A People's History of Kansas City

In the early 1900s, Sarah Lloyd Green was notorious for sticking it to the man as a feminist, suffragette and labor organizer in Kansas City. Her story isn't well known, but she was a champion for Black and white laundry workers and even started a waitress union.

The story of Cathay Williams, a pioneer in the fight against race and gender discrimination. Growing up enslaved in Independence, Missouri, she disguised herself as a man in order to become a legendary Buffalo Soldier.

The story behind the Black entrepreneur in the 1900s who made Kansas City barbecue a national treasure. Before Arthur Bryant and Ollie Gates, there was Henry Perry.

People from Kansas City know that our city’s name can be confusing to outsiders, because there is more than one Kansas City. But how close were we to being called something else?

Season 2 of A People's History of Kansas City is finally here, and we're starting from the beginning of Kansas City's History.

An important message from the team behind A People's History of Kansas City.

A historian says Kansas City "blew it" in the 1918 flu pandemic. How a corrupt political system and the end of World War I led to a bungled response and an overwhelming loss of life.

In Depression-era Missouri, Jim the Wonder Dog earned his name from his ability to predict the future, and answer questions that should be otherwise unanswerable for a dog (or even a person in some cases): from allegedly predicting the winner of the Kentucky Derby and the World Series to knowing the gender of unborn babies.

A cosmetologist becomes obsessed with the Victorian tradition of hair art, and amasses the world's largest collection in Independence, Missouri. Each of these art pieces is woven with human hair, often in memory of loved ones and friends. Leila's Hair Museum has revived the art and launched a 21st century tradition of hair jewelry.

The story of the pugnacious Kansas sheriff and attorney general Vern Miller, whose antics seemed to be a throwback to the Wild West era but left a surprising legacy. Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher