Episodes

  • Eugene Bullard: Freedom in the Skies
    Oct 30 2024

    Eugene Bullard would not let America diminish him. So he left to find a place that would let him live free — and found freedom in the skies.

    On the Very Special Episodes podcast, we tell one incredible story each week. Stranger-than-fiction tales about normal people in extraordinary situations. Stories that make you say, “this should be a movie!” Follow us down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday.

    VERY SPECIAL CREDITS
    Hosted by Zaron Burnett, Dana Schwartz, and Jason English
    Special Thanks to Zaron's Pops
    Written by Zaron Burnett
    Produced by Josh Fisher
    Story Editors are Marisa Brown and Ryan Murdock
    Editing and Sound Design by Chris Childs and Josh Fisher
    Additional Editing by Emily Marinoff
    Mixing and Mastering by Baheed Frazier
    Voice Actors are Jonathan Washington and Chris Childs
    Original Music by Elise McCoy
    Research and Fact Checking by Zaron Burnett and Austin Thompson
    Show Logo by Lucy Quintanilla
    Executive Producer is Jason English

    Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying Very Special Episodes, please leave us a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. You can reach us at veryspecialepisodes@gmail.com.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • Chapter 9: Cinematic Black Cowboys
    May 14 2021

    Zaron grew up watching Westerns with Pop, and together they explore the history of Black cowboys on the big screen.

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    48 mins
  • Chapter 8: Panhandle Slim
    May 6 2021

    When a young white college kid named Patrick meets up with a singing Black cowboy named Panhandle Slim, a whole world is revealed through Slim's intimate "story songs."

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    31 mins
  • Chapter 7: Bill Pickett
    Apr 15 2021

    Bill Pickett, the greatest showman of Wild West. A Black cowboy born free, in 1870, in Travis County, Texas. He invented a whole rodeo sport, became an icon of toughness, and thrilled crowds across North America. But when his promoters set him up to face a raging bull in Mexico City, the ensuing fight over cultural supremacy has dangerous consequences.

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    48 mins
  • Chapter 6: Stagecoach Mary
    Apr 1 2021

    Stagecoach Mary was a woman on her own in the world, who did most of her hard living after the age of 40. She lived with nuns in the daytime, drank whiskey with men in saloons at night. She was the first black woman to drive a wagon for the US postal service. Tough as she was, she was also known for the verdant lushness of her well-tended gardens. 

    Mary was a woman of dualities, and yet, also limitless complexities. Over time, her legend has outshined the facts of her life. This is the life and legend of Mary Fields, the toughest woman to ever call the west her home.

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    43 mins
  • Chapter 5: Chief John Horse
    Mar 25 2021

    Long before the divisive question of slavery was finally settled in the Civil War, there were the Seminole Wars — three of them —- and they were the largest sustained revolt of formerly enslaved people and their Indigenous allies. 

    On the one side there was Andrew Jackson; on the other was a Black Seminole, Chief John Horse. By the end of his long life, he would come to be called the Moses of the Seminoles. He would fight for and against the US government, successfully winning his freedom and land for his people.

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    54 mins
  • Chapter 4: The First Black Cowboy, Esteban the Negro
    Mar 11 2021

    The story of Black cowboys begins not on horseback riding the high plains, but with horses tied up on Spanish ships riding the high seas. Meet Esteban the Negro. Or Esteban the Moor. The Spanish called him Estevanico. Before his voyage and his adventures in North America are over, he will transform from a slave into a god. 

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    50 mins
  • Chapter 3: The Lawman Bass Reeves
    Mar 4 2021

    Bass Reeves was the most lethal lawman in the wild west. Over his 32-year career Reeves arrested more than 3,000 alleged criminals, and killed more than a dozen of them. But the image of a formerly enslaved Black man riding around on horseback with a license to kill tended to make white people uncomfortable. Hear how Bass Reeves commitment to justice overcame racism, and even his own family bonds.

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    45 mins