250 American Firsts | 250AF

Margaret Talev and Ghael Fobes - Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship
  • 5.0 (11)
  • History
  • Updated Semimonthly

From the country's first lunch counter to the first Olympic games on U.S. soil, hosts Margaret Talev and Ghael Fobes explore America's 250th anniversary through a series of unexpected firsts that shaped the country in ways nobody saw coming. Some are famous. Some should be. All of them tell us something about who we were — and who we're becoming. 250AF was produced by Syracuse University's Institute for Democracy, Journalism, and Citizenship in Washington, D.C. with the generous support of the Hearst Foundations. Album art was created by Abbey Locker and edited by Ingrid Cleveland.

Episodes

  1. Sep 25

    250 AF - America's First Black Congressmen | Special Guest Rep. James Clyburn

    In December 1870, Joseph Rainey of South Carolina took his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, the first Black man to serve there. Seven more Black South Carolinians followed him through 1897, and then the state didn't send another for nearly a century. The ninth was Jim Clyburn, elected in 1992. His book ⁠The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation⁠, tells his predecessors' stories, and he joins hosts Margaret Talev and Ghael Fobes to retell some of them: Robert Smalls steering the Confederate steamer Planter out of Charleston Harbor and later pushing for public schools at South Carolina's constitutional convention, the 1865 Charleston ceremony often cited as one of the earliest Memorial Day observances, and the backlash that ended their era. Clyburn connects that collapse to today's fights over the Voting Rights Act and reflects on being a first himself, an experience he calls "both enthralling and exhausting."

  2. Sep 9

    Bacon, Cigarettes, and Khakis — America's First PR Campaigns | 250 American Firsts

    In 1925 Edward Bernays sold America bacon by asking 5,000 doctors about breakfast. Gina Luttrell of Syracuse's Newhouse School joins Margaret Talev and Ghael Fobes on the campaigns that invented modern PR — bacon and eggs, Torches of Freedom, and the HR pamphlet that normalized Casual Friday. Luttrell's book, Public Relations Campaigns that Changed America: How Strategic Messaging Shaped Culture, Industry, and Public Perception is available for pre-order on November 18, 2026 and will ship after December 9, 2026. Discount Code: 26AFLY3, which expires Dec 31. Part of 250 American Firsts, a Syracuse University podcast marking America's 250th anniversary by tracing the people and places behind the nation's pioneering moments. This episode was produced by the Institute for Democracy, Journalism, and Citizenship in Washington, D.C. with the generous support of the Hearst Foundations. Learn more about Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship Subscribe to our newsletter, The Squeeze

  3. Aug 14

    Bob Costas on America's First Olympics (1904 St. Louis) | America 250

    The first time the Olympics came to the United States, in 1904, they were supposed to go to Chicago. St. Louis, busy staging a World's Fair that same year, wanted them too — and pressured the IOC into moving the Games west, where they ended up folded into the fair as an afterthought. Bob Costas is the right person to explain how that improbable start grew into something the country now can't imagine going without. A Syracuse alum who launched his career on St. Louis radio and went onto host twelve Olympic Games, Costas joins hosts Margaret Talev and Ghael Fobes to talk through the 1904 competition, Muhammad Ali lighting the cauldron in Atlanta in 1996, his year-later encounter with Richard Jewell, and why he kept asking the human-rights questions other broadcasters wouldn't. With Los Angeles hosting in 2028, he makes the case for what the Games still offer – and for giving viewers the truth alongside the entertainment. Part of 250 American Firsts, a Syracuse University podcast marking the country's semiquincentennial by tracing the people and places behind the nation's pioneering moments.  This episode was produced by the Institute for Democracy, Journalism, and Citizenship in Washington, D.C. with the generous support of the Hearst Foundations.  Album artwork created by Abbey Locker, edited by Ingrid Cleveland. Special thanks to NBC and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the archival footage and images.  Special thank you to Ellie Wilson, Susan Nash, and the rest of the IDJC for their support.   SHOW NOTES AND LINKS: St Louis 1904: the Olympic Games cross the Atlantic (Olympics.com) Olympic Games — history, events, results (Britannica) - GamesAtlanta 1996 — athletes, medals, results (Olympics.com) - 1996 Muhammad Ali lights the Olympic cauldron (Olympics.com) - LA 2028 (official site) Learn more about Syracuse University's Institute for Democracy, Journalism & Citizenship Subscribe to our newsletter, The Squeeze

  4. Jul 17

    The World's First National Park | America 250 - Collin O'Mara, National Wildlife Federation president

    Before it became the template more than a hundred countries would copy, Yellowstone was two million acres almost no one in Washington had ever seen. When Congress voted to protect it in 1872, most lawmakers were deciding the fate of a place they knew only through paintings and photographs an expedition had hauled back the summer before. It was, as Collin O'Mara puts it, Instagram before Instagram. O'Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, joins hosts Margaret Talev and Ghael Fobes to explain how the world's first national park nearly became another Niagara Falls, roadside tollbooths and all, and how a handful of landscape images convinced a skeptical government to keep it public. He talks about why conservation was for so long one of the few things both parties agreed on, from the Great American Outdoors Act to the fights moving through Congress right now, and he makes the case for his own favorite spot on the map: Delaware Bay, where a shorebird the size of a fist flies from the bottom of South America to the Arctic and stops to gorge on horseshoe crab eggs on the way. Part of 250 American Firsts, a Syracuse University podcast marking America's 250th anniversary by tracing the people and places behind the nation's pioneering moments. This episode was produced by the Institute for Democracy, Journalism, and Citizenship in Washington, D.C. with the generous support of the Hearst Foundations. Album artwork created by Abbey Locker, edited by Ingrid Cleveland Special thanks to the National Wildlife Federation; to the National Park Service for the footage; and to the Smithsonian for the early photographs and paintings of the parks by William Henry Jackson and Thomas Moran. Special thank you to Emma Hudson, Ellie Wilson, Susan Nash, and the rest of the IDJC for their support. Show Notes and Links National Wildlife Federation Thomas Moran collection (Smithsonian American Art Museum) "The Painting That Inspired a National Park," Smithsonian lesson plan (The American Experience in the Classroom) William Henry Jackson and his Yellowstone photographs Learn more about Syracuse University’s Institute for Democracy, Journalism & Citizenship Subscribe to our newsletter, The Squeeze

  5. Jul 3

    The Lunch Counter That Welcomed Everyone: Inside Ben's Chili Bowl - 250 American Firsts

    Before it was a stop on every politician's D.C. itinerary, Ben's Chili Bowl was a family restaurant on U Street with a half-smoke, a chili dog, and a jukebox. Nizam Ali — son of founders Ben and Virginia Ali — grew up snapping frozen sausage links for $2 a day, years before he understood what his parents' restaurant meant to Washington. Opened in 1958 in the heart of "Black Broadway," Ben's was integrated from day one, at a time when most lunch counters in America were battlegrounds over who got to sit down and eat. Nizam talks with hosts Margaret Talev and Ghael Fobes about serving Dr. King and Barack Obama alongside neighborhood regulars, staying open during the 1968 riots and the pandemic, and what a 65-year-old lunch counter needs to survive a 2025 renovation. Part of 250 American Firsts, a Syracuse University podcast marking America's 250th anniversary by tracing the people and places behind the nation's pioneering moments.  This episode was produced by the Institute for Democracy, Journalism, and Citizenship in Washington, D.C. with the generous support of the Hearst Foundations. Album artwork created by Abbey Locker, edited by Ingrid Cleveland Special thank you to Emma Hudson, Ellie Wilson, Susan Nash, and the rest of the IDJC for their support. Show Notes and Links History of sit-ins (Stanford/King Institute)Last operating Woolworth’s lunch counter (Smithsonian Magazine)Learn more about the Institute for Democracy, Journalism & CitizenshipSubscribe to our newsletter

  • 5 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
11 Ratings

About

From the country's first lunch counter to the first Olympic games on U.S. soil, hosts Margaret Talev and Ghael Fobes explore America's 250th anniversary through a series of unexpected firsts that shaped the country in ways nobody saw coming. Some are famous. Some should be. All of them tell us something about who we were — and who we're becoming. 250AF was produced by Syracuse University's Institute for Democracy, Journalism, and Citizenship in Washington, D.C. with the generous support of the Hearst Foundations. Album art was created by Abbey Locker and edited by Ingrid Cleveland.

Information

  • Creator
    Margaret Talev and Ghael Fobes - Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    5
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Margaret Talev and Ghael Fobes - Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship
  • Show Website
    250 American Firsts | 250AF

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