Ben Franklin's World

Who do we count as family?

If 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.

Daniel Livesay, an Associate Professor of History at Claremont McKenna College in California, helps us explore the evolution of British ideas about race with details from his book Children of Uncertain Fortune: Mixed-Race Jamaicans in Britain and the Atlantic Family, 1733-1833.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/236 Sponsor Links

• Omohundro Institute

Complementary Episodes

• Episode 008: Greg O'Malley, Final Passages: The Intercolonial Slave Trade of British America
• Episode 052: Ronald Johnson, Early United States-Haitian Diplomacy
• Episode 099: Mark Hanna, Pirates & Pirate Nests in the British Atlantic World
• Episode 173: Marisa Fuentes, Colonial Port Cities and Slavery
• Episode 206: Katharine Gerbner, Christian Slavery

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What does early America look like if we view it through Native American eyes?

Jenny Hale Pulsipher, an Associate Professor of History at Brigham Young University and author of Swindler Sachem, is a scholar who enjoys investigating the many answers to this question. And today, 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.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/235

Meet Ups & Talks

• Albany, New York: April 25 at the New York State Cultural Education Center. Meet up at pre-talk reception.
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin: April 29, 6pm at Zaffiro’s Pizza
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin: April 30, 6pm free public talk at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Golda Meir Library 

Sponsor Links

• Omohundro Institute
• KiwiCo (Get your first crate FREE!)

Complementary Episodes

• Episode 170: Wendy Warren, Slavery in Early New England
• Episode 192: Lisa Brooks, A New History of King Philip’s War
• Episode 198: Andrew Lipman, The Saltwater Frontier: Native Americans and Colonists on the Northeast Coast
• Episode 199: Coll Thrush, Indigenous London: Native Travelers at the Heart of the Empire
• Episode 220: Margaret Newell, New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of Slavery

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*Books purchased through the links on this post will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World.

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If we want to understand everyday life in early America we need to understand the everyday life of early American farms and farmers.

Roughly three-quarters of Americans in British North America and the early United States considered themselves to be farmers. So how did early Americans establish farms and what were the rhythms of their daily lives?

Richard Bushman, the Gouverneur Morris Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University, joins us to investigate farms and farm life in early America with details from his book, The American Farmer in the Eighteenth Century: A Social and Cultural History.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/234

Meet Ups & Talks

• Albany, New York: April 25 at the New York State Cultural Education Center. Meet up at pre-talk reception.

Sponsor Links

• Omohundro Institute
• Ben Franklin’s World T-shirts

Complementary Episodes

• Episode 087: Sean Condon, Shays’ Rebellion
• Episode 115: Andrew Torget, The Early American History of Texas
• Episode 129: J.L. Bell, The Road to Concord
• Episode 130: Paul Revere’s Ride Through History
• Episode 135: Julie Holcomb, Moral Commerce: The Transatlantic Boycott of the Slave Labor Economy

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*Books purchased through the links on this post will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World.

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When we think about colonial American history we think about the colonies of the English, the Dutch, the French, and the Spanish. Rarely do we think about the colonies of the Russians. And yet Russia had colonies in North America.

Gwenn Miller, an Associate Professor of History at the College of the Holy Cross, joins us to investigate a history of Russia’s colonies in North America with details from her book Kodiak Kreol: Communities of Empire in Early Russian America.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/233

Sponsor Links

• Omohundro Institute
• Ben Franklin's World T-Shirts

Meet Ups & Talks

• Albany, New York: April 25 at the New York State Cultural Education Center. Meet up at pre-talk reception.
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin: April 29, 6pm at Zaffiro’s Pizza
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin: April 30, 6pm free public talk at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Golda Meir Library

Complementary Episodes

• Episode 021: Eugene Tesdhal, Smuggling in Colonial America & Living History
• Episode 163: The American Revolution in North America
• Episode 184: David Silverman, Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America
• Episode 223: Susan Sleeper-Smith, A Native American History of the Ohio River Valley

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*Books purchased through the links on this post will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World.

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Before the English settled in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 or the Dutch settled near Albany, New York in 1615, a group of French-speaking, Catholic settlers established a settlement in Nova Scotia in 1605.

By 1755, nearly 15,000 Acadians lived in Acadia.

Christopher Hodson, an Associate Professor of history at Brigham Young University and the author of The Acadian Diaspora, joins us to investigate the lives of these early North American colonists and how the British government came to displace them through a forced migration in 1755.


Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/232 Sponsor Links

• Omohundro Institute
• KiwiCo (Get your first crate FREE!)

Meet Ups & Talks

• Albany, New York: April 25 at the New York State Cultural Education Center. Meet up at pre-talk reception.
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin: April 29, 6pm at Zaffiro’s Pizza
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin: April 30, 6pm free public talk at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Golda Meir Library

Complementary Episodes

• Episode 064: Brett Rushforth, Native American Slavery in New France
• Episode 085: Bonnie Huskins, American Loyalists in Canada
• Episode 108: Ann Little, The Many Captivities of Esther Wheelwright
• Episode 167: The Early History of New Orleans
• Episode 189: Sam White, The Little Ice Age

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Helpful Links

• Join the Ben Franklin's World Community
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• Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page
• Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

*Books purchased through the links on this post will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World.

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Historians use archives to create the histories we love to read, watch, and listen to. So we’re going into one archive to investigate how historians use them and to discover more about the religious lives of the Adams Family.

Sara Georgini, Series Editor of The Papers of John Adams, invites us to join her inside the Massachusetts Historical Society so we can take a closer look at the historical details provided by the Adams Papers and the role these manuscripts played in helping her write her book, Household Gods: The Religious Lives of the Adams Family.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/231

Meet Ups

• Albany, New York: April 25 at the New York State Cultural Education Center. Meet up at pre-talk reception. 
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin: April 29, 6pm at Zaffiro’s Pizza 
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin: April 30, 6pm free public talk at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Golda Meir Library

Sponsor Links

• Omohundro Institute

Complementary Episodes

• Episode 007: Sara Georgini, John Adams & The Adams Papers Editorial Project
• Episode 123: Revolutionary Allegiances
• Episode 127: Caroline Winterer, American Enlightenments
• Episode 150: Woody Holton, Abigail Adams: Revolutionary Speculator
• Episode 193: Partisans: The Friendship and Rivalry of John Adams & Thomas Jefferson
• Episode 214: Christopher Grasso, Skepticism and American Faith

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• Ben Franklin's World iOS App

• Join the Ben Franklin's World Community
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• Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

*Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World.

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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?

To help us answer this question and to conclude our 3-episode series on the Boston Massacre, we’re joined by Mitch Kachun, a Professor of History at Western Michigan University and the author of First Martyr of Liberty: Crispus Attucks in American Memory.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/230

Meet Ups

• Albany, New York: April 25 at the New York State Cultural Education Center. Meet up at pre-talk reception. 
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin: April 29, 6pm at Zaffiro’s Pizza 
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin: April 30, 6pm free public talk at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Golda Meir Library

Sponsor Links

• Omohundro Institute

Complementary Episodes

• Episode 157: The Revolution’s African American Soldiers
• Episode 212: Researching Biography
• Episode 228: Eric Hinderaker, The Boston Massacre
• Episode 229: Patrick Griffin, The Townshend Moment

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• Join the Ben Franklin's World Community
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• Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

*Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World.

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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?

Patrick Griffin, the Madden-Hennebry Family Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame and author of The Townshend Moment: The Making of Empire and Revolution in the Eighteenth Century, joins us to answer these questions as we continue our 3-episode investigation of the Boston Massacre.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/229

Sponsor Links

• Omohundro Institute

Complementary Episodes

• Bonus Episode: The Boston Stamp Act Riots of 1765
• Episode 106: The World of John Singleton Copley
• Episode 112: The Tea Crisis of 1773
• Episode 161: Smuggling and the American Revolution
• Episode 186: Max Edelson, The New Map of the British Empire
• Episode 228: Eric Hinderaker, The Boston Massacre

Helpful Show Links

• Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page
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• Join the Ben Franklin's World Community
• Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter
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*Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World.

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On the evening of March 5, 1770, a crowd gathered in Boston’s King Street and confronted a a sentry and his fellow soldiers in front of the custom house. The confrontation led the soldiers to fire their muskets into the crowd, five civilians died.

What happened on the night of March 5, 1770 that led the crowd to gather and the soldiers to discharge their weapons?

Eric Hinderaker, a distinguished professor of history at the University of Utah and the author of Boston’s Massacre, assists our quest to discover more about the Boston Massacre.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/228

Sponsor Links

• Omohundro Institute

Complementary Episodes

• Bonus Episode: J.L. Bell, The Stamp Act of 1765
• Episode 106: Jane Kamensky, The World of John Singleton Copley
• Episode 112: Mary Beth Norton, The Tea Crisis of 1773
• Episode 129: J.L. Bell, The Road to Concord, 1775
• Episode 130: Paul Revere’s Ride Through History
• Episode 161: Smuggling and the American Revolution
• Episode 186: Max Edelson, The New Map of the British Empire

Helpful Show Links

• Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page
• Ben Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcast
• Join the Ben Franklin's World Community
• Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter
• Ben Franklin's World iOS App
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*Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World.

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In the 21st century, we are all creators and users of content. We take original photos with our smartphones, generate blog posts, digital videos, and podcasts. Some of us write books and articles. And nearly everyone contributes content to social media.

Given all of the information and content we generate and use, it’s really important for us to understand the principles of copyright and fair use, principles that have an early American past.

Kyle Courtney, a lawyer, librarian, and Copyright Advisor for Harvard University, will serve as our guide through the early American origins of copyright and fair use.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/227

Sponsor Links

• Omohundro Institute
• William and Mary Quarterly
• OI Reader App with bonus content from episode
• Nora Slonimsky, “The Public Figure Exception(s): Finding Fair Use in the Vastness of Early American IP”

Complementary Episodes

• Episode 062: Carol Berkin, The Bill of Rights
• Episode 107: Mary Sarah Bilder, Madison’s Hand
• Episode 143: Michael Klarman, The Making of the United States Constitution
• Episode 179: George Van Cleve, Governance During the Critical Period
• Episode 207: Nick Bunker, Young Benjamin Franklin

Helpful Show Links

• Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page
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• Join the Ben Franklin's World Community
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