In the Weimar Republic, Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld opened the Institute for Sexual Science and advocated for the repeal of legislation that criminalized sexual relations between men. At the Institute, pioneering gender-affirming surgeries were performed, and it was there that Dora Richter became the first known trans woman to undergo comprehensive male-to-female gender-affirming surgeries. But when the Nazis came to power, they labeled Hirschfeld an enemy of the state and destroyed the Institute’s immense library. Joining me in this episode is historian and novelist Dr. Brandy Schillace, author of The Intermediaries: A Weimar Story.

Our theme song is “Frogs Legs Rag,” composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is Kleine Kammermusik, composed by Paul Hindemith and performed in February 1992 by the Soni Ventorum Woodwind Quintet; the recording is available by Creative Commons license and is available via Wikimedia Commons.The episode image is a portrait of Magnus Hirschfeld from 1928; the picture is in the public domain and is available via Wikimedia Commons.

Additional Sources:

• “The Forgotten History of the World's First Trans Clinic,” by Brandy Schillace, Scientific American, Mary 10, 2021.
• “The first Institute for Sexual Science (1919-1933),” The Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft e.V.
• “Magnus Hirschfeld and the Institute for Sexual Science,” by Gabrielle Bryan-Quamina, Science Museum, London, February 29, 2024.
• “Dora Richter (1892–1966),” Lili Elbe Library.
• “The Weimar Republic,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
• “Hitler: Essential Background Information,” University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences.
• “How Did Adolf Hitler Happen?” National World War II Museum.

For 74 days in 1810 the current-day parishes of East and West Feliciana in New Orleans were part of the independent Republic of West Florida, which flew a lone star flag. By that point the residents of the Felicianas, including a large enslaved population, living on land that had been stolen from indigenous people, had been part of three different empires. The republic ended with the parishes annexed into yet another country, the United States, though fifty years later they would be part of still another attempted breakaway republic, the Confederate States of America. Joining me in this episode is Dr. Rashauna Johnson, Associate Professor of History at the University of Chicago and author of Sweet Home Feliciana: Family, Slavery, and the Hauntings of History.

Our theme song is “Frogs Legs Rag,” composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Louisiana,” composed by Oliver Wallace with Lyrics by Arthur Freed and performed by the Sterling Trio on December 27, 1920, in Camden, New Jersey; the recording is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is a lithograph believed to be of drawings that artist Lewis Henry made on the Mississippi River around 1846-1848 with Bayou Sara in the foreground and St. Francisville on the bluff in the background; the lithograph was published in 1857 and is in the public domain in the United States and available via Wikimedia Commons.

Additional Sources:

• “Native Americans: the First Families of Louisiana on the Eve of French Settlement (Online Exhibition),” Louisiana State Museums.
• “Louisiana Purchase Treaty (1803),” The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
• “West Florida Revolt,” by Samuel C. Hyde, 64 Parishes.
• “The History of the Short-Lived Independent Republic of Florida,” by William C. Davis, Smithsonian Magazine, May 2013.
• “The West Florida Republic,” by Anne Butler West Feliciana Historical Society and Museum.
• “The Siege of Port Hudson: ‘Forty Days and Nights in the Wilderness of Death’ (Teaching with Historic Places),” National Park Service.

When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was formed in 1927 one of the goals of the founders was to recognize achievements in the industry. That recognition quickly took the form of annual awards banquets, with the first one hosted in 1929. Over time the format shifted from banquet to the Oscars telecast we all know today, as the categories and even membership of the Academy adapted to the shifts in filmmaking. Joining me in this episode is Dr. Monica Sandler, a film and media historian at Ball State University, whose forthcoming book is The Oscar Industry: Creative Labor, Cultural Production, and the Awards System in Media Industry.

Our theme song is “Frogs Legs Rag,” composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “He’s working in the movies now,” composed by Henry Lodge, with lyrics by Harry Williams and Vincent Bryan; the song was performed by Billy Murray on February 27, 1914, in Camden, New Jersey; it’s in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is of Grace Kelly and Marlon Brando at the Academy Awards on March 30, 1955, published in the Los Angeles Times on March 31, 1955; the copyright is held by the UCLA Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections, and this work is licensed under a "Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 International" .

Sources:

• “Experience over nine decades of the Oscars from 1927 to 2026,” Oscars.org.
• “Why Are the Academy Awards Called ‘Oscars’?” by Elizabeth Nix, History.com, January 22, 2026.
• “The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences [Pamphlet],” June 20, 1927, Available via the Margaret Herrick Library Digital Collections.
• “The Academy Awards Scandal That First Got PwC Its Job Counting Oscars Votes,” by Olivia B. Waxman, Time Magazine, March 2, 2018.
• “How Television Changed the Oscars,” by Lily Rothman, Time Magazine, February 22, 2015.
• ““TV – That’s Where Movies Go When They Die”: Rewatching the First Televised Oscars,” by Thomas Doherty, The Hollywood Reporter, March 26, 2022.
• “What Determines Whether a Performance Is Lead or Supporting? Oscar Rules Explained,” by Eliza Thompson, US Weekly, March 7, 2024.