Revisionist History: The Staten Island Problem

There's a sentence in the Declaration of Independence that almost no one talks about. It's the last grievance: “He has excited the merciless Indian Savages”, it reads, "whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions." We’ve all been told the American Revolution was fought over taxation and representation. But that's not what the Declaration of Independence says. According to our founders, what they were most upset about was Native Americans. How did we miss that?
That's the question at the heart of a new Pushkin podcast called First America. It’s hosted by Rebecca Nagle, an Indigenous author and the host of Crooked’s This Land podcast. First America reveals the true story of how the United States came to be, and how our current political moment is 250 years in the making. It unveils how the founders’ treatment of Indigenous nations—and their resistance—shaped US democracy.
Here's episode 1. Rebecca sits down with historian Ned Blackhawk (Western Shoshone) to talk about how hunger for Indigenous land drove the Revolution. Find more episodes of First America wherever you get podcasts.
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The Afro is one of the most iconic hairstyles of the last century. And one of its main ingredients was a product: Afro Sheen. But Afro Sheen did so much more than make Black afros shine. It was the money behind the television show Soul Train and it helped fuel the civil rights movement, all because of an entrepreneur named George Johnson. This week we're bringing you an episode from our friends at NPR's Planet Money. For decades, Joan and George Johnson ran Johnson Products Company, a Black hair care company out of Chicago. They helped turn the Black haircare industry into what is now a multi-billion-dollar industry. But although they helped create this industry, they no longer have a part in it. If you enjoy this episode, hear Planet Money wherever you get your podcasts.
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Election night 1993 meets election night 2016. The fate of the island and the country converge in the figure of one man: Rudy Giuliani.
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At the height of the secession movement, the Wu-Tang Clan forms on Staten Island. We take a tour of early 1990s hip-hop and reveal the hidden history of the group.
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A group on Staten Island tries to stop secession, squaring off against the secessionists in a heated set of debates and meetings recorded on never-before-seen archival tapes. A set of debates best understood via a detour into the history of a remote Polynesian island.
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