Risky History

Brian Palmer
  • 5.0 (3)
  • History

Risky History is the podcast that goes where the history books didn't. Every episode explores the American stories that carry the most risk — stories where race, politics, power, and truth collide. The figures who were written out of the record. The events that were buried so other narratives could survive. The history that is still shaping the risks Americans face today. Because the most dangerous thing in America has never been the unknown. It's been the deliberately forgotten. New episodes dropping regularly. Subscribe wherever you listen. Music: "Strange World" by AlexBeroza — CC BY | ccmixter.org

Episodes

  1. May 27

    Martyrs of the Race Course

    Risky History | Episode 1: Martyrs of the Race Course Everyone thinks they know where Memorial Day came from. They're wrong. The first Memorial Day was not ordered by a general. It was not created by Congress. It was not born at Arlington National Cemetery. It was created on May 1st, 1865, by freed Black Americans in Charleston, South Carolina — people who had been enslaved just weeks before — at a Confederate racetrack that had been used as a prison camp for Union soldiers. Two dozen freed Black men spent ten days exhuming a mass grave, reburying 257 Union soldiers in individual marked graves, and building a ten-foot fence above which they placed four words: Martyrs of the Race Course. Then 10,000 people gathered — most of them formerly enslaved — led by 3,000 Black schoolchildren carrying flowers. That was the first Memorial Day. And for over 130 years, it was deliberately erased — buried by the Lost Cause movement, suppressed by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and replaced in the official American narrative by a general's order issued three years later. This is Episode 1 of Risky History — the podcast that goes where the history books didn't. Every episode we dig into the American stories that carry the most risk: stories involving race, power, politics, and the people who were written out of the record so others could write themselves in. History has always been about who controls the story. We're taking it back. Sources: David W. Blight, Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory (2001) | History.com | Time Magazine | Zinn Education Project Music: "Strange World" by AlexBeroza — CC BY license. Source: ccmixter.org

    21 min
  • 1 Episode

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Risky History is the podcast that goes where the history books didn't. Every episode explores the American stories that carry the most risk — stories where race, politics, power, and truth collide. The figures who were written out of the record. The events that were buried so other narratives could survive. The history that is still shaping the risks Americans face today. Because the most dangerous thing in America has never been the unknown. It's been the deliberately forgotten. New episodes dropping regularly. Subscribe wherever you listen. Music: "Strange World" by AlexBeroza — CC BY | ccmixter.org

Information

  • Creator
    Brian Palmer
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    1
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Risky History
  • Show Website
    Risky History