Feel Familiar? Emotionally Intelligent History

"Feel Familiar? Emotionally Intelligent History" explores important but sometimes overlooked events from the past to gain a clearer understanding of the present day. It connects broad, macro-level developments in politics and society to relatable, individual feelings and thoughts.

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Feel Familiar? Emotionally Intelligent History

New York, 1849: The “Upper Ten” & The Bowery B’hoys

October 14, 2025 • Andrew L. Erdman • Season 1 • Episode 1

New York City in the 1840s is a vital, bustling, and deeply divided place. Cultural and political beliefs related to race, gender, and class animate different groups to hate certain celebrities and worship others. The nativist Bowery B'hoys love an actor named Edwin "Ned" Forrest, while the kid-gloved "Upper Ten" worship British tragedian William Charles Macready. Neither group is as noble as it would like to believe it is: both are racist, reactive, and possessed of strong, if divergent, notions of proper "manhood." Young men among the Bowery B'hoys are getting agitated about what they claim is an insult to their identity: New York's wealthy classes supporting a tour of William Macready as Macbeth at the fancy Astor Place Opera House.

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Theme Music: Kelly Dwyer. Logo Design: Mary Birdsong. Producer/Editor: Joshua Dudley.