Exposed Part 2: the Human Radiation Experiments at Hunter's Point from SF Public Press
Release Date: 11/24/2025
The Calling (Encore)
Making Contact
For Black Maternal Health Week, we celebrate the important work that Black midwives do in their communities. In this week's show, we'll hear a conversation about how one woman followed her calling to midwifery in a story brought to us by the podcast _Re:Work_ from the UCLA Labor Center. Featuring: Kimberly Durdin, licensed midwife and co-founder of Kindred Space LA and the Birthing People Foundation Credits: Making Contact Episode host and producer: Lucy Kang Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Engineer: Digital...
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Indigenous Intervention: Using Culture in Indigenous Substance Abuse Treatment (Encore)
Making Contact
In the late 1990s, psychologist Dr. Joseph Gone, a professor and member of the Aaniiih Gros Ventre tribe, returned home during his doctoral training to the Fort Belknap Reservation in north central Montana. There, he set aside Eurocentric concepts of psychology he was learning in school and instead asked tribal members how mental illness is addressed using traditional Indigenous practices. What he learned changed the trajectory of his career. Listen to find out how he helped bring precolonial cultural and spiritual practices into substance use disorder treatment in contemporary Indigenous...
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American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs (Encore)
Making Contact
On today's program we honor the life and legacy of civil rights activist Grace Lee Boggs (27 June 1915-5 October 2015). Through the lens of the documentary film _American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs_ we present a close and personal view of Boggs' activism. The film plunges us into Boggs’ lifetime of vital thinking and action, traversing the major U.S. social movements of the last century; from labor to civil rights, to Black Power, feminism, the Asian American and environmental justice movements and beyond. Boggs’ constantly evolving strategy—her willingness to...
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Flemmie Kittrell and the Preschool Experiment from Lost Women of Science (Encore)
Making Contact
Dr. Flemmie Kittrell was a Black home economist whose research in the field of early childhood education shaped the way we think about child development today. She became the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in nutrition and contributed immensely to programs like Head Start – even though her name is often left out of the history. We'll hear more about her life and work in a story from the podcast _Lost Women of Science_,_ _hosted by Carol Sutton Lewis and Danya AbdelHameid. Featuring: Dolores Caffey-Fleming, Program director of Project STRIDE, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine...
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Buried History: The Woman Who Created the Home Pregnancy Test
Making Contact
In 1965 Margaret Crane was a young designer creating packaging for a pharmaceutical company when a scientist gave her a tour of the lab. Looking at the long rows of pregnancy tests she thought, well anyone could do that test at home! So she set about designing a prototype for America’s first home pregnancy test. While the design of the prototype was simple, convincing the company, the medical community and conservative social leaders that at-home pregnancy testing was safe and necessary was an uphill climb for Crane, who is only now receiving credit for her contributions to the industry....
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Dr. Rebecca Crumpler, America's First Black Female Public Health Pioneer (Encore)
Making Contact
Dr. Rebecca Crumpler was the first Black woman to become a physician in the United States. Working in the aftermath of the Civil War, she made immense contributions to public health, despite the racism and sexism she faced. We'll trace the course of her remarkable life and work with in a story brought to us by the podcast Lost Women of Science, hosted by Katie Hafner and producer Dominique Janee. Featuring: Dr. Melody McCloud, Physician and author of _Black Women’s Wellness_ Dr. Joan Reede, Dean for Diversity and Community Partnership at Harvard Medical School Jim Downs, Historian and...
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I Am Not Your Negro (Encore)
Making Contact
Master filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished, Remember This House. The result is a radical, up-to-the-minute examination of race in America, using Baldwin’s original words and flood of rich archival material. I Am Not Your Negro is a journey into black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of #BlackLivesMatter. It is a film that questions black representation in Hollywood and beyond. And, ultimately, by confronting the deeper connections between the lives and assassination of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King...
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Remembering Fred Hampton (Encore)
Making Contact
Our radio adaptation of the film, The Murder of Fred Hampton, produced by filmmakers Mike Gray and Howard Alk, provides a glimpse into the life of Hampton and the Illinois Black Panther Party. On December 4th, 1969, exactly 50 years ago, Black Panthers Fred Hampton, age 21, and Mark Clark, age 22, were shot to death by Chicago police. In an infamous moment in Chicago’s history and politics, over a dozen policemen burst into Hampton’s apartment while its occupants were sleeping, killing Hampton and fellow Panther Mark Clark, and brutalizing...
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Giving Bayard Rustin His Flowers (Encore)
Making Contact
On today's show, we take a look at the life and legacy of a central organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, Bayard Rustin. Rustin was an openly gay civil rights leader and a trusted advisor to labor leader A. Phillip Randolph and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This show first aired in June 2021. Special Thank You to Nancy Kates and Bennett Singer the producers/directors of Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin and Sam Pollard, the executive director. And to the Pacifica Radio Archives for use of the Bayard Rustin archival materials. Featuring: Bayard Rustin – the...
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A Dream Remembered? Martin Luther King Jr and the Grassroots Civil Rights Movement (Encore)
Making Contact
On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28th 1963, at the March on Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered one of the most famous speeches of all time. But it nearly didn’t happen. On this special edition of Making Contact, Gary Younge, author of , talks about Martin Luther King Junior’s “Dream” and the story behind it. Special thanks to the New School for the recording. Featuring: Gary Younge, author and journalist Making Contact Team: Episode Host: George Lavender Executive Director: Jina Chung Engineer: Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonorain Making Contact...
info_outlineIn Episode 2 of “Exposed” from our friends at San Francisco Public Press, we explore a little-known chapter in San Francisco’s nuclear era: human experiments carried out to assess the health effects of radiation. Scientists from the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, located at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, designed and executed at least 24 experiments that involved gathering data from humans — in some cases, injecting test subjects with radioisotopes or having them ingest fluids laced with trace amounts of radioactive materials. Even football players from the San Francisco 49ers were enrolled as test subjects in these so-called tracer studies.
We hear from military veterans who were sent on a mysterious mission to spread radioactive substances onto rooftops at an Army base near Pittsburg, Calif., for an experiment the radiation lab played a role in designing. Some recount experiences of witnessing nuclear bomb blasts in the Nevada desert. We also examine a national pattern of human radiation experiments revealed by Eileen Welsome, the author of a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation, who shined a light on similar practices conducted by government facilities, hospitals and other institutions. This miniseries first aired on Making Contact in February 2025.
Featuring:
Eldridge Jones, served in the military and was part of Operation Stoneman | Merle Votaw, a Navy veteran who participated in Operation Stoneman II | Eileen Welsome, author of "Plutonium Files" | Holly Barker, Anthropologist and professor at the University of Washington who studied the Marshall Islands.
Credits:
San Francisco Public Press:
- Reporting: Chris Roberts and Rebecca Bowe
- Editing: Michael Stoll and Liz Enochs
- Research Editing: Ambika Kandasamy
- Web Design: John Angelico
- Copy Editing: Kurt Aguilar, Michele Anderson and Richard Knee
- Archival Research and Illustration: Stacey Carter
- Audio Editing: Liana Wilcox, Mel Baker and Megan Maurer
- Sound Gathering: Justin Benttinen
- Photography: Sharon Wickham, Yesica Prado and Guillermo Hernandez
- Graphic Design: Reid Brown
- Fact Checking: Dani Solakian and Ali Hanks
- Proofreading: Lila LaHood, Noah Arroyo, Zhe Wu and Sylvie Sturm
- Special thanks to Alastair Gee and Danielle Renwick at The Guardian and Ben Trefny at KALW Public Radio, and to Laura Wenus and Amy Pyle
Making Contact:
- Host: Salima Hamirani
- Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang
- Executive Director: Jina Chung
- Editor: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong
- Engineer: Jeff Emtman
- Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonorain
Music Credits:
Midday, by the Blue Dot Sessions | Sweet Leilani, by Bing Crosby
Learn More:
[Exposed full investigation | Exposed Part 2
Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.