300: Blasts from the Past: A History of Dynamite in the United States

BackStory

History, Education

4.7 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 1 November 2019

⏱️ 34 minutes

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Summary

In the 19th century, dynamite helped transform the nation. It led to the construction of important milestones like the transcontinental railroad and helped create iconic American monuments like Mt. Rushmore. But some people also saw these small explosives as potential weapons and used dynamite to promote violence.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Major funding for backstory is provided by an anonymous donor, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation.
0:12.0	From Virginia Humanities, this is backstory.
0:17.0	Welcome to backstory, the show that explains the history behind today's headlines. I'm Brian Ballow.
0:27.0	If you're new to the podcast, each week my colleagues Joanne Freeman, Ed Ayers, Nathan Connolly and I explore a different aspect of American history.
0:37.0	Now get ready, because today's show begins with a bang.
0:41.0	Okay, well, it worked.
0:52.0	So a whole sake of dynamite, imagine multiplying by like 30 or 40.
0:59.0	30 or 40 from that. Yeah.
1:02.0	We're mixing things up a bit for this show. We're producing this episode in collaboration with Side Door, a podcast from the Smithsonian.
1:11.0	And I'm joined today by Lizzie P. Buddy. She's the host of Side Door. Hey, Lizzie.
1:17.0	Hey, Brian.
1:19.0	Lizzie and I recently got to witness a terrific chemistry class at Howard University and it ended with a big bang.
1:26.0	That's right. And of course, we didn't just go because we're chemistry super fans, though I don't know about you, Brian. You might be.
1:32.0	We were there because in this show, we're digging into the history of dynamite.
1:36.0	And you know, Brian, before we got into this topic for the episode, I really thought I knew dynamite, but it turns out there's a lot more to it than I expected.
1:44.0	Well, most people know dynamite is the little red sticks with fizzing fuses brought to us by loony tones.
1:51.0	But I guess not many people know why it was such an important invention.
1:57.0	And how it shaped the country in pretty unorthodox ways. But first, back to that explosion.
2:02.0	Oh, boy, the explosion. I was really excited to come up to see you recently at Side Door Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
2:11.0	But first, we made a stop to see Professor John Harcliffe, who teaches chemistry at Howard University.
2:17.0	Yeah, he agreed to create an explosion just for us. We met him outside on the quad, which is this beautiful, grassy space on campus between the physics, biology, and chemistry buildings.
2:28.0	It turns out that Howard students call that place Death Valley. And they call it that because that's where GPAs go to die.
	...

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