Episode Details

She is one of the most famous women in American history, yet everything from the spelling of her name to the date of her death remains a mystery. On this episode of pplpod, we retrace the steps of Sacagawea, the Shoshone teenager who walked thousands of miles with the Lewis and Clark Expedition with her infant son strapped to her back.

Join us as we separate the Hollywood myths from the gritty reality of the Corps of Discovery. We explore how Sacagawea was not just a guide, but a diplomat whose presence signaled peace to indigenous tribes and a quick-thinker who saved the captains’ journals from a capsized boat.

We also dive deep into the controversies that still puzzle historians today:

• Bird Woman or Boat Launcher? We break down the linguistic debate over whether her name is Hidatsa (Sakakawea) or Shoshone (Sacajawea).
• The Two Deaths: Did she die of fever in 1812 at age 25, or did she escape her husband, marry into a Comanche tribe, and live to be nearly 100 years old under the name Porivo?.
• The Legacy: How a young mother became an icon for the women's suffrage movement and the face of the U.S. dollar coin.

From her kidnapping at age 12 to her vote on where to build the expedition's winter fort, this is the complex story of the woman behind the golden dollar.