March 12, 2021 • 38 mins
Today on the pod, we've got four shorter history stories for you. We'll cover the passing of Robert Ashby and his career starting as one of the Tuskegee Airmen, the time Mohandas Ghandi led a march to make salt, a crazy story about the medical miracle cure known as insulin, and how the Boston Tea Party was really rough on women.
Sources:
https://atlantablackstar.com/2021/03/11/robert-ashby-one-of-three-last-surviving-tuskegee-airmen-in-arizona-dies-at-95/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=news_tab&utm_content=algorithm
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tuskegee-Airmen
https://flashbak.com/im-a-fat-boy-now-the-diabetes-miracle-1922-420070/
https://www.diabetes.org.uk/about_us/news_landing_page/first-use-of-insulin-in-treatment-of-diabetes-88-years-ago-today
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
AJ (00:00):
Okay.
Then
Pearl (00:02):
top of the morning,
AJ (00:03):
top of the morning until, you
Pearl (00:05):
uh
AJ (00:05):
far are we from St.
Patty's day?
Just a few days.
Right?
Pearl (00:09):
When is St.
Patty's day is 1716, somethinglike that.
It's coming up this next week.
I
AJ (00:13):
I think it's the 17th.
Cause I think it's the daybefore my dad's birthday.
Pearl (00:20):
I ain't sure about that,
AJ (00:21):
right?
No, dang it.
No,
Pearl (00:26):
I was going to say
AJ (00:27):
before their anniversary, which is the day before his
birthday, I'm pretty sure I'mpretty sure I'm
Pearl (00:32):
So I w well, I was listening to, and I was just
like, Oh, he's so wrong.
Doesn't he know theiranniversaries in March.
Oh, right.
It's not February anymore.
I don't even know that.
Huh?
AJ (00:45):
That's my beautiful as always wife, Pearl Hearst.
Pearl (00:49):
And that's my charming husband, Andrew Hearst.
This is the
AJ (00:54):
stories we forgot.
Pearl (00:57):
Ooh, we did that together, I didn't think, I
didn't think we'd be able to sayit in sync like that.
That was unplanned.
You guys that's how good we are.
AJ (01:05):
It was also unnecessary.
Pearl (01:08):
So the stories we forgot is a hit history podcasts for
non historians buying onhistorians.
And the purpose of this podcastis just to enlighten your day
with history that you didn'teven know, you didn't know.
AJ (01:27):
I liked that.
Could I just go on record sayingthat?
Probably sorry, mom and dad,probably the most important day
in March is coming up very soon.
Pearl (01:46):
What is it?
AJ (01:47):
PI day,
Pearl (01:48):
PI day.
Yeah.
well, the funny thing about PIday is that in years past we
have always been sick on PI day.
I cannot tell you how many yearsI've always been like.
Oh, by day's coming up, weshould make pies with the kids.
And then, you know, pie dayrolls around and everyone's like
super sick with colds.
And the last thing I want to dois introduce a whole bunch of
(02:11):
sugar into the house.
And, yeah.
So
AJ (02:15):
So sugar fast until Sunday.
Pearl (02:17):
this is the sh this is the silver lining in the
coronavirus cloud.
Our kids haven't gotten coldsand like
AJ (02:25):
we have not, yes.
We have not been sick for
Pearl (02:28):
Oh,
AJ (02:28):
a year.
Pearl (02:29):
I mean, there's been like minor stuff, really minor stuff.
That's come through the house.
AJ (02:33):
that we were last sick.
Pearl (02:36):
No, it was literally March,
AJ (02:38):
well, February into March.
I think it was, I think we gothealthy right before everything
shut down.
Pearl (02:44):
Yeah, because Henry was really sick last February.
And I feel like he had, I feellike he had been back at school
for maybe.
AJ (02:53):
Oh, right.
Pearl (02:54):
two
AJ (02:54):
He like, he finally got back to school and then it completely
shut down.
Pearl (02:59):
Oh 12 tomorrow.
Tomorrow is actually theone-year anniversary from when
they got pulled out of school.
AJ (03:06):
Wouldn't that be well, today's Friday today would be
the one year anniversary of likethe last day
Pearl (03:11):
right.
Tomorrow's the
AJ (03:12):
had in school,
Pearl (03:14):
and March 13th last year.
So March 11th, last year we werevisiting with my brother and
sister-in-law and I think March11th is when the pandemic was
officially declared in theUnited States.
And we were just like, what doesthis even mean?
Like, yeah, she said.
That she had heard from someoneelse that they might potentially
(03:36):
close schools.
And we were both just like,that's ridiculous.
AJ (03:40):
push Shaw.
Pearl (03:41):
Can you imagine if they tried to close all the schools
in the United States?
I mean, come on Jeff.
Sure.
Enough.
Two days later, all the schoolsin the
AJ (03:50):
shut down.
Pearl (03:51):
completely shuttered
AJ (03:53):
what's been the other real interesting thing that's
happened for us this week.
Pearl (03:57):
I don't know.
I feel like you're fishing forsomething.
What are you fishing
AJ (04:01):
I'm transferring the thought to your mind right now.
We got another dog.
We,
Pearl (04:06):
we, yeah, we got another dog.
We just kind of felt likegetting another dog,
AJ (04:09):
You know, we kinda did maybe like parents of one child and
they're kind of like we reallyneed a sibling for our child to
play with.
Pearl (04:21):
Yeah.
We got a dog
AJ (04:22):
we got a dog, we got a dog sibling and he's really cute.
Pearl (04:25):
Yeah.
So we currently have a athree-year-old almost.
Yeah, a three-year-old miniAussie.
AJ (04:31):
Nope.
It's not a mini Aussie.
Pearl (04:34):
Oh
AJ (04:34):
an American shepherd.
Pearl (04:35):
it's an American shepherd.
Yeah.
Many Aussies are technically notAustralian shepherds that are
American shepherds, but everyoneknows them as mini Aussies.
So she's adorable.
And she, but she, you know, getsleft at home when we go places.
And so we were just
AJ (04:51):
and the cats really don't want to
Pearl (04:53):
the cats are not huge fans of her.
She likes to play with the catswith they don't generally like
to,
AJ (04:59):
And the neighbor dog is too cool for The neighbor dog is old
Really doesn't want to
Pearl (05:05):
well she's old, but I think in her prime, she was
pretty cool.
A little bit of a bad-ass.
So she has zero interest in thisfluffy little Aussie that
follows her around.
She's also pretty big.
So yeah, you know, Craigslistfor the wind, someone in, you
know, just like.
Five minutes away from us neededto rehome there mini Aussie
(05:29):
young mini Aussie male, becausethey're moving and it's been a,
it's been a pretty good fit.
They're pretty adorabletogether.
AJ (05:35):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So our female Aussie is lady andwe named this new Aussie Duke.
So it's lady in the Duke.
Pearl (05:44):
Yeah.
Yeah.
They're pretty cute.
AJ (05:46):
And now we have a female and a male.
So there's
Pearl (05:51):
We will not have
AJ (05:52):
yes.
The female is fixed.
Pearl (05:54):
So today on the pod, we're actually going to do
several short history facts foryou.
A couple of these we're probablygoing to revisit and do as a
single longer story.
A little more in depth from adifferent perspective, but yeah,
we're just doing kind of ahistory collage for you today on
the podcast.
(06:15):
Yeah.
So, before we go any further AIJwhat are you drinking on this
fine March?
Not February morning
AJ (06:23):
Fine.
Friday morning.
I am drinking a good question,bro.
You made it for me.
Pearl (06:31):
I just kind of set you up for that
AJ (06:33):
it's a Newman zone, organics, tumeric, ginger tea,
touch of honey and the splash ofmilk.
quite pleasant
Pearl (06:41):
we already had first tea and coffee.
This is second tea.
Just kind of felt like a secondtea kind of day.
And this morning I had thismorning, I had some pretty good
tea, but it just kinda felt likea good solid teabag tea.
Yeah this Newman's own TNewman's own is a pretty solid T
brand.
I don't really have anycomplaints about it's tumeric
(07:02):
ginger and neither of thoseflavors are things that I would
normally gravitate to, but youknow, me, I was at Costco and it
was being clearanced outbecause, you know, tumeric,
ginger sounds gross and.
And I was like, well, if it'sclearance, so I ended up buying,
you know, it was like a Costcoamount of tea.
(07:22):
But it's really good.
It's just it's a very, it's notgingery at all.
I don't even know why it'scalled tumeric ginger.
I'm sure there's tumeric andginger in it, but it's just kind
of like a mild warming slightly.
It's just like a mild herbal teaand just kind of like warm and
smooth and there's no strongflavors in it.
It's just, I mean, it's notflavorless.
(07:44):
It has flavor.
I'm not describing this tea verywell.
It's a good tea.
It's a good tea
AJ (07:47):
You should try it.
You should try it.
Trust us.
Pearl (07:50):
moving on.
AJ (07:51):
All right.
Is it time for this day inhistory?
History?
Pearl (07:54):
Yeah Why don't you, why don't you start us off with some
the stay in history facts,
AJ (08:00):
I've got two from this day in history for today.
Both from history.com.
Just the history channel site.
Yeah.
That's where this a nonhistorian gets all his history
from.
So my first, this day inhistory, March 12th, 1930,
Indian independence leader,Mohandas Gandhi begins a defiant
March to the sea in protest ofthe British monopoly on salt,
(08:22):
his boldest act of civildisobedience yet against British
rule in India.
Now, do you know why there, Iwas thought it was Mahatma
Gandhi.
the same old Honda Scotty,
Pearl (08:34):
right?
Yeah.
So, Wikipedia tells me like,straighten my color Wikipedia
tells me that Mahatma isactually an honorific nickname,
that he was given.
So it means like great soul orvenerable or, you know, it's a
respectful nickname that he wasgiven.
AJ (08:53):
So Mo Hondas is like his given name at birth.
Right.
And Mahatma is like an honorarytitle.
Pearl (09:01):
Yeah.
I guess.
AJ (09:02):
Okay.
good to know.
Yeah.
Good to know.
And to be honest though, I don'tknow a ton about the British
rule of India.
All I know is what I read onhistory.com this morning.
does As one does
Pearl (09:18):
raise your hands.
If you're in the same boat.
AJ (09:20):
Yes.
Pearl (09:20):
Yeah.
I just feel like a lot ofinvisible hands raised just
AJ (09:24):
definitely However, I do like this story because it's
about peaceful, civildisobedience and the change
that, you know, one man'scommitment to.
Pearl (09:38):
right.
He changed India.
AJ (09:40):
he changed India.
And yeah.
Pearl (09:43):
Well
AJ (09:43):
know much about Gandhi, so I'm not gonna try and riff on
him, but I know that he did somegreat.
Pearl (09:49):
Yeah.
You're not able to riff onGotti.
Well, there is a movie and Idon't know when this movie was
made late eighties, earlynineties, maybe.
It's a Ben Kingsley
AJ (10:00):
It might've been later than that.
Pearl (10:02):
maybe.
I don't remember when I watchedit.
AJ (10:05):
Ben Kingsley playing golf.
Pearl (10:07):
Yeah.
And I remember it was a reallygood movie, so that would be
kind of an interesting one torewatch and kind of refresh our
memories.
Yeah.
I have to double check and makesure that's, it's fairly, I feel
like it was fairly historicallyaccurate.
AJ (10:21):
I have to go back and check that out.
So in this story for today soit's kind of strange when you're
like looking back in history,reading this, it makes you
wonder, like what brought thisabout, but anyways, Britain's
salt act prohibited Indians fromcollecting or selling salt
(10:41):
citizens were forced to buy saltfrom the British, who in
addition to exercising amonopoly over the manufacturing
and sale of it also exerted aheavy salt tax.
And of course salt is a staplein anyone's diet Yeah So
Pearl (10:59):
so did does India have just like natural salt flats or
is this a mining salt okay, goahead.
AJ (11:09):
So define the salt acts.
Gandhi reasoned would be aningeniously simple way for many
Indians to break a British law.
Non-violently he declaredresistance to the British salt
policies to be the unifyingtheme for his new campaign of
Satyagraha or mass civildisobedience.
(11:30):
So on March 12th, he set outwith 78 followers on a 241 mile
March to the coastal town of DonD on the Arabian sea.
There, they would defy Britishlaw by making salt from the
seawater.
So all along this 241 mileMarch, he addressed the large
(11:52):
crowds.
He prayed with people and thecrowds just continued to grow.
So by April 5th, when theyreached Don D, there was tens of
thousands of people with him Hespoken led prayers and early,
the next morning walked down tothe sea to make salt.
He had planned to work the saltflats on the beach, which were
encrusted with crystallized seasalt at every high tide.
(12:15):
The police got there before himand crushed the salt deposits
into the mud to try and stopthis from happening.
Nevertheless, Gandhi reacheddown and picked up a small lump
of natural salt out of the mudand British law had been defied
thousands more followed hislead.
(12:37):
So now there's massivedisobedience all across India.
This began to happen British
Pearl (12:44):
are the dates for this?
Do you know what the dates forthis are?
AJ (12:47):
year it's happening in 1930
Pearl (12:51):
Wow.
And that was so long ago.
AJ (12:54):
Yeah, 1930.
All this is happening Marchthrough to April is when they're
initially pick up the first bitof salt.
At one point British authoritiesarrested more than 60,000 people
across India, but this massivedisobedience continue including
Gandhi was arrested on May onMay 21st, 2,500 marched to a
(13:21):
salt works.
Near Bombay and several hundredBritish led Indian policemen
beat the peaceful protesters.
And this was recorded by anAmerican journalists and there
was international outcry.
January of the next year, Gandhiwas released from prison and he
met with the Viceroy of Indiaand he agreed to call off this
(13:45):
mass civil disobedience, if theywould invite them to London with
like equal negotiating powers.
Ultimately that negotiationdidn't result in much, but it
was, it, the whole thing kind ofcontinued with momentum and was
a big factor in India.
Finally, granted independence inAugust, 1947, of course, Gandhi
(14:09):
was assassinated by a hinder.
You extremist less than sixmonths later.
But you know, I just love thestories of.
Civil disobedience againstreally oppressive rule and
people instigating change.
Yeah.
It's just a great story.
(14:30):
Overall.
It started with a March and thenpicking up a little chunk of
salt.
Pearl (14:36):
Yeah.
Yeah, well, it's a great storybecause it shows us an example
of someone who's who seesinjustice and is willing to do
something about it and becreative in the response.
He wasn't just inciting violencein the streets.
He was, you know, trying tothink of ways that would
actually change policies.
AJ (14:59):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Pearl (15:01):
Yeah.
Cool.
Good story.
And what does that have to dowith March 12th?
AJ (15:06):
March 12th was when the March started.
He set off from,
Pearl (15:13):
in March.
AJ (15:13):
yeah, he set off for the coastal town on March 12th,
1930.
What does that?
91 years ago today?
Pearl (15:23):
Yeah.
91 years ago.
AJ (15:25):
All right, Pearl, what do you have for us?
Pearl (15:27):
Okay.
Yeah.
So today, I'm just going to do,I wasn't originally going to do
this and then something poppedup in my newsfeed and on
AJ (15:39):
would you say it was serendipitous?
Pearl (15:41):
It was so serendipitous.
This is a serendipitousoccurrence.
So, yeah, we're going to betalking or doing a very brief
flip about the Tuskegee airmentoday.
this is fully in this fullyrequires a full
AJ (15:56):
yes that's what I was getting That's what I was trying
to say we'll have
Pearl (15:59):
of this requires a full episode, but, date.
This article popped up onFriday, March 5th.
So we're a couple days after thefact now, but a week ago today,
one of the last three survivingArizona members of the Tuskegee
airmen died at the age of 95.
AJ (16:20):
Wait just this year.
Pearl (16:21):
Yeah Yeah well I'm in 95, Robert Ashby.
So, yeah, he, Robert Ashby waswho was born in 1926 in South
Carolina.
And he enlisted in the army airCorps, aviation cadet program.
He was only 17.
AJ (16:41):
someone lied
Pearl (16:42):
August, 1944.
Obviously you faced a lot ofdiscrimination in the air force
and, he when he was assigned hewas eventually assigned to Japan
but he was guess kicked out bytwo white flying units and
stripped of his pilot statusyeah, he was, he did get
assigned to a black unit and hispallet size was reinstated and
(17:07):
he served for 21 years,
AJ (17:10):
21 years.
That's a long time.
Pearl (17:13):
Yeah.
So he
AJ (17:15):
I'm sorry can you repeat his name
Pearl (17:17):
His name was Robert Ashby So this story is from the
Atlanta black star And the, thisquote from the Atlanta black
star says Ashby flew combat infor a year, while stationed in
Korea in 1956, who was assignedto England flew the T 33, B 45
(17:39):
and BS 66 aircraft.
These things, these words meannothing to me.
AJ (17:43):
I'm thinking big bomber planes,
Pearl (17:44):
I mean who knows later Ashby trained in the bomber and
later served as a B 47instructor.
In July, 1965.
He retired as a LieutenantColonel after 21 years of
honorable service in the U S airforce.
AJ (17:58):
Wow.
That's quite the career.
Pearl (18:00):
Yeah.
Yeah, it really is.
he yeah, he was also the veryfirst black pilot to reach the
mandatory requirement, age of 60before retiring in 1986.
Just very briefly the Tuskegeeairmen were actually the very
first military aviators in the US army air Corps.
(18:26):
So that first group was calledthe Tuskegee.
Error that was called theTuskegee airman because they
trained at the Tuskegee armyairfield in Alabama.
AJ (18:38):
Okay.
And they're the first blackmilitary aviator unit, I guess.
Okay Yeah I recognize the name,but I honestly don't know a
whole lot about them.
Other than I knew that they wereblack pilots
Pearl (18:58):
Yeah Yeah.
The Tuskegee airmen flew in morethan 15,000 individual sorties.
So a sorority was like anindividual little so you could
fly multiple sorties in a night,depending on close you were to
the place you needed to get toAnd
AJ (19:18):
it's like a rough night
Pearl (19:19):
Yeah And they were just, they just had stellar
performance.
They earned more than 150distinguished flying crosses and
their work and their drive forexcellence is part of what
helped to distinguish them andalso to lead to the eventual
desegregation of the usmilitary.
AJ (19:39):
Yeah.
that's amazing.
Pearl (19:41):
I So, so, you know, back in the twenties and thirties it
was kind of like the, I don'tknow if you would call it the
golden age of a flight, but itwas, you know, you've got
Charles Lindbergh, AmeliaEarhart, you've got all these
like hero figures.
And it wasn't just a littlewhite kids that were wanting to
grow up in camp pilots.
(20:02):
It was also black kidsnaturally.
AJ (20:04):
Yeah, of course.
Everyone wants to fly everyone
Pearl (20:06):
wanted to become a pilot.
So, they just faced a completelydifferent uphill battle than
their white counterparts.
AJ (20:14):
Yeah It's sad I mean, cause look at this, look at Robert
Ashby's drive.
Like he was 17.
I don't know all the rules.
I don't know if he really didhave to lie about his age or
what that was to get started,but I mean obviously the guy
wanted to fly.
Pearl (20:30):
Yeah.
Yeah, well, you know, youngblack Americans just had so many
obstacles in their path toactually becoming pilots
compared to white Americans.
And there was still, and wetalked about this a little bit
in our Tuskegee experiment,which is completely unrelated.
Right.
But we talked about just theracist beliefs that the reason
they were doing the wholeTuskegee airmen experiment was
(20:52):
to test whether or not blackpeople were different from white
with the syphilis.
But a lot of that was a reallyprevalent thought process at the
time.
And a lot of people didn't thinkthat black people had the
intelligence necessary tooperate a complicated aircraft.
so I
AJ (21:10):
thought about that.
I mean, if you follow that lineof thinking then obviously,
yeah.
You wouldn't want someone thatwas less than had a lesser
capacity to
Pearl (21:23):
Right Right And there was that w that was such a prevalent
thing in the United States atthe time.
And that was part of theobstacle, but what happened was
president Roosevelt knew that wejust needed more people.
And so he just expanded thecivilian pilot training program
(21:43):
in the United States of that atthat point.
AJ (21:46):
It's just, it's shocking being this far past it to think
that even the fact that they hadthese segregated units, you
know, and probably at the timethey were patting themselves on
the back for giving these blackmen a chance to fly.
(22:06):
But the fact that it wassegregated and they had to be
their own like separate blackunit is just messed up.
Pearl (22:17):
So at that point, the U S army air Corps is now ramping up
their training program and theirdemand for pilots and black
newspapers and civil rightsgroups, like the NAACP are start
pushing really heavily thatblack Americans be included in
this as well.
And so in 1940, the white houseannounced that the American air
(22:43):
Corps would soon beginningtraining black pilots.
AJ (22:47):
So they were pushing for black Americans to be included.
Pearl (22:52):
Yeah, so obviously they they're not pushing for
desegregation.
They just want them to beincluded.
And so that's when they the wardepartment.
Chose the Tuskegee army airfieldand Tuskegee, Alabama.
Yeah.
So obviously Tuskegee, Alabama,you're in the middle of Jim Crow
(23:12):
South.
AJ (23:13):
Right
Pearl (23:14):
know, it's a rough place to thrive to say the least.
AJ (23:18):
Yeah.
Pearl (23:19):
Yeah.
So, even after they becamepilots and were sent out to
bases they just faced so muchracism.
One of the, one of the thingsthat happen was they would get
put into poor quality planes andthen they would get judged on
their performance
AJ (23:41):
based on
Pearl (23:41):
that So you know, in 1942, they were, they flew
missions in these secondhand P40 planes which were slower and
more difficult to maneuver.
And so the commander of theirassigned group complained about
their performance and they, youknow, they just had so much that
they had to work against.
AJ (24:02):
I mean, I guess the crazy thing is that probably, maybe, I
don't know, I'm no pilot, butmaybe it actually ended up
making them even better pilotsbecause they were thrown into
the fire and had to cope withthese
Pearl (24:18):
they were definitely excellent.
It was a little bit of a myththat they never lost a bomber,
the Tuskegee airman, becausethey at at some point they began
to work in escort missions wherethey would escort bombers.
But, they lost significantlyless bombers than any of the
(24:38):
other escort groups, in the 15thair force.
AJ (24:41):
Well that's interesting
Pearl (24:42):
just a very tiny little blip about the Tuskegee airmen
and yeah just wanted to mentionRobert Ashby because
AJ (24:49):
now Correct me if I'm wrong Did did I hear you say that
there are still two othersurviving members of the
Tuskegee
Pearl (24:57):
I think there's a couple Yeah I'm not sure but when we do
this as a full story then we'llkind of go into the full story
of the Tuskegee airmen kind ofopen that up.
But in the meantime there's acouple of things you can do as a
listener.
You can watch the Tuskegeeairmen with Laurence Fishburne
or red tails with Cuba GoodingJr.
(25:19):
Those are both two good moviesabout, I've never seen red
tails.
I have seen the Tuskegee airmenand I remember that being really
good.
So,
AJ (25:27):
Let us know which one you liked better.
Pearl (25:29):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Watch those movies and thenyou're going to have so much
more input when you listen,along with the story, you know,
I was talking to a friend ofmine.
I've actually had severalfriends tell me this, that when
they're listening to thepodcast, they're answering us.
Like, you know, we, when wecan't think of something or
AJ (25:48):
which is often
Pearl (25:49):
yeah.
They're answering us or yeah.
So we, we feel that
AJ (25:54):
what's an actual way that people can reach out to us.
Pearl (25:58):
Well probably the best way to reach out to us is just
through Instagram or Twitter.
That's probably going to be thequickest and easiest and that's
Instagram is just app thestories we forgot.
And I think Twitter is TSWF podor something.
I feel like we didn't
AJ (26:16):
or you can go to the stories, we forgot.com.
And if we don't have it up,we'll put a link up to find
those.
Maybe we'll even put like acontact form or something, be
all fancy like that.
email us
Pearl (26:29):
Yeah we definitely need story ideas though.
I just know that there's so manyincredible stories out there
that we haven't all heard ofyet.
And important people that needto be highlighted in American
AJ (26:41):
We have a Google document that's growing with ideas, but
Pearl (26:45):
Yeah We
AJ (26:46):
we can only cover so much
Pearl (26:47):
some really compelling suggestions.
AJ (26:49):
Well I think we have time for one more story, unless you
have another
Pearl (26:54):
I might have another story you go ahead with
AJ (26:57):
Okay, well, this one's not too long either.
It's another entry into this dayin history.
History March 12th, 1776, apublic notice in Baltimore urges
recognition of quote humaneladies.
Pearl (27:19):
Recognition for humane ladies
AJ (27:21):
of humane ladies, let me read,
Pearl (27:24):
I'm deciding whether or not to be insulted
AJ (27:26):
right Well, I saw it and I was like, what in the world does
that mean?
I got to click on this publicnote in 1776, March 12th in
Baltimore.
A public notice appears in localpapers recognizing the sacrifice
of women to the cause of theAmerican revolution.
The notice urged others torecognize women's contributions
and announced, quote, thenecessity of taking all
(27:49):
imaginable care of those who mayhappen to be wounded in the
country's cause urges us toaddress our humane ladies, to
lend us their kind assistance infurnishing us with linen rags
and old sheeting for bandages.
So it's essentially saying,remember to thank all the women
who are patching us up as we'refighting this war.
(28:12):
And this article on history.comgoes on to explain that it was a
lot more than that.
Particularly all of the boycottsthat the Patriots enacted in the
colonies mostly affected thewomen much more than the men, So
(28:33):
when they hall go to the BostonHarbor and throw all the tea.
Into the water.
It was the women who primarilydrank the tea.
The men were more likely to bedrinking.
Pearl (28:48):
Rum I think this is the first time that this has
occurred to me.
That is so funny.
AJ (28:57):
Oh
Pearl (28:58):
goodness
AJ (28:59):
Samuel Adams and his friends
Pearl (29:01):
there like a second tea party where the men come home
and they have to sleep on thecouch because now there's no tea
AJ (29:08):
All the women are like well Dang it Thanks a lot guys Oh, it
gets better.
Samuel Adams and his friends mayhave dumped the tea in the
Harbor, but they were far morelikely to drink rum than tea.
When they returned to theirhomes, conveniently their
actions served to deprive theirwives, mothers, sisters, and
daughters, not themselves.
(29:28):
The colonists only resorted toan attempted boycott of rum in
1774, after Britain had closedthe port of Boston.
Similarly when John Adams andother men in power thought it
best to stop importing fineBritish fabrics, with which to
make their clothing.
During the protest of the late1760s, it had little impact on
(29:50):
their daily lives.
They may have had to wearhomespun cloth, but it was their
colonial wives and homemakerswho were forced to spend hours
spinning clothes to create theirfamilies wardrobes.
Pearl (30:04):
Oh my goodness This changes everything
AJ (30:09):
Western history here.
See this thus in 1776,
Pearl (30:14):
our wives can work harder.
AJ (30:16):
What do
Pearl (30:18):
And the wife is like, I'm pregnant with much of the 17th
child.
AJ (30:22):
I just want a cup of tea.
That's in 1776, when AbigailAdams begged John Adams to
remember the ladies whiledrafting the U S constitution.
She was not begging a favor, butdemanding payment of an enduring
debt.
So March 12th, 1776 notice urgesrecognition of quote, humane
(30:45):
ladies.
And I guess that's Americanrevolution era speak for
Pearl (30:51):
this article was 100% approved, inspired, and drafted
by women, or what I guess I'mmean to say is their husbands
while they stood there with aknife.
AJ (31:02):
threatening unspeakable acts.
Pearl (31:04):
Oh my goodness.
It's really funny.
AJ (31:07):
So thank you, women of the American revolutionary war for
supporting.
Pearl (31:12):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sorry about the tea and allthat.
AJ (31:16):
Sorry about no T and making a lot more work for you, but we
want our independence.
Cuckoo.
No doubt.
No doubt.
Pearl (31:26):
So today this is a random story that popped up courtesy of
social media.
So back in the early 1920s the.
Discovery of the roaringtwenties, the discovery of
insulin was made.
And anyone who has diabetes canofficially think a dog because
(31:47):
they use the pancreas from dogs.
Those were the test subjectsthat they were using to try and
find a substance that was goingto decrease blood sugar.
I'm not really going to go intothe entire process of how they
get insulin from dogs.
Needless to say, lots of dogswere harmed in making this
project, but
AJ (32:08):
Oh
Pearl (32:09):
know They, I mean, they are, I don't think they use dogs
anymore.
Right.
I don't think, I don't thinkthey use dogs to make
AJ (32:19):
Googling.
How do we get insulin?
Pearl (32:22):
Oh,
AJ (32:23):
Insulin can be made from the pancreas of pigs or cows.
Pearl (32:27):
Okay.
So not dogs much better.
Okay.
AJ (32:30):
cares about pigs and,
Pearl (32:32):
Pigs and cows.
Yeah, so, it was kind of a longpainful process before before we
had insulin people just died.
They started with high bloodsugar and then they would, you
know, proceed to a diabetic comaand then
AJ (32:49):
it's an ugly
Pearl (32:51):
Yeah.
But one of the most one of thebiggest medical miracle moments
that happened in this wholediscovery was in 1922.
This has been referred to as oneof medicine's most incredible
moments.
So there was a diabetic word atthis hospital and these two
scientists came there with theirnew insulin drug and they wanted
(33:18):
to test the treatment on thisward full of dying kids.
And.
They most of them were comatosealready and dying from diabetic.
Yeah.
Diabetic ketoacidosis.
And so you've just got a roomfull of award full of parents,
just sitting with their dyingchildren in their bed.
And the two scientists come inthe room and, you know, at this
(33:41):
point it's like, well, they'regoing to die anyway.
So let's just sure.
We'll try this.
yeah, it's a last ditch effort.
They begin.
They're walking through theroom, they begin injecting pure
insulin into each child.
Basically they just kind ofwalked around, walked through
the room and began to inject thekids with the insulin.
(34:03):
By the time.
So they go through the entireward.
They're injecting the kids withinsulin.
They get to the very last child.
As they're injecting the verylast child with insulin, the
first child begins to wake upand within minutes the entire
ward is transformed.
AJ (34:18):
my goodness
Pearl (34:19):
I mean transformed, I mean, a room full of dying kids
become alive and fine.
Now we all know the insulin isnot the cure for diabetes.
It's the treatment.
So obviously they still neededinsulin in order to stay normal
and healthy.
But
AJ (34:35):
yeah, it's been refined an awful lot in ways that they
track it and watch the bloodsugar and stuff.
Pearl (34:39):
But yeah, so all these kids went from being on their
death beds in this ward to beinglively and alert and awake and
asking for food and fine, youknow?
And it's, yeah, it's widelyregarded as one of medicine's
(35:00):
brightest moments because it wasvery much like, well, let's try
this.
I don't know if this was thevery first time that this was
tried.
I think that they I think thatin all the testing process, I
mean, obviously they had.
They had several severalfailures with dogs.
And, but the very first death,the very first test they tested
(35:23):
it on a boy and he died prettyquickly afterwards.
Clearly it was not, he, I mean,he was so far gone at that
point, so I'm not sure at whatpoint they walked into that ward
and just began, injectingchildren, but it was very early
on in the process.
And it was very much like a.
These kids are going to dieanyways.
(35:44):
Let's just see what happens.
And it's, you know, all thesekids with police, little kids
with, I guess, type onediabetes, I would imagine.
Yeah, just having their livesrestored to them.
AJ (35:54):
Yeah.
So two interesting things aboutinsulin, lots and lots of
improvements of course, andadvancements have been made.
One of them is they combined itwith a protein, was it a pro
yeah.
Found in fish sperm to make itmore long lasting.
(36:18):
Sorry to throw that out.
And currently I think mostinsulin is grown in a lab by, I
think initially they spliced ratDNA with a bacteria.
And so then this bacteriaessentially like proliferates
and grows the insulin and theyextract it.
(36:39):
I dunno, some way out there.
So I don't think they're, Idon't think they're harvesting
it from animals.
Like they used to.
It's all done in a lab process.
Now
Pearl (36:49):
I'm sure.
AJ (36:50):
that's an incredible story though.
I never knew that about insulin,that it was a miracle drug like
that
Pearl (36:59):
Yeah.
Well,
AJ (37:00):
But yeah I mean, it's the, it's what you need.
It's what you give to someone ifthey're way too high,
Pearl (37:05):
Yeah.
AJ (37:06):
That's a cool story
Pearl (37:07):
Thank you.
Yeah.
So those are the stories forthis week.
I felt like doing a Patrick withseveral shorter stories for this
week.
And yeah, you can take a look onInstagram.
We're going to show somepictures from our stories and
then also links to our websiteand our.
AJ (37:26):
Twitter and Instagram,
Pearl (37:27):
Twitter, Instagram,
AJ (37:28):
maybe we'll put a we'll work on the site and find some ways
for you find a better way tosubmit stories.
I
Pearl (37:34):
slacked off.
I haven't put anything on thewebsite a couple of days, so I
mean, I mean weeks,
AJ (37:39):
Well, thanks for listening.
I hope you found that if noteducational, at least
entertaining.
Pearl (37:45):
I
AJ (37:45):
not entertaining at least educational
Pearl (37:47):
for.
Right.
We're trying to hit those sweetspot between educating, and
entertaining, which I guessmeans neither of them.
So, no not that both.
Not or both.
AJ (38:01):
All right.
Thanks for listening.
Bye bye.
Okay.
Then
Pearl (00:02):
top of the morning,
AJ (00:03):
top of the morning until, you
Pearl (00:05):
uh
AJ (00:05):
far are we from St.
Patty's day?
Just a few days.
Right?
Pearl (00:09):
When is St.
Patty's day is 1716, somethinglike that.
It's coming up this next week.
I
AJ (00:13):
I think it's the 17th.
Cause I think it's the daybefore my dad's birthday.
Pearl (00:20):
I ain't sure about that,
AJ (00:21):
right?
No, dang it.
No,
Pearl (00:26):
I was going to say
AJ (00:27):
before their anniversary, which is the day before his
birthday, I'm pretty sure I'mpretty sure I'm
Pearl (00:32):
So I w well, I was listening to, and I was just
like, Oh, he's so wrong.
Doesn't he know theiranniversaries in March.
Oh, right.
It's not February anymore.
I don't even know that.
Huh?
AJ (00:45):
That's my beautiful as always wife, Pearl Hearst.
Pearl (00:49):
And that's my charming husband, Andrew Hearst.
This is the
AJ (00:54):
stories we forgot.
Pearl (00:57):
Ooh, we did that together, I didn't think, I
didn't think we'd be able to sayit in sync like that.
That was unplanned.
You guys that's how good we are.
AJ (01:05):
It was also unnecessary.
Pearl (01:08):
So the stories we forgot is a hit history podcasts for
non historians buying onhistorians.
And the purpose of this podcastis just to enlighten your day
with history that you didn'teven know, you didn't know.
AJ (01:27):
I liked that.
Could I just go on record sayingthat?
Probably sorry, mom and dad,probably the most important day
in March is coming up very soon.
Pearl (01:46):
What is it?
AJ (01:47):
PI day,
Pearl (01:48):
PI day.
Yeah.
well, the funny thing about PIday is that in years past we
have always been sick on PI day.
I cannot tell you how many yearsI've always been like.
Oh, by day's coming up, weshould make pies with the kids.
And then, you know, pie dayrolls around and everyone's like
super sick with colds.
And the last thing I want to dois introduce a whole bunch of
(02:11):
sugar into the house.
And, yeah.
So
AJ (02:15):
So sugar fast until Sunday.
Pearl (02:17):
this is the sh this is the silver lining in the
coronavirus cloud.
Our kids haven't gotten coldsand like
AJ (02:25):
we have not, yes.
We have not been sick for
Pearl (02:28):
Oh,
AJ (02:28):
a year.
Pearl (02:29):
I mean, there's been like minor stuff, really minor stuff.
That's come through the house.
AJ (02:33):
that we were last sick.
Pearl (02:36):
No, it was literally March,
AJ (02:38):
well, February into March.
I think it was, I think we gothealthy right before everything
shut down.
Pearl (02:44):
Yeah, because Henry was really sick last February.
And I feel like he had, I feellike he had been back at school
for maybe.
AJ (02:53):
Oh, right.
Pearl (02:54):
two
AJ (02:54):
He like, he finally got back to school and then it completely
shut down.
Pearl (02:59):
Oh 12 tomorrow.
Tomorrow is actually theone-year anniversary from when
they got pulled out of school.
AJ (03:06):
Wouldn't that be well, today's Friday today would be
the one year anniversary of likethe last day
Pearl (03:11):
right.
Tomorrow's the
AJ (03:12):
had in school,
Pearl (03:14):
and March 13th last year.
So March 11th, last year we werevisiting with my brother and
sister-in-law and I think March11th is when the pandemic was
officially declared in theUnited States.
And we were just like, what doesthis even mean?
Like, yeah, she said.
That she had heard from someoneelse that they might potentially
(03:36):
close schools.
And we were both just like,that's ridiculous.
AJ (03:40):
push Shaw.
Pearl (03:41):
Can you imagine if they tried to close all the schools
in the United States?
I mean, come on Jeff.
Sure.
Enough.
Two days later, all the schoolsin the
AJ (03:50):
shut down.
Pearl (03:51):
completely shuttered
AJ (03:53):
what's been the other real interesting thing that's
happened for us this week.
Pearl (03:57):
I don't know.
I feel like you're fishing forsomething.
What are you fishing
AJ (04:01):
I'm transferring the thought to your mind right now.
We got another dog.
We,
Pearl (04:06):
we, yeah, we got another dog.
We just kind of felt likegetting another dog,
AJ (04:09):
You know, we kinda did maybe like parents of one child and
they're kind of like we reallyneed a sibling for our child to
play with.
Pearl (04:21):
Yeah.
We got a dog
AJ (04:22):
we got a dog, we got a dog sibling and he's really cute.
Pearl (04:25):
Yeah.
So we currently have a athree-year-old almost.
Yeah, a three-year-old miniAussie.
AJ (04:31):
Nope.
It's not a mini Aussie.
Pearl (04:34):
Oh
AJ (04:34):
an American shepherd.
Pearl (04:35):
it's an American shepherd.
Yeah.
Many Aussies are technically notAustralian shepherds that are
American shepherds, but everyoneknows them as mini Aussies.
So she's adorable.
And she, but she, you know, getsleft at home when we go places.
And so we were just
AJ (04:51):
and the cats really don't want to
Pearl (04:53):
the cats are not huge fans of her.
She likes to play with the catswith they don't generally like
to,
AJ (04:59):
And the neighbor dog is too cool for The neighbor dog is old
Really doesn't want to
Pearl (05:05):
well she's old, but I think in her prime, she was
pretty cool.
A little bit of a bad-ass.
So she has zero interest in thisfluffy little Aussie that
follows her around.
She's also pretty big.
So yeah, you know, Craigslistfor the wind, someone in, you
know, just like.
Five minutes away from us neededto rehome there mini Aussie
(05:29):
young mini Aussie male, becausethey're moving and it's been a,
it's been a pretty good fit.
They're pretty adorabletogether.
AJ (05:35):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So our female Aussie is lady andwe named this new Aussie Duke.
So it's lady in the Duke.
Pearl (05:44):
Yeah.
Yeah.
They're pretty cute.
AJ (05:46):
And now we have a female and a male.
So there's
Pearl (05:51):
We will not have
AJ (05:52):
yes.
The female is fixed.
Pearl (05:54):
So today on the pod, we're actually going to do
several short history facts foryou.
A couple of these we're probablygoing to revisit and do as a
single longer story.
A little more in depth from adifferent perspective, but yeah,
we're just doing kind of ahistory collage for you today on
the podcast.
(06:15):
Yeah.
So, before we go any further AIJwhat are you drinking on this
fine March?
Not February morning
AJ (06:23):
Fine.
Friday morning.
I am drinking a good question,bro.
You made it for me.
Pearl (06:31):
I just kind of set you up for that
AJ (06:33):
it's a Newman zone, organics, tumeric, ginger tea,
touch of honey and the splash ofmilk.
quite pleasant
Pearl (06:41):
we already had first tea and coffee.
This is second tea.
Just kind of felt like a secondtea kind of day.
And this morning I had thismorning, I had some pretty good
tea, but it just kinda felt likea good solid teabag tea.
Yeah this Newman's own TNewman's own is a pretty solid T
brand.
I don't really have anycomplaints about it's tumeric
(07:02):
ginger and neither of thoseflavors are things that I would
normally gravitate to, but youknow, me, I was at Costco and it
was being clearanced outbecause, you know, tumeric,
ginger sounds gross and.
And I was like, well, if it'sclearance, so I ended up buying,
you know, it was like a Costcoamount of tea.
(07:22):
But it's really good.
It's just it's a very, it's notgingery at all.
I don't even know why it'scalled tumeric ginger.
I'm sure there's tumeric andginger in it, but it's just kind
of like a mild warming slightly.
It's just like a mild herbal teaand just kind of like warm and
smooth and there's no strongflavors in it.
It's just, I mean, it's notflavorless.
(07:44):
It has flavor.
I'm not describing this tea verywell.
It's a good tea.
It's a good tea
AJ (07:47):
You should try it.
You should try it.
Trust us.
Pearl (07:50):
moving on.
AJ (07:51):
All right.
Is it time for this day inhistory?
History?
Pearl (07:54):
Yeah Why don't you, why don't you start us off with some
the stay in history facts,
AJ (08:00):
I've got two from this day in history for today.
Both from history.com.
Just the history channel site.
Yeah.
That's where this a nonhistorian gets all his history
from.
So my first, this day inhistory, March 12th, 1930,
Indian independence leader,Mohandas Gandhi begins a defiant
March to the sea in protest ofthe British monopoly on salt,
(08:22):
his boldest act of civildisobedience yet against British
rule in India.
Now, do you know why there, Iwas thought it was Mahatma
Gandhi.
the same old Honda Scotty,
Pearl (08:34):
right?
Yeah.
So, Wikipedia tells me like,straighten my color Wikipedia
tells me that Mahatma isactually an honorific nickname,
that he was given.
So it means like great soul orvenerable or, you know, it's a
respectful nickname that he wasgiven.
AJ (08:53):
So Mo Hondas is like his given name at birth.
Right.
And Mahatma is like an honorarytitle.
Pearl (09:01):
Yeah.
I guess.
AJ (09:02):
Okay.
good to know.
Yeah.
Good to know.
And to be honest though, I don'tknow a ton about the British
rule of India.
All I know is what I read onhistory.com this morning.
does As one does
Pearl (09:18):
raise your hands.
If you're in the same boat.
AJ (09:20):
Yes.
Pearl (09:20):
Yeah.
I just feel like a lot ofinvisible hands raised just
AJ (09:24):
definitely However, I do like this story because it's
about peaceful, civildisobedience and the change
that, you know, one man'scommitment to.
Pearl (09:38):
right.
He changed India.
AJ (09:40):
he changed India.
And yeah.
Pearl (09:43):
Well
AJ (09:43):
know much about Gandhi, so I'm not gonna try and riff on
him, but I know that he did somegreat.
Pearl (09:49):
Yeah.
You're not able to riff onGotti.
Well, there is a movie and Idon't know when this movie was
made late eighties, earlynineties, maybe.
It's a Ben Kingsley
AJ (10:00):
It might've been later than that.
Pearl (10:02):
maybe.
I don't remember when I watchedit.
AJ (10:05):
Ben Kingsley playing golf.
Pearl (10:07):
Yeah.
And I remember it was a reallygood movie, so that would be
kind of an interesting one torewatch and kind of refresh our
memories.
Yeah.
I have to double check and makesure that's, it's fairly, I feel
like it was fairly historicallyaccurate.
AJ (10:21):
I have to go back and check that out.
So in this story for today soit's kind of strange when you're
like looking back in history,reading this, it makes you
wonder, like what brought thisabout, but anyways, Britain's
salt act prohibited Indians fromcollecting or selling salt
(10:41):
citizens were forced to buy saltfrom the British, who in
addition to exercising amonopoly over the manufacturing
and sale of it also exerted aheavy salt tax.
And of course salt is a staplein anyone's diet Yeah So
Pearl (10:59):
so did does India have just like natural salt flats or
is this a mining salt okay, goahead.
AJ (11:09):
So define the salt acts.
Gandhi reasoned would be aningeniously simple way for many
Indians to break a British law.
Non-violently he declaredresistance to the British salt
policies to be the unifyingtheme for his new campaign of
Satyagraha or mass civildisobedience.
(11:30):
So on March 12th, he set outwith 78 followers on a 241 mile
March to the coastal town of DonD on the Arabian sea.
There, they would defy Britishlaw by making salt from the
seawater.
So all along this 241 mileMarch, he addressed the large
(11:52):
crowds.
He prayed with people and thecrowds just continued to grow.
So by April 5th, when theyreached Don D, there was tens of
thousands of people with him Hespoken led prayers and early,
the next morning walked down tothe sea to make salt.
He had planned to work the saltflats on the beach, which were
encrusted with crystallized seasalt at every high tide.
(12:15):
The police got there before himand crushed the salt deposits
into the mud to try and stopthis from happening.
Nevertheless, Gandhi reacheddown and picked up a small lump
of natural salt out of the mudand British law had been defied
thousands more followed hislead.
(12:37):
So now there's massivedisobedience all across India.
This began to happen British
Pearl (12:44):
are the dates for this?
Do you know what the dates forthis are?
AJ (12:47):
year it's happening in 1930
Pearl (12:51):
Wow.
And that was so long ago.
AJ (12:54):
Yeah, 1930.
All this is happening Marchthrough to April is when they're
initially pick up the first bitof salt.
At one point British authoritiesarrested more than 60,000 people
across India, but this massivedisobedience continue including
Gandhi was arrested on May onMay 21st, 2,500 marched to a
(13:21):
salt works.
Near Bombay and several hundredBritish led Indian policemen
beat the peaceful protesters.
And this was recorded by anAmerican journalists and there
was international outcry.
January of the next year, Gandhiwas released from prison and he
met with the Viceroy of Indiaand he agreed to call off this
(13:45):
mass civil disobedience, if theywould invite them to London with
like equal negotiating powers.
Ultimately that negotiationdidn't result in much, but it
was, it, the whole thing kind ofcontinued with momentum and was
a big factor in India.
Finally, granted independence inAugust, 1947, of course, Gandhi
(14:09):
was assassinated by a hinder.
You extremist less than sixmonths later.
But you know, I just love thestories of.
Civil disobedience againstreally oppressive rule and
people instigating change.
Yeah.
It's just a great story.
(14:30):
Overall.
It started with a March and thenpicking up a little chunk of
salt.
Pearl (14:36):
Yeah.
Yeah, well, it's a great storybecause it shows us an example
of someone who's who seesinjustice and is willing to do
something about it and becreative in the response.
He wasn't just inciting violencein the streets.
He was, you know, trying tothink of ways that would
actually change policies.
AJ (14:59):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Pearl (15:01):
Yeah.
Cool.
Good story.
And what does that have to dowith March 12th?
AJ (15:06):
March 12th was when the March started.
He set off from,
Pearl (15:13):
in March.
AJ (15:13):
yeah, he set off for the coastal town on March 12th,
1930.
What does that?
91 years ago today?
Pearl (15:23):
Yeah.
91 years ago.
AJ (15:25):
All right, Pearl, what do you have for us?
Pearl (15:27):
Okay.
Yeah.
So today, I'm just going to do,I wasn't originally going to do
this and then something poppedup in my newsfeed and on
AJ (15:39):
would you say it was serendipitous?
Pearl (15:41):
It was so serendipitous.
This is a serendipitousoccurrence.
So, yeah, we're going to betalking or doing a very brief
flip about the Tuskegee airmentoday.
this is fully in this fullyrequires a full
AJ (15:56):
yes that's what I was getting That's what I was trying
to say we'll have
Pearl (15:59):
of this requires a full episode, but, date.
This article popped up onFriday, March 5th.
So we're a couple days after thefact now, but a week ago today,
one of the last three survivingArizona members of the Tuskegee
airmen died at the age of 95.
AJ (16:20):
Wait just this year.
Pearl (16:21):
Yeah Yeah well I'm in 95, Robert Ashby.
So, yeah, he, Robert Ashby waswho was born in 1926 in South
Carolina.
And he enlisted in the army airCorps, aviation cadet program.
He was only 17.
AJ (16:41):
someone lied
Pearl (16:42):
August, 1944.
Obviously you faced a lot ofdiscrimination in the air force
and, he when he was assigned hewas eventually assigned to Japan
but he was guess kicked out bytwo white flying units and
stripped of his pilot statusyeah, he was, he did get
assigned to a black unit and hispallet size was reinstated and
(17:07):
he served for 21 years,
AJ (17:10):
21 years.
That's a long time.
Pearl (17:13):
Yeah.
So he
AJ (17:15):
I'm sorry can you repeat his name
Pearl (17:17):
His name was Robert Ashby So this story is from the
Atlanta black star And the, thisquote from the Atlanta black
star says Ashby flew combat infor a year, while stationed in
Korea in 1956, who was assignedto England flew the T 33, B 45
(17:39):
and BS 66 aircraft.
These things, these words meannothing to me.
AJ (17:43):
I'm thinking big bomber planes,
Pearl (17:44):
I mean who knows later Ashby trained in the bomber and
later served as a B 47instructor.
In July, 1965.
He retired as a LieutenantColonel after 21 years of
honorable service in the U S airforce.
AJ (17:58):
Wow.
That's quite the career.
Pearl (18:00):
Yeah.
Yeah, it really is.
he yeah, he was also the veryfirst black pilot to reach the
mandatory requirement, age of 60before retiring in 1986.
Just very briefly the Tuskegeeairmen were actually the very
first military aviators in the US army air Corps.
(18:26):
So that first group was calledthe Tuskegee.
Error that was called theTuskegee airman because they
trained at the Tuskegee armyairfield in Alabama.
AJ (18:38):
Okay.
And they're the first blackmilitary aviator unit, I guess.
Okay Yeah I recognize the name,but I honestly don't know a
whole lot about them.
Other than I knew that they wereblack pilots
Pearl (18:58):
Yeah Yeah.
The Tuskegee airmen flew in morethan 15,000 individual sorties.
So a sorority was like anindividual little so you could
fly multiple sorties in a night,depending on close you were to
the place you needed to get toAnd
AJ (19:18):
it's like a rough night
Pearl (19:19):
Yeah And they were just, they just had stellar
performance.
They earned more than 150distinguished flying crosses and
their work and their drive forexcellence is part of what
helped to distinguish them andalso to lead to the eventual
desegregation of the usmilitary.
AJ (19:39):
Yeah.
that's amazing.
Pearl (19:41):
I So, so, you know, back in the twenties and thirties it
was kind of like the, I don'tknow if you would call it the
golden age of a flight, but itwas, you know, you've got
Charles Lindbergh, AmeliaEarhart, you've got all these
like hero figures.
And it wasn't just a littlewhite kids that were wanting to
grow up in camp pilots.
(20:02):
It was also black kidsnaturally.
AJ (20:04):
Yeah, of course.
Everyone wants to fly everyone
Pearl (20:06):
wanted to become a pilot.
So, they just faced a completelydifferent uphill battle than
their white counterparts.
AJ (20:14):
Yeah It's sad I mean, cause look at this, look at Robert
Ashby's drive.
Like he was 17.
I don't know all the rules.
I don't know if he really didhave to lie about his age or
what that was to get started,but I mean obviously the guy
wanted to fly.
Pearl (20:30):
Yeah.
Yeah, well, you know, youngblack Americans just had so many
obstacles in their path toactually becoming pilots
compared to white Americans.
And there was still, and wetalked about this a little bit
in our Tuskegee experiment,which is completely unrelated.
Right.
But we talked about just theracist beliefs that the reason
they were doing the wholeTuskegee airmen experiment was
(20:52):
to test whether or not blackpeople were different from white
with the syphilis.
But a lot of that was a reallyprevalent thought process at the
time.
And a lot of people didn't thinkthat black people had the
intelligence necessary tooperate a complicated aircraft.
so I
AJ (21:10):
thought about that.
I mean, if you follow that lineof thinking then obviously,
yeah.
You wouldn't want someone thatwas less than had a lesser
capacity to
Pearl (21:23):
Right Right And there was that w that was such a prevalent
thing in the United States atthe time.
And that was part of theobstacle, but what happened was
president Roosevelt knew that wejust needed more people.
And so he just expanded thecivilian pilot training program
(21:43):
in the United States of that atthat point.
AJ (21:46):
It's just, it's shocking being this far past it to think
that even the fact that they hadthese segregated units, you
know, and probably at the timethey were patting themselves on
the back for giving these blackmen a chance to fly.
(22:06):
But the fact that it wassegregated and they had to be
their own like separate blackunit is just messed up.
Pearl (22:17):
So at that point, the U S army air Corps is now ramping up
their training program and theirdemand for pilots and black
newspapers and civil rightsgroups, like the NAACP are start
pushing really heavily thatblack Americans be included in
this as well.
And so in 1940, the white houseannounced that the American air
(22:43):
Corps would soon beginningtraining black pilots.
AJ (22:47):
So they were pushing for black Americans to be included.
Pearl (22:52):
Yeah, so obviously they they're not pushing for
desegregation.
They just want them to beincluded.
And so that's when they the wardepartment.
Chose the Tuskegee army airfieldand Tuskegee, Alabama.
Yeah.
So obviously Tuskegee, Alabama,you're in the middle of Jim Crow
(23:12):
South.
AJ (23:13):
Right
Pearl (23:14):
know, it's a rough place to thrive to say the least.
AJ (23:18):
Yeah.
Pearl (23:19):
Yeah.
So, even after they becamepilots and were sent out to
bases they just faced so muchracism.
One of the, one of the thingsthat happen was they would get
put into poor quality planes andthen they would get judged on
their performance
AJ (23:41):
based on
Pearl (23:41):
that So you know, in 1942, they were, they flew
missions in these secondhand P40 planes which were slower and
more difficult to maneuver.
And so the commander of theirassigned group complained about
their performance and they, youknow, they just had so much that
they had to work against.
AJ (24:02):
I mean, I guess the crazy thing is that probably, maybe, I
don't know, I'm no pilot, butmaybe it actually ended up
making them even better pilotsbecause they were thrown into
the fire and had to cope withthese
Pearl (24:18):
they were definitely excellent.
It was a little bit of a myththat they never lost a bomber,
the Tuskegee airman, becausethey at at some point they began
to work in escort missions wherethey would escort bombers.
But, they lost significantlyless bombers than any of the
(24:38):
other escort groups, in the 15thair force.
AJ (24:41):
Well that's interesting
Pearl (24:42):
just a very tiny little blip about the Tuskegee airmen
and yeah just wanted to mentionRobert Ashby because
AJ (24:49):
now Correct me if I'm wrong Did did I hear you say that
there are still two othersurviving members of the
Tuskegee
Pearl (24:57):
I think there's a couple Yeah I'm not sure but when we do
this as a full story then we'llkind of go into the full story
of the Tuskegee airmen kind ofopen that up.
But in the meantime there's acouple of things you can do as a
listener.
You can watch the Tuskegeeairmen with Laurence Fishburne
or red tails with Cuba GoodingJr.
(25:19):
Those are both two good moviesabout, I've never seen red
tails.
I have seen the Tuskegee airmenand I remember that being really
good.
So,
AJ (25:27):
Let us know which one you liked better.
Pearl (25:29):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Watch those movies and thenyou're going to have so much
more input when you listen,along with the story, you know,
I was talking to a friend ofmine.
I've actually had severalfriends tell me this, that when
they're listening to thepodcast, they're answering us.
Like, you know, we, when wecan't think of something or
AJ (25:48):
which is often
Pearl (25:49):
yeah.
They're answering us or yeah.
So we, we feel that
AJ (25:54):
what's an actual way that people can reach out to us.
Pearl (25:58):
Well probably the best way to reach out to us is just
through Instagram or Twitter.
That's probably going to be thequickest and easiest and that's
Instagram is just app thestories we forgot.
And I think Twitter is TSWF podor something.
I feel like we didn't
AJ (26:16):
or you can go to the stories, we forgot.com.
And if we don't have it up,we'll put a link up to find
those.
Maybe we'll even put like acontact form or something, be
all fancy like that.
email us
Pearl (26:29):
Yeah we definitely need story ideas though.
I just know that there's so manyincredible stories out there
that we haven't all heard ofyet.
And important people that needto be highlighted in American
AJ (26:41):
We have a Google document that's growing with ideas, but
Pearl (26:45):
Yeah We
AJ (26:46):
we can only cover so much
Pearl (26:47):
some really compelling suggestions.
AJ (26:49):
Well I think we have time for one more story, unless you
have another
Pearl (26:54):
I might have another story you go ahead with
AJ (26:57):
Okay, well, this one's not too long either.
It's another entry into this dayin history.
History March 12th, 1776, apublic notice in Baltimore urges
recognition of quote humaneladies.
Pearl (27:19):
Recognition for humane ladies
AJ (27:21):
of humane ladies, let me read,
Pearl (27:24):
I'm deciding whether or not to be insulted
AJ (27:26):
right Well, I saw it and I was like, what in the world does
that mean?
I got to click on this publicnote in 1776, March 12th in
Baltimore.
A public notice appears in localpapers recognizing the sacrifice
of women to the cause of theAmerican revolution.
The notice urged others torecognize women's contributions
and announced, quote, thenecessity of taking all
(27:49):
imaginable care of those who mayhappen to be wounded in the
country's cause urges us toaddress our humane ladies, to
lend us their kind assistance infurnishing us with linen rags
and old sheeting for bandages.
So it's essentially saying,remember to thank all the women
who are patching us up as we'refighting this war.
(28:12):
And this article on history.comgoes on to explain that it was a
lot more than that.
Particularly all of the boycottsthat the Patriots enacted in the
colonies mostly affected thewomen much more than the men, So
(28:33):
when they hall go to the BostonHarbor and throw all the tea.
Into the water.
It was the women who primarilydrank the tea.
The men were more likely to bedrinking.
Pearl (28:48):
Rum I think this is the first time that this has
occurred to me.
That is so funny.
AJ (28:57):
Oh
Pearl (28:58):
goodness
AJ (28:59):
Samuel Adams and his friends
Pearl (29:01):
there like a second tea party where the men come home
and they have to sleep on thecouch because now there's no tea
AJ (29:08):
All the women are like well Dang it Thanks a lot guys Oh, it
gets better.
Samuel Adams and his friends mayhave dumped the tea in the
Harbor, but they were far morelikely to drink rum than tea.
When they returned to theirhomes, conveniently their
actions served to deprive theirwives, mothers, sisters, and
daughters, not themselves.
(29:28):
The colonists only resorted toan attempted boycott of rum in
1774, after Britain had closedthe port of Boston.
Similarly when John Adams andother men in power thought it
best to stop importing fineBritish fabrics, with which to
make their clothing.
During the protest of the late1760s, it had little impact on
(29:50):
their daily lives.
They may have had to wearhomespun cloth, but it was their
colonial wives and homemakerswho were forced to spend hours
spinning clothes to create theirfamilies wardrobes.
Pearl (30:04):
Oh my goodness This changes everything
AJ (30:09):
Western history here.
See this thus in 1776,
Pearl (30:14):
our wives can work harder.
AJ (30:16):
What do
Pearl (30:18):
And the wife is like, I'm pregnant with much of the 17th
child.
AJ (30:22):
I just want a cup of tea.
That's in 1776, when AbigailAdams begged John Adams to
remember the ladies whiledrafting the U S constitution.
She was not begging a favor, butdemanding payment of an enduring
debt.
So March 12th, 1776 notice urgesrecognition of quote, humane
(30:45):
ladies.
And I guess that's Americanrevolution era speak for
Pearl (30:51):
this article was 100% approved, inspired, and drafted
by women, or what I guess I'mmean to say is their husbands
while they stood there with aknife.
AJ (31:02):
threatening unspeakable acts.
Pearl (31:04):
Oh my goodness.
It's really funny.
AJ (31:07):
So thank you, women of the American revolutionary war for
supporting.
Pearl (31:12):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sorry about the tea and allthat.
AJ (31:16):
Sorry about no T and making a lot more work for you, but we
want our independence.
Cuckoo.
No doubt.
No doubt.
Pearl (31:26):
So today this is a random story that popped up courtesy of
social media.
So back in the early 1920s the.
Discovery of the roaringtwenties, the discovery of
insulin was made.
And anyone who has diabetes canofficially think a dog because
(31:47):
they use the pancreas from dogs.
Those were the test subjectsthat they were using to try and
find a substance that was goingto decrease blood sugar.
I'm not really going to go intothe entire process of how they
get insulin from dogs.
Needless to say, lots of dogswere harmed in making this
project, but
AJ (32:08):
Oh
Pearl (32:09):
know They, I mean, they are, I don't think they use dogs
anymore.
Right.
I don't think, I don't thinkthey use dogs to make
AJ (32:19):
Googling.
How do we get insulin?
Pearl (32:22):
Oh,
AJ (32:23):
Insulin can be made from the pancreas of pigs or cows.
Pearl (32:27):
Okay.
So not dogs much better.
Okay.
AJ (32:30):
cares about pigs and,
Pearl (32:32):
Pigs and cows.
Yeah, so, it was kind of a longpainful process before before we
had insulin people just died.
They started with high bloodsugar and then they would, you
know, proceed to a diabetic comaand then
AJ (32:49):
it's an ugly
Pearl (32:51):
Yeah.
But one of the most one of thebiggest medical miracle moments
that happened in this wholediscovery was in 1922.
This has been referred to as oneof medicine's most incredible
moments.
So there was a diabetic word atthis hospital and these two
scientists came there with theirnew insulin drug and they wanted
(33:18):
to test the treatment on thisward full of dying kids.
And.
They most of them were comatosealready and dying from diabetic.
Yeah.
Diabetic ketoacidosis.
And so you've just got a roomfull of award full of parents,
just sitting with their dyingchildren in their bed.
And the two scientists come inthe room and, you know, at this
(33:41):
point it's like, well, they'regoing to die anyway.
So let's just sure.
We'll try this.
yeah, it's a last ditch effort.
They begin.
They're walking through theroom, they begin injecting pure
insulin into each child.
Basically they just kind ofwalked around, walked through
the room and began to inject thekids with the insulin.
(34:03):
By the time.
So they go through the entireward.
They're injecting the kids withinsulin.
They get to the very last child.
As they're injecting the verylast child with insulin, the
first child begins to wake upand within minutes the entire
ward is transformed.
AJ (34:18):
my goodness
Pearl (34:19):
I mean transformed, I mean, a room full of dying kids
become alive and fine.
Now we all know the insulin isnot the cure for diabetes.
It's the treatment.
So obviously they still neededinsulin in order to stay normal
and healthy.
But
AJ (34:35):
yeah, it's been refined an awful lot in ways that they
track it and watch the bloodsugar and stuff.
Pearl (34:39):
But yeah, so all these kids went from being on their
death beds in this ward to beinglively and alert and awake and
asking for food and fine, youknow?
And it's, yeah, it's widelyregarded as one of medicine's
(35:00):
brightest moments because it wasvery much like, well, let's try
this.
I don't know if this was thevery first time that this was
tried.
I think that they I think thatin all the testing process, I
mean, obviously they had.
They had several severalfailures with dogs.
And, but the very first death,the very first test they tested
(35:23):
it on a boy and he died prettyquickly afterwards.
Clearly it was not, he, I mean,he was so far gone at that
point, so I'm not sure at whatpoint they walked into that ward
and just began, injectingchildren, but it was very early
on in the process.
And it was very much like a.
These kids are going to dieanyways.
(35:44):
Let's just see what happens.
And it's, you know, all thesekids with police, little kids
with, I guess, type onediabetes, I would imagine.
Yeah, just having their livesrestored to them.
AJ (35:54):
Yeah.
So two interesting things aboutinsulin, lots and lots of
improvements of course, andadvancements have been made.
One of them is they combined itwith a protein, was it a pro
yeah.
Found in fish sperm to make itmore long lasting.
(36:18):
Sorry to throw that out.
And currently I think mostinsulin is grown in a lab by, I
think initially they spliced ratDNA with a bacteria.
And so then this bacteriaessentially like proliferates
and grows the insulin and theyextract it.
(36:39):
I dunno, some way out there.
So I don't think they're, Idon't think they're harvesting
it from animals.
Like they used to.
It's all done in a lab process.
Now
Pearl (36:49):
I'm sure.
AJ (36:50):
that's an incredible story though.
I never knew that about insulin,that it was a miracle drug like
that
Pearl (36:59):
Yeah.
Well,
AJ (37:00):
But yeah I mean, it's the, it's what you need.
It's what you give to someone ifthey're way too high,
Pearl (37:05):
Yeah.
AJ (37:06):
That's a cool story
Pearl (37:07):
Thank you.
Yeah.
So those are the stories forthis week.
I felt like doing a Patrick withseveral shorter stories for this
week.
And yeah, you can take a look onInstagram.
We're going to show somepictures from our stories and
then also links to our websiteand our.
AJ (37:26):
Twitter and Instagram,
Pearl (37:27):
Twitter, Instagram,
AJ (37:28):
maybe we'll put a we'll work on the site and find some ways
for you find a better way tosubmit stories.
I
Pearl (37:34):
slacked off.
I haven't put anything on thewebsite a couple of days, so I
mean, I mean weeks,
AJ (37:39):
Well, thanks for listening.
I hope you found that if noteducational, at least
entertaining.
Pearl (37:45):
I
AJ (37:45):
not entertaining at least educational
Pearl (37:47):
for.
Right.
We're trying to hit those sweetspot between educating, and
entertaining, which I guessmeans neither of them.
So, no not that both.
Not or both.
AJ (38:01):
All right.
Thanks for listening.
Bye bye.
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