Ben Franklin's World

During 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 the experiences of enslaved women who feld their bondage for the British Army’s promise of freedom.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/322

Complementary Episodes

🎧 Episode 137: Erica Dunbar, The Washingtons’ Runaway Slave, Ona Judge

🎧 Episode 142: Manisha Sinha, A History of Abolitionism

🎧 Episode 157: The Revolution’s African American Soldiers

🎧 Episode 162: Dunmore’s New World

🎧 Episode 212: Researching Biography

🎧 Episode 277: Whose Fourth of July?

🎧 Episode 312: Joshua D. Rothman, The Domestic Slave Trade

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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 Professor of History at the University of Maryland.

This episode originally posted as Episode 277.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/321

Complementary Episodes

🎧 Episode 018: Danielle Allen, Our Declaration

🎧 Episode 119: Steve Pincus, The Heart of the Declaration

🎧 Episode 141: A Declaration in Draft

🎧 Episode 157: The Revolution’s African American Soldiers

🎧 Episode 166: Freedom and the American Revolution

🎧 Episode 245: Celebrating the Fourth

🎧 Episode 255: Martha S. Jones, Birthright Citizens

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This episode originally posted as Episode 277.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/321


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Complementary Episodes

• Episode 018: Danielle Allen, Our Declaration
• Episode 119: Steve Pincus, The Heart of the Declaration
• Episode 141: A Declaration in Draft
• Episode 157: The Revolution’s African American Soldiers
• Episode 166: Freedom and the American Revolution
• Episode 245: Celebrating the Fourth
• Episode 255: Martha S. Jones, Birthright Citizens

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Thank you for your support! Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706. In honor of Franklin’s birthday, this bonus episode takes a further look at Ben’s culinary preferences with culinary historian Rae Katherine Eighmey.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/221

Benjamin 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 details from the largest artifact Franklin left behind: his rented rooms at 36 Craven Street.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/320

Complementary Episodes

🎧 Episode 001: James N. Green, Library Company of Philadelphia

🎧 Episode 022: Vivian Bruce Conger, Deborah Read Franklin & Sally Franklin Bache

🎧 Episode 149: George Goodwin, Benjamin Franklin in London

🎧 Episode 169: Thomas Kid, The Religious Life of Benjamin Franklin

🎧 Episode 175: Daniel Epstein, The Revolution in Ben Franklin’s House

🎧 Episode 207: Nick Bunker, Young Benjamin Franklin

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One 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 University and author of Cuba: An American History, joins us to investigate the early history of Cuba.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/048

Complementary Episodes

🎧 Episode 090: Caitlin Fitz, Age of American Revolutions

🎧 Episode 104: Andrew Lipman, The Saltwater Frontier

🎧 Episode 139: Andrés Reséndez, The Other Slavery

🎧 Episode 161: Smuggling and the American Revolution

🎧 Episode 165: The Age of Revolutions 

🎧 Episode 290: The World of the Wampanoag, Part 1

🎧 Episode 291: The World of the Wampanoag, Part 2

🎧 Episode 313: Mike Duncan, The Marquis de Lafayette

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What challenges do National Park Service interpretive rangers face when they interpret non-British colonial history? How did the relationships between Ste. Geneviéve's inhabitants and Indigenous peoples change over time?

NPS Interpretive Ranger Claire Casey is back to answer more of your questions about colonial Ste. Geneviéve, Missouri and the Ste. Geneviéve National Historical Park.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/318

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About 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.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/318

Complementary Episodes

🎧 Episode 102: William Nester, George Rogers Clark and the Fight for the Illinois Country

🎧 Episode 108: Ann Little, The Many Captivities of Esther Wheelwright

🎧 Episode 120: Marcia Zug, Mail Order Brides in Early America

🎧 Episode 139: Andrés Reséndez, The Other Slavery

🎧 Episode 308: Jessica Marie Johnson, Slavery and Freedom in French Louisiana

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The 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 Episodes

🎧 Episode 121: Wim Klooster, The Dutch Moment in the 17th-Century Atlantic World

🎧 Episode 161: Smuggling and the American Revolution

🎧 Episode 185: Joyce Goodfriend, Early New York City and its culture

🎧 Episode 232: Christopher Hodson, The Acadian Diaspora

🎧 Episode 311: Katherine Cartè, Religion and the American Revolution

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WHEN YOU'RE READY

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In 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

Complementary Episodes

🎧 Episode 167: Eberhard Faber, The Early History of New Orleans

🎧 Episode 174: Thomas Apel, Yellow Fever in the Early America Republic

🎧 Episode 295: Ibrahima Seck, Whitney Plantation Museum

🎧 Episode 301: From Inoculation to Vaccination, Pt 1

🎧 Episode 302: From Inoculation to Vaccination, Pt 2

REQUEST A TOPIC

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WHEN YOU'RE READY

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Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices