The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, also called the Triple Nickles, were the first Black paratroopers in the U.S. military, and their story is connected to the desegregation of the military after World War II.

Research:

• 555th Parachute Infantry. “Malvin L. Brown.” http://triplenickle.com/malvinbrown.htm
• Aney, Warren. “Triple Nickles -- 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion.” Oregon Encyclopedia. https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/555th_parachute_infantry_triple_nickle_batallion/
• Associated Press. “Air Force Starts Probe Into Troop Bombing.” The Miami Herald. 9/18/1948. https://www.newspapers.com/image/617847549/
• Associated Press. “Army Lists Dead in Bomb Blast.” The Tampa Times. 9/18/1948. https://www.newspapers.com/image/326171714/
• Biggs, Bradley. “The Triple Nickles: America’s First All-Black Paratroop Unit.” Hamden, Conn. Archon Books. 1986.
• Bradsher, Greg and Sylvia Naylor. “Firefly Project and the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion (‘Smoke Jumpers’).” National Archives. 2/10/2015. https://rediscovering-black-history.blogs.archives.gov/2015/02/10/the-555th-smoke-jumpers/
• Cieslak, Thomas. “Equal in All Ways to All Paratroopers - The Origin of the ‘Triple Nickles’.” U.S. Army. 5/27/2019. https://www.army.mil/article/222374/equal_in_all_ways_to_all_paratroopers_the_origin_of_the_triple_Nickles
• Crumley, Todd and Aaron Arthur. “The Triple Nickles and Operation Firefly.” National Archives. 2/5/2020. https://unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov/2020/02/05/the-triple-Nickles-and-operation-firefly/
• Curran, Jonathan. “The 555TH Parachute Infantry Company ‘Triple Nickles.’” U.S. Army National Museum. https://www.thenmusa.org/articles/triple-Nickles/
• Ferguson, Paul-Thomas. “African American Service and Racial Integration in the U.S. Military.” U.S. Army. 2/23/2021. Via archive.org. https://web.archive.org/web/20240327034226/https://www.army.mil/article/243604/african_american_service_and_racial_integration_in_the_u_s_military
• Forest Service Aviation & Fire Management. “History of Smokejumping.” August 1, 1980
• Gidlund, Carl. “African-American Smokejumpers Help Celebrate Smokey’s 50th.” Fire management notes / U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 1993. https://archive.org/details/CAT77680365067/
• Morris, Walter. “Base Plate.” Triplenickle.com. http://triplenickle.com/waltermorris.htm
• Queen, Jennifer. “The Triple Nickles: A 75-Year Legacy.” USD Forest Service. 2/28/2020. Via archive.org. https://www.fs.usda.gov/features/triple-Nickles-75-year-legacy
• The Forest History Society. “U.S. Forest Service Smokejumpers.” Via Archive.org. https://web.archive.org/web/20170316132550/https://foresthistory.org/ASPNET/Policy/Fire/Smokejumpers/Smokejumpers.aspx
• USDA Forest Service. “Operation Firefly & the 555th.” https://www.fs.usda.gov/science-technology/fire/smokejumpers/missoula/history/operation-firefly
• Weeks, Linton. “How Black Smokejumpers Helped Save The American West.” NPR History Dept. 1/22/2015. https://www.npr.org/sections/npr-history-dept/2015/01/22/376973981/how-black-smokejumpers-helped-save-the-american-west
• Williams, Robert F. “The "Triple Nickles": Jim Crow Was an Elite Black Airborne Battalion's Toughest Foe.” History News Network. 9/6/2020. https://www.hnn.us/article/the-triple-Nickles-jim-crow-was-an-elite-black-air

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Emperor Meiji of Japan’s reign began in 1867, and it marks a time of significant change in the country’s history. After the emperor and his consort died in the early 20th century, the Meiji Jingu shrine was built to memorialize them.

Research:

• Atsushi, Kawai. “Prefectures, Power, and Centralization: Japan’s Abolition of the Feudal Domains.” Nippon.com. Aug. 27, 2021. https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/g01159/
• Bernard, Rosemary. “Shinto and Ecology: Practice and Orientations to Nature.” Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology. https://fore.yale.edu/World-Religions/Shinto/Overview-Essay
• Cali, Joseph and John Dougill. “Shinto Shrines: A Guide to the Sacred Sites of Japan's Ancient Religion: A Guide to the Sacred Sites of Japan’s Ancient Religion.” University of Hawaii Press. 2015.
• The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Charter Oath". Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 Mar. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/event/Charter-Oath
• The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Meiji". Encyclopedia Britannica, 31 Jan. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Meiji
• The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Treaty of Shimonoseki". Encyclopedia Britannica, 10 Apr. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/event/Treaty-of-Shimonoseki
• Furukawa, Hisao. “Meiji Japan'sEncounterwith Modernization” Southeast Asian Studies. Vol, 33, No. 3. December 1995. https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/tak/33/3/33_KJ00000131881/_pdf
• Huffman, James. “Land Tax Reform Law of 1873.” About Japan. https://aboutjapan.japansociety.org/content.cfm/land_tax_reform_law_of_1873#sthash.qp6fLxcO.dpbs
• Huffman, James. “The Meiji Restoration Era, 1868-1889.” Japan Society. June 11, 2021. https://japansociety.org/news/the-meiji-restoration-era-1868-1889/
• Meiji Jingu site: https://www.meijijingu.or.jp/en/
• “The Meiji Restoration and Modernization.” Asia for Educators. Columbia University Weatherhead East Asia Institute. https://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/japan_1750_meiji.htm
• “Discover Meiji Jingu: A Shrine Dedicated to the Spirits of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken.” Google Arts and Culture. https://artsandculture.google.com/story/discover-meiji-jingu-a-shrine-dedicated-to-the-spirits-of-emperor-meiji-and-empress-shoken/OQVBs7hVH09QJw
• Meyer, Ulf. “The Spirit of the Trees.” World Architects. Feb. 3, 2021. https://www.world-architects.com/en/architecture-news/products/the-spirit-of-the-trees#:~:text=The%20Meiji%20Shrine%20is%20the%20most%20prominent,in%20Japan's%20capital%20for%20this%20hatsum%C5%8Dde%20worship.&text=The%20famous%20architect%20Ito%20Chuta%20designed%20the,Japan's%20shrine%20a%20touch%20of%20national%20identity.
• “Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 6, 1910.” United States Department of State. Office of the Historian. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1910/d705
• “Russo-Japanese War: Topics in Chronicling America.” Library of Congress. https://guides.loc.gov/chronicling-america-russo-japanese-war
• Steele, Abbey, et al. “Constraining the Samurai: Rebellion and Taxation in Early Modern Japan.” International Studies Quarterly. 2017. 61, 352–370. https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/files/pegroup/files/constraining_the_samurai_9.15.pdf
• “The United States and the Opening to Japan, 1853.” U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/opening-to-japan
• Wojtan, Linda S. “Rice: It's More Than Food In Japan.” Stanford Program on International and Cross-cultural Education. November 1993. https://spice.fsi.stanford.edu/docs/rice_its_more_than_food_in_japan#rice

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This 2020 episode covers the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which was founded in 1943. Some of these women athletes believed they were starting on a career in professional baseball.

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Tracy and Holly share tetanus shot stories and discuss getting boosters. They then discuss the egos of European explorers in Africa.

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Sidi Mubarak Bombay was sort of a combined guide, translator and nurse, and often the supervisor of the African laborers on expeditions through eastern and equatorial Africa in the 19th century.

Research:

• "Sidi Mubarak Bombay Unsung African adventurer." BBC History Magazine, Aug. 2023, p. 56. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A756775082/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=0b775bc3. Accessed 14 Apr. 2025.
• "Sidi Mubarak Bombay." Explorers & Discoverers of the World, Gale, 1993. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1614000037/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=ab21ce2c. Accessed 14 Apr. 2025.
• Burton, Richard F. “Zanzibar: City, Island and Coast in Two Volumes.” Vol. 2. London, Tinsley Brothers. 1872.
• Cameron, Verney Lovett. “Across Africa.” New York: Harper & Bros. 1877.
• Cavendish, Richard. “The Nile’s Source Discovered.” History Today. 8/8/2008. https://www.historytoday.com/archive/nile%E2%80%99s-source-discovered
• Driver, Felix. “Hidden histories made visible? Reflections on a geographical exhibition.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers , 2013, Vol. 38, No. 3. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24582457
• Fresh Air. “'River of the Gods' captures the epic quest to find the source of the Nile.” 6/15/2022. https://www.npr.org/2022/06/15/1105189330/river-of-the-gods-captures-the-epic-quest-to-find-the-source-of-the-nile
• Grant, James Augustus. “A Walk Across Africa; Or, Domestic Scenes from My Nile Journal.” Edinburgh, London, W. Blackwood and Sons. 1864.
• Hitchman, Francis. “Richard F. Burton, K.C.M.G. : his early, private and public life with an account of his travels and explorations.” London : Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington. 1887. https://archive.org/details/richardfburtonkc02hitc
• Howgego, Raymond John. “John Hanning Speke – Soldier and Explorer (1827-1864). Ligue Internationale de la Librairie Ancienne. https://ilab.org/fr/article/john-hanning-speke-english-soldier-and-explorer-1827-1864
• Lepere, Imogen. “Mbarak Mombée: An African Explorer Robbed of His Name.” JSTOR Daily. 3/11/2024. https://daily.jstor.org/mbarak-mombee-an-african-explorer-robbed-of-his-name/
• Longair, Sarah. “The Materiality of Indian Ocean Slavery and Emancipation: The Challengesof Presence and Absence.” From Being a Slave: Histories and Legacies of European Slavery in the Indian Ocean. Leiden University Press. (2020). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.1011743.16
• Millard Candace. “River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile.” Doubleday. 2022.
• Royal Geograophical Society. “Sidi Mubarak Bombay.” https://cdn-rgs-media-prod.azureedge.net/xs0ksumf/exploringafricafactsheetsidimubarakbombay.pdf
• Simpson, Donald Herbert. “Dark Companions: The African Contribution to the European Exploration of East Africa.” New York : Barnes & Noble Books. 1976.
• Speke, John Hanning. ““What Led to the Discovery of the Source of the Nile”.” William Blackwood and Sons. Edinburgh and London. 1864. https://archive.org/details/whatledtodiscov01spekgoog
• Speke, John Hanning. “The Discovery of the Source of the Nile.” New York, Harper. 1864.
• Stanley, Sir Henry M. “How I Found Livingstone: Travels, Adventures and Discoveries in Central Africa including four months residence with Dr. Livingstone.” 1871.
• The East African. “Bombay: Refuge for slave Africans.” https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/magazine/bombay-refuge-for-slave-africans-1296480
• UK Archives. “Bombay Africans: 1850-1910.” From 1807 Commemorated. https://archives.history.ac.uk/1807commemorated/exhibitions/museums/bombay.html
• Wisnicki, Adrian S. “Cartographical Quandaries: The Limits of Knowledge Production in Burton's and Speke's Search for the Source of the Nile.” History in Africa , 2008, Vol. 35 (2008). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25483732

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Tetanus has probably been around for most of human history, or even longer. But it’s preventable today thanks to vaccines.

Research:

• "Emil von Behring." Notable Scientists from 1900 to the Present, edited by Brigham Narins, Gale, 2008. Gale In Context: Science, link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1619001490/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=464250e5. Accessed 17 Apr. 2025.
• Breasted, J.H., translator. “OIP 3. The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, Volume 1: Hieroglyphic Transliteration, Translation, and Commentary.” Oxford University Press. 1930.
• Chalian, William. “An Essay on the History of Lockjaw.” Bulletin of the History of Medicine, FEBRUARY, 1940, Vol. 8, No. 2. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44446242
• Emil von Behring: The founder of serum therapy. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach 2025. Thu. 17 Apr 2025. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1901/behring/article/
• Galassi, Francesco Maria et al. “Tetanus: historical and palaeopathological aspects considering its current health impact.” Journal of preventive medicine and hygiene vol. 65,4 E580-E585. 31 Jan. 2025, doi:10.15167/2421-4248/jpmh2024.65.4.3376
• George, Elizabeth K. “Tetanus (Clostridium tetani Infection).” StatPearls. January 2025. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482484/
• Hippocrates. “VI. Diseases, Internal Affections.” Harvard University Press. 1988.
• Jean-Marc Cavaillon, Historical links between toxinology and immunology, Pathogens and Disease, Volume 76, Issue 3, April 2018, fty019, https://doi.org/10.1093/femspd/fty019
• Jones CE, Yusuf N, Ahmed B, Kassogue M, Wasley A, Kanu FA. Progress Toward Achieving and Sustaining Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus Elimination — Worldwide, 2000–2022. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2024;73:614–621. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7328a1
• Kaufmann, Stefan H E. “Remembering Emil von Behring: from Tetanus Treatment to Antibody Cooperation with Phagocytes.” mBio vol. 8,1 e00117-17. 28 Feb. 2017, doi:10.1128/mBio.00117-17
• Kreston, Rebecca. “Tetanus, the Grinning Death.” Discover. 9/29/2015. https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/tetanus-the-grinning-death
• Milto, Lori De, and Leslie Mertz, PhD. "Tetanus." The Gale Encyclopedia of Public Health, edited by Brigham Narins, 2nd ed., vol. 2, Gale, 2020, pp. 1074-1076. Gale In Context: Environmental Studies, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX7947900274/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=a44bc544. Accessed 14 Apr. 2025.
• Milto, Lori De, and Leslie Mertz, PhD. "Tetanus." The Gale Encyclopedia of Public Health, edited by Brigham Narins, 2nd ed., vol. 2, Gale, 2020, pp. 1074-1076. Gale In Context: Environmental Studies, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX7947900274/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=a44bc544. Accessed 15 Apr. 2025.
• National Institutes of Health. “Tetanus.” https://history.nih.gov/display/history/Tetanus
• Ni, Maoshing. “The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Medicine: A New Translation of the Neijing Suwen with Commentary.” Shambhala. 1995.
• Smithsonian. “The Antibody Initiative: Battling Tetanus.” https://www.si.edu/spotlight/antibody-initiative/battling-tetanus
• Sundwall, John. “Man and Microbes.” Illustrated lecture given under the auspices of the Kansas Academy of Science, Topeka, January 12, 1917. https://archive.org/details/jstor-3624335/
• The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1901. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach 2025. Thu. 17 Apr 2025. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1901/summary/
• Tiwari, Tejpratap S.P. et al. “Chapter 21: Tetanus.” CDC Pink Book. https://www.cdc.gov/pinkbook/hcp/table-of-contents/chapter-21-tetanus.html
• Von Behring, Emil and Kitasato Shibasaburo. “The Mechanism of Immunity in Animals to Diphtheria and Tetanus.” Immunology. 1890. http://raolab.org/upfile/file/20200612164743_201234_56288.pdf
• War Office Committee for the Study of Tetanus. “Memorandum on Tetanus.” Fourth Edition. 1919. https://archive.org/details/b32171201/
• World Health Organization. “Tetanus.” 7/12/2024. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tetanus

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This 2020 episode covers Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, an accomplished astronomer. She grew up in a society that didn’t really prioritize education for girls, and she was determined and creative about getting around that.

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Holly talks about the dynamics of Altina Schinasi's family. Tracy shares a dispute over nursing uniform procedures on the Boston Floating Hospital that played out in a trade journal.

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