250 to 250: 71. Barney Ford, Narrated by Representative Joe Neguse

 

Heather Cox Richardson and 250 to 250: Barney Ford, Narrated by Representative Joe Neguse

United States Representative Joe Neguse of Colorado is a member of the Natural Resources, Judiciary, and Rules Committees, and is the Ranking Member on the House Subcommittee on Federal Lands. He’s also served as the House Assistant Minority Leader since 2024. Representative Neguse recalls the life of Barney Ford, a pioneering Black entrepreneur in Colorado who fought for the 15th Amendment.

Barney Ford was born into slavery in 1822.

• He escaped from a plantation in South Carolina.
• He moved west to build a new life.
• He settled in Denver, Colorado.
• He opened a barber shop, a hotel, and a restaurant.
• He became a successful businessman.
• He bought land and built more businesses.
• By the 1870s, he was one of the richest men in Colorado.

Ford supported voting rights for Black men.

• He worked for the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
• He also served in the Colorado legislature.
• Today, Barney Ford is remembered for his success, courage, and work for equal rights.

POP Interview and Civics Quiz:

• N-400 Part 9:02. Have you EVER registered to vote or voted in any Federal, state, or local election in the United States?
• USCIS 100:55. What are two ways that Americans can participate in their democracy?
• USCIS 128:98. When did all men get the right to vote?

Family Fun:

• Breck History: Barney Ford Museum
• Breckenridge Heritage Alliance: Myth-busting: The True Story of Barney Ford
• CBS Colorado: Historians share how Black community leaders in Colorado fought to secure voting rights
• Colorado News: Fifty for 150: Colorado Black civic leader, businessman Barney Ford dies in 1902
• History Colorado: Black History and Heritage | Lincoln Hills | You Don't Know Barney Ford
• Rocky Mountain PBS: Colorado Experience: Mr. Barney Ford
• uscitizenpod: Barney L. Ford coloring page

250 to 250: 70. Great Crash of 1929, Narrated by Paul Krugman

 

 

Heather Cox Richardson and 250 to 250: Great Crash of 1929, Narrated by Paul Krugman

Paul Krugman is a Nobel Prize–winning economist recognized worldwide for his groundbreaking work on international trade and his influential voice on the economic issues of our time. Krugman recounts the 1929 stock market crash that plunged America into the Great Depression and ushered in Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.

In the 1920s, many people bought stocks.

• Stock prices went up very fast.
• Many people believed prices would keep rising.

In October 1929, the stock market crashed.

• Many people lost a lot of money.
• Banks and businesses closed.
• Many workers lost their jobs.
• Farmers and families had hard times.
• This time is called the Great Depression.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt promised a plan called the New Deal.

• The New Deal created jobs, built roads and bridges, and helped families.
• The New Deal also increased government rules for banks and businesses.

POP Interview and Civics Quiz:

• N-400 Part 7:01. If you were unemployed, on what dates were you unemployed?
• USCIS 100:80. / 128:105. Who was President during the Great Depression and World War II?
• USCIS 128:103. What was the Great Depression?
• USCIS 128:104. When did the Great Depression start?

Family Fun:

• FDIC: Money Smart Basics for Kids
• LOC: New Deal Programs: Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? lesson plans
• PBS American Experience: The Crash of 1929 (stream or borrow from your library)
• National Archives: Teaching the Great Depression & New Deal
• NPS: FDR's Home Junior Ranger Booklet
• NPS: FDR Memorial, Washington DC
• USPS: The 20th Century: New Deal Art: Eager and Alive
• uscitizenpod: Common Determination coloring page
• We Speak NYC: Love and Money (beginning level telenovela about banks in America)

250 to 250: 69. 1889 Apia Cyclone, Narrated by Elinor Lutu-McMoore

Heather Cox Richardson and 250 to 250: 1889 Apia Cyclone, Narrated by Elinor Lutu-McMoore

Elinor Lutu-McMoore is the Director of the American Samoa Weather Service and Meteorologist-in-Charge at the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) Pago Pago. Lutu-McMoore tells how an 1889 cyclone that destroyed a fleet of warships in Samoa spurred Congress to build the modern American Navy.

In 1889, a strong tropical storm hit Apia Harbor in Samoa.

• American and German warships were in the harbor.
• The United States and Germany wanted influence in the Pacific Ocean.
• The storm sank or damaged many American and German ships.
• A British ship with a steel hull survived the storm.
• American leaders saw that they needed a stronger navy.
• In 1890, Congress paid for new, modern warships.
• The new navy became larger and stronger.
• Later, the U.S. Navy helped win the Spanish-American War.
• The stronger navy also helped protect American trade and interests around the world.

POP Interview and Civics Quiz:

• N-400 Part 1:01: What is your basis of eligibility for naturalization?
• USCIS 100:91.  Name one U.S. territory. 
• USCIS 128:67.  Name two promises that new citizens make in the Oath of Allegiance. 

Family Fun:

• KIVOS: All Military Ship Coloring Pages
• NOAA: Protocols and Tips for Working in American Samoa 
• NOAA National Marine Santuaries: Games and Activities
• NPS: National Park of American Samoa | Junior Ranger Activity Guide | 2014 | Ancient Samoan Coloring Book
• Naval Historical Foundation: Defending the Flag at the Fourteenth Latitude: American Samoa, Fitafita, and the United States Navy
• PBS: Should American Samoans be Automatic U.S. Citizens?
• PBS Learning Lab: Spanish-American War
• US Mint: American Samoa Quarter coloring page

250 to 250: 68. Kent State Killings, Narrated by Rosanne Cash

Heather Cox Richardson and 250 to 250: Kent State Killings, Narrated by Rosanne Cash

Rosanne Cash is a Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and the author of four books, including the best-selling memoir Composed. Across 15 albums, her work has earned four Grammys and 12 additional nominations. She is one of the few women inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, the only woman to receive the Edward MacDowell Medal in Composition, and is an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Cash recounts the 1970 Kent State killings, when National Guardsmen opened fire, leaving four students dead and forcing a national reckoning over protest and police violence.

In 1970, President Richard Nixon sent U.S. troops into Cambodia.

• Many college students protested the Vietnam War.
• At Kent State University, students held a protest.
• The Ohio National Guard came to the campus.
• On May 4, some guardsmen fired at the students.
• Four students were killed.
• Nine other students were hurt.
• Many Americans were shocked by the shootings.
• Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young expressed the grief and shock of the nation in their song, Ohio.
• The event increased opposition to the Vietnam War.
• It also started more discussion about peaceful protest and the use of force.
• Today, the Kent State shootings are remembered as an important event in American history.

POP Interview and Civics Quiz:

• N-400 Part 9:7c. Have you EVER ordered, incited, called for, committed, assisted, helped with, or otherwise participated in killing or trying to kill any person?
• USCIS 100:06. What is one right or freedom from the First Amendment
• USCIS 128:65. What are three rights of everyone living in the United States? 

Family Fun

• ACLU: Protestor Rights | more KYR resources
• C-SPAN: Kent State Shooting (Full Documentary)
• Getty Images: 568 Kent State Massacre Photos and High-Res Pictures
• ILRC: 10 Things Noncitizen Protestors Need to Know | more KYR resources
• Monday Mandala: Peace Coloring Pages
• PBS: Kent State playlist by Ken Burns | The Day the 60's Died
• Story Corps: 55 Years Later, Two Kent State Shooting Survivors Remember
• The Atlantic: When the National Guard Arrived at Kent State, Images From 1970

250 to 250: 67. John Quincy Adams, Narrated by Bob Crawford

Heather Cox Richardson and 250 to 250: John Quincy Adams, Narrated by Bob Crawford

Bob Crawford is best known for being the bassist for the Avett Brothers, historian, podcast host, childhood cancer advocate, and author of “America's Founding Son.” Crawford presents the inspiring life of President John Quincy Adams, who used his post-presidency to fight against slavery.

John Quincy Adams was the son of President John Adams.

• He became the sixth president of the United States.
• Before he was president, he was a diplomat, senator, and Secretary of State.
• He helped the United States gain Florida.
• After he was president, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
• He served in the House for 17 years.
• He spoke against slavery.
• He opposed the annexation of Texas and the Mexican-American War.
• He helped defend Africans from the ship Amistad.
• John Quincy Adams died in the House of Representatives in 1848.
• Today, he is remembered for working for freedom and justice.

POP Interview and Civics Quiz:

• N-400 Part 2:10. Was your mother or father (including adoptive mother or father) a U.S. citizen before your 18th birthday?
• 100:23. /128:29. Name your U.S. Representative.
• 100:60 / 128:75. What group of people was taken and sold as slaves?

Family Fun:

• C-SPAN: Life Portrait of John Quincy Adams
• JQS: JQA’s “Monsters to Destroy” Speech, Full Text
• MGM: Amistad clips: John Quincy Adams Speech Part 1 | Part 2 | stream "Amistad" or borrow the DVD from your library
• MHS: John Quincy Adams Digital Diary   
• NPS: Travel the Amistad Freedom-Seeking Story, Connecticut 
• National Archives: The Amistad Case
• Smithsonian: Debbie Allen Recounts the True Story of 'Amistad' and Sengbe Pieh's Fight for Freedom
• Teaching American History: Beyond the Amistad: The antislavery legislative career of John Quincy Adams
• UVA Miller Center: John Quincy Adams
• uscitizenpod:  John Quincy Adams and Louisa Adams | Sengbe Pieh and La Amistad  coloring pages
• Zinn Project: July 2, 1839: The Amistad Mutiny

250 to 250: 66. Corps of Discovery Expedition, Narrated by Megan Kate Nelson

Heather Cox Richardson and 250 to 250: Corps of Discovery Expedition, Narrated by Megan Kate Nelson

Megan Kate Nelson is an American historian and a Pulitzer Prize finalist. She is best known as the author of The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier, a celebrated epic that relays a counter-history of the American West. Nelson follows the epic journey of Lewis and Clark, who mapped the American West and transformed the young nation's knowledge of its vast new territory.

In 1803, the United States bought the Louisiana Territory.

• This purchase doubled the size of the country.
• President Thomas Jefferson wanted to learn about the new land.
• He sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on an expedition.
• They followed the Missiouri River to the northwest.
• They started at the Mississippi River (near St Louis, Missouri) and ended at the Pacific Ocean (near Portland, Oregon).
• Jefferson asked them to make careful maps and observations.
• The expedition group included Sacagawea, a Shoshone woman.
• Sacagawea helped as a guide, interpreter, and diplomat.
• The group met many Native American tribes.
• They studied plants, animals, rivers, and mountains.
• The expedition lasted about two years.
• Lewis and Clark helped Americans learn more about the western United States.

POP Interview and Civics Quiz:

• N-400 Part 8:01. Have you taken a trip outside of the United States in the last 5 years?
• USCIS 100:88. Name one of the two longest rivers in the United States.
• USCIS 100:71 / 128:90. What territory did the United States buy from France in 1803?

Family Fun:

• LOC: Journeys West |  Rivers, Edens, Empires: Lewis & Clark and the Revealing of America | more resources
• NPS: Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail | Junior Ranger Activity Book | Online Junior Ranger
• National Archives: Lewis & Clark Expedition
• PBS: Lewis and Clark by Ken Burns (stream or borrow the video form your library)
• Smithsonian Education: Lewis and Clark
• UNL: Journals of the Lewis & Clark Expedition
• uscitizenpod: 2004-2005 Westward Journey Nickels | 2014 Native American Hospitality Dollar coloring page

250 to 250: 65. Dean Acheson, Narrated by Antony Blinken

Heather Cox Richardson and 250 to 250: Dean Acheson, Narrated by Antony Blinken

Antony Blinken served as the 71st U.S. Secretary of State. Blinken profiles Dean Acheson, the statesman who helped build the rules-based international order—from the Marshall Plan to NATO—that stabilized the postwar world.

Dean Acheson was an American government leader.

• He worked for the United States from 1933 to 1953.
• During World War II, he helped create the Lend-Lease program.
• The program sent supplies to Great Britain and other allies.
• After the war, he helped rebuild Europe through the Marshall Plan.
• He also helped create North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949.
• NATO is a group of countries that work together for peace and security.
• Acheson believed countries should help one another.
• He believed strong allies would make the United States safer.
• He believed trade and cooperation would help many countries grow.
• His work helped strengthen friendships between the United States and other nations.
• Today, Dean Acheson is remembered for helping build international cooperation after World War II.

POP Interview and Civics Quiz:

• N-400 Part 9:05a. Have you EVER been a member of, involved in, or in any way associated with any Communist or totalitarian party anywhere in the world?
• USCIS 100:83. During the Cold War, what was the main concern of the United States?
• USCIS 128:108. Who was the United States’ main rival during the Cold War?

Family Fun

• CFR: Dean Acheson and the Birth of the Liberal International Order 
• Carnegie: How Dean Acheson Won the Cold War: Statesmanship, Morality, and Foreign Policy
• Gilder Lehrman Institute: Harry S. Truman to Dean Acheson, March 31, 1950 lesson plan
• NPS: Minuteman Missile National Historic Site |  Junior Ranger Program 7-11 | 12 & up | American Cold War Policy
• National Museum of American Diplomacy: The Road to NATO: Building the Transatlantic Alliance | Foundations of Diplomacy playlist
• Truman Library: 'Harry and Dean' A Play by Karl Inderfurth
• uscitizenpod: 250 to 250: 46. NATO, Narrated by Adam Kinzinger