History, Natural History & the Arts
Delaware may be the second smallest state in the United States, but it has a BIG, rich history that can tell us much about the history of early America.
In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, David Young, the Executive Director of the Delaware Historical Society, joins us to explore the early American history of Delaware from its Native American inhabitants through its emergence as the first state in the United States. [Read more…] about An Early History of Delaware
In 1492, Christopher Columbus’ voyage across the Atlantic linked Europe, the Americas, and the Caribbean. As Columbus’ sponsor, Spain became the first European Power to use the peoples, resources, and lands of the Americas and the Caribbean as the basis for its Atlantic Empire.
How did this empire function and what wealth was Spain able to extract from these peoples and lands? [Read more…] about Pearls and the Nature of the Spanish Empire
Have you ever had one of those really interesting conversations where the person was so fascinating that you wished the conversation didn’t have to end?
In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, Flora Fraser joins us for one of those conversations. We’ll talk about biography, and in doing so, she’ll tell us what it was like to grow up as the daughter and granddaughter of two famed, British biographers and about the genre of biography and how it developed in the United Kingdom. [Read more…] about Biography And A Biographer’s Work
How did the postal system work in Early America? How did people send mail across the North American colonies and the British Empire?
You sent these questions for Episode 200: Everyday Life in Early America. You also said you wanted to know more about transportation in early America. [Read more…] about Post and Travel in Early America
Benedict Arnold is an intriguing figure. He was both a military hero who greatly impacted and furthered the American War for Independence with his bravery on the battlefield and someone who did something unthinkable: he betrayed his country.
In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, Stephen Brumwell, an award-winning historian and the author of Turncoat: Benedict Arnold and the Crisis of American Liberty (Yale University Press, 2018), joins us to explore the life and deeds of Benedict Arnold and Arnold’s stunning metamorphosis from hero to traitor. [Read more…] about Benedict Arnold and the Crisis of American Liberty
Mother’s Day became a national holiday on May 9, 1914 to honor all of the work mothers do to raise children.
But what precisely is the work that mothers do to raise children? Has the nature of mothers, motherhood, and the work mothers do changed over time?
In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, Nora Doyle, an Assistant Professor of History at Salem College in North Carolina, has combed through the historical record to find answers to these questions. Specifically, she’s sought to better understand the lived and imagined experiences of mothers and motherhood between the 1750s and 1850s. [Read more…] about Motherhood in Early America
Who do we count as family? It a relative was born in a foreign place and one of their parents was of a different race? Would they count as family?
Eighteenth-century Britons asked themselves these questions. As we might suspect, their answers varied by time and whether they lived in Great Britain, North America, or the Caribbean. [Read more…] about Mixed-Race Britons & the Atlantic Family
What does early America look like if we view it through Native American eyes?
Jenny Hale Pulsipher, author of Swindler Sachem: The American Indian Who Sold His Birthright, Dropped Out of Harvard, and Conned the King of England (Yale University Press, 2018) and Associate Professor of History at Brigham Young University, is a scholar who enjoys investigating the many answers to this question. In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World: A Podcast About Early American History, she introduces us to a Nipmuc Indian named John Wompas and how he experienced a critical time in early American history, the period between the 1650s and 1680s. [Read more…] about A 17th-Century Native American Life
Samuel Gray, James Caldwell, Samuel Maverick, Patrick Carr, and Crispus Attucks. These are the five men who died as a result of the shootings on Boston’s King Street on the night of March 5, 1770.
Of these five victims, evidence points to Crispus Attucks falling first, and of all the victims, Crispus Attucks is the name we can recall. Why is that? [Read more…] about Crispus Attucks: The First Martyr of Liberty
Within days of the Boston Massacre, Bostonians politicized the event. They circulated a pamphlet about “the Horrid Massacre” and published images portraying soldiers firing into a well-assembled and peaceful crowd.
But why did the Boston Massacre happen? Why did the British government feel it had little choice but to station as many 2,000 soldiers in Boston during peacetime? And what was going on within the larger British Empire that drove colonists to the point where they provoked armed soldiers to fire upon them? [Read more…] about Boston Massacre: The Townshend Moment