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Playlist: The Economy: An Historical Perspective

Compiled By: PRX Editors

Credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewjbrown/">Andy Beez</a>
Image by: Andy Beez 

Take a look back at unemployment, financial panics, strikes, popular entertainment, and jobs to understand just how much has changed -- and how much hasn't -- in the American economic narrative.

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Borrowed Times: A History of the National Debt

From BackStory with the American History Guys | 00:54:00

On this episode, the History Guys explore why debt has continued to be so controversial in a nation that was founded on borrowing. Have there been times in American history when debt was seen as a good thing?

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Surviving the Depression and Segregation

From KUT | 00:07:09

When Ben Sifuentes' father died in 1938, he was only 10 years old. The oldest of five kids, Sifuentes did whatever he could to help the family in an era of severe discrimination against Mexican-Americans. An affecting first-person oral history.

Action Speaks! - What Now? 1937: The Flint, Michigan United Auto Workers Sit-In

From Action Speaks | 00:58:58

A look at the famous UAW sit-down strike against General Motors as compared to the current state of today's labor movement. Part of a series called Action Speaks! Underappreciated Dates that Changed America presents What Now?

Ten Cents a Dance

From With Good Reason | 00:28:56

During and despite the Great Depression, the entertainment industry worked overtime. Some of the roughest years in American history produced what many consider to be the greatest era of popular music. Elliot Majerczyk looks at the songs that became the soundtrack of the ‘lost generation’ and helped pull America through the hard times.

Skywalkers of Akwesane

From Helen Borten | Part of the A Sense of Place: Third Season series | 00:29:20

For over a hundred years the Mohawks of Akwesasne, a reservation on the New York-Canada border, filled the positions of ironworkers on the high-steel crews of bridges and skyscrapers in Manhattan. Famous for their skill, daring, and major contributions to the skyline of New York, these men plied a difficult modern craft while cleaving to ancient tribal customs. An intimate portrait of an unusual occupation and the Native Americans who made it their own.

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l'il nipper

From Nate DiMeo | Part of the the memory palace series | 00:02:11

Brief but poignant snapshot of the child workers called "L'il nippers" who worked in the cold and dark of the mines in the early 20th century. An episode of the Memory Palace podcast.

Nightfall in Chester County

From Helen Borten | Part of the A Sense of Place series | 00:29:29

In Pennsylvania farmland that was the first stop on the Underground Railroad, a strike by Mexican mushroom pickers polarizes a Quaker community. Produced in 1987.

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