Covering every hamlet and precinct in America, big and small, the stories span arts and sports, business and history, innovation and adventure, generosity and courage, resilience and redemption, faith and love, past and present. In short, Our American Stories tells the story of America to Americans.
About Lee Habeeb
Lee Habeeb co-founded Laura Ingraham’s national radio show in 2001, moved to Salem Media Group in 2008 as Vice President of Content overseeing their nationally syndicated lineup, and launched Our American Stories in 2016. He is a University of Virginia School of Law graduate, and writes a weekly column for Newsweek.
For more information, please visit ouramericanstories.com.
The Decision That Turned Johnsonville Into America’s Top Sausage Brand
The Chinese Laundry Owner Who Took San Francisco to the Supreme Court
On this episode of Our American Stories, in the 1880s, San Francisco passed an ordinance regulating laundries that operated in wooden buildings. On paper, the law applied to everyone. In practice, city officials enforced it almost entirely against Chinese immigrant laundry owners.
One of those business owners was Yick Wo. When local authorities repeatedly denied him a permit to continue operating his laundry, he challenged the decision in court in what would soon become the landmark case Yick Wo v. Hopkins.
Kirk Higgins of the Bill of Rights Institute shares the story of the Chinese immigrant whose fight over a laundry business helped define equal protection in American constitutional law.
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The Colorado Company That Built Success by Hiring At-Risk Workers
On this episode of Our American Stories, across the United States, many young people labeled “at risk” struggle to find stable work and long-term career opportunities. In Colorado, one electrical contracting company decided to confront that challenge directly.
Weifield Group began hiring and training individuals who might otherwise be overlooked in traditional hiring processes.
Karla Nugent and Curt Andersen share the story of Weifield Group’s approach to hiring at-risk individuals and explain why investing in people has become a central part of the company’s success.
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Why Benjamin Franklin Printed the Sermons of a Man He Didn’t Believe
On this episode of Our American Stories, during the 1730s and 1740s, George Whitefield traveled through colonial America preaching revival sermons that drew enormous crowds. His voice became one of the defining forces of the First Great Awakening.
Among those who followed Whitefield’s rise was Benjamin Franklin. Working as a printer in Philadelphia, Franklin published many of Whitefield’s sermons and helped circulate them widely throughout colonial America. Although Franklin approached religion with skepticism and did not share Whitefield’s theology, the two men developed a lasting friendship built on mutual respect.
Randy Peterson, author of The Printer and the Preacher, shares the story of Benjamin Franklin and George Whitefield and explains how their partnership connected the revival culture of the Great Awakening with the expanding world of the colonial printing press.
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The Scout Never Called: Growing Up in Competitive Sports
On this episode of Our American Stories, Our American Stories listener from Iowa, Roger Rench, shares memories from his time playing various competitive sports throughout his life that are sure to put a smile on your face.
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Olive Oatman and the Tattoo That Marked a Life Between Cultures
On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1851, Olive Oatman was thirteen years old and traveling west with her Mormon family during the era of westward expansion. Along the way, her family was attacked, and Olive and her younger sister were taken captive.
For years, Olive lived among Native American tribes of the Southwest, including time with the Mojave, where she received a traditional chin tattoo that would later make her instantly recognizable. When she eventually returned to white society, she carried with her a story that unsettled the tidy narratives of the American frontier.
Bob Boze Bell of True West magazine shares the life of Olive Oatman, a figure caught between cultures during one of the most turbulent periods in American history.
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How the Senate Candy Desk Became a Capitol Hill Tradition
On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1965, California Senator George Murphy started a sweet tradition, literally. He began stocking his desk on the Senate floor with candy to share with his colleagues. That desk, now known as the “Senate Candy Desk,” remains a Capitol Hill tradition to this day. Jesse Edwards shares the history, mystery, and origins behind one of the Senate’s most interesting traditions.
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How House of Pain’s Danny Boy O’Connor Saved The Outsiders House
On this episode of Our American Stories, since its release in 1983, Francis Ford Coppola’s film adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders has drawn generations of viewers back to Tulsa, Oklahoma. The story of Ponyboy, Johnny, and the Greasers has become part of American coming-of-age culture, and the modest house where much of the film was shot still stands in the city where it was made.
Now, in what is surely one of the most interesting pop culture intersections of all time, hip-hop artist Danny Boy O’Connor from the rap group House of Pain, best known for their iconic 1992 anthem “Jump Around,” purchased the Tulsa, Oklahoma home where much of The Outsiders film was shot. Here to tell the story is Danny Boy O’Connor himself.
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The Nike Gamble That Built Air Jordan
On this episode of Our American Stories, the 1984 NBA Draft brought Michael Jordan to Chicago and led Nike into a gamble that would define its future. Nike committed to a signature shoe built around a rookie and released a design that drew immediate scrutiny from league officials. But the fines that followed became part of the story rather than the end of it.
As Jordan’s career began to climb, so did the visibility of the Air Jordan line. Nicholas Smith, the author of Kicks, revisits the early days of the Nike and Michael Jordan partnership and the circumstances that led to one of the most recognizable brands in sports.
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Are Pro Wrestlers Really Athletes?
On this episode of Our American Stories, from the days of Hulk Hogan to modern WWE, wrestlers travel constantly, train relentlessly, and perform feats that demand strength, timing, and endurance. The spectacle may be designed for drama, but the toll on the body is no joke. Riley Evans, sportswriter and CEO of RealPodcasting.com, shares the real story and cost behind professional wrestling.
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