Hear about the violent week after Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination

Conspiracy theories persist around Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1968 assassination

Despite multiple investigations—including FBI inquiries and a 1979 House committee report—questions and conspiracy theories have continued to surround the 1968 assassination of Dr. King long after his assassin’s conviction.

Hear the story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech

This podcast traces Dr. King’s path into the Civil Rights movement and the buildup to the 1963 March on Washington, unpacking how his speech became a defining moment in US history.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'Mountaintop' speech became his final public address

Delivered in Memphis the night before his assassination, Dr. King’s 'Mountaintop' speech reflected on mortality, reaffirmed nonviolence, and framed the Civil Rights struggle as part of a longer moral struggle beyond his own life.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. publicly denounced the Vietnam War in 1967

In a 1967 speech, Dr. King comprehensively condemned the US war in Vietnam, linking militarism, racism, and poverty—a break that cost him allies and drew backlash from political leaders and major media outlets.

Listen to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. read his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail

Written in 1963 while jailed for nonviolent protest, Dr. King’s letter defends civil disobedience, rejects calls for patience, and argues that unjust laws must be confronted to expose injustice and force meaningful change.

Jazz provided a soundtrack for the Civil Rights Movement

Songs like Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit," which portrayed the grim brutality of lynching, and John Coltrane's "Alabama," which was modeled on the rhythm of a speech by Martin Luther King Jr., were the backbeat of the movement.

Listen to firsthand accounts of how Black Americans fought to end slavery and shape Reconstruction

This podcast explores the actions of Black Americans who fought for freedom before, during, and after the Civil War—highlighting their key role in abolition and the Reconstruction era.

Experience the political intrigue that followed Lincoln's assassination in 1865

It is April 15, 1865, and Abraham Lincoln is dead. Follow Secretary of War Edwin Stanton in this historical fiction audio drama as he hunts Lincoln's killer and battles to preserve the Union's fragile legacy in the aftermath of the assassination.

Hear about the Supreme Court case so divisive that it caused a justice's breakdown

This podcast episode examines Baker v. Carr, a landmark redistricting ruling that Earl Warren called the most important of his tenure. The case was so divisive it triggered a justice's breakdown and permanently reshaped American democracy.

Watch a news clip from the evening of 'the Saturday Night Massacre'

On Oct. 20, 1973, President Nixon ordered the firing of Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox—prompting the resignations of Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy AG William Ruckelshaus. This NBC News Special Report shows the immediate aftermath of the decision.

Conspiracy theories today are often born from online radicalization

New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose examines how individuals become radicalized while using platforms like YouTube. Hate crimes that took place before the COVID-19 pandemic inspired the podcast, which looks at online commentators, algorithms, and isolation, and possible explanations for how increased online activity can sometimes lead to violent crime.

Take a multimedia journey through the thirteen days that nearly ended the world

In October 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis brought the US and Soviet Union to the brink of nuclear war. This interactive archive from the JFK Library reconstructs those tense days through documents, photos, and secretly recorded conversations from the Kennedy White House.

Travel in time to how people felt about major US events

Pollsters track more than just politics: From civil rights to war declarations, go back and see how people felt about major events in the US with this timeline.

A 3-minute look at Gandhi’s life, activism, and global influence

This video traces how a single incident launched Mahatma Gandhi’s nonviolent campaign against British rule, helping end the Raj. Archival images and footage show how his methods later shaped leaders like Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr.

Hear from those who reported on the ground in Minneapolis amid immigration raids

In this podcast episode, journalists reporting from Minneapolis describe ICE enforcement actions, street protests, and community fallout—offering firsthand accounts of how immigration crackdowns are unfolding in the Midwestern city.

Hear the story of the daring Doolittle Raid, America’s first strike back at Japan

This podcast recounts the 1942 Doolittle Raid, when US airmen launched a risky bombing mission over Japan just months after Pearl Harbor. The episode also highlights Jimmy Doolittle’s leadership, piloting skills, and his lifelong impact on aviation.

Hear how the US and Iran went from close allies to bitter adversaries after the 1979 revolution

Covering five decades of conflict and diplomacy, this podcast examines key flashpoints—from the Iran-Iraq War and the 1983 Beirut bombings to Iran's use of proxy forces and cyberattacks—offering insight into one of the most consequential and complex rivalries in modern geopolitics.

A podcast uncovering drug killings in the Philippines

This podcast investigates how many people have been killed in the Philippines since its War on Drugs began. In 2016, Rodrigo Duterte became the President of the Philippines, framing drugs as an existential threat and the root of all crime, saying...

The Kent State massacre sparked a nationwide student strike

In 1970, the Ohio National Guard opened fire on Kent State University students—peacefully protesting the Vietnam War—and killed four. The tragedy led to more widespread nationwide protests, shutting down more than 200 colleges and universities. The event led to a Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of a slain and grieving student.

How failures at Versailles Conference led to more racial inequality

Suffering a pandemic and the aftermath of a war that killed 50 million, the world in 1920 faced a turning point as it negotiated a new political order. As today, the key issue was racial inequality.

King once shelved his own book

“Rage” was one of King’s earliest novels and the first to be published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. After several school shootings mirrored the book’s plot, in which a troubled student murders several of his teachers, King asked his publisher to discontinue the title, fearing it might have inspired the assailants.

Who was Maximilien Robespierre, leader of the Reign of Terror?

This 28-minute podcast details the life and death of French revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre, who was killed by the people he previously led in 1794. Robespierre is considered the leader of the Revolution's Reign of Terror, a period of intense...

What 9/11 did to one family: the heartbreaking story of Bobby McIlvaine

Grief, conspiracy theories, and a family's search for meaning in the two decades since the attacks. On Sept. 11, 2001, Bobby McIlvaine was killed, along with nearly 3,000 other Americans. In the years since, his parents and brother have searched for...

The Punch: Tomjanovich and Washington both still feel the pain from that terrible moment

In the NBA of the 1970s, cocaine use was prevalent and fights were a regular occurrence. On one early December in 1977, a fight broke out between the Lakers and the Rockets. Read this gripping LA Times story from 1985 that recounts a near-fatal punch thrown by Laker forward Kermit Washington and the devastating consequences paid by Houston Rocket forward Rudy Tomjanovich.

S-Town: Murder in a small Alabama town

From the team behind "Serial," investigative journalist Brian Reed goes back to his hometown of Woodstock, Alabama, to probe an alleged murder. The hit series was downloaded a record 10 million times in four days, wrapping seven mini-stories in each episode into a twisting narrative with an ultimately suspenseful and surprise ending.

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

Abraham Lincoln was almost assassinated weeks before his inauguration as he traveled from Illinois to DC through Baltimore in 1861; it took two independent claims for Lincoln to be convinced the threat was real

See how Ebola tore through Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia in 2014-2016.

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

Watch a 1934 short film starring jazz legend Cab Calloway, a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance's music scene

The United States has had a tumultuous relationship with Cuba since its 1959 revolution, highlighted by a nuclear crisis and a decades-long trade embargo.

The story of Dollree Mapp, whose legal challenge over her 1957 conviction for possessing "obscene material" led to a major strengthening of the Fourth Amendment

Listen to an in-depth conversation on the links between Parkinson's disease and herbicide exposure and the challenging pace of scientific investigation.

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

The identity of the Tank Man in the iconic photo from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests remains unknown and was possibly killed.

After her fellow cult members tried to kill her with an LSD-infused hamburger, one member of the Manson Family, the murderous cult led by Charles Manson, decided to testify against the group's leader.

A small portion of The Winstons' 'Amen, Brother,' an obscure '60s gospel record, is the basis for thousands of hip-hop tracks, making it one of the most sampled records ever that's informally known as 'the Amen break.'

Watch contemporary footage covering the US-backed Shah of Iran fleeing the country in the face of the 1979 Iranian Revolution

After the Boston Tea Party, colonists switched to coffee, which became the main morning drink for revolutionaries.

Hear about the 250-year history of the United States Postal Service, complete with some of its strangest deliveries, important innovations, and the figures that made it an American institution.

70 years ago today, city officials in Santa Cruz, California, banned rock 'n' roll to protect its youth from corruption after witnessing a 'provocative' concert the night before.

Discover the catastrophic consequences of a failure of the US electrical grid—something that is more likely than many Americans think.

The Ramones' 'Pet Sematary,' the theme song for the Stephen King novel of the same name, was written while the band was admiring the writer's collection of horror memorabilia.

In 2018, 26-year-old missionary John Allen Chau was killed by tribesmen after attempting to reach and evangelize on India's isolated North Sentinel Island

Fireworks make a loud booming sound after exploding due to air expanding faster than the speed of sound.

The first line of 'immortal' human cells, which can divide indefinitely and are used in scientific research, was nonconsensually taken from a Black woman.

Before writing 'Walden,' transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau nearly burned down his hometown with a campfire that grew out of control.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

Recent research found that the brain doesn't seem to massively rewire following amputation—upending earlier beliefs about the cause of phantom limb pain.