Sandra Day O"Connor Institute

11:02

Before It Became History | Sequoyah: The Syllabary...

Sandra Day O"Connor Institute ·

2026/10/09

Sequoyah never learned to read English, yet he gave the Cherokee language a written form. We trace his 85-character syllabary from his daughter's demonstration to the Cherokee Phoenix, through removal, and into today's immersion classrooms. Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise o...

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13:24

Before It Became History | Harriette J. Cooke: Equal...

Sandra Day O"Connor Institute ·

2026/10/09

In 1871, an Iowa college made Harriette J. Cooke a full professor and reportedly paid her the same as the men. Was it the nation's first? We weigh the evidence, then trace her from preceptress to drill organizer to a Boston medical mission. Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise o...

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14:57

Before It Became History | The Homestead Act of 1862:...

Sandra Day O"Connor Institute ·

2026/10/02

In 1862, Lincoln signed a law offering 160 acres to settlers who could live on it, farm it, and prove it up. We explore who could claim a homestead, what it actually took to keep one, and whose homelands became the public land it gave away. Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise o...

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13:49

Before It Became History | The Kansas-Nebraska Act:...

Sandra Day O"Connor Institute ·

2026/10/02

Stephen Douglas wanted a railroad west. To get it, he let Kansas and Nebraska settlers vote on slavery, and the country cracked open: ballot fraud, a sacked town, a caned senator, the new Republican Party, and Lincoln's return to the fight. Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise o...

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11:44

Before It Became History | Laura Ingalls Wilder:...

Sandra Day O"Connor Institute ·

2026/10/02

Behind the Little House novels lies a federal paper trail: land claims, sworn testimony, survey lines, railroad jobs, and treaties. We follow the Ingalls family from Osage land in Kansas to De Smet homesteads in a West the government built. Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise o...

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15:54

Before It Became History | Andrew Jackson: Frontier...

Sandra Day O"Connor Institute ·

2026/09/25

Orphaned by war, forged on the battlefield, and elected on a cry against elite corruption — Andrew Jackson reshaped the presidency itself. War hero, populist icon, slaveholder: his record is as consequential as it is contested. Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise of liberty and...

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17:28

Before It Became History | The Indian Removal Act:...

Sandra Day O"Connor Institute ·

2026/09/25

A brief 1830 law authorized land "exchanges" with Native nations — nothing in its text ordered a forced march. What followed was a decade of treaties, fraud, and coercion, and the Trail of Tears is only part of the story. Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise of liberty and helpe...

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12:45

Before It Became History | From Republic to State:...

Sandra Day O"Connor Institute ·

2026/09/18

For nine years, Texas stood as its own republic — courted by Britain, rejected by one U.S. Senate vote, then finally admitted by a different route entirely. Mexico called it an act of aggression. Here's how Texas became the 28th state. Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise of lib...

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8:44

Before It Became History | The Mexican-American War...

Sandra Day O"Connor Institute ·

2026/09/18

A skirmish on disputed land. A president's claim that blood had been spilled on American soil. In 1846, that argument pushed the U.S. and Mexico into war within weeks — one Congress itself would keep arguing over for years to come. Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise of liberty...

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6:07

Before It Became History | The Treaty of Guadalupe...

Sandra Day O"Connor Institute ·

2026/09/18

In 1848, a single treaty ended a war, handed the U.S. half of Mexico's land, and promised citizenship rights that weren't kept. Join us as we unpack the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo — the deal that redrew America's borders and its future. Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise of l...

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17:32

Before It Became History | Mexican Independence and...

Sandra Day O"Connor Institute ·

2026/09/18

Eleven years of war, a negotiated treaty, and an army's peaceful march into Mexico City in 1821 secured Mexican independence. What came next — colonization laws meant to secure the frontier — set the stage for Texas's Anglo-American story. Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise of...

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13:09

Before It Became History | The Untested Shortcut:...

Sandra Day O"Connor Institute ·

2026/09/11

In 1845, Lansford Hastings published a guidebook promoting a California shortcut he'd never traveled. In 1846, he urged wagon families onto it anyway. The Donner-Reed Party followed — and paid the price in the Sierra snow. Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise of liberty and help...

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11:12

Before It Became History | Tamsen Donner: A Voice...

Sandra Day O"Connor Institute ·

2026/09/11

Tamsen Donner wrote home from the trail in 1846, months before catastrophe struck her party in the Sierra snow. Her letters, and Patrick Breen's diary from the winter camp, offer a rare, unvarnished record of what really happened. Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise of liberty ...

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15:39

The Compromise of 1850: Five Laws, One Unraveling Peace

Sandra Day O"Connor Institute ·

2026/09/04

In 1850, Congress tried to defuse a crisis over California, slavery, and the Mexican Cession with five separate laws. One of them — a harsh new Fugitive Slave Act — didn't calm the nation. It pushed it closer to civil war. Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise of liberty and help...

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12:13

Before It Became History | Henry Clay: The Great...

Sandra Day O"Connor Institute ·

2026/09/04

Henry Clay brokered three major deals — the Missouri Compromise, the 1833 tariff truce, and the Compromise of 1850 — that held the Union together each time. But every bargain postponed the real fight instead of resolving it. Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise of liberty and he...

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10:06

Before It Became History | The Oregon Treaty of 1846:...

Sandra Day O"Connor Institute ·

2026/08/28

The U.S. and Britain nearly went to war over Oregon. Instead, in 1846 they drew a line at the 49th parallel, settling a decades-old border dispute — while leaving Indigenous nations' sovereignty over that same land completely unaddressed. Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise of ...

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15:46

Before It Became History | Jesse Applegate: A...

Sandra Day O"Connor Institute ·

2026/08/28

Jesse Applegate isn't a household name like Lewis and Clark. But after losing his son on the Oregon Trail in 1843, this surveyor blazed a safer road west and helped write the laws of a territory two nations were still fighting over. Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise of libert...

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15:05

Before It Became History | Narcissa Whitman: The...

Sandra Day O"Connor Institute ·

2026/08/28

She's often called "the first woman to cross the Rockies" — but that's not quite right. Narcissa Whitman's real legacy is her letters, which made Oregon feel imaginable to eastern readers, even as her mission helped set the stage for tragedy. Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promise...

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11:25

Before It Became History | Mary Ellen Pleasant:...

Sandra Day O"Connor Institute ·

2026/08/21

Mary Ellen Pleasant built a fortune in Gold Rush San Francisco through business savvy, backed abolitionist causes, and fought racial exclusion in court. Discover the story of a formidable entrepreneur who shaped California civil rights history. Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promi...

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18:37

Before It Became History | William Becknell: Father...

Sandra Day O"Connor Institute ·

2026/08/21

In 1821, a debt-ridden Missouri trader named William Becknell blazed a 900-mile trail to Santa Fe and returned with a fortune in silver. Discover how one desperate gamble opened the American Southwest to trade and reshaped the western frontier. Before It Became History, a podcast series from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, explores the people and moments that shaped the American story. Each episode looks beyond the legend to examine the decisions, conflicts, and ideas that tested the promi...

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