Major funding for backstory is provided by an anonymous donor, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation.

From Virginia Humanities, this is backstory.

Welcome to backstory, the show that explains the history behind today's headlines. I'm Brian Ballot.

If you're new to the podcast, each week my colleagues join Freeman, Ed Ayers, Nathan Connelly and I explore a different aspect of American history.

As 2019 draws to a close, we thought we'd revive an old backstory tradition and look back on our favorite segments of the past year.

With over 35 new episodes and hours of compelling storytelling, 2019 was a busy year for backstory.

From topics such as Blackface, Technophobia and Bison, we offered one of our most wide ranging lineup of shows to date.

While this year featured several celebrity guests in studio, our team also pursued stories that got us out of the office, recording interviews at sites all over the country.

So today on the show, we're highlighting our favorite celebrity guest and hopping on the backstory bus to revisit the best segments that took us to some pretty disparate locations.

We'll travel to Louisiana to find out how one restored plantation is flipping the script and how slavery is portrayed to the public.

And we'll talk to a certain plucky environmental activist about the work that inspired an Academy Award-winning movie.

Over the years, I've done a lot of crazy things for backstory. But I've never thought I'd be floating around in salty water and a darkened isolation tank.

When one of our producers asked if I'd be willing to jump into a tank and see what this wellness craze was all about, well, how could I say no?

He never told me how long I'd actually be in the tank though.

It actually goes by really fast.

I had like three minutes in mind.

A lot of people who come out and who have that same apprehension that you do, they come out on the other end and they're very surprised as to how fast it goes by.

How badly compromised on some of our movies?

I like getting anxious just thinking about the notion of doing anything for 90 minutes.

45 minutes. I think that's very generous on my part. It sounds like you have a strong mind.

But no, how about you just get in and we'll get you out.

And you just stay in there.

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