Civics & Coffee: A History Podcast
Civics & Coffee delivers bite-sized U.S. history with clear, engaging storytelling — all in the time it takes to drink your morning cup of coffee. Host Alycia brings America’s past to life with well-researched episodes that are approachable, human, and impossible to forget.
In 2026, Civics & Coffee dives into the Gilded Age - a transformative era of booming industry, powerful presidents, labor uprisings, immigration waves, inequality, and social reformers. From national crises like the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 to personal stories of figures such as Rutherford B. Hayes, Lucy Webb Hayes, and the Exodusters, each episode uncovers the people, tensions, and turning points that shaped modern America.
Whether you’re a longtime history lover or just history-curious, Civics & Coffee offers context without the homework and storytelling without the fluff. Grab your mug and join the conversation, one cup at a time.
Civics & Coffee: A History Podcast
Talking to Books: Education during Reconstruction
After the Civil War, education became one of the most powerful tools for newly freed Black Americans and one of the most fiercely contested. Join me as I explore the rise of Black education during Reconstruction, from grassroots schools built by the Black community to the founding of the first Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
Learn how freed people organized, taught, and funded early schools, often under threat of violence. I also touch on the role of the Freedmen’s Bureau and Northern missionaries, alongside the foundational influence of institutions like Howard.
Key voices like W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington helped shape the early debate around education’s role in Black advancement—and their visions still echo today.