Boxing used to be one of the most popular sports in the world. A world championship bout would draw millions of people to their radios or televisions and could pack the largest stadiums.
Since then, it has waned in popularity in no small part due to the confusing array of titles and organizations which now exist. The WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, IBO, WBF, and IBA and many other organizations all with their own set of initials, all hand out titles.
In a terrible summer often filled with stories about monuments to terrible men, here is a story about an American hero. Build monuments to Robert Smalls.
Originally released on February 10th, 2016.
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Music
* Julia Rovinsky plays Phillip Glass’ Metamorphosis I, from her album Dusk.
* There’s an excerpt from Paul Drescher’s “Casa Vecchia,” from the Mirrors: Other Fire album.
* There’s a chunk of Jose Gonzalez’ “Instrumental” from his Stay in the Shade EP.
* “Manny Returns Home” from Bernard Hermann’s score to The Wrong Man.
* Branka Parlic plays Philip Glass’ “Mad Rush.” Twice.
* “Quiet Fan for SK,” by P.G. Six.
* Things get heavy to “Particles of the Universe (Heartbeats)” from Dan Romer and Ben Zeitlin’s score to Beasts of the Southern Wild.
Notes
There’s a lot written about Robert Smalls, with a lot of contradictory information. I found Edward A. Miller’s Gullah Statesman: Robert Smalls from Slavery to Congress particularly useful to sorting it all out.
Some other sources I consulted while researching this piece:
* The Negro’s Civil War: How American Blacks Felt and Acted During the War for the Union by the Don, James McPherson
* From Slavery to Public Service: Robert Smalls, 1839-1915, by Okon Uya.
* And, for what it’s worth, Robert Smalls: The Boat Thief from RFK Jr.’s American Heroes Series is an enjoyable and surprisingly thorough version of the story for young readers, if you’re ever looking for that sort of thing.
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If it wasn’t for one man jumping over the heads of his superiors and jeopardizing his job, we might never have landed on the moon.
For many people, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is the measure of the health of the overall stock market. In reality, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is really just the performance of a collection of 30 blue-chip stocks.
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Chana Joffe-Walt explores how white parents can shape a school — even when they aren’t there.
She traces the history of I.S. 293, now the Boerum Hill School for International Studies, from the 1980s through the modern education reforms of the 2000s. In the process, Chana talks to alumni who loved their school and never questioned why it was on the edge of a white neighborhood. To them, it was just where everyone went. But she also speaks to some who watched the school change over the years and questioned whether a local community school board was secretly plotting against 293.
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This week, we’re teaming up with the podcast Proof from America’s Test Kitchen to bring you an Oreo story with three delicious parts. First, the longstanding rivalry between two biscuit makers that gave birth to the world’s favorite cookie. Then, one little girl’s brave choice (risking divine punishment!) to taste the famous creme filling. And finally, a full-scale investigation into who really invented that creme filling — and how one “Mr. Oreo” got all the glory.
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This podcast is a production of Recode by Vox and the Vox Media Podcast Network. This episode was produced by Zach Mack, Bridget Armstrong. Our editor is Charlie Herman. Gautam Srikishan engineered and scored this episode. Nishat Kurwa is the Executive Producer.
