Hosts Ryan Murdock and Gabbie Watts head to Microcon, a convention of micronationalists. Think Model UN meets ComicCon. We’ll engage in light diplomacy, explore invented histories and exchange gratuitous amounts of medals. Plus, there’s a taco bar! Among the characters you’ll meet are Zaq from Zaqistan, the President of Molossia, the Sultan of Slowjamastan, the Princess of Sancrotosia and a bunch of dictator-curious statesmen, all asking the question: if you could start a country from scratch, what would it look like?

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Deep in the Utah desert is a tiny, tiny, tiny nation: The Republic of Zaqistan. Guarded by robots, Zaqistan nonetheless welcomed new citizens for more than 15 years - until it fell into ruins. Now the eponymous founder wants to rebuild. Join hosts Ryan Murdock, Gabbie Watts and Zaron Burnett on a journey to uncharted territory … to the nation of Zaqistan…and the upside-down world of micronations.

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Zaron grew up watching Westerns with Pop, and together they explore the history of Black cowboys on the big screen.

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When a young white college kid named Patrick meets up with a singing Black cowboy named Panhandle Slim, a whole world is revealed through Slim's intimate "story songs."

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Bill Pickett, the greatest showman of Wild West. A Black cowboy born free, in 1870, in Travis County, Texas. He invented a whole rodeo sport, became an icon of toughness, and thrilled crowds across North America. But when his promoters set him up to face a raging bull in Mexico City, the ensuing fight over cultural supremacy has dangerous consequences.

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Stagecoach Mary was a woman on her own in the world, who did most of her hard living after the age of 40. She lived with nuns in the daytime, drank whiskey with men in saloons at night. She was the first black woman to drive a wagon for the US postal service. Tough as she was, she was also known for the verdant lushness of her well-tended gardens. 

Mary was a woman of dualities, and yet, also limitless complexities. Over time, her legend has outshined the facts of her life. This is the life and legend of Mary Fields, the toughest woman to ever call the west her home.

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Long before the divisive question of slavery was finally settled in the Civil War, there were the Seminole Wars — three of them —- and they were the largest sustained revolt of formerly enslaved people and their Indigenous allies. 

On the one side there was Andrew Jackson; on the other was a Black Seminole, Chief John Horse. By the end of his long life, he would come to be called the Moses of the Seminoles. He would fight for and against the US government, successfully winning his freedom and land for his people.

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The story of Black cowboys begins not on horseback riding the high plains, but with horses tied up on Spanish ships riding the high seas. Meet Esteban the Negro. Or Esteban the Moor. The Spanish called him Estevanico. Before his voyage and his adventures in North America are over, he will transform from a slave into a god. 

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