Shows
The TrawlWho Killed Vine?Launched in 2013 after an early buyout by Twitter, Vine quickly grew into one of the fastest growing platforms on the internet. The app created an entirely new category of online content: short, user-generated videos. It became the home of online creativity, birthed beloved memes and viral trends, and introduced a whole new generation of celebrity: the influencer. So, how did an app that was ten steps ahead die only three years after launch?Credits:Benedict Townsend - Host & CreatorMary Goodhart - Producer & CreatorKevyah Cardoso - Narrative & Creative Producer2025-04-2306 min
Entrepreneurial AppetiteFit Citizens: A History of Black Women's Exercise with Dr. Ava PurkissWhat if the history of Black women's fitness could be a lens through which we understand broader societal dynamics? On this special episode of the African Americans in Sport podcast, we have the privilege of hosting Dr. Ava Purkiss, associate professor of history and author of "Fit Citizens: A History of Black Women's Exercise." Dr. Purkiss shares her personal journey, driven by the early loss of her mother, which led her into researching the critical intersections of race, health, and fitness. Together, we explore how race, gender, and class have shaped the landscape for Black women in sports and...2025-03-3149 min
Unsung HistoryThe History of Black Women & Physical Fitness in the United StatesIn 1894, Mary P. Evans, wrote in the Woman’s Era, a Black women’s magazine, that exercise: “enables you to keep in the best condition for work with the hands or with the brain… It prepares you to meet disappointment, sorrow, ill treatment, and great suffering as the strong, courageous and splendid woman meets them. It is a great aid to clear, quick, and right thinking.” She wasn’t the only Black woman of the day encouraging Black women and girls to exercise as a way of improving not just themselves but also the whole race. Despite the lack of facilities...2023-07-2445 min
The African Americans in Sport Podclass50 for 50: A Conversation about Fit Citizens with Dr. Ava PurkissIn this 50 for 50 edition of the podclass, we feature a conversation with Dr. Ava Purkiss, Assistant Professor of American Culture and Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Michigan and author of Fit Citizens: A History of Black Women's Exercise from Post-Reconstruction to Postwar America.Support the show2023-05-1749 min
Past PresentEpisode 369: The History of Children's Story HourIn this episode, Neil, Niki, and Natalia discuss the history of children’s story hour. Support Past Present on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pastpresentpodcast On this week’s Past Present episode, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil J. Young discuss the history of children’s story hour. Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: · “Drag queen story hours” have become the latest arena in the culture wars. Niki drew on this Slate piece about children’s librarian Anne Carroll Moore. Neil referenced this New Y...2023-04-0441 min
90 Second NarrativesA Season of Stories 4: Health & WellnessThis special episode combines all the stories from Season 4...“'Do you Bant?' Diet and Deafness in Victorian England" - Dr. Jaipreet Virdi, Assistant Professor, Department of History at the University of Delaware"Black Women’s Exercise at Greater Bethel Gymnasium" - Dr. Ava Purkiss, Assistant Professor of American Culture and Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Michigan"Menopause and the Mongols" - Dr. Susan P. Mattern, Distinguished Research Professor, Department of History at the University of Georgia"Stephen Ricks and Childhood in the Antebellum North" - Dr. Crystal Lynn Webste...2020-12-2822 min90 Second NarrativesBlack Women’s Exercise at Greater Bethel Gymnasium“In 1923, a group of black women from the South Side of Chicago did what many women do when they want to lose weight—they joined a gym…”So begins today’s story from Dr. Ava Purkiss.For further reading:Ava Purkiss, “‘Beauty Secrets: Fight Fat’: Black Women’s Aesthetics, Exercise, and Fat Stigma, 1900-1930s,” Journal of Women’s History, 29 (2), 2017: 14-37. From Slave Cabins to the White House: Homemade Citizenship in African American Culture by Koritha Mitchell (University of Illinois Press, 2020)Episode transcript:https://skymichaeljohnston.com/90secnarratives/2020-11-3003 min