By the People: Conversations Beyond 250 is a national initiative developed by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Throughout 2026, humanities councils across the United States, its territories, and DC developed community-driven programs in collaboration with local partners as part of this initiative.
In each episode of this podcast, the culture-bearers and community leaders behind these events bring them to a national audience. Find out what was going on in Wyoming in 1776, sit in on a conversation between Mexican folk music performers in Washington, explore music history from the front porch in Georgia, revisit a multi-cultural celebration in Maine, and so much more.
Find more information, show notes, and transcripts at statehumanities.org/bythepeoplepodcast
As part of the national By the People initiative, several humanities councils created podcast series and episodes of their own. In between original episodes of this show, we are republishing episodes from the councils so you can meet even more culture bearers and history keepers from around the country…and discover new podcasts.
This episode is titled "The Changing Role of Religious Spaces?" It is republished from the Oregon Humanities podcast The Detour, courtesy of Oregon Humanities. You can find more episodes of The Detour at oregonhumanities.org/rll/podcast (https://oregonhumanities.org/rll/podcast/). Show notes and a transcript for this episode are available here. (https://oregonhumanities.org/rll/podcast/episode/religious-places/)
Episode Description: Wherever people live in Oregon, you are certain to come across churches. Sometimes you'll find mosques, synagogues, and other houses of worship, but as you'd expect in a majority Christian country, church buildings especially are everywhere. All these structures were built for a specific purpose, but with fewer and fewer people going to church, fewer and fewer are people using and paying for the upkeep of these buildings. In March of 2026, Brandon Rhodes, Amy Jayne, and Frank So explored what's happening with these buildings in a conversation in La Grande, Oregon.
21 Oct 2026
A Cultural Confluence in Maine
To celebrate the cultural confluence that has shaped Maine (or the Dawnland as it is called by the Wabanaki), Maine Humanities organized a night of food, music, and dancing called “Gather.” In this episode, Samaa Abdurraqib (Maine Humanities) talks with the event’s chef and two of its musicians about the ways that cultural traditions have carried through history, are sustaining us in this present moment, and can help move us into the future. Tune in for a conversation on reconstructing Indigenous foodways, the way the banjo connects Africa and Black Americans, how traditional songs of the Levant make space for grief and expression, and so much more. Show notes and transcript available at statehumanities.org/bythepeoplepodcast (https://www.statehumanities.org/bythepeoplepodcast/).
8 Oct 2026
BONUS: Whose 250 Years? Voices of Indigenous Peoples of California
As part of the national By the People initiative, several humanities councils created podcast series and episodes of their own. In between original episodes of this show, we are republishing episodes from the councils so you can meet even more culture bearers and history keepers from around the country…and discover new podcasts. This episode is titled "Whose 250 Years?" It is republished from the California Humanities series Reclaiming Our Stories: Voices of Indigenous Peoples of California, courtesy of California Humanities. Reclaiming Our Stories is part of a larger California Humanities initiative of the same name. You can find more episodes of Reclaiming Our Stories and learn more about the initiative at at calhum.org/reclaiming-our-stories/ (https://calhum.org/reclaiming-our-stories/). Show notes and a transcript for this episode are available here (https://rss.com/podcasts/california-humanities-launches-reclaiming-our-stories-voices-of-indigenous-peoples-of-california/2804766/).
Episode description:
In “Whose 250 Years?”, Story Weaver Victorio Shaw (Hoopa Valley Tribe) is joined by Georgiana Sanchez (Chumash, O'odham) and Judge Abby Abinanti (Yurok) for a conversation that challenges dominant historical timelines and asks a central question: Whose years are being counted?
Through reflections on layered colonialisms in California, Indigenous governance, constitutional contradiction, and the endurance of Native communities, the episode explores how Indigenous peoples have carried truth, memory, and responsibility across generations.
Listeners are invited into conversations about Spanish, Mexican, and U.S. colonial impacts in California; regional differences between Northern and Southern California experiences; Indigenous sovereignty and legal invisibility; and the ways truth has survived through family, ceremony, story, land, education, and art.
An artistic interlude offers space for reflection and breath, holding the episode's emotional and historical weight without explanation.
Reclaiming Our Stories offers a living archive for present and future generations — rooted in narrative sovereignty, deep listening, cultural continuity, and the enduring presence of Indigenous peoples across California.
22 Sept 2026
Blues and Community in Small-Town Georgia
Hartwell, Georgia, has a story to tell, and on a hot day this spring, the community came together for an entire day dedicated to the stories, sounds, and traditions of this small town of 4,500 people. In this episode, the town’s economic development director and the owner of the local blues music venue, High Cotton Music Hall, come together to reflect on the themes of the Porch Songs & Public Voices Festival, what makes Hartwell special (spoiler: it’s the people), how the town came to be a destination for blues lovers, and how culture foster the sense of community that makes the town somewhere people want to live and visit. Show notes and transcript available at statehumanities.org/bythepeoplepodcast (https://www.statehumanities.org/bythepeoplepodcast/).
22 Sept 2026
Before Wyoming: The West in 1776
What was going in the West while the thirteen colonies fought for independence? Over the summer, hundreds of people across Wyoming gathered at a series of community film screenings and panel discussions to find out the answer to that question. They came together to watch a new documentary from Wyoming PBS, Wyoming Humanities, and Caldera Productions called “Before Wyoming: The West in 1776.” Expanding the story of 1776 beyond the East Coast, the film explores thriving indigenous nations, early European influence, and the changing world of the West through historians, Native voices, artifacts, and the perspective of young people today. In this episode, we speak to the film’s producers and experts about the history it tells and nuances of telling this history. Show notes and transcript available at statehumanities.org/bythepeoplepodcast (https://www.statehumanities.org/bythepeoplepodcast/).
22 Sept 2026
Mariachi and Son Jarocho in Washington
Humanities Washington brought two Mexican musical traditions into dialogue through performance and discussion at an event in Wenatchee called “Traditions in Dialogue.” In this episode, Humanities Washington's Violeta Martin interviews two performers from the event, Dr. Yesenia Navarette Hunter and Yajayra Ramierez. The guests share the history and traditions of son jarocho and mariachi, discuss how their own identities and lives have been shaped through these practices, and reflect on how they are using this music to build community and connection in Washington state. Show notes and transcript available at statehumanities.org/bythepeoplepodcast (https://www.statehumanities.org/bythepeoplepodcast/).
16 Sept 2026
(Trailer) By the People: Conversations Beyond 250
Stayed tuned for the first three of eight episodes, which will be available on September 24.
By the People: Conversations Beyond 250 (https://www.statehumanities.org/bythepeople/) is a national initiative developed by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. The By the People: Conversations Beyond 250 podcast was produced by the Federation.
There are 56 state and jurisdictional humanities councils in the US, one for every state, territory, and DC. These nonpartisan nonprofits were established in 1971 by Congress to make outstanding public humanities programming accessible to everyday Americans.
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