On November 1, 1755, a massive earthquake took place on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Lisbon, Portugal. The destruction in Portugal led to one of the first coordinated government responses to a natural disaster.

Research:
Algarve History Association. “The 1755 Lisbon Earthquake and the Algarve.” https://www.algarvehistoryassociation.com/en/portuguese-history/algarve-history/194-the-1755-lisbon-earthquake-and-the-algarve
Blanc, P.-L.: Earthquakes and tsunami in November 1755 in Morocco: a different reading of contemporaneous documentary sources, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 9, 725–738, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-9-725-2009, 2009.
Borlase, William. “The Natural History of Cornwall.” Oxford : printed for the author; by W. Jackson: sold by W. Sandby, London; and the booksellers of Oxford. 1758.
Cavendish, Richard. “Pombal and the Inquisition in Portugal.” History Today. 5/5/2001. https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/pombal-and-inquisition-portugal
Dynes, Russell R. “The Lisbon Earthquake in 1755: The First Modern Disaster.” University of Delaware Disaster Research Center. Preliminary Paper #333.
Joel, Lucas. “November 1, 1755: Earthquake Destroys Lisbon.” EARTH. November/December 2015.
Lai, Dria. “The Great Lisbon Earthquake: A Journey through the First Modern Disaster.” https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/e30a2ea6401e4f2e8805dfbcfa604dc5
Lisbon Earthquake Museum. “Inquérito.” https://lisbonquake.com/en-GB/blog/inquerito
Lisbon Earthquake Museum. “Providências.” https://lisbonquake.com/en-GB/blog/providencias
Martínez-Loriente, S., Sallarès, V. & Gràcia, E. The Horseshoe Abyssal plain Thrust could be the source of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and tsunami. Commun Earth Environ 2, 145 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00216-5
Mascarenhas, J., Belgas, L., Branco, F.G., Vieira, E. (2024). The Pombaline Cage (“Gaiola Pombalina”): An European Anti-seismic System Based on Enlightenment Era of Experimentation. In: Endo, Y., Hanazato, T. (eds) Structural Analysis of Historical Constructions. SAHC 2023. RILEM Bookseries, vol 47. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39603-8_5
Molesky, Mark. “The Vicar and the Earthquake: Conflict, Controversy, and a Christening during the Great Lisbon Disaster of 1755.” e-JPH, Vol. 10, number 2, Winter 2012.
Penwith Local History Group. “The Mounts Bay Tsunami.” https://www.penwithlocalhistorygroup.co.uk/on-this-day/?id=269

Pereira, Alvaro S. “The Opportunity of a Disaster: The Economic Impact of the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake.” The Journal of Economic History , Jun. 2009. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40263964

On November 1, 1755, a massive earthquake took place on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Lisbon, Portugal. The destruction in Portugal led to one of the first coordinated government responses to a natural disaster.
Research:
<ul>
<li>Algarve History Association. &ldquo;The 1755 Lisbon Earthquake and the Algarve.&rdquo; https://www.algarvehistoryassociation.com/en/portuguese-history/algarve-history/194-the-1755-lisbon-earthquake-and-the-algarve</li>
<li>Blanc, P.-L.: Earthquakes and tsunami in November 1755 in Morocco: a different reading of contemporaneous documentary sources, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 9, 725&ndash;738, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-9-725-2009, 2009.</li>
<li>Borlase, William. &ldquo;The Natural History of Cornwall.&rdquo; Oxford : printed for the author; by W. Jackson: sold by W. Sandby, London; and the booksellers of Oxford. 1758.</li>
<li>Cavendish, Richard. &ldquo;Pombal and the Inquisition in Portugal.&rdquo; History Today. 5/5/2001. https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/pombal-and-inquisition-portugal</li>
<li>Dynes, Russell R. &ldquo;The Lisbon Earthquake in 1755: The First Modern Disaster.&rdquo; University of Delaware Disaster Research Center. Preliminary Paper #333.</li>
<li>Joel, Lucas. &ldquo;November 1, 1755: Earthquake Destroys Lisbon.&rdquo; EARTH. November/December 2015.</li>
<li>Lai, Dria. &ldquo;The Great Lisbon Earthquake: A Journey through the First Modern Disaster.&rdquo; https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/e30a2ea6401e4f2e8805dfbcfa604dc5</li>
<li>Lisbon Earthquake Museum. &ldquo;Inqu&eacute;rito.&rdquo; https://lisbonquake.com/en-GB/blog/inquerito</li>
<li>Lisbon Earthquake Museum. &ldquo;Provid&ecirc;ncias.&rdquo; https://lisbonquake.com/en-GB/blog/providencias</li>
<li>Mart&iacute;nez-Loriente, S., Sallar&egrave;s, V. &amp; Gr&agrave;cia, E. The Horseshoe Abyssal plain Thrust could be the source of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and tsunami. Commun Earth Environ 2, 145 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00216-5</li>
<li>Mascarenhas, J., Belgas, L., Branco, F.G., Vieira, E. (2024). The Pombaline Cage (&ldquo;Gaiola Pombalina&rdquo;): An European Anti-seismic System Based on Enlightenment Era of Experimentation. In: Endo, Y., Hanazato, T. (eds) Structural Analysis of Historical Constructions. SAHC 2023. RILEM Bookseries, vol 47. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39603-8_5</li>
<li>Molesky, Mark. &ldquo;The Vicar and the Earthquake: Conflict, Controversy, and a Christening during the Great Lisbon Disaster of 1755.&rdquo; e-JPH, Vol. 10, number 2, Winter 2012.</li>
<li>Penwith Local History Group. &ldquo;The Mounts Bay Tsunami.&rdquo; https://www.penwithlocalhistorygroup.co.uk/on-this-day/?id=269</li>
</ul>
Pereira, Alvaro S. &ldquo;The Opportunity of a Disaster: The Economic Impact of the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake.&rdquo; The Journal of Economic History , Jun. 2009. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40263964

Join Holly and Tracy as they bring you the greatest and strangest Stuff You Missed In History Class in this podcast by iHeartRadio.

Stuff You Missed in History Class

Listen to this collection of top episodes from iHeartRadio and iHeartPodcasts. 

Listen to this collection of top episodes from iHeartRadio and iHeartPodcasts.&nbsp;

Podcasts from iHeartRadio

On November 1, 1755, a massive earthquake took place on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Lisbon, Portugal. The destruction in Portugal led to one of the first coordinated government responses to a natural disaster.

Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/e53bc444-d6cd-4ad1-9ee7-b3f300241cd1/transcript

This 2019 episode marked 100 years since a wave of racist violence in the U.S. that became known as Red Summer. In many ways, Red Summer was a response to (but NOT caused by) two earlier events: the Great Migration and the return of black soldiers who had fought in World War I.

This 2019 episode marked 100 years since a wave of racist violence in the U.S. that became known as Red Summer. In many ways, Red Summer was a response to (but NOT caused by) two earlier events: the Great Migration and the return of black soldiers who had fought in World War I.

SYMHC Classics: Red Summer 1919

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/4c1c6b70-8c61-434f-b5ae-b43c017676c4/transcript

Holly and Tracy commiserate about sending greeting cards. Tracy talks about how she shifted away from an episode exclusively about Frances Thompson.

Holly and Tracy commiserate about sending greeting cards. Tracy talks about how she shifted away from an episode exclusively about Frances Thompson.

Behind the Scenes Minis: Greetings and Context

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/0730cbe0-425a-47e7-aa8e-b43c0174a000/transcript

The Memphis Massacre was a truly horrific wave of destruction and violence, including sexual violence, against the Black community of Memphis just a year after the end of the U.S. Civil War.

Research:
“Memphis Daily Appeal Interviews Frances Thompson (1876),” SHEC: Resources for Teachers, accessed April 9, 2026, https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/3717.
“The Outrage Mill.” The North Missouri Register. 9/14/1876.
“The Reports of the Committees of the House of Representatives Made during the First Session Thirty-ninth Congress, 1865-’66.” Washington: Government Printing Office. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/SERIALSET-01274_00_00-002-0101-0000/context
Blank, Christopher. “Do The Words 'Race Riot' Belong On A Historic Marker In Memphis?” Code Switch. NPR. 5/2/2016. https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2016/05/02/476450908/in-memphis-a-divide-over-how-to-remember-a-massacre-150-years-later
Britannica Editors. "Memphis massacre of 1866". Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 Feb. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/event/Memphis-Race-Riot. Accessed 8 April 2026.
Carriere, Marius. “An Irresponsible Press: Memphis Newspapers and the 1866 Riot.” Tennessee Historical Quarterly , Spring 2001, Vol. 60, No. 1. https://www.jstor.org/stable/42628498
Davis, Justin A. “How a disabled Black trans woman left her mark on 19th-century Memphis.” The Emancipator. 6/13/2024. https://theemancipator.org/2024/06/13/topics/histories/how-a-disabled-black-trans-woman-left-her-mark-on-19th-century-memphis/
Donald, Bernice Bouie. “When the Rule of Law Breaks Down: Implications of the 1866 Memphis Massacre for the Passage of the Fourteenth Amendment.” Boston Law Review. Vol. 98. 2018.
Equal Justice Institute. “On this day - Apr 30, 1866: White Police and Mobs Terrorize and Kill Black Residents in Memphis.” https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/apr/30
Harper’s Weekly. “The Memphis Riots.” 5/26/1866.
Johnson, Charles F. and T.W. Gilbreth. “The Freedmen’s Bureau Report on the Memphis Race Riots of 1866.” 5/22/1866. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/the-freedmens-bureau-report-on-the-memphis-race-riots-of-1866/
Kimberley, Lewis. “’If you kill him, you have got to kill me first’: examining individual and collective loyalties during the Memphis Massacre (1866).” American Nineteenth Century History. Vol. 25, 2024. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14664658.2024.2316465
O’Donovan, Susan and Beverly Bond. “ ‘A History They Can Use’: The Memphis Massacre and Reconstruction’s Public History Terrain.” The Journal of the Civil War Era. 8/15/2016. https://www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2016/08/history-can-use-memphis-massacre-reconstructions-public-history-terrain/
Stryker, Susan. “To Appear As We Please.” Aperture, Winter 2017, No. 229, Future Gender. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44898154
Walker, Barrington. “'This is the White Man's Day': The Irish, White Racial Identity, and the 1866 Memphis Riots.” Left History. Vol. 5, No. 2, 1997. https://doi.org/10.25071/1913-9632.5336

The Memphis Massacre was a truly horrific wave of destruction and violence, including sexual violence, against the Black community of Memphis just a year after the end of the U.S. Civil War.
Research:
<ul>
<li>&ldquo;Memphis Daily Appeal Interviews Frances Thompson (1876),&rdquo; SHEC: Resources for Teachers, accessed April 9, 2026, https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/3717.</li>
<li>&ldquo;The Outrage Mill.&rdquo; The North Missouri Register. 9/14/1876.</li>
<li>&ldquo;The Reports of the Committees of the House of Representatives Made during the First Session Thirty-ninth Congress, 1865-&rsquo;66.&rdquo; Washington: Government Printing Office. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/SERIALSET-01274_00_00-002-0101-0000/context</li>
<li>Blank, Christopher. &ldquo;Do The Words 'Race Riot' Belong On A Historic Marker In Memphis?&rdquo; Code Switch. NPR. 5/2/2016. https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2016/05/02/476450908/in-memphis-a-divide-over-how-to-remember-a-massacre-150-years-later</li>
<li>Britannica Editors. "Memphis massacre of 1866". Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 Feb. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/event/Memphis-Race-Riot. Accessed 8 April 2026.</li>
<li>Carriere, Marius. &ldquo;An Irresponsible Press: Memphis Newspapers and the 1866 Riot.&rdquo; Tennessee Historical Quarterly , Spring 2001, Vol. 60, No. 1. https://www.jstor.org/stable/42628498</li>
<li>Davis, Justin A. &ldquo;How a disabled Black trans woman left her mark on 19th-century Memphis.&rdquo; The Emancipator. 6/13/2024. https://theemancipator.org/2024/06/13/topics/histories/how-a-disabled-black-trans-woman-left-her-mark-on-19th-century-memphis/</li>
<li>Donald, Bernice Bouie. &ldquo;When the Rule of Law Breaks Down: Implications of the 1866 Memphis Massacre for the Passage of the Fourteenth Amendment.&rdquo; Boston Law Review. Vol. 98. 2018.</li>
<li>Equal Justice Institute. &ldquo;On this day - Apr 30, 1866: White Police and Mobs Terrorize and Kill Black Residents in Memphis.&rdquo; https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/apr/30</li>
<li>Harper&rsquo;s Weekly. &ldquo;The Memphis Riots.&rdquo; 5/26/1866.</li>
<li>Johnson, Charles F. and T.W. Gilbreth. &ldquo;The Freedmen&rsquo;s Bureau Report on the Memphis Race Riots of 1866.&rdquo; 5/22/1866. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/the-freedmens-bureau-report-on-the-memphis-race-riots-of-1866/</li>
<li>Kimberley, Lewis. &ldquo;&rsquo;If you kill him, you have got to kill me first&rsquo;: examining individual and collective loyalties during the Memphis Massacre (1866).&rdquo; American Nineteenth Century History. Vol. 25, 2024. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14664658.2024.2316465</li>
<li>O&rsquo;Donovan, Susan and Beverly Bond. &ldquo; &lsquo;A History They Can Use&rsquo;: The Memphis Massacre and Reconstruction&rsquo;s Public History Terrain.&rdquo; The Journal of the Civil War Era. 8/15/2016. https://www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2016/08/history-can-use-memphis-massacre-reconstructions-public-history-terrain/</li>
<li>Stryker, Susan. &ldquo;To Appear As We Please.&rdquo; Aperture, Winter 2017, No. 229, Future Gender. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44898154</li>
<li>Walker, Barrington. &ldquo;'This is the White Man's Day': The Irish, White Racial Identity, and the 1866 Memphis Riots.&rdquo; Left History. Vol. 5, No. 2, 1997. https://doi.org/10.25071/1913-9632.5336</li>
</ul>

The Memphis Massacre was a truly horrific wave of destruction and violence, including sexual violence, against the Black community of Memphis just a year after the end of the U.S. Civil War.

The Memphis Massacre

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/2583c7b8-5e76-4e36-bed6-b439005be35b/transcript

Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755

In 1 playlist(s)

Stuff You Missed in History Class

Social links

Follow podcast

Recent clips