History
‘Tar Baby’: A Folk Tale About Food Rights, Rooted In The Inequalities Of Slavery
The tar baby story in which Bre’r Rabbit outwits Bre’r Fox is a classic trickster folk tale. But like all fables, it is a double-barreled affair, with entertainment firing in tandem with a serious message. The question the story addresses is a fundamental one: Who controls access to food and water? Or, more crucially, who…
Duncan Hines: The Original Road Warrior Who Shaped Restaurant History
Duncan Hines, traveling salesman and future purveyor of boxed cake mix, considered himself an authority on a great many things: hot coffee, Kentucky country-cured ham and how to locate a tasty restaurant meal, in 1935, for under a dollar and a quarter. By the 1950s, Hines’ name would be plastered on boxes of cake mix;…
Couple Moves On From Silence About Time In Japanese Internment Camps
This weekend marks the 75th anniversary of Franklin Roosevelt’s executive order that led to the internment of Japanese-Americans. We hear from two people who were interned when they were children.
Our Watershed | A History of Brush Creek
From questions of quality — think Flint, Michigan — to questions of access — think the Dakota Access Pipeline — understanding our finite resource of water starts at home. Our story starts with Brush Creek, a landmark in the heart of Kansas City named for the brush that once grew on its sides. Brush Creek,…
Sympathetic Vibrations | Steps Toward Common Ground
Race has been a part of the jazz conversation for much of its history. The genre’s origins are owed to African American culture, but it was adopted and perhaps catapulted — some would say appropriated — into the mainstream by white consumers. During the heyday of the Hollywood Canteen, a serviceman’s nightclub open during World…