Ben Franklin's World

Liz Covart

Ben Franklin’s World is an award-winning podcast about early American history. It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world. Each episode features a conversation with a historian who helps us shed light on important people and events in early American history. It is produced by Colonial Williamsburg Innovation Studios. read less

Our Editor's Take

Despite the title, the Ben Franklin's World podcast discusses much more than this Founding Father. This captivating podcast history podcast talks about America in the late 18th century. Liz Covart hosts the show. She is a historian who works in colonial Williamsburg. Franklin is more identified with Philadelphia than Virginia. But the host is adept at talking about all 13 original American colonies. The podcast debuted in 2014. The show is much more than a walk through history. It ties the past to the present and future. Covart says she chose the podcast name because Franklin is still remembered today.

With each episode, listeners get treated to engaging conversations with renowned historians. The guests provide valuable insights on important people and events from America's past. The Ben Franklin's World podcast host says she enjoys curling up and reading history books much more than novels. She says that going through original documents is like "a treasure hunt."

The podcast talks about great figures like George Washington and Benjamin Franklin himself. But it also discusses average Americans during this time in history. It also reveals what was happening in Africa, the Caribbean, and Europe in that era. Sometimes, the timeframe goes earlier than the American Revolution. Other times, the show gets into the 19th century. But Covart ties it all together in an engaging fashion.

One standout feature of the podcast is its ability to make complex topics accessible. Covart gives clear explanations and relatable anecdotes. She also interviews authors and historians to share their expertise. Past guests include Stacy Schiff, David Hildebrand, and David M. Rubenstein. Other experts on the show are Catherine O'Donnell and Jan Calvert. This podcast provides fresh perspectives on familiar stories. It also introduces lesser-known tales worth exploring further.

Listeners can expect episodes covering many issues. Topics include Native Americans' experiences during colonization efforts. Enslaved people also get their due on this podcast. All episodes have easy-to-follow narratives. The show both educates and entertains. This thought-provoking podcast explains America's rich cultural heritage. Ben Franklin's World has new episodes several times a month.

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Episodes

379 Women Healers in Early America
Mar 5 2024
379 Women Healers in Early America
Women make up eight out of every ten healthcare workers in the United States. Yet they lag behind men when it comes to working in the roles of medical doctors and surgeons. Why has healthcare become a professional field dominated by women, and yet women represent a minority of physicians and doctors who serve at the top of the healthcare field? Susan H. Brandt, a historian and lecturer at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, seeks to find answers to these questions. In doing so, she takes us into the rich history of women healers with details from her book, Women Healers: Gender, Authority, and Medicine in Early Philadelphia. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/379 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Complementary Episodes Episode 003: Director of the Library Company of PhiladelphiaEpisode 005: Revolutionary Medicine: The Founding Fathers and Mothers in Sickness and HealthEpisode 116: Disease & the Seven Years’ WarEpisode 174: Yellow Fever in the Early American RepublicEpisode 263: The Medical ImaginationEpisode 273: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Early RepublicEpisode 276: Benjamin Rush: Founding FatherEpisode 301: From Inoculation to Vaccination, Part 1Episode 302: From Inoculation to Vaccination, Part 2   Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter
378 Everyday Black Living in Early America
Feb 20 2024
378 Everyday Black Living in Early America
When we study the history of Black Americans, especially in the early American period, we tend to focus on slavery and the slave trades. But focusing solely on slavery can hinder our ability to see that, like all early Americans, Black Americans were multi-dimensional people who led complicated lives and lived a full range of experiences that were worth living and talking about. Tara Bynum, an Assistant Professor of English and African American Studies at the University of Iowa and the author of Reading Pleasures: Everyday Black Living in Early America, joins us to explore the lives of four early Black American writers: Phillis Wheatley, John Marrant, James Albert Unkawsaw Groniosaw, and David Walker. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/378 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg FoundationBFW Listener Survey  Complementary Episodes Episode 025: Inventing George Whitefield Episode 083: Unfreedom: Slavery in Colonial BostonEpisode 118: The Business of Slavery in Rhode IslandEpisode 123: Revolutionary AllegiancesEpisode 166: Freedom and the American RevolutionEpisode 328: Free People of Color in Early AmericaEpisode 360: Slavery & Freedom in Massachusetts   Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter
377 Phillis Wheatley & the Playwright
Feb 6 2024
377 Phillis Wheatley & the Playwright
2023 marked the 250th anniversary of the arrival of Phillis Wheatley's published book of poetry in the British American colonies. Phillis Wheatley was an enslaved African woman who, as a teenager, became the first published African author of a book of poetry written in English.  Ade Solanke, an award-winning playwright and screenwriter, has written two plays about Phillis Wheatley’s life to commemorate the semiquincentennial of Wheatley’s literary accomplishments. She joins us to not only explore the life of Phillis Wheatley, but also how playwrights use and research history to help them create dramatic works of art. Works of art that can help us forge an emotional connection with the past. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/377 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg FoundationExclusive BFW Listener Discount NordVPNBFW Listener Survey  Complementary Episodes Episode 008: The Intercolonial Slave Trade of British AmericaEpisode 086: Ben Franklin in LondonEpisode 123: Revolutionary AllegiancesEpisode 132: Indigenous LondonEpisode 166: Freedom and the American RevolutionEpisode 170: New England Bound: Slavery in Early New England   Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter
376 Cotton Mather's Spanish Lessons
Jan 23 2024
376 Cotton Mather's Spanish Lessons
Colonial 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 us to explore the life and work of Cotton Mather, a Boston Puritan minister who actively sought to counteract the work of Catholic conversion, with details from her book Cotton Mather’s Spanish Lessons: A Story of Language, Race, and Belonging in the Early Americas. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/376 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg FoundationExclusive Listener Deal NordVPNBen Franklin's World Survey Complementary Episodes Episode 047: Emily Conroy-Krutz, Christian Imperialism: Converting the World in the Early American RepublicEpisode 139: Andrés Reséndez, The Other Slavery: Indian Enslavement in the AmericasEpisode 170: Wendy Warren, New England Bound: Slavery in Early New EnglandEpisode 196: Alejandra Dubcovsky, Information & Communication in the Early American SouthEpisode 242: Molly Warsh, Pearls & the Nature of the Spanish EmpireEpisode 301: From Inoculation to Vaccination, Part 1Episode 318: Ste Genevieve National Historic ParkEpisode 334: Brandon Bayne, Missions and Mission Building in New SpainEpisode 371: Estevan Rael-Gálvez, An Archive of Indigenous Slavery Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter
374 The American Revolutionary War in the West
Dec 26 2023
374 The American Revolutionary War in the West
The 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 Kling, Jr., is the author and co-author of several books and articles about the American Revolution in the West. His latest book, The American Revolutionary War in the West, has served as the basis for a museum exhibit at the St. Charles County Heritage Museum in St. Peters, Missouri. Stephen joins us as our expert guide on our expedition through the Revolution’s Western Theater. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/374 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg FoundationColonial Williamsburg Email ListsThe Power of Place: The Centennial Campaign for Colonial Williamsburg  Complementary Episodes Episode 014: West of the Revolution: An Uncommon History of 1776Episode 037: Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American RevolutionEpisode 041: Canada & the American RevolutionEpisode 051: A History of Early DetroitEpisode 081: After Yorktown: The Final Struggle for American IndependenceEpisode 102: George Rogers Clark & the Fight for the Illinois CountryEpisode 318: Ste. Genevieve National Historical ParkEpisode 372: A History of the Myaamia Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter
372 A History of the Myaamia
Nov 28 2023
372 A History of the Myaamia
Early 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 position. John Bickers is an Assistant Professor of History at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio. Both Diane and John are citizens of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and experts in Myaamia history and culture. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/372 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg FoundationColonial Williamsburg Email ListsThe Power of Place: The Centennial Campaign for Colonial Williamsburg Complementary Episodes Episode 029: Colin Calloway, The Victory with No Name: The Native American Defeat of the First American ArmyEpisode 223: Susan Sleeper-Smith, A Native American History of the Ohio River Valley & Great Lakes RegionEpisode 290: The World of the Wampanoag, Part 1: Before 1620Episode 291: The World of the Wampanoag, Part 2: 1620 and BeyondEpisode 297: Claudio Saunt, Indian Removal Act of 1830Episode 323: Michael Witgen, American Expansion and the Political Economy of PlunderEpisode 362: David W. Penney, Treaties Between the US & American Indian NationsEpisode 367: The Brafferton Indian School, Part 1Episode 368: The Brafferton Indian School, Part 2: Legacies Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter
371 An Archive of Indigenous Slavery
Nov 14 2023
371 An Archive of Indigenous Slavery
Long 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 Native Bound-Unbound: Archive of Indigenous Slavery, joins us to discuss the digital project Native Bound-Unbound: Archive of Indigenous Slavery. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/371 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg FoundationColonial Williamsburg Email Lists The Power of Place: The Centennial Campaign for Colonial Williamsburg   Complementary Episodes Episode 008: Greg O'Malley, Final Passages: The Intercolonial Slave Trade of British AmericaEpisode 139: Andrés Reséndez, The Other SlaveryEpisode 184: David J. Silverman, Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violence Transformation of Native AmericaEpisode 197: Brett Rushforth, Native American Slavery in New FranceEpisode 220: Margaret Ellen Newell, New England Indians, Colonists, and Origins of SlaveryEpisode 367: The Brafferton Indian School, Part 1Episode 368: The Brafferton Indian School, Part 2: Legacies   Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter
369 Livestock and Animal Breeds in Early America
Oct 24 2023
369 Livestock and Animal Breeds in Early America
Establishing 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. Undra Jeter is the Bill and Jean Lane Director of Coach and Livestock at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. He joins us to explore the animals English and British colonists brought with them to North America and used to build, run, and sustain their colonial farms and cities. Animals provided many benefits to early Americans, so Undra also shares information about the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s efforts to bring back the population numbers of some of these historic animal breeds through its rare breeds program. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/369 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg Foundation“I made this”: Black Artists & Artisans Conference, November 10-11, 2023 Factor Meals, Save 50 percent by using benfranklin50 Complementary Episodes Episode 067: John Ryan Fischer, An Environmental History of Early California & HawaiiEpisode 168: Andrea Smalley, Wild By Nature: Colonists and Animals in North AmericaEpisode 187: Kenneth Cohen, Sport in Early AmericaEpisode 234: Richard Bushman, Farms & Farm Families in Early AmericaEpisode 275: Ingrid Tague, Pets in Early America Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter
368 Legacies of the Brafferton Indian School
Oct 10 2023
368 Legacies of the Brafferton Indian School
The Brafferton Indian School has a long and complicated legacy. Chartered with the College of William & Mary in 1693, the Brafferton Indian School’s purpose was to educate young Indigenous boys in the ways of English religion, language, and culture. The Brafferton performed this work for more than 70 years, between the arrival of its first students in 1702 and when the last documented student left the school in 1778.  This second episode in our 2-episode series about the Brafferton Indian School will focus on the legacy of the Brafferton Indian School and how it and other colonial-era Indian Schools established models for the schools the United States government and religious institutions established during the Indian Boarding School Era.  As one of the architects of these later Boarding Schools, Richard Henry Pratt, stated, the purpose of these boarding schools was to “kill the Indian and save the man.” Pratt meant that the United States government desired to assimilate and fully Americanize Indigenous children so there would be no more Native Americans.  But Indigenous peoples are resilient, and they have resisted American attempts to extinguish their cultures. So we’ll also hear from three tribal citizens in Virginia who are working in different ways to reawaken long-dormant aspects of their Indigenous cultures. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/368 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg FoundationThe American Indian Initiative at Colonial Williamsburg William & Mary, Brafferton InitiativeWilliam & Mary October 28th Lecture: Ned Blackhawk, “The Indigenous Origins of the American Revolution” Complementary Episodes Episode 290: The World of the Wampanoag, Part 1: Before 1620Episode 291: The World of the Wampanoag, Part 2: 1620 and BeyondEpisode 310: Rosalyn LaPier, History of the BlackfeetEpisode 314: Colin Calloway, Native Americans in Early American CitiesEpisode 343: Music and Song in Native North AmericaEpisode 353: Brooke Bauer, Women and the Making of Catawba IdentityEpisode 367: The Brafferton Indian School, Part 1   Series Music WarPaint SingersWarPaint Singers on YouTube Blue Dot Sessions Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter
367 The Brafferton Indian School, Part 1
Sep 26 2023
367 The Brafferton Indian School, Part 1
In 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 episodes, we will investigate the Brafferton Indian School and the stories it tells about power, trade, land, culture, and colonialism in early America. We’ll also explore the legacy of the Brafferton and other colonial Indian schools by examining the connections between these schools and the creation of the Indian Boarding Schools that operated within the United States between the mid-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. In this episode, we focus on the history and origins of the Brafferton Indian School. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/367 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg FoundationThe American Indian Initiative at Colonial WilliamsburgWilliam & Mary, Brafferton InitiativeWilliam & Mary October 28th Lecture: Ned Blackhawk, “The Indigenous Origins of the American Revolution” Complementary Episodes Episode 104: Andrew Lipman, The Saltwater Frontier: Native Americans and Colonists on the Northeastern CoastEpisode 132: Coll Thrush, Indigenous LondonEpisode 171: Jessica Stern, Native Americans, British Colonists, and Trade in North AmericaEpisode 290: The World of the Wampanoag, Part 1: Before 1620Episode 291: The World of the Wampanoag, Part 2: 1620 and BeyondEpisode 310: Rosalyn LaPier, History of the BlackfeetEpisode 314: Colin Calloway, Native Americans in Early American CitiesEpisode 353: Brooke Bauer, Women and the Making of Catawba Identity   Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter
366 James Wilson & the U.S. Constitution
Sep 12 2023
366 James Wilson & the U.S. Constitution
On 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 of James Wilson: The Anxious Founder, joins us to investigate the life of James Wilson, who stands as one of the United States’ overlooked founders.  Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/366 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg FoundationFactor Meals Save 50 percent by using code benfranklin50  Complementary Episodes Episode 055: Robb Haberman, John Jay: Forgotten FounderEpisode 094: Cassandra Good, Founding FriendshipsEpisode 107: Mary Sarah Bilder, Madison’s HandEpisode 143: Michael Klarman, The Making of the United States ConstitutionEpisode 153: Committees and Congresses: Governments of the American RevolutionEpisode 212: Researching BiographyEpisode 258: Jane Calvert, “John Dickinson Life, Religion, & Politics” Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter
365 Road Trip 2023: Early Settlement at Île Ste. Jean
Aug 29 2023
365 Road Trip 2023: Early Settlement at Île Ste. Jean
2020 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 over the Canadian Maritime region. This episode originally posted as Episode 283.  Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/365 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Complementary Episodes Episode 064: Brett Rushforth, Native American Slavery in New FranceEpisode 104: Andrew Lipman, Europeans & Native Americans on the Northeastern CoastEpisode 108: Ann Little, The Many Captivities of Esther WheelwrightEpisode 167: Eberhard Faber, The Early History of New OrleansEpisode 189: Sam White, The Little Ice AgeEpisode 232: Christopher Hodson, The Acadian Diaspora Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter
362 Treaties Between the United States & American Indian Nations
Jul 18 2023
362 Treaties Between the United States & American Indian Nations
The 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 involved in creating the Nation to Nation exhibit. He joins us to guide us through this exhibit and some of the treaties the United States has made with Indigenous nations. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/362 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg FoundationColonial Williamsburg Email Lists Complementary Episodes Episode 163: The American Revolution in North AmericaEpisode 223: Susan Sleeper-Smith, A Native American History of the Ohio River Valley & Great Lakes RegionEpisode 264: Michael Oberg, The Treaty of Canandaigua, 1794 Episode 286: Elections in Early America: Native SovereigntyEpisode 323: Michael Witgen, American Expansion and the Political Economy of Plunder Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter
361 The Fourth of July in 2026
Jul 4 2023
361 The Fourth of July in 2026
July 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 perspectives. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/361 Join Ben Franklin's World! Subscribe and help us bring history right to your ears! Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Complementary Episodes Episode 052: Ronald A. Johnson, Early United States-Haitian DiplomacyEpisode 245: Celebrating the FourthEpisode 277: Whose Fourth of July?Episode 279: Lindsay M Chervinsky, The Cabinet: Creation of an American InstitutionEpisode 306: The Horse’s Tail: Revolution & Memory in Early New York CityEpisode 332: Experiences of Revolution: Occupied PhiladelphiaEpisode 333: Experiences of Revolution: Disruptions in Yorktown   Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter
360 Slavery and Freedom in Massachusetts
Jun 20 2023
360 Slavery and Freedom in Massachusetts
Juneteenth 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 slavery was a long process that started during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.  Kyera Singleton, the Executive Director of the Royall House and Slave Quarters in Medford, Massachusetts, has spent years researching the lives of the enslaved people who lived and worked on the Royall Plantation and the significant contributions they made to ending slavery in Massachusetts. Kyera joins us to investigate the story of slavery and freedom within the first state in the United States to legally abolish slavery. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/360 Join Ben Franklin's World! Subscribe and help us bring history right to your ears! Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Complementary Episodes Episode 083: Jared Hardesty, Unfreedom: Slavery in Colonial BostonEpisode 170: Wendy Warren, New England BoundEpisode 194: Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters, NHS Episode 220: Margaret Newell, New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of SlaveryEpisode 304: Annette Gordon-Reed: On JuneteenthEpisode 324: Andrea Mosterman, New Netherland and SlaveryEpisode 329: Mark Tabbert, Freemasonry in Early AmericaEpisode 351: Nicole Maskiell, Wealth and Slavery in New Netherland Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter