On this episode of Our American Stories, before he became one of the most respected rodeo bullfighters in America, Leon Coffey was a father searching for a way to pay for a simple gift. Rodeos were familiar territory, but stepping into the arena as a rodeo clown was something else entirely. He found himself staring down bulls that outweighed him by a thousand pounds, learning to move with a kind of instinct that kept riders alive.

His path carried him all the way to the Cowboy and Western Hall of Fame, and along the way, he helped shape the modern understanding of the rodeo clown, a protector as much as a performer. We'd like to thank the Oklahoma Cowboy and Western Hall of Fame for allowing us access to this audio.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, when Bob McLalan let his recently divorced father crash on his couch, he expected a few days of awkward conversation. Instead, his dad arrived with an empty key ring, a suitcase, and the stubborn confidence of a man who still saw himself in command. What followed was eighteen months of two Marines trying to share a small apartment and figure out what respect looks like when both men believe they have earned it.

Bob’s story captures what living with parents can feel like when you are grown, independent, and suddenly navigating the weight of old habits and new circumstances.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, in May 1861, three enslaved men slipped across the James River to Fort Monroe, seeking protection from Union troops. Their arrival forced General Benjamin Butler to make a choice that would change the course of the war. Instead of returning them to bondage, he declared them “contraband of war,” setting off a chain reaction that pushed Abraham Lincoln, Congress, and the Union Army toward emancipation.

Historian Kate Masur joins our regular contributor, Jon Elfner, to tell the story of how freedom began not with a proclamation, but with three men who refused to wait for it.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, long before Alexander Hamilton helped shape the Constitution or design America’s financial system, he was a child on the island of Nevis, raised among the merchants and schools of a thriving Jewish community. For generations, historians assumed Hamilton’s faith was Christian, but recent research from historian Andrew Porwancher tells a different story.

In The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton, Porwancher pieces together overlooked records from Hamilton’s Caribbean youth and reaches a surprising conclusion: Hamilton was most likely born and educated in a Jewish household. That possibility casts new light on one of the nation’s most complex founders. Porwancher joins us to tell the story of a particular court case where Hamilton stood up for Jews. 

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On this episode of Our American Stories, most people know the Civil War began at Fort Sumter in 1861. Few remember how close it came to starting a decade earlier in New Mexico. In 1850, America stood at a breaking point. The war with Mexico had added vast new lands to the United States, and every mile of that territory brought the same question: would slavery spread west? As tensions rose, Texas laid claim to much of what is now New Mexico, and both sides began to talk about raising armies. For a brief moment, it looked as though the first shots of the Civil War would ring out in the desert.

Gettysburg National Park Service Ranger Matt Atkinson explains how the Compromise of 1850, a fragile agreement over slavery, land, and power, held the Union together when the country was ready to break.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, when Shiloh Carozza’s father was diagnosed with brain cancer, her family’s days began to split in two: the life they had before, and the one that followed. He had been a teacher, a storyteller, the kind of father who could turn a drive into a lesson. As the disease took more from him, he still tried to give what he could.

One night, he gathered his family and said, “You are my best investments.” They were simple words, but they carried a lifetime of meaning. In the months after his death, Shiloh learned how those words could steady her in the same way he once did. Shiloh joins us to tell his story.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, in June of 1984, President Ronald Reagan visited the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc to mark the 40th anniversary of D-Day. Before him stood the surviving Army Rangers who had scaled those cliffs under constant fire to help turn the tide of World War II.

Often called the Great Communicator, he delivered one of his most powerful speeches, linking the courage of the men who fought at Normandy to the enduring promise of freedom. Listen to one of the defining moments of Reagan’s presidency and his moving tribute to those who fought in World War II.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, when Gina Ramsey moved her father into a memory care home, she thought she was watching him lose everything that made him who he was. Then he met May, a woman who had just turned one hundred and still laughed like a girl. Their friendship grew into a kind of love that gave both of them something to hold on to inside the fog of dementia.

Gina Ramsey joins us to tell the story of the highs—and lows—of managing her father's dementia.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, on the morning of October 27, 2018, a quiet neighborhood in Pittsburgh turned into the scene of one of the deadliest attacks on a Jewish congregation in American history. Paul Kengor was driving with his wife when a text from their daughter appeared on his phone. She was hiding in a van just across the street from the Tree of Life Synagogue, where gunfire had erupted.

What followed was an hour of panic and helpless waiting as they tried to reach her. Eleven worshippers were killed, and dozens of lives were forever changed. Paul shares how faith and fear collided that day when his family came within moments of tragedy.

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