Each November, we Americans come together to celebrate Thanksgiving, a holiday that invites us to reflect on gratitude, community, and the stories we tell about our past.

But what do we really know about the origins of this holiday? What did the “First Thanksgiving” look like, and who were the people who made it happen?

In honor of Thanksgiving, we’re revisiting our 2018 conversation with Rebecca Fraser, author of The Mayflower: The Families, The Voyage, and the Founding of America. This rich conversation offers a look at the English Separatists or Pilgrims who settled in Massachusetts. It explores who they were, why they came to North America, and what their life was like in the early years of Plymouth Colony.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/213
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 095: A Tale of Two Bostons
🎧 Episode 104: The Saltwater Frontier
🎧 Episode 121: The Dutch Moment in the 17th-Century Atlantic World
🎧 Episode 182: The Great Awakening in New England
🎧 Episode 290: The World of the Wampanoag, Part 1
🎧 Episode 291: The World of the Wampanoag, Part 2
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As Thanksgiving approaches, many Americans are gathering to reflect on gratitude, family—and of course—food.

It's the time of year when we may think about the so-called "First Thanksgiving" and imagine scenes of Pilgrims and Native peoples gathering in Massachusetts to share in the bounty of their fall harvests.

But how much do we really know about the food systems and agricultural knowledge of Indigenous peoples of North America? In what ways were the Wampanoag people able to contribute to this harvest celebration—and what have we gotten wrong about their story?

Michael Wise, Associate Professor of History at the University of North Texas and author of Native Foods: Agriculture, Indigeneity, and Settler Colonialism in American History, joins us to challenge four persistent myths about Indigenous food practices. Discover how Native communities shaped and stewarded the land and its agriculture long before European colonists arrived—and why this history matters more than we might think.

Michael’s Website | Book |
Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/426
 
EPISODE OUTLINE
00:00:00  Introduction
00:01:10  Episode Introduction
00:03:43 Guest Introduction
00:04:30 Myths about Indigenous Agriculture
00:11:29  Indigenous and European Gender Roles
00:15:56 Wampanoag Agriculture
00:17:29 Wampanoag Corn Cultivation
00:25:59 Wampanoag Cuisine
00:27:52 Indigenous Disspossession in New England
00:32:58 Cherokee Agriculture
00:37:13 The Cherokee Hunter Myth
00:40:53 The Origin of the Myths about Native American Agriculture
00:45:40 Future Projects
00:47:13 Closing Thoughts & Resources

RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 131: Thomas Jefferson's Empire of Liberty
🎧 Episode 189: The Little Ice Age
🎧 Episode 278: Polygamy: An Early American History
🎧 Episode 290: The World of the Wampanoag, Pt 1
🎧 Episode 291: The World of the Wampanoag, Pt 2
🎧 Episode 323: American Expansion and the Political Economy of Plunder

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What does it take to bring the American Revolution to life?

How can an event that took place 250 years ago be conveyed to us through modern-day film?

Ken Burns and his team worked to answer these questions in their new, epic six-part documentary, Ken Burns’ The American Revolution. Their work promises to deepen, complicate, and transform our understanding of the Revolution over 12 hours of film.

But how did Burns and his team make this film? What stories did they choose to tell? And what challenges did they face in telling those stories?

Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt, the two co-directors of Ken Burns’ The American Revolution, join us for a behind-the-scenes tour of their film and how they made it.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/425
 
EPISODE OUTLINE
00:00:00  Introduction
00:03:09 Guest Introduction
00:04:42 Becoming Involved in the Documentary
00:07:57 Approach to Telling the Story of the Revolution 
00:18:57 Images and Representation
00:21:53 Challenges Faced
00:27:03 Choosing Which Stories to Include
00:39:00 Relevance and Meaning of the Revolution
00:45:45 Time Warp
00:52:15 Conclusion

RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 307: History and the American Revolution
🎧 Episode 314: Native Americans in Early American Cities
🎧 Episode 327: Ken Burns' Benjamin Franklin
🎧 Episode 352: James Forten and the Making of the United States
🎧 Episode 382: Hessians
🎧 Episode 408: The Memory of 1776

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In November 1775, as tensions between the British Empire and its rebellious colonies continued to escalate, Virginia’s royal governor made a radical—and to some, terrifying—proclamation: Any enslaved person who fled a revolutionary enslaver and joined the British Army would gain their freedom.

Known to history as Dunmore’s Proclamation, this single decree changed the course of the American Revolution in the South. It offered a lifeline to thousands of enslaved men, women, and their families, ignited fierce debates about loyalty and liberty, and revealed deep contradictions at the heart of a revolution that claimed to fight for freedom.

In honor of the 250th anniversary of Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation, we’re taking a deeper look at the man behind it: John Murray, Fourth Earl of Dunmore, and at the Revolution in Virginia, which he helped fuel.

Our guide for this exploration is Andrew Lawler, an award-winning journalist and author of A Perfect Frenzy: A Royal Governor, His Black Allies, and the Crisis that Spurred the American Revolution.

Andrew's Website | Book |
Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/424
 
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 109: The American Enlightenment & Cadwallader Colden
🎧 Episode 162: Dunmore's New World
🎧 Episode 252: The Highland Soldier in North America
🎧 Episode 322: Running From Bondage in Revolutionary America
🎧 Episode 333: Disruptions in Yorktown
🎧 Episode 398: The Shawnee-Dunmore War, 1774
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What did it take to end the War for Independence?

When we think of the American Revolution’s final chapter, we think of the Siege of Yorktown.

Between September 28 and October 19, 1781, British forces endured a siege by the Franco-American forces that ultimately led to a triumphant Franco-American victory, British recognition of American independence, and the birth of a new nation.

But the real story of the Yorktown victory is far more layered. It involved international alliances, enslaved people seeking freedom, and years of hardship.

Today, we’re revisiting the events of October 1781 as we revisit Episode 333.

In this episode, we join three historians–Marcus Nevius, Ed Ayers, and Gretchen Johnson– who help us uncover:

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/333
 
EPISODE OUTLINE
00:00:00  Introduction
00:03:59 Siege of Yorktown
00:05:13 The British Military Approach
00:08:50 The Importance of Virginia's Regions
00:18:57 The Impact of War on Yorktown
00:28:03 Dunmore's Proclamation and the British Strategy
00:33:44 The British Invasion of Virginia
00:48:00 Aftermath and Legacy
00:55:49 Conclusion
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 162: Dunmore's New World
🎧 Episode 208: Turning Points of the American Revolution
🎧 Episode 250: Virginia, 1619
🎧 Episode 289: Maroonage in the Great Dismal Swamp
🎧 Episode 306: The Horse's Tail
🎧 Episode 332: Occupied Philadelphia
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Have you ever noticed how conversations about the American Revolution often center on great battles, founding documents, and famous statesmen?

What if, instead, we explored that world through the eyes—and the hands—of everyday people who shaped it through art?

Zara Anishanslin, Associate Professor of History and Art History at the University of Delaware and Director of its Museum Studies and Public Engagement Program, joins us to uncover the hidden world of artists, artisans, and makers who painted, stitched, and crafted the Revolution into being. Drawing from her book The Painter’s Fire: A Forgotten History of the Artists Who Championed the American Revolution, Zara helps us see how creativity and craftsmanship tell a fuller—and more human—story of America’s founding.
Zara’s Website | Book |
Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/423
 

EPISODE OUTLINE

00:00:00  Introduction

00:41.79  Welcome & Episode Overview

00:02:59  Meet Our Guest

00:07:11  The Transatlantic Network of Revolutionary Artists

00:11:28  Why Revolutionary Artwork Didn't Survive

00:14:13  Prince Demah & His Mother Daphny

00:21:21  How Art Patronage Worked in the 18th Century

00:24:01  Finding Prince Demah a Teacher in London

00:27:40  Life as a Black Artist in London

00:41:22  Prince Demah's Life in Revolutionary Boston

00:49:24  Robert Edge Pine: The English Artist Who Supported America

00:59:24  How Revolutionary Art Differs from Later Commemorative Art

01:04:55  What Artists Reveal About the Revolution

01:07:29  Closing Thoughts & Resources

RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 084: How Historians Read Historical Sources
🎧 Episode 106: The World of John Singleton Copley
🎧 Episode 201: Art, Politics, and Everyday Life in Early America
🎧 Episode 299: Colonial Virginia Portraits
🎧 Episode 390: Objects of Revolution
🎧 Episode 422: Plantation Goods
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What does it mean to be caught between two worlds? Between loyalty and liberty, artistry and commerce, and between the British North American colonies and the British Empire?

We’re revisiting our exploration of the life of John Singleton Copley, one of early America’s most celebrated portrait artists. Copley’s story reveals much about the upheaval of the American Revolution and the choices people made as events unfolded around them.
Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/106
 
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Bonus: The Boston Stamp Act Riots of 1765
🎧 Episode 075: How Archives Work (Paul Revere)
🎧 Episode 084: How Historians Read Historical Sources
🎧 Episode 136: Material Culture and the Making of America
🎧 Episode 201: Art, Politics, and Everyday Life in Early America
🎧 Episode 299: Colonial Virginia Portraits
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When we talk about slavery in Early America, we often focus on plantations: their large, fertile fields, their cash crops, and the people who labored on those fields to produce those cash crops under conditions of enslavement.

But what about the ordinary objects that made slavery work? The shoes, axes, cloth, and hoes? What can these everyday objects reveal about the economic and social systems that sustained slavery in the early United States? 

Seth Rockman, a Professor of History at Brown University and author of Plantation Goods: A Material History of Slavery, which was a finalist for the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in History, joins us to rethink how Northern manufacturing, labor, and commerce were entangled with the southern slave economy.

Seth’s Website | Book |
Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/422
 
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Bonus: Lonnie Bunch: History & Historians in the Public
🎧 Episode 084: How Historians Read Historical Sources
🎧 Episode 244: Shoe Stories from Early America
🎧 Episode 281: The Business of Slavery
🎧 Episode 390: Objects of Revolution
🎧 Episode 406: Threads of Power
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When we picture the early United States, we often imagine a young nation fighting for political independence. But what about economic independence—and what did it take to achieve it?

Historian Lindsay Schakenbach Regele of Miami University in Ohio joins us to explore how manufacturing became central to the nation's post-Revolution identity.

Drawing from her book Manufacturing Advantage: War, the State, and the Origins of American Industry, 1776–1848, Lindsay reveals how the federal government championed industries like firearms and textiles as tools of sovereignty, security, and self-reliance. Tune in to discover:

This episode sheds light on the surprising role of government in jumpstarting the U.S. economy.

Lindsay’s Website | Book |
Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/298
 
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 098: Birth of the American Tax Man
🎧 Episode 113: Building the Empire State
🎧 Episode 140: Nathaniel Bowditch
🎧 Episode 281: The Business of Slavery
🎧 Episode 292: Craft

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What if loyalty, not rebellion, was the default position in revolutionary British North America?

It’s easy to forget that before 1776, most colonists identified as proud Britons. They didn’t see themselves as future Americans or revolutionaries; they saw themselves as subjects of a global empire. And in the colony of Georgia, many clung to that identity longer than we might expect.

Greg Brooking, a historian of the American Revolution in the South and a high school history and social studies teacher, joins us to explore the American Revolution in Georgia with details from his book From Empire to Revolution: Sir James Wright and the Price of Loyalty in Georgia.

Greg’s Website | Book |
Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/421
 
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 126: The Reintegration of American Loyalists
🎧 Episode 171: Native Americans, British Colonists, and Trade in North America
🎧 Episode 280: The British Are Coming
🎧 Episode 409: The Battles of Lexington & Concord, 1775
🎧 Episode 413: Dr. Joseph Warren & the Battle of Bunker Hill

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