Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff
As long as there’s been oppression, there’ve been people fighting it. This weekly podcast dives into history to drag up the wildest rebels, the most beautiful revolts, and all the people who long to be—and fight to be—free. It explores complex stories of resistance that offer lessons and inspiration for us today, focusing on the ensemble casts that make up each act of history. That is to say, this podcast focuses on Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff.
Episodes
Margaret interviews the author and activist Cory Doctorow about the role of fiction in making a better world
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Prince Shakur returns to finish reading Margaret a story about revolution, repression, and survival for Black August
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Margaret continues talking to you about the history of suicide prevention hotlines and the complications of state intervention in emergency mental health care
Original Air Date: 10.22.2025
Sources:
https://translifeline.org/about/history/
https://translifeline.org/response-to-988-cuts/
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/10/27/359434925/bernard-mayes-nprs-first-chairman-founder-of-suicide-hotline-dies&nbs...
Margaret talks to you about the history of suicide prevention hotlines and the complications of state intervention in emergency mental health care
Original Air Date: 10.20.2025
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Prince Shakur reads Margaret a story about revolution, repression, and survival for Black August
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Margaret finishes her talk with Cristen Conger about an organizer who was the first Black American woman to own a newspaper and once scared off the Klan
Sources:
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-may-20-op-anderson20-story.html
https://www.npr.org/2021/05/04/993605428/beneath-the-santa-monica-freeway-lies-the-erasure-of-sugar-hill
https://americacomesalive.com/california-eagle-newspaper-black-readership...
Margaret talks to Cristen Conger about an organizer who was the first Black American woman to own a newspaper and once scared off the Klan.
Source:
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-may-20-op-anderson20-story.html
https://www.npr.org/2021/05/04/993605428/beneath-the-santa-monica-freeway-lies-the-erasure-of-sugar-hill
https://americacomesalive.com/california-eagle-newspaper-black-readership-ahead-time/&n...
Margaret finishes up reading you a story about punks, growing up, and refusing to lose your edge
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Margaret continuing talking to Joe Kassabian about how Robin Hood might not have been real, but bandits who supported the peasantry was.
Sources:
https://mercian-as.co.uk/chester.html
https://entertablementabroad.com/2026/06/sheriffs-and-shires-the-geography-of-governance/
https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/culture-leisure/country-parks/history-of-sherwood-forest-robin-hood-and-major-oak
https://mercian-as.co.uk/about_sher...
Margaret talks to Joe Kassabian about how Robin Hood might not have been real, but bandits who supported the peasantry was
Sources:
https://mercian-as.co.uk/chester.html
https://entertablementabroad.com/2026/06/sheriffs-and-shires-the-geography-of-governance/
https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/culture-leisure/country-parks/history-of-sherwood-forest-robin-hood-and-major-oak
https://mercian-as.co.uk/about_sherwood.html
h...
Margaret continues the story of the last punk show played at Locust House
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Margaret finished telling you about labor and class struggle in Ancient Egypt
Sources:
https://historyrise.com/article/slavery-and-forced-labor-and-comparative-history-across-egypt/
https://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/slaves.htm
https://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/medina.htm
https://www.ancient-egypt-online.com/ancient-egypt-kingdoms.html
https://vintage.tn/why-is-there-a-city-named-thebes-in-greece-and-a/
https://spokenp...
Margaret talks to you about labor and class struggle in Ancient Egypt.
Sources:
https://historyrise.com/article/slavery-and-forced-labor-and-comparative-history-across-egypt/
https://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/slaves.htm
https://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/medina.htm
https://www.ancient-egypt-online.com/ancient-egypt-kingdoms.html
https://vintage.tn/why-is-there-a-city-named-thebes-in-greece-and-a/
https://spokenpast.com...
Margaret continues reading to you from a novella about a punk house in 2002 San Diego
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Margaret continues her talk with Bridget Todd about the origins of folk music and the man who dedicated his life to preserving traditional art.
Sources:
https://acousticguitar.com/alan-lomaxs-steel-string-discoveries/
https://pinemountainsettlement.net/biography-a-z/alan-and-elizabeth-lomax-visitors/
Alan Loman: The Man who Recorded the World, John Szwed
Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly's Truths from Jim Crow's Li...
Margaret talks with Bridget Todd about the origins of folk music and the man who dedicated his life to preserving traditional art
Sources:
https://acousticguitar.com/alan-lomaxs-steel-string-discoveries/
https://pinemountainsettlement.net/biography-a-z/alan-and-elizabeth-lomax-visitors/
Alan Loman: The Man who Recorded the World, John Szwed
Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly's Truths from Jim Crow's Lies, Sheila Cur...
For our longer summer read, Margaret reads you a novella about punk houses and identity and growing up written by a master of the medium
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Margaret continues her talk with Prop about the Texan musician who sung his way out of prison
Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly’s Truths from Jim Crow’s Lies, Sheila Curran Bernard: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/bring-judgment-day/63271E8000571D588BF52B0F7CA2121E (BJD26 for 20% off)
Sources:
Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly’s Truths from Jim Crow’s Lies, Sheila Curran Bernard
ht...
Margaret talks with Prop about the Texan musician who sung his way out of prison.
Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly’s Truths from Jim Crow’s Lies, Sheila Curran Bernard: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/bring-judgment-day/63271E8000571D588BF52B0F7CA2121E (BJD26 for 20% off)
Sources:
Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly’s Truths from Jim Crow’s Lies, Sheila Curran Bernard
Margaret reads you two stories and a poem from an anthology of young, Palestinian authors
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Host
Margaret Killjoy