Shows
Ben Franklin's World376 Cotton Mather's Spanish LessonsColonial America was born in a world of religious alliances and rivalries. Missionary efforts in the colonial Americas allow us to see how some of these religious alliances and rivalries played out. Spain, and later France, sent Catholic priests and friars to North and South America, and the Caribbean, purportedly to save the souls of Indigenous Americans by converting them to Catholicism. We also know that Protestants did similar work to help counteract this Catholic work in the Americas.Kirsten Silva Gruesz, a Professor of Literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz, joins...2024-01-231h 05
Ben Franklin's World375 Misinformation Nation: Fake News in Early AmericaOver the past decade, we’ve heard a lot about “fake news” and “misinformation.” And as 2024 is an election year, it’s likely we’re going to hear even more about these terms.So what is the origin of misinformation in the American press? When did Americans decide that they needed to be concerned with figuring out whether the information they heard or read was truthful or fake?Jordan E. Taylor joins us to find answers to these questions. Jordan is a historian who studies the history of media and the ways e...2024-01-091h 01
Ben Franklin's World374 The American Revolutionary War in the WestThe American Revolution and its War for Independence comprised the United States’ founding movement. The War for Independence also served as the fifth major war for European empire in North America.The fourth war for European empire, the Seven Years’ War, reshaped and redefined Europe’s worldwide colonial landscape in Great Britain’s favor. The American Revolutionary War presented Britain’s European rivals with an opportunity to regain some of the territory they had lost. An opportunity we can see those rivals seizing in the Revolutionary War’s Western Theater.Stephen Kl...2023-12-2655 min
Ben Franklin's World373 The Gaspee Affair, 1772The so-called “March to the American Revolution” comprised many more events than just the Stamp Act Riots, the Boston Massacre, and the Tea Crisis. One event we often overlook played an essential and direct role in the events needed to draw the thirteen rebellious British North American colonies into a union of coordinated response. That event was the Gaspee Affair in 1772.Adrian Weimer, a professor of history at Providence College, has been researching the Gaspee Affair and what it can tell us about the constitutional balance between the British Empire and its colonies. She lead...2023-12-1257 min
Ben Franklin's World372 A History of the MyaamiaEarly America was a diverse place. A significant part of this diversity came from the fact that there were at least 1,000 different Indigenous tribes and nations living in different areas of North America before the Spanish and other European empires arrived on the continent’s shores.Diane Hunter and John Bickers join us to investigate the history and culture of one of these distinct Indigenous tribes: the Myaamia. At the time of this recording, Diane Hunter was the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. She has since retired from that po...2023-11-281h 11
Ben Franklin's World371 An Archive of Indigenous SlaveryLong before European arrival in the Americas, Indigenous people and nations practiced enslavement. Their version of enslavement looked different from the version Christopher Columbus and his fellow Europeans practiced, but Indigenous slavery also shared many similarities with the Euro-American practice of African Chattel Slavery.While there is no way to measure the exact impact of slavery upon the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, we do know the practice involved many millions of Indigenous people who were captured, bound, and sold as enslaved people.Estevan Rael-Gálvez, Executive Director of N...2023-11-1453 min
Ben Franklin's World370 The Ruin of All WitchesHappy Halloween! In honor of the 31st of October and All Hallows Eve, we investigate a historical incident of witches and witchcraft in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1651.Malcolm Gaskill, Emeritus Professor of Early Modern History at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, and one of the leading experts in the history of witchcraft, joins us to discuss details from his new book, The Ruin of All Witches: Life and Death in the New World.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/370 Complementary Episodes2023-10-3154 min
Ben Franklin's World369 Livestock and Animal Breeds in Early AmericaEstablishing colonies in North America took an astonishing amount of work. Colonists had to clear trees, eventually remove stumps from newly cleared fields, plant crops to eat and sell, weed and tend those crops, and then they had to harvest crops, and get the crops they intended to sell to the nearest market town, and that was just some of the work involved to establish colonial farms.Colonists did not often perform this work on their own. They enlisted the help of children and neighbors, purchased enslaved people, and used animals.2023-10-2454 min
Ben Franklin's World367 The Brafferton Indian School, Part 1In 1693, King William III and Queen Mary II of England granted a royal charter for two institutions of higher education in the Colony of Virginia. The first institution was the College of William & Mary. The second institution was the Indian School at William & Mary, known from 1723 to the present as the Brafferton Indian School.The history of the Brafferton Indian School is a story of power, trade, land, and culture. It’s an Indigenous story. It’s also a story of English, later British, colonialism.Over the next two epis...2023-09-261h 23
Ben Franklin's World366 James Wilson & the U.S. ConstitutionOn September 17, 1787, the members of the Constitutional Convention concluded their work by signing the final draft of their new proposed government. The document they signed was the United States Constitution, which is why the United States marks Constitution Day each year on September 17.In honor of Constitution Day, we explore the life of a Founder who played a large role in the creation and shaping of the United States Constitution: James Wilson.Michael H. Taylor, Professor of United States History and Political Science at Northeast Community College and author...2023-09-1255 min
Ben Franklin's World365 Road Trip 2023: Early Settlement at Île Ste. Jean2020 commemorated the 300th anniversary of French presence on Prince Edward Island. Like much of North America, the Canadian Maritime provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island, and Prince Edward Island were highly contested regions. In fact, the way France and Great Britain fought for presence and control of this region places the Canadian Maritimes among the most contested regions in eighteenth-century North America.Anne Marie Lane Jonah, a historian with the Parks Canada Agency, joins us to explore the history of Prince Edward Island and why Great Britain and France fought...2023-08-291h 05
Ben Franklin's World364 Road Trip 2023: La Pointe-Krebs House & MuseumThe Mississippi Gulf Coast was the home of many different peoples, cultures, and empires during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. According to some historians, the Gulf Coast region may have been the most diverse region in early North America.
Matthew Powell, a historian of slavery and southern history and the Executive Director of the La Pointe-Krebs House & Museum in Pascagoula, Mississippi, joins us to investigate and explore the Mississippi Gulf Coast and a prominent family who has lived there since about 1718.This episode originally posted as Episode 303.Sh...2023-08-1557 min
Ben Franklin's World363 Road Trip 2023: Ste. Genevieve National Historical ParkAbout 620 miles north of New Orleans and 62 miles south of St. Louis, sits the town of Ste. Geneviéve, Missouri.Established in 1750 by the French, Ste. Geneviéve reveals much about what it was like to establish a colony in the heartland of North America and what it was like for colonists to live so far removed from seats of imperial power.Claire Casey, a National Park Service interpretative ranger at the Ste. Geneviéve National Historical Park, joins us to explore the early American history of Ste. Geneviéve.2023-08-011h 01
Ben Franklin's World362 Treaties Between the United States & American Indian NationsThe Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian has an exhibit called Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States & American Indian Nations. This exhibit allows you to see treaties the United States has made with American Indian nations and learn more about those treaties and their outcomes.David W. Penney is the Associate Director of Museum Scholarship, Exhibitions, and Public Engagement at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. He’s also an internationally recognized scholar and curator who has a lot of expertise in Native American art history, and he was...2023-07-181h 03
Ben Franklin's World361 The Fourth of July in 2026July 4, 2023 marks the 247th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the birth of the United States. In three short years, we will be marking the 250th anniversary of these events.How are historians thinking about the American Revolution for 2026? What are they discussing when it comes to the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding? Lindsay M. Chervinsky, Ronald Angelo Johnson, and Kariann Akemi Yokota join us to answer these questions. All three guests are historians of the American Revolutionary Era who research the American Revolution from different per...2023-07-041h 21
Ben Franklin's World360 Slavery and Freedom in MassachusettsJuneteenth is a holiday that celebrates and commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. We choose to reflect on the end of slavery in the United States on June 19, because, on June 19, 1865, United States General Gordon Granger issued his General Order No. 3 in Galveston, Texas, informing Texans that all slaves are free.Juneteenth may feel like it is a mid-19th-century moment, but the end of slavery didn’t just occur on one day or at one time. And it didn’t just occur in the mid-19th century. The fight to end...2023-06-201h 07
Ben Franklin's World359 Trans-ing Gender in Early America“People are complicated” is a truism that holds in the past and the present. Seldom do we find a person where all of their actions and thoughts are black and white. What we see instead is that people are colorful because they aren’t just one thing and they don’t think and act in one way.Human identities are one area where we find a lot of colorfulness and complexity. Most humans have multiple Identities based in geography, nationality, religious affiliation, race and ethnicity, and also gender.Jen Manion, a Professor of Histor...2023-06-0656 min
Ben Franklin's World358 St. Augustine & Early FloridaFor much of the colonial period, Spain claimed almost all of North America as Spanish territory. It displayed this claim on maps and in the administrative units it created to govern this vast territory: New Spain and La Florida.Charles Tingley is a Senior Research Librarian at the St. Augustine Historical Society in St. Augustine, Florida, and an expert in the history of St. Augustine. He joins us to explore the early American history of La Florida through the lens of one of its capitals: the City of St. Augustine.2023-05-231h 06
Ben Franklin's World357 Privateering in the American RevolutionHow did the Continental Congress approach creating military forces that could go toe-to-toe with the British military during the American War for Independence?Eric Jay Dolin joins us to answer part of that question by looking at the creation of the United States’ privateer fleet. Dolin is the author of fifteen books about the maritime history of early America, including Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/357 Complementary Episodes🎧 Episode 153: Committees and Congresses of the Americ...2023-05-091h 01
Ben Franklin's World356 The Moravian Church in North AmericaIn 1682, the first Assembly of Pennsylvania and the Delaware counties met in Chester, Pennsylvania, and adopted “the Great Law,” a humanitarian code that guaranteed the people of Pennsylvania liberty of conscience.“The Great Law” created an environment that not only welcomed William Penn’s fellow Quakers to Pennsylvania but also created space for the migration of other unestablished religions, such as the Lutherans, Schwenkfelders, and Moravians.Paul Peucker, an archivist and the Director of the Moravian Archives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, joins us to investigate the establishment of the Moravian Church in...2023-04-2557 min
Ben Franklin's World355 The Virginia VentureOn April 10th, 1606, King James I granted the Virginia Company of London a charter. Just over a year later, on May 14, 1607, this privately-funded, joint-stock company established the first, permanent English colony in North America at Jamestown, in the colony of Virginia. What work did the Virginia Company have to do to establish this colony? How much money did it have to raise, and from whom did it raise this money, to support its colonial venture?Misha Ewen, a Lecturer in early modern history at the University of Bristol and a...2023-04-1156 min
Ben Franklin's World354 The Sewing Girl's TaleHistory tells us who we are and how we came to be who we are. It also allows us to look back and see how far we’ve come as people and societies. Of course, history also has the power to show us how little has changed over time.John Wood Sweet, a professor of history at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and author of the book, The Sewing Girl’s Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America, winner of the 2023 Bancroft Prize in American History, joins us to inve...2023-03-281h 09
Ben Franklin's World353 Women and the Making of Catawba IdentityHow did Indigenous people adapt to and survive the onslaught of Indigenous warfare, European diseases, and population loss between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries? How did past generations of Indigenous women ensure their culture would live on from one generation to the next so their people would endure?Brooke Bauer, an assistant professor of history at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and author of the book Becoming Catawba: Catawba Women and Nation Building, 1540-1840, joins us to investigate these questions and what we might learn from the Catawba.Show N...2023-03-1458 min
Ben Franklin's World352 James Forten and the Making of the United StatesPeople of African descent have made great contributions to the United States and its history. Think about all of the food, music, dance, medicine, farming and religious practices that people of African descent have contributed to American culture. Think about the sacrifices they’ve made to create and protect the United States as an independent nation.Matthew Skic, a Curator of Exhibitions at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, joins us to investigate the life and deeds of the Forten Family. A family of African-descended people who worked in the revolutionary era an...2023-02-2850 min
Ben Franklin's World351 Wealth and Slavery in New NetherlandAfrican chattel slavery, the predominant type of slavery practiced in colonial North America and the early United States, did not represent one monolithic practice of slavery. Practices of slavery varied by region, labor systems, legal codes, and empire.Slavery also wasn’t just about enslavers enslaving people for their labor. Enslavers used enslaved people to make statements about their social status, as areas of economic investment that built generational wealth, and as a form of currency.Nicole Maskiell, an associate professor of History at the University of South Carolina an...2023-02-1453 min
Ben Franklin's World350 The Revolutionary: Samuel AdamsBefore the American Revolution became a war and a fight for independence, the Revolution was a movement and protest for more local control of government. So how did the American Revolution get started? Who worked to transform a series of protests into a revolution?This is a BIG question with no one answer. But one American who worked to transform protests into a coordinated revolutionary movement was a Boston politician named Samuel Adams.Stacy Schiff, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, joins us to explore and investigate the life, deeds, and...2023-01-311h 03
Ben Franklin's World349 The Women Behind Benjamin FranklinThere are a lot of books about Benjamin Franklin. They tell us about his youth and accomplishments in business, politics, and diplomacy. They tell us about his serious interest in electricity and science, and about his philanthropic work. But only a handful of these books tell us about Benjamin Franklin as a man. What did Benjamin Franklin think about and experience when it came to his private, lived life?Nancy Rubin Stuart, an award-winning historian and journalist and author of Poor Richard’s Women: Deborah Read Franklin and the Other Women Behind the Founding Fa...2023-01-171h 06
Ben Franklin's World348 Valley ForgeOn December 19, 1777, George Washington marched his Continental Army into its winter encampment at Valley Forge. In school we learned this was a hard, cold winter that saw the soldiers so ill-supplied they chewed on the leather of their shoes. But is this what really happened at Valley Forge? Were soldiers idle, wallowing in their misery?Ricardo Herrera, a historian of American military history and a visiting professor in the Department of National Security and Strategy at the U.S. Army War College, joins us to investigate the winter at Valley Forge with details form...2023-01-031h 07
Ben Franklin's World347 African and African American MusicIt’s impossible to overstate the importance of African and African American music to the United States’ musical traditions. Steven Lewis, a Curator of Music and Performing Arts at the Smithsonian, notes that “African American influences are so fundamental to American music there would be no American music without them.”Jon Beebe, a Jazz pianist, professional musician, and an interpretive ranger at the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, leads us on an exploration of how and why African rhythms and beats came to play important roles in the musical history and musical evolution of the U...2022-12-201h 00
Ben Franklin's World346 Music and Politics in the Early United StatesHow did everyday Americans in the early United States use and enjoy music? How did they create and circulate new songs and musical lyrics?Our five-episode series about music in early America continues in this fourth episode about music and politics in the early United States.Billy Coleman, an Assistant Teaching Professor of History at the University of Missouri and author of the book Harnessing Harmony: Music, Power, and Politics in the United States, 1788-1865, joins us to investigate the role music played in early American politics.2022-12-1346 min
Ben Franklin's World345 Amateur Musicians in the Early United StatesOur study of music in Early America continues with this third episode in our five-episode series.Our last two episodes (Episode 343 and Episode 344) helped us better understand the musical landscapes of Native North America around 1492 and colonial British America before 1776. In this episode, we jump forward in time to the early days of the United States.Glenda Goodman, an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of the book Cultivated by Hand: Amateur Musicians in the Early American Republic, joins us to investigate the role of music...2022-12-0650 min
Ben Franklin's World344 Music in British North AmericaOur 5-episode series about music in Early America continues with this second episode that seeks to answer your questions about music in Early America.David Hildebrand is a musicologist and an expert on early American music. His research specialty is in Anglo-American music, and he joins us to answer your questions.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/344 Complementary Episodes🎧 Episode 219: Adrian Covert, Taverns in Early America🎧 Episode 250: Virginia, 1619🎧 Episode 290: The World of the Wampanoag, Part 1🎧 Episode 291: The World of...2022-11-2942 min
Ben Franklin's World343 Music and Song in Native North AmericaWhat was music like in Early America? How did different early Americans—Native Americans, African Americans, and White Americans—integrate and use music in their daily lives?Your questions about music inspired this 5-episode series about music in Early America.Our exploration begins with music in Native America. Chad Hamill, a Professor of Applied Indigenous Studies at Northern Arizona University, is an ethnomusicologist who studies Native American and Indigenous music. He will guide us through Native North America’s musical landscapes before European colonization.Show Notes: https://www.ben...2022-11-2248 min
Ben Franklin's World342 The Great Power of Small Native NationsDid you know that small Native American nations had the power to dictate the terms of French colonization in the Gulf South region?Elizabeth Ellis, an Assistant Professor of History at Princeton University and a citizen of the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, joins us on an exploration of the uncovered and recovered histories of the more than 40 distinct and small Native nations who called the Gulf South region home during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Ellis is the author of The Great Power of Small Nations: Indigenous Diplomacy in the Gulf South.2022-11-081h 14
Ben Franklin's World341 Possession and Exorcism in New FrancePrepare for tricks, treats, and time travel! In honor of Halloween, we’re traveling back to the mid-seventeenth century to investigate a case of demonic possession and the practice of exorcism in New France.Mairi Cowan, an Associate Professor of History at the University of Toronto, Mississauga, joins us to investigate the life of a young French woman named Barbe Hallay and her demonic possession. Cowan is the author of The Possession of Barbe Hallay: Diabolical Arts and Daily Life in Early Canada.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/341 2022-10-251h 03
Ben Franklin's World340 Prisoners of War and the War of 1812The War of 1812 is an under-known conflict in United States history. It’s not a war that many Americans think about or dwell upon. And it was not a war that the United States can claim it clearly won.Nicholas Guyatt, a Professor of North American History at the University of Cambridge, joins us to investigate the War of 1812 and the experiences of American prisoners of war using details from his book, The Hated Cage: An American Tragedy in Britain’s Most Terrifying Prison.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/3...2022-10-111h 19
Ben Franklin's World339 Women and the Constitutional Moment of 1787Between May 25 and September 17, 1787, delegates from each of the United States’ thirteen states assembled in Philadelphia for an event we now call the Constitutional Convention.What do we know about the moment of the United States Constitution’s creation? What was happening around the Convention, and what issues were Americans discussing and debating as the Convention’s delegates met?Mary Sarah Bilder, an award-winning historian and the Founders Professor of Law at Boston College Law School, joins us to investigate the context of the United States Constitution’s creation with details from her book...2022-09-271h 16
Ben Franklin's World338 The Early History of the United States SenateOn September 17, 1787, thirty-nine delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the United States Constitution and submitted it to the states for ratification.In honor of Constitution Day, we join three historians from the Senate Historical Office to investigate Article 1 of the Constitution and its creation of the United States Senate.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/338 Complementary Episodes🎧 Episode 040: Kathleen Bartoloni-Tuazon, For Fear of an Elective King🎧 Episode 078: Rachel Shelden: Washington Brotherhood🎧 Episode 107: Mary Sarah Bilder, Madison’s Hand🎧 Episode 143: Michael Klarman...2022-09-131h 21
Ben Franklin's World337 Early America's Trade with ChinaWhat made trade with China so important to the new United States that one of Americans’ first acts after securing the United States’ independence was to establish a trade with China and other Southeast Asian countries?Deal Norwood, an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Delaware, joins us to explore the lure of trade with China with details from his book, Trading Freedom: How Trade with China Defined Early America.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/337 Complementary Episodes🎧 Episode 098: Gautham Rao, Bir...2022-08-301h 02
Ben Franklin's World336 Surviving the Southampton RebellionWhat did it take to stage a successful slave uprising?Over the course of the early republic, we see a few violent slave uprisings in the United States. A particularly brutal rebellion took place in Louisiana in January 1811. Another violent rebellion took place in Southampton County, Virginia in August 1831. Neither of these rebellions led to the abolishment of slavery, but they did lead to the death of many enslaved people and their enslavers.Vanessa Holden, an Associate Professor of History at the University of Kentucky and the author of the award-winning book...2022-08-161h 13
Ben Franklin's World335 The Jewish World of Alexander HamiltonAlexander Hamilton played important roles in the founding of the United States. He served in the Continental Army, helped frame the United States Constitution, and helped place the United States on a secure economic footing with his work as the first Secretary of the Treasury.But how did Hamilton come to know so much about the economic systems that could help the new United States build a strong economic footing?Why did Hamilton work for and believe that the new United States should be a nation that welcomed all religions and forms...2022-08-021h 12
Ben Franklin's World334 Missions & Mission Building in New SpainSpanish explorers and colonists visited, settled, and claimed territory in 42 of the United States’ 50 states. So what does the history of Early America look like from a Spanish point of view?Brandon Bayne, an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and author of the book Missions Begin with Blood, joins us to investigate some of the religious aspects of Spanish colonization. Specifically, the work of Spanish missionaries.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/334 Complementary Episodes🎧 Episode 082: Alejan...2022-07-191h 07
Ben Franklin's World333 Experiences of Revolution: Disruptions in YorktownWhat was everyday life like during the American War for Independence?Our Fourth of July series continues with an investigation of how the American War for Independence impacted those who remained on the home front. As episode 332 explored how the war impacted the lives of people who lived in urban Philadelphia, this episode investigates how the war impacted the lives of people who lived in the more rural setting of Yorktown, Virginia.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/333 Complementary Episodes🎧 Episode 162: Dunmore’s New...2022-07-051h 01
Ben Franklin's World332 Experiences of Revolution: Occupied PhiladelphiaWhat was everyday life like during the American War for Independence?In honor of the Fourth of July, we’ll investigate answers to this question by exploring the histories of occupied Philadelphia and Yorktown, and how civilians, those left on the home front in both of those places, experienced the war and its armies. These episodes will allow us to see how the war impacted those who remained at home. They will also allow us to better understand the messy confusion and uncertainty Americans experienced in between the big battles and events of the Ame...2022-06-281h 04
Ben Franklin's World331 The Discovery of the Williamsburg Bray SchoolIn a town as old as Williamsburg, Virginia, which was established in 1638, it’s often the case that historic buildings with interesting pasts stand unnoticed and in plain sight.Such was the case for the building that once housed Williamsburg’s Bray School. A school founded by a group of Anglican clergymen with the express purpose of educating Black children in the ways of the Anglican faith. It was an education that included reading, possibly writing, and the Book of Common Prayer.In honor of Juneteenth, we explore the exci...2022-06-211h 27
Ben Franklin's World330 Loyalism in the British Atlantic WorldWe’ll never know for certain how many Americans supported the American Revolution, remained loyal to the British Crown and Parliament, or tried to find a middle way as someone who was disaffected from either loyalty. But we can know about the different ideologies that drove people to support the Revolution, to remain loyal to crown and parliament, or to become disaffected from both sides. Brad Jones, Professor of History at California State University, Fresno and author of the book, Resisting Independence: Popular Loyalism in the Revolutionary British Atlantic, joins us to investigate what loya...2022-06-071h 11
Ben Franklin's World329 Freemasonry in Early AmericaThis is an episode you’ve been waiting for!Mark Tabbert, the Director of Archives and Exhibits at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association and the author of Almanac of American Freemasonry and A Deserving Brother: George Washington and Freemasonry, joins us so we can investigate and better understand Freemasonry and its role in Early America.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/329 Complementary Episodes🎧 Episode 026: Robert Middlekauff, George Washington’s Revolution🎧 Episode 033: Douglas Bradburn, George Washington & His Library🎧 Episode 127: Caroline Winterer, Amer...2022-05-241h 06
Ben Franklin's World328 Free People of Color in Early AmericaWe know from our explorations of early America that not all Americans were treated equally or enjoyed the freedoms and liberties other Americans enjoyed.Warren Milteer Jr., an Assistant Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the author of North Carolina’s Free People of Color and Beyond Slavery’s Shadow, joins us to explore the lives and experiences of free people of color, men and women who ranked somewhere in the middle or middle bottom of early American society.Show Notes: https://www.benfr...2022-05-101h 09
Ben Franklin's World327 Benjamin Franklin: A Film by Ken BurnsHow do we know what we know about Benjamin Franklin? We know historians, museum curators, and archivists rely on historical documents and objects to find and learn information about the past. But how does a documentary filmmaker present what they know about history through video?David Schmidt works as a senior producer at Florentine Films where he worked alongside Ken Burns to produce a 2-episode documentary about the life of Benjamin Franklin. The documentary is called Benjamin Franklin and Schmidt joins us for a behind-the-scenes tour of documentary filmmaking and to investigate some of...2022-04-2659 min
Ben Franklin's World326 The Greek Revolution in Early AmericaWith Ukrainian sovereignty and democracy under attack, Americans have been wondering: Should our government be doing more than placing economic sanctions on Russia? Should I, as U.S. military veteran, travel to Ukraine and offer to fight in their army? What would official U.S. military involvement mean for the politics of Europe and in our age of nuclear weapons?While the situation in Ukraine is new and novel, Americans’ desire to assist other nations seeking to create or preserve their democracies and republics is not new. Maureen Connors Santelli, an Associate Pro...2022-04-121h 07
Ben Franklin's World325 Everyday People of the American RevolutionWhat do we know about the American Revolution? Why is it important that we see the Revolution as a political event, a war, a time of social and economic reform, and as a time of violence and upheaval?Woody Holton, a Professor of History at the University of South Carolina and the author of Liberty is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution, joins us to explore and discuss answers to these questions so that we can better see and understand the American Revolution as a whole event....2022-03-291h 19
Ben Franklin's World324 New Netherland and SlaveryAfter Henry Hudson’s 1609-voyage along the river that now bears his name, Dutch traders began to visit and trade at the area they called New Netherland. In 1614, the Dutch established a trading post near present-day Albany, New York. In 1624, the Dutch West India Company built the settlement of New Amsterdam.How did the colony of New Netherland take shape? In what ways did the Dutch West India Company and private individuals use enslaved labor to develop the colony?Andrea Mosterman, an Associate Professor of History at the University of...2022-03-151h 07
Ben Franklin's World323 American Expansion and the Political Economy of PlunderIn the Treaty of Paris, 1783, Great Britain ceded to the United States all lands east of the Mississippi River and between the southern borders of Canada and Georgia. How would the United States take advantage of its new boundaries and incorporate these lands within its governance?Answering this question presented a quandary for the young United States. The lands it sought to claim by right of treaty belonged to Indigenous peoples.Michael Witgen, a Professor of History at Columbia University and a citizen of the Red Cliff Band of...2022-03-011h 23
Ben Franklin's World322 Running from Bondage in Revolutionary AmericaDuring the War for American Independence, the British Army attempted to create chaos and inflict economic damage to the revolutionaries’ war effort by issuing two proclamations that promised freedom to any enslaved person who ran away from their revolutionary owners. How did enslaved people make their escape to British lines? What do we know about their lives and escape experiences?Karen Cook-Bell, an Associate Professor of History at Bowie State University and author of Running From Bondage: Enslaved Women and Their Remarkable Fight for Freedom in Revolutionary America, joins us to investigate th...2022-02-1557 min
Ben Franklin's World321 BFW Team Favorite: Whose Fourth of July?On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass delivered a speech to an anti-slavery society and he famously asked “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”In this episode, we explore Douglass’ thoughtful question within the context of Early America: What did the Fourth of July mean for African Americans in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries?To help us investigate this question, we are joined by Martha S. Jones, the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University, and Christopher Bonner, an Assistant Profes...2022-02-011h 18
Ben Franklin's World320 Benjamin Franklin's London HouseBenjamin Franklin was born in Boston on January 17, 1706, to Abiah Folger and Josiah Franklin. Although Franklin began his life as the youngest son of a youngest son, he traveled through many parts of what is now the northeastern United States and the Province of Quebec and lived in four different cities in three different countries: Boston, Philadelphia, London, and Passy, France.In honor of Benjamin Franklin’s 316th birthday, Márcia Balisciano, the Founding Director of the Benjamin Franklin House museum in London, joins us to explore Benjamin Franklin’s life in London using detai...2022-01-181h 14
Ben Franklin's World319 Cuba: An Early American HistoryOne of the Caribbean islands that Christopher Columbus stopped at during his 1492-voyage was an alligator-shaped island that sits at the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico in between the Yucatán and Florida peninsulas. This is, of course, is the island of Cuba.What do we know about early Cuba, the island the Spanish described as the “Key to the Indies?” What kind of relationship and exchange did early Cuba have with British North America and the early United States?Ada Ferrer, a Professor of History at New York...2022-01-041h 08
Ben Franklin's World318 Ste. Geneviéve National Historical ParkAbout 620 miles north of New Orleans and 62 miles south of St. Louis, sits the town of Ste. Geneviéve, Missouri.Established in 1750 by the French, Ste. Geneviéve reveals much about what it was like to establish a colony in the heartland of North America and what it was like for colonists to live so far removed from seats of imperial power.Claire Casey, a National Park Service interpretative ranger at the Ste. Geneviéve National Historical Park, joins us to explore the early American history of Ste. Geneviéve.2021-12-211h 01
Ben Franklin's World317 American Jewish Historical Society, Jews in Early AmericaThe first Jewish colonists in North America arrived in 1654. From that moment, Jews worked to build and contribute to early American society and the birth of the United States.Gemma Birnbaum and Melanie Meyers, the Executive Director and Director of Collections and Engagement at the American Jewish Historical Society, join us to explore the history and experiences of Jews in early America and their contributions to the American Revolution and the founding of the United States.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/317 Complementary Episodes2021-12-071h 03
Ben Franklin's World316 Yellow Fever, Immunity, & Early New OrleansIn 1803, the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France. This purchase included the important port city of New Orleans. But the United States did not just acquire the city’s land, peoples, and wealth– the American government also inherited the city’s Yellow Fever problem. Kathryn Olivarius, an Assistant Professor of History at Stanford University and author of Necropolis: Disease, Power, and Capitalism in the Cotton Kingdom, leads us on an exploration of yellow fever, immunity, and inequality in early New Orleans.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/316 2021-11-2349 min
Ben Franklin's World315 History & American DemocracyWhat has enabled the American experiment in democracy to endure for nearly 250 years?What is it about early American history that captivates peoples’ attention and makes them want to support the creation of historical scholarship and the sharing of historical knowledge?David M. Rubenstein, the co-founder and co-chairman of The Carlyle Group and a great student and supporter of history and history education, joins us to explore his patriotic philanthropy and the history of American democracy with details from his book, The American Experiment: Dialogues on a Dream....2021-11-091h 03
Ben Franklin's World314 Native Americans in Early American CitiesHave you ever considered early American cities as places where Native Americans lived, worked, and visited?Native Americans often visited early American cities and port towns, especially the towns and cities that dotted the Atlantic seaboard of British North America.Colin Calloway, an award-winning historian and a Professor History and Native American Studies at Dartmouth College, joins us to investigate Native American experiences in early American cities with details from his book, “The Chiefs Now In This City": Indians and the Urban Frontier in Early America....2021-10-261h 03
Ben Franklin's World313 The Marquis de LafayetteYou know “America’s favorite fighting Frenchman” is the Marquis de Lafayette. But what do you know about Lafayette and his life?How and why did this French-born noble end up fighting in the American Revolution?Mike Duncan, a self-described history geek, public historian, and the podcaster behind the award-winning podcast The History of Rome and the popular podcast Revolutions, joins us to investigate the life of the Marquis de Lafayette with details from his book, Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution.S...2021-10-121h 10
Ben Franklin's World312 The Domestic Slave TradeThe transatlantic slave trade dominated in North America during the 17th and 18th centuries. But by 1808, a different slave trade came to dominate in the young United States, the domestic or internal slave trade.
Joshua D. Rothman, an award-winning historian, Professor of History at the University of Alabama, and author of the book, The Ledger and the Chain: How Domestic Slave Traders Shaped America, leads us on an exploration of the United States’ domestic slave trade and the lives of three slave traders who helped to define this trade.
Show No...2021-09-281h 03
Ben Franklin's World311 Religion and the American RevolutionInvestigations of the American Revolution often include explorations of politics, ideology, trade and taxation, imperial control, and social strife. What about religion?What role did religion play in the American Revolution?Katherine Carté, an Associate Professor of History at Southern Methodist University and the author of Religion and the American Revolution: An Imperial History, joins us to investigate the role of religion in the American Revolution.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/311 Complementary Episodes🎧 Episode 025: Jessica Parr, Inven...2021-09-1457 min
Ben Franklin's World310 The Blackfeet: A HistoryTo understand early American history, we need to investigate and understand North America as an Indigenous space. A place where Native American populations, politics, religion, and trade networks prevailed for centuries before and after the arrival of Europeans and enslaved Africans.In this episode, we travel into the heart of the North American continent to explore the life, history and culture of the Blackfeet People with Rosalyn LaPier, a University of Montana professor, historian, ethnobotanist, and award-winning Indigenous writer. Rosalyn is a member of the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana and a member of the...2021-08-311h 04
Ben Franklin's World309 Merchant Ships of the Eighteenth CenturyBy the eighteenth century, the Atlantic Ocean had become a busy highway of ships crisscrossing its waters.What do we know about the ships that made these transatlantic voyages and connected the eighteenth-century British Atlantic world through trade, people, and information?Phillip Reid, a historian of the Atlantic World and maritime technology and author of The Merchant Ship in the British Atlantic, joins us to explore the eighteenth-century British merchant ship and the business of transatlantic shipping.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/309 2021-08-171h 04
Ben Franklin's World308 Slavery and Freedom in French LouisianaThe story of freedom in colonial New Orleans and Louisiana pivoted on the choices black women made to retain control of their bodies, families, and futures.How did black women in colonial Louisiana navigate French and Spanish black and slavery codes to retain control of their bodies, families, and futures?Jessica Marie Johnson, Assistant Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University and author of the award-winning book Wicked Flesh: Black Women, Intimacy, and Freedom in the Atlantic World, joins us to investigate answers to this question and to reveal...2021-08-031h 02
Ben Franklin's World307 History & the American RevolutionThe story of the founding of the United States is a familiar one. It usually (but not always) begins with the English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, describes the founding and development of thirteen British North American colonies that hugged North America’s eastern seaboard, and then delves into the imperial reforms and conflicts that caused the colonists to respond with violent protests during the 1760s and 1770s.Then there is the war, which began in April 1775 and ended in 1783. The adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. And the story of how against al...2021-07-201h 07
Ben Franklin's World306 The Horse's TailThe words of the Declaration of Independence are not the only aspect of the American Revolution that carry power. Visual and material objects from during and after the Revolution also carry power and meaning. Objects like monuments, uniforms, muskets, powder horns, and the Horse’s Tail, a remnant of a grand equestrian statue of King George III, which stood in New York City’s Bowling Green park.Historians Wendy Bellion, Leslie Harris, and Arthur Burns join us to investigate the history of revolutionary New York City and how New Yorkers came to their decisions to b...2021-07-021h 03
Ben Franklin's World305 Speaking with the Dead in Early AmericaDeath is one of the few universals in life. Everyone who is born, will die.How do the living make peace with death?While different cultures make peace with death in different ways, Erik Seeman joins us to investigate how white, American Protestants made their peace with death during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries.Erik Seeman is a Professor of History at the University at Buffalo. He’s an award-winning historian who has written three books on death practices in early America, including his most recent bo...2021-06-2255 min
Ben Franklin's World304 On JuneteenthJuneteenth is a state holiday that commemorates June 19, 1865, the day slavery ended in Texas. Over the last decade, a push to make Juneteenth a national holiday to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States has gained momentum.What do we know about Juneteenth and its origins?Annette Gordon-Reed, an award-winning historian at Harvard University and Harvard Law School, is a native Texan and she joins us to discuss the early history of Texas and the origins of the Juneteenth holiday with details from her book, On Juneteenth.2021-06-0854 min
Ben Franklin's World303 An Early History of the Mississippi Gulf CoastThe Mississippi Gulf Coast was the home of many different peoples, cultures, and empires during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. According to some historians, the Gulf Coast region may have been the most diverse region in early North America.
Matthew Powell, a historian of slavery and southern history and the Executive Director of the La Pointe-Krebs House & Museum in Pascagoula, Mississippi, joins us to investigate and explore the Mississippi Gulf Coast and a prominent family who has lived there since about 1718.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/303 ...2021-05-2555 min
Ben Franklin's World302 From Inoculation to Vaccination, Part 2Before its eradication in 1980, smallpox was the most feared disease in many parts of the world. Known as the “king of terrors” and the “disease of diseases” the search for a way to lessen and avoid smallpox was on!How did vaccination come about? What are vaccination’s connections to smallpox inoculation? And how did news and practice of vaccination spread throughout North America? These questions will be our focus in this second, and final, episode in our “From Inoculation to Vaccination” series.In this episode, we join experts Dr. René Najer...2021-05-1154 min
Ben Franklin's World301 From Inoculation to Vaccination, Part 1Smallpox was the most feared disease in North America and in many parts of the world before its eradication in 1980. So how did early Americans live with smallpox and work to prevent it? How did they help eradicate this terrible disease?Over the next two episodes, we’ll explore smallpox in North America. We’ll investigate how smallpox came to North America, how North Americans worked to contain, control, and prevent outbreaks of the disease, and how the story of smallpox is also the story of immunization.In this epis...2021-04-2748 min
Ben Franklin's World300 Vast Early AmericaWhat do historians wish more people better understood about early American history and why do they wish people had that better understanding?In celebration of the 300th episode of Ben Franklin’s World, we posed these questions to more than 30 scholars. What do they think?Join the celebration to discover more about Early America and take a behind-the-scenes tour of your favorite history podcast.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/300 REQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz...2021-04-131h 08
Ben Franklin's World299 Colonial Virginia PortraitsWhat can a portrait reveal about the history of colonial British America?Portraits were both deeply personal and yet collaborative artifacts left behind by people of the past. When historians look at multiple portraits created around the same time and place, their similarities can reveal important social connections, trade relationships, or cultural beliefs about race and gender in early American history. Janine Yorimoto Boldt, Associate Curator of American Art at the Chazen Museum of Art and the researcher behind the digital project Colonial Virginia Portraits, leads us on an e...2021-04-0642 min
Ben Franklin's World298 Origins of American ManufacturingHave you ever stopped to think about how the United States became a manufacturing nation? Have you ever wondered how the United States developed not just products, but the technologies, knowledge, and machinery necessary to manufacture or produce various products?Lindsay Schakenbach Regele has.Lindsay is an Associate Professor of History at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and the author of Manufacturing Advantage: War, the State, and the Origins of American Industry, 1776-1848, and she joins us today to lead our exploration into the early American origins of industrialization.2021-03-301h 02
Ben Franklin's World297 Indian Removal Act of 1830The history of Native American land dispossession is as old as the story of colonization. European colonists came to the Americas, and the Caribbean, wanting land for farms and settlement so they found ways to acquire lands from indigenous peoples by the means of negotiation, bad-faith dealing, war, and violence.The Indian Removal Act of 1830 is deeply rooted in early American history.Claudio Saunt, a scholar of Native American history at the University of Georgia, and author of the book Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the...2021-03-161h 02
Ben Franklin's World296 The Boston Massacre: A Family HistoryIs there anything more we can know about well-researched and reported events like the Boston Massacre?Are there new ways of looking at oft-taught events that can help us see new details about them, even 250 years after they happened?Serena Zabin, a Professor of History at Carleton College in Minnesota and the author of the award-winning book, The Boston Massacre: A Family History, joins us to discuss the Boston Massacre and how she found a new lens through which to view this famous event that reveals new details and...2021-03-0258 min
Ben Franklin's World295 Whitney Plantation MuseumWhat does it take to create a museum? How can a museum help visitors grapple with a very uncomfortable aspect of their nation’s past?Ibrahima Seck, a member of the History Department at the University Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, Senegal, author of the book, Bouki Fait Gombo: A History of the Slave Community of Habitation Haydel (Whitney Plantation) Louisiana, 1750-1860, and the Director of Research of the Whitney Plantation museum, leads us on a behind-the-scenes tour of Whitney Plantation and through the history of slavery in early Louisiana....2021-02-161h 06
Ben Franklin's World294 1774: The Long Year of RevolutionWhen we think of important years in the history of the American Revolution, we might think of years like 1765 and the Stamp Act Crisis, 1773 and the Tea Crisis, 1775 and the start of what would become the War for American Independence, or 1776, the year the United States declared independence.Award-winning historian Mary Beth Norton, the Mary Donlan Alger Professor Emerita at Cornell University and the author of 1774: The Long Year of Revolution, joins us to discuss another year that she would like us to pay attention to as we think about the American Revolution: the...2021-02-0259 min
Ben Franklin's World293 Jamaica Ladies: Female Slaveholding in JamaicaHow did Jamaica grow to become the "crown jewel" of the British Atlantic World?Part of the answer is that Jamaica’s women served as some of the most ardent and best supporters of the island’s practice of slavery.Christine Walker, an Assistant Professor of History at the Yale-NUS College in Singapore and the author of the award-winning book, Jamaica Ladies: Female Slaveholders and the Creation of Britain’s Atlantic Empire, leads us on an investigation of female slave holder-ship in 17th and 18th-century Jamaica.Show Notes...2021-01-191h 07
Ben Franklin's World292 Craft in Early AmericaWhat was everyday life like for those who lived in early America?To understand the everyday lives of early Americans we need to look at the goods they made and how they produced those goods. In essence, nothing explains the everyday as much as the goods in people’s lives.Glenn Adamson, author of Craft: An American History, joins us to investigate craft and craftspeople in Early America.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/282 Complementary Episodes🎧 Episode 050: Marla...2021-01-0559 min
Ben Franklin's World291 The World of the Wampanoag, Part 2: 1620 and BeyondBefore New England was New England, it was the Dawnland. A region that remains the homeland of numerous Native American peoples, including the Wampanoag. When the English colonists arrived at Patuxet 400 years ago, they arrived at a confusing time. The World of the Wampanoag people had changed in the wake of a destabilizing epidemic.This episode is part of a two-episode series about the World of the Wampanoag. In Episode 290, we investigated the life, cultures, and trade of the Wampanoag and their neighbors, the Narragansett, up to December 16, 1620, the day the Mayflower m...2020-12-1554 min
Ben Franklin's World290 The World of the Wampanoag, Part 1: Before 1620Before New England was New England, it was the Dawnland. A region that remains the homeland of numerous Native American peoples, including the Wampanoag.Over the next two episodes, we’ll explore the World of the Wampanoag before and after 1620, a year that saw approximately 100 English colonists enter the Wampanoags’ world. Those English colonists have been called the “Pilgrims” and this year, 2020, marks the 400th anniversary of their arrival in New England. The arrival of these English settlers brought change to the Wampanoags’ world. But many aspects of Wampanoag life and c...2020-12-0847 min
Ben Franklin's World289 Maroonage in the Great Dismal SwampThe name “Great Dismal Swamp” doesn’t evoke an image of a pleasant or beautiful place, and yet, it was an important place that offered land speculators the chance to profit and enslaved men and women a chance for freedom in colonial British America and the early United States.
Marcus Nevius, an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Rhode Island and author of City of Refuge: Slavery and Petit Maroonage in the Great Dismal Swamp, 1763-1856, has offered to guide us into and through the Great Dismal Swamp and its history, so that we...2020-11-241h 04
Ben Franklin's World288 Smugglers & Patriots in the 18th-Century AtlanticIn what ways did the Atlantic World contribute to the American Revolution?Empire, slavery, and constant warfare interacted with each other in the Atlantic World. Which brings us to our question: In what ways did the Atlantic World and its issues contribute to the American Revolution?Tyson Reeder, an editor of the Papers of James Madison and an affiliated assistant professor at the University of Virginia, is a scholar of the Atlantic World, who will help us see how smuggling and trade in the Luso-Atlantic, or Portuguese-Atlantic, World contributed to the development...2020-11-101h 04
Ben Franklin's World287 Elections in Early America: Presidential Elections & the Electoral CollegeFor four months during the summer of 1787, delegates from the thirteen states met in Philadelphia to craft a revised Constitution that would define the government of the United States. It took them nearly the entire time to settle on the method for selecting the President, the Chief Executive. What they came up with is a system of indirect election where the states would select electors who would then cast votes for President and Vice President. Today we call these electors the Electoral College.In this final episode of our series on Elections in Early...2020-10-271h 02
Ben Franklin's World286 Elections in Early America: Native SovereigntyWho is American democracy for and who could participate in early American democracy?Women and African Americans were often barred from voting in colonial and early republic elections. But what about Native Americans? Could Native Americans participate in early American democracy?Julie Reed, an Assistant Professor of History at the Pennsylvania State University, and Kathleen DuVal, the Bowman and Gordon Gray Distinguished Term Professor of History at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, join us to investigate how the sovereignty of native nations fits within the sovereignty of the United States and...2020-10-2057 min
Ben Franklin's World285 Elections in Early America: Elections & Voting in the Early American RepublicIndependence from Great Britain provided the former British American colonists the opportunity to create a new, more democratic government than they had lived under before the American Revolution.What did this new American government look like? Who could participate in this new American democracy? And what was it like to participate in this new democracy?Scholars Terrance Rucker, a Historical Publications Specialist in the Office of the Historian of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Marcela Miccuci, a curator at the Museum of the American Revolution, join us...2020-10-131h 10
Ben Franklin's World284 Elections in Early America: Democracy & Voting in British North AmericaThe British North American colonies formed some of the most democratic governments in the world. But that doesn't mean that all early Americans were treated equally or allowed to participate in representative government.So who could vote in Early America? Who could participate in representative government?Historians James Kloppenberg, the Charles Warren Professor of History at Harvard University, and Amy Watson, an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, help us explore who democracy was meant for and how those who lived in colonial British America understood and practiced...2020-10-0652 min
Ben Franklin's World283 Acadie 3002020 commemorates the 300th anniversary of French presence on Prince Edward Island. Like much of North America, the Canadian Maritime provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island, and Prince Edward Island were highly contested regions. In fact, the way France and Great Britain fought for presence and control of this region places the Canadian Maritimes among the most contested regions in eighteenth-century North America.Anne Marie Lane Jonah, a historian with the Parks Canada Agency, joins us to explore the history of Prince Edward Island and why Great Britain and France fought...2020-09-221h 04
Ben Franklin's World282 Tacky's RevoltBetween 1760 and 1761, Great Britain witnessed one of the largest slave insurrections in the history of its empire. Although the revolt took place on the island of Jamaica, the reverberations of this revolt stretched across the Atlantic Ocean and into the British North American colonies.Vincent Brown, the Charles Warren Professor of American History and a Professor of African American Studies at Harvard University, joins us to investigate Tacky’s Revolt and how that revolt served as an eddy within the larger current of Atlantic warfare, with details from his book, Tacky’s Revolt: The Stor...2020-09-081h 00
Ben Franklin's World281 The Business of SlaveryWe live in an age where big businesses track our shopping habits and in some cases our work habits. But is the age of data new? When did the “age of the spreadsheet” and quantification of habits develop?
Caitlin Rosenthal, an Assistant Professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley and the author of Accounting for Slavery: Masters and Management, leads us on an investigation into the origins of how American businesses came to collect and use data to manage their workers and their pursuit of profits.Show Notes...2020-08-2554 min
Ben Franklin's World280 The British Are ComingThe American Revolution is embedded in the American character. It’s an event that can tell us who we are, how we came to be who we are, and how we can strive to be who we want to be as a nation and people.Rick Atkinson, a three-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, a journalist who has worked at The Washington Post, and the author of The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777, joins us to explore how the War for Independence has impacted and shaped the American ch...2020-08-111h 02
Ben Franklin's World279 The Cabinet: Creation of an American InstitutionAs the first President of the United States, George Washington set many precedents for the new nation. One of the biggest precedents Washington set came in the form of the Cabinet, a body of advisors from across the U.S. government who advise the president on how to handle matters of foreign and domestic policy.Today, we investigate Washington’s creation of the Cabinet and how it became a government institution with Lindsay Chervinsky, a Scholar-in-Residence at the Institute for Thomas Paine Studies, a Senior Fellow at the International Center for Jefferson Studies, and th...2020-07-281h 14
Ben Franklin's World270 BFW Team Favorites: Slavery & Freedom in Early MarylandHow do you uncover the life of an enslaved person who left no paper trail?What can the everyday life of an enslaved person tell us about slavery, how it was practiced, and how some enslaved people made the transition from slavery to freedom?We explore the life of Charity Folks, an enslaved woman from Maryland who gained her freedom in the late-18th century. Our guide through Charity’s life is Jessica Millward, an Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine and author of Finding Ch...2019-12-2453 min
Ben Franklin's World100 Behind the Scenes with Liz Covart & Ben Franklin's WorldWow! Ben Franklin’s World has made it to episode 100. How do we celebrate and mark this special occasion? By your request, host Liz Covart answers your questions about history, podcasting, and time travel. Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/100 Helpful Show Links Help Support Ben Franklin's World Crowdfunding Campaign Ask the Historian Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App 2016-09-2039 min
Ben Franklin's WorldBen Franklin's World with Liz CovartHost Liz Covart welcomes you to Ben Franklin's World: A Podcast About Early American History. Liz describes the show and reveals what what you can expect to discover in future episodes. Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/000 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2014-09-2708 min