Final Examination

Drowning Four Towns

We look at how the construction of the Quabbin Reservoir in Massachusetts submerged four towns, literally removing them from the map. It's a story of politics, power, and loss that changed Massachusetts. And it's a familiar story that resonates with how communities have been displaced or threatened by projects like the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Three Gorges Dam. Featuring interviews with experts in the field as well as voices from former residents of the towns flooded in the 1930s, we show what happens when "progress" meets the powerless.

Hosted by Nick Dostal and Jack Paras

Edited by Tomasz Dvorak and Samantha Kramer

Engineered by Tomasz Dvorak

Written by Matthew DiPesa, Nick Dostal, and Jack Paras

Produced by Samantha Kramer

Boston, Busing, and Bulger

We examine the Boston busing crisis of the 1970s. Although school segregation in the South gets most of the attention in the history books, integrating Boston's schools triggered violence and protests in a city that considered itself a role model. Featuring interviews with a former headmaster of the Boston Latin School, scholars, and people who lived through the incident, we explore how integration shook South Boston and Roxbury and even gave Whitey Bulger's crime syndicate a boost. We also look at how the incident continues to shape Boston today. 

Hosted by Lydia Shields and Maxwell Burt

Edited by Sarah Bloznalis

Engineered by Cassandra McGrath

Researched by Julia Limmer

Produced by Matthew Oteri

The Mill Girls of Lowell, Massachusetts

For a while, Lowell, Massachusetts, was one of the most prosperous manufacturing towns in the world. Today, its wealth has faded. But it leaves behind the story of its "mill girls", the women and girls who worked in its textiles factories and organized for a better world. Hell, it turns out, hath no fury like a woman scorned by capitalism. From the ashes of one industry, we can learn how to make our world better. 

Hosted by Varshita Jakkaraju and Olivia Amato-Hansen

Edited by Solomon Bennett

Written by Julia Carino and Eva Chow

Produced by Symrn Shah

Photo of the "Mill Girls" statue in Lowell by Flickr user My Lil' Rotten.

A Man, A Whale, and The End of the World

Presenting Absalom Boston, the first African-American whaling captain to lead an all African-American crew and a man who founded one of the first Black institutions in the United States. And he did it someplace you wouldn't expect: Nantucket, Massachusetts. We explore how Nantucket went from a multiracial colony to an almost exclusively White enclave and vacation spot. Along the way, we learn about how the history of whaling is way more diverse than Vineyard Vines's demographic would suggest--and how that multiracial history was lost.

Host: Trevor Stearns

Editors: Ricky Cullen and Trevor Stearns

Writers: Savannah Gillis, Rania Henriquez, and Kwarkor Quartey

Producer: Roy Yoon 

There's Something in the Water

The classic New England film Jaws explores a town terrorized by a murderous, stealthy shark. These days, another threat lurks in the water--but it isn't a shark. We travel to Newburyport, a coastal paradise slowly losing its bid for survival. Climate change and rising water levels have a devastating effect on the town and the solutions in place right now are simply not enough. We speak with City Council President Barry Connell to explore how Newburyport's politics are changing in the face of the end of its world.

Created by:

• Sean Kealey
• Mallika Nagan
• Clara Silverstein
• Tara Dugan
• Matthew Tabola

Transcript

Fire and Ice: Massachusetts in the Cold War

The Cold War brought an ever-present fear of ultimate death and destruction by nuclear weapons. Over time, the era of schools holding nuclear weapons drills faded into the past with the end of the Cold War. But nuclear weapons are still found all over the world today. Are nuclear weapons still a threat to Massachusetts? Does anyone care? In this episode, Nicolle, Brad, and Yulia explore the realities of the history of the Cold War, tour a Cold War nuclear bunker, and how people made the end of the world an ordinary experience.

Created by:

• Lauren Crociati
• Sifa Kasongo
• Jared Nussbaum
• Brad Polumbo
• Yulia Suvorova
• Nicolle Mathison

Transcript

The Millerites and Hillary Clinton

What if we told you the end of the world already happened? What if we told you it happens all the time? No, we’re not talking about a meteor impact or zombie apocalypse, but that moment when a movement fails and leaves its followers devastated. In this podcast, we compare two world-ending events: the religious world of the Millerites that was smashed by the “Great Disappointment” when the world failed to end and how Democrats and progressives confronted the unexpected 2016 election of Donald Trump. We're joined by Congresswoman Katherine Clark,Harvard Professor David F. Holland,  and University of Massachusetts Amherst graduate student Basileus Zeno.

Created by:

• Kekely Dansouh
• Nick Edwards
• Chris Kosteva
• Juliana Madden
• Courtney Murtagh
• Alexandra Pigeon

Image by Flickr user Kelly Poull

Transcript

The Ghosts of Ponkapoag

We explore how the discovery of a set of bones in Canton, Massachusetts in 1969 led to the rediscovery of the 17th century Praying Indians in Massachusetts. In the midst of violent colonization and devastating epidemics, one man’s effort to Christianize the area's Native populations by putting them into "praying towns" ultimately contributed to their end. We recount the perfect storm of political, cultural, and religious clashes that brought the world of Simon George, one of the last members of the Ponkapoag praying town, to its end and left his bones to be discovered centuries later.

Created by:

• Nate Reynolds
• Abby McDonough
• Kathrine Esten
• Deepika Singh
• Mike Orlando
• Greg Fournier

Transcript