Liz Covart

Liz Covart is the Digital Projects Editor at the Omohundro Institute at the College of William and Mary. She holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Davis. For more information about Liz and her podcast visit lizcovart.com.

The Early History of the US Senate

September 21, 2022 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

On September 17, 1789, thirty-nine delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the United States Constitution and submitted it to the states for ratification.

In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World features three historians from the Senate Historical Office — Betty Koed, Katherine Scott, and Daniel Holt — to investigate the creation and formation of the United States Senate. to investigate Article 1 of the Constitution and its creation of the United States Senate. [Read more…] about The Early History of the US Senate

Early America’s Trade With China

September 7, 2022 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, Dael Norwood, an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Delaware, joins Liz Covart to explore the lure of trade with China with details from his book, Trading Freedom: How Trade with China Defined Early America (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2022).

Surviving Nat Turner’s Southampton Rebellion

August 24, 2022 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, Vanessa Holden, an Associate Professor of History at the University of Kentucky and the author of the award-winning book Surviving Southampton:African American Women and Resistance in Nat Turner’s Community (2021), leads listeners through the events and circumstances of the 1831-Southampton Rebellion, a rebellion we tend to know today as Nat Turner’s Rebellion.

During this episode, Holden reveals when and why the Southampton Rebellion took place; The early history of Southampton, Virginia and why it experienced a slave rebellion; And, why we should look at the Southampton Rebellion as a community-wide event. [Read more…] about Surviving Nat Turner’s Southampton Rebellion

The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton

August 10, 2022 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, Andrew Porwancher, the Wick Cary Associate Professor of History at the University of Oklahoma and the Ernest May Fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center, joins Liz Covart to investigate the Jewish world and upbringing of Alexander Hamilton using details from his book, The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton (Princeton, 2021). [Read more…] about The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton

Missions and Mission Building in New Spain

July 27, 2022 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, 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: Suffering and Salvation in the Borderlands of New Spain (Fordham, 2021) joins host Liz Covart to investigate the work of Spanish missionaries and why this missionary work was carried out by just a few religious orders, namely the Franciscans and Jesuits. [Read more…] about Missions and Mission Building in New Spain

Experiences of Revolution: Disruptions in Yorktown

July 13, 2022 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

What 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 homefront. 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. [Read more…] about Experiences of Revolution: Disruptions in Yorktown

Experiences of Revolution: Occupied Philadelphia

July 6, 2022 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

What was everyday life like during the American War for Independence?

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 American Revolution. [Read more…] about Experiences of Revolution: Occupied Philadelphia

Educating Black Children at the Williamsburg Bray School

June 29, 2022 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

In 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. [Read more…] about Educating Black Children at the Williamsburg Bray School

Loyalism in the British Atlantic World

June 15, 2022 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

In this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World Podcast, Brad Jones, Professor of History at California State University, Fresno and author of the book, Resisting Independence: Popular Loyalism in the Revolutionary British Atlantic (Cornell, 2021), joins us to investigate what loyalists believed and how loyalism was not just a loyalty or ideology adopted by British Americans living in the 13 rebellious colonies, but by Britons across the British Atlantic World. [Read more…] about Loyalism in the British Atlantic World