rural and urban LGBTQ rights. Rural areas — especially college towns like Pullman or Moscow — are also queer places. People in cities who were against gay rights used the same tactic as those in Pullman—the public-referendum—to deny housing or employment.

 

Ken Faunce, “A Seattle Police Bootlegging Racket and Modern Drug Cartels” (April 2021)

Alcohol Prohibition did not limit the demand of alcohol, and many people did not support it, including the police. On an early morning in March 1920, Seattle Police Lieutenant Roy Olmstead and Sergeant T.J. Clark met a crew of bootleggers loading a shipment of Canadian whiskey from Vancouver, B.C., for Seattle. Olmstead and Clark were not there to arrest the criminals, but to watch over the process, since they controlled the operation. In this episode of Past and Prologue, Historian Ken Faunce examines the overall failure of alcohol prohibition, the rise of organized crime syndicates that profited from it, and the lessons for today’s global “War on Drugs”.

 

Jenny Thigpen, “Marriage, Missionaries, and Race in the American West” (March 2021)

When you think of marriage in the American West, you may have thoughts of Missionaries and pioneers starting families while clearing the land. But as WSU associated Professor of History, Jenny Thigpen says, there’s a racial element not to be ignored. Although today we tend to think about marriage as a relationship built around love, studying past unions shows love was not the priority, and that combatting intermarriage and building the region in a particular way, one that ensured racial exclusivity of some, was paramount.

 

Tracey Hanshew, “How Northwest Women in Rodeo Changed Perceptions of Ability” (March 2021)

When you think of the rodeo you may think cowboys, big belt buckles, brawn and muscle. But rodeo and ranching also served as an overlooked catalyst for views on the capabilities of women. In this episode, Historian Tracey Hanshew explains how the women  athletes of early rodeo provide a broader understanding of women’s roles in rural history.

 

Matthew Sutton, “End Times Preaching In Seattle And The Politics Of The Apocalypse” (February 2021)

The Reverend Mark A. Matthews (1867-1940), a southern-born fundamentalist supporter of the Social Gospel movement, came to Seattle in 1902 and became the pastor of Seattle’s First Presbyterian Church. Outspoken and active in public debate, he was a staunch proponent of ‘Social Christianity.’ WSU History Professor Matthew Sutton discusses how Matthews became one of the most powerful religious leaders of the early 20th Century.

 

Peter Boag, “Harry Allen In The Northwest And The Slow History Of Trans Acceptance” (February 2021)

Harry Allen lived as a man in the Northwest in the 1900s. He took jobs as a bartender, bronco buster, longshoreman and barber. WSU Historian Peter Boag explores how examples of people from the past who had trans identities, resisted social convention, and endured incredible difficulties, gives strength and hope to people today.

 

Karen Phoenix, “How The Namesake Of Pullman Tried To Improve Worker’s Lives, But Failed” (January 2021)

In the late 1800s, as income inequality grew rapidly during the “Gilded Age,” some industrialists attempted to help their workers by creating towns for them, such as George Pullman’s town of Pullman, IL (south of Chicago). While these had modern conveniences, they were also sites of strict control and supervision, where management intruded into worker’s personal lives. And, they could prove how fundamentally out-of-touch corporate leaders were with the needs of their workers, such as when the Pullman railroad car company cut wages in 1884, but failed to cut rent in the town of Pullman, IL. The consequences were disastrous – 34 people died and George Pullman’s reputation as being concerned for his workers never recovered.

 

Robert Franklin, “A Pasco Civil Rights Protest and How Discrimination Built Tri-Cities” (December 2020)

In this installment of NWPB’s “Past as Prologue” series, we learn about a protest in Pasco, Washington against police brutality and intimidation against black residents that happened more than 50 years ago. Robert Franklin, WSU archivist and oral historian at the Hanford History Project, explains what led to that moment and considers its connection to the broader Civil Rights Movement in the Pacific Northwest.

 

Robert Bauman, “‘What Is An American?’: World War II Internment in Pasco” (November 2020)

In 1943, U.S. soldier Sgt. George Yamauchi from Pasco asked: ‘What is an American?’ Yamauchi penned the question in the local newspaper after his family was persecuted and imprisoned in internment camps at Heart Mountain, Wyoming and Minidoka, Idaho during World War II. In this installment of the “Past as Prologue” series, Historian Robert Bauman discusses how the question defining who is an American is as relevant today as it was then.

 

Julian Dodson, “The Cristero War and Mexican Migration to the U.S.” (November 2020)

In the 1920s, the Cristero War in Mexico led to waves of immigration to the United States. Although the majority of families fleeing the violence settled in California and Chicago, many with connections in the Northwest settled in the rich agricultural lands of Eastern Washington and Oregon. In this episode of Past as Prologue, WSU Historian Julian Dodson explains how the history of immigration and settlement is often directly connected to regional and global conflict.