Shows
Final ExaminationDrowning Four TownsWe look at how the construction of the Quabbin Reservoir in Massachusetts submerged four towns, literally removing them from the map. It's a story of politics, power, and loss that changed Massachusetts. And it's a familiar story that resonates with how communities have been displaced or threatened by projects like the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Three Gorges Dam. Featuring interviews with experts in the field as well as voices from former residents of the towns flooded in the 1930s, we show what happens when "progress" meets the powerless.
Hosted by Nick Dostal and Jack Paras
2021-02-0227 min
Final ExaminationBoston, Busing, and BulgerWe examine the Boston busing crisis of the 1970s. Although school segregation in the South gets most of the attention in the history books, integrating Boston's schools triggered violence and protests in a city that considered itself a role model. Featuring interviews with a former headmaster of the Boston Latin School, scholars, and people who lived through the incident, we explore how integration shook South Boston and Roxbury and even gave Whitey Bulger's crime syndicate a boost. We also look at how the incident continues to shape Boston today.
Hosted by Lydia Shields and Maxwell Burt
2021-02-0229 min
Final ExaminationThe Mill Girls of Lowell, MassachusettsFor a while, Lowell, Massachusetts, was one of the most prosperous manufacturing towns in the world. Today, its wealth has faded. But it leaves behind the story of its "mill girls", the women and girls who worked in its textiles factories and organized for a better world. Hell, it turns out, hath no fury like a woman scorned by capitalism. From the ashes of one industry, we can learn how to make our world better.
Hosted by Varshita Jakkaraju and Olivia Amato-Hansen
Edited by Solomon Bennett
Written by Julia Carino and Eva Chow2021-02-0232 min
Final ExaminationA Man, A Whale, and The End of the WorldPresenting Absalom Boston, the first African-American whaling captain to lead an all African-American crew and a man who founded one of the first Black institutions in the United States. And he did it someplace you wouldn't expect: Nantucket, Massachusetts. We explore how Nantucket went from a multiracial colony to an almost exclusively White enclave and vacation spot. Along the way, we learn about how the history of whaling is way more diverse than Vineyard Vines's demographic would suggest--and how that multiracial history was lost.
Host: Trevor Stearns
Editors: Ricky Cullen and Trevor Stearns
...2021-02-0224 min
Final ExaminationThere's Something in the WaterThe classic New England film Jaws explores a town terrorized by a murderous, stealthy shark. These days, another threat lurks in the water--but it isn't a shark. We travel to Newburyport, a coastal paradise slowly losing its bid for survival. Climate change and rising water levels have a devastating effect on the town and the solutions in place right now are simply not enough. We speak with City Council President Barry Connell to explore how Newburyport's politics are changing in the face of the end of its world.
Created by:
Sean Kealey
Mallika Nagan
Clara Silverstein
...2019-03-2326 min
Final ExaminationFire and Ice: Massachusetts in the Cold WarThe Cold War brought an ever-present fear of ultimate death and destruction by nuclear weapons. Over time, the era of schools holding nuclear weapons drills faded into the past with the end of the Cold War. But nuclear weapons are still found all over the world today. Are nuclear weapons still a threat to Massachusetts? Does anyone care? In this episode, Nicolle, Brad, and Yulia explore the realities of the history of the Cold War, tour a Cold War nuclear bunker, and how people made the end of the world an ordinary experience.
Created by:
Lauren...2019-03-2323 min
Final ExaminationThe Millerites and Hillary ClintonWhat if we told you the end of the world already happened? What if we told you it happens all the time? No, we’re not talking about a meteor impact or zombie apocalypse, but that moment when a movement fails and leaves its followers devastated. In this podcast, we compare two world-ending events: the religious world of the Millerites that was smashed by the “Great Disappointment” when the world failed to end and how Democrats and progressives confronted the unexpected 2016 election of Donald Trump. We're joined by Congresswoman Katherine Clark,Harvard Professor David F. Holland, and University of Massach...2019-03-2322 min
Final ExaminationThe Ghosts of PonkapoagWe explore how the discovery of a set of bones in Canton, Massachusetts in 1969 led to the rediscovery of the 17th century Praying Indians in Massachusetts. In the midst of violent colonization and devastating epidemics, one man’s effort to Christianize the area's Native populations by putting them into "praying towns" ultimately contributed to their end. We recount the perfect storm of political, cultural, and religious clashes that brought the world of Simon George, one of the last members of the Ponkapoag praying town, to its end and left his bones to be discovered centuries later.
Created by...2019-03-2323 min