History: Beyond the Textbook

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He arrived in North American in December 1774 with a fever so devastating that he needed to be carried ashore.   This man also carried with him letters of introduction from none other than Dr. Benjamin Franklin, so there must have been something special about this individual.  The succeeding years would bear this out, for once Englishman Thomas Paine picked up his pen, flourishing oratory and dramatic inspiration were the results.  Using the remarkable Battle of Trenton as a framing device, this episode of History: Beyond the Textbook highlights the radical writer Thomas Paine and the efforts he undertook to help lead the United States to victory in the American Revolution.

Key People
Thomas Paine
Benjamin Franklin
John Adams
George Washington

Key Events/Works
Common Sense
The American Crisis
Battle of Trenton

We're back for Season Four of History: Beyond the Textbook!  This season will  focus on the stories of individuals who shaped "America's Federalist Era" in the years roughly 1789-1800.  The first six episodes will release every Tuesday from October 28-December 2, while the second six episodes will be released every Tuesday from February 17-March 24.   Catch up on Season One, "America's Colonial Era," Season Two, "America's Revolution," and Season Three, "America's Crucial Years," wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Feel free to contact us with feedback or questions by clicking the "Send Us a Text" link or email us at: [email protected]

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He was a lawyer who would devote his life to public service; she was an independent woman who would devote her life to her family and supporting her husband's political efforts, both in spirit and in practice.  Both of them would come to support the principles that were espoused in the Declaration of Independence, and the story of one is never told without understanding the story of the other.  This episode of History: Beyond the Textbook shines a light on John and Abigail Adams and their efforts to support the Declaration and the continued war effort against Great Britain.

Key People
Abigail Adams
John Adams
Mercy Otis Warren
Thomas Jefferson

Key Events
Boston Massacre
First and Second Continental Congress
Declaration of Independence

We're back for Season Four of History: Beyond the Textbook!  This season will  focus on the stories of individuals who shaped "America's Federalist Era" in the years roughly 1789-1800.  The first six episodes will release every Tuesday from October 28-December 2, while the second six episodes will be released every Tuesday from February 17-March 24.   Catch up on Season One, "America's Colonial Era," Season Two, "America's Revolution," and Season Three, "America's Crucial Years," wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Feel free to contact us with feedback or questions by clicking the "Send Us a Text" link or email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

He was a local man who became a well-respected physician, treating all members of Boston society, Patriot and Loyalist alike.  However, his personal sympathies lay with the growing movement that would push towards full independence from Great Britain.  Dr. Joseph Warren would unfortunately not live to see this come to fruition, although he was a key player in orchestrating events that would lead to this break, culminating in his indirect participation in Lexington and Concord, and his all-too-direct participation in the Battle of Bunker Hill.  This episode of History: Beyond the Textbook focuses on Dr. Joseph Warren, the Patriot Physician who became one of the first true martyrs of the Revolutionary movement.

Key People
Dr. Joseph Warren
Samuel Adams
John Hancock
General Thomas Gage

Key Events
Stamp Act
Boston Massacre
Intolerable Acts
Battles of Lexington and Concord
Battle of Bunker Hill

We're back for Season Four of History: Beyond the Textbook!  This season will  focus on the stories of individuals who shaped "America's Federalist Era" in the years roughly 1789-1800.  The first six episodes will release every Tuesday from October 28-December 2, while the second six episodes will be released every Tuesday from February 17-March 24.   Catch up on Season One, "America's Colonial Era," Season Two, "America's Revolution," and Season Three, "America's Crucial Years," wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Feel free to contact us with feedback or questions by clicking the "Send Us a Text" link or email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

She arrived in Boston in the 1760's, was purchased by the wealthy Wheatly family, and went on to become a published, not to mention, accomplished, poet.  She enjoyed an up-close view of the key events leading up to the American Revolution, commemorated many of these events in memorable prose, and traveled to London to secure a publisher for her work.  Amidst it all, she dealt with the scrutiny and doubt of a potential audience who found it hard to believe that a woman who was enslaved could use the English language so eloquently...but she could, she did, and her words spoke for a young nation yearning for its own freedom.  On this episode of History: Beyond the Textbook, we explore poet Phillis Wheatly and the expanding concept of "freedom" in the developing United States.

Key People
Phillis Wheatly
George Whitefield
Benjamin Franklin
George Washington

Key Events
Stamp Act
Boston Massacre
Emancipation

We're back for Season Four of History: Beyond the Textbook!  This season will  focus on the stories of individuals who shaped "America's Federalist Era" in the years roughly 1789-1800.  The first six episodes will release every Tuesday from October 28-December 2, while the second six episodes will be released every Tuesday from February 17-March 24.   Catch up on Season One, "America's Colonial Era," Season Two, "America's Revolution," and Season Three, "America's Crucial Years," wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Feel free to contact us with feedback or questions by clicking the "Send Us a Text" link or email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

A name most likely associated with a beer company, what role did Samuel Adams really play in fermenting opposition to British policies prior to the American Revolution?  His role is usually relegated to the shadows, but he became such an infamous individual that others of his generation were compared to him, and he became Public Enemy Number One in the eyes of the British Crown due to his role in ensuring that a certain beverage never made it out of Boston Harbor.  In this episode of History: Beyond the Textbook, we look at Samuel Adams and focus on his role in the Boston Tea Party.

Key People
Samuel Adams
John Adams

Key Events
Stamp Act
Boston Massacre
Gaspee Affair
Boston Tea Party
First Continental Congress

We're back for Season Four of History: Beyond the Textbook!  This season will  focus on the stories of individuals who shaped "America's Federalist Era" in the years roughly 1789-1800.  The first six episodes will release every Tuesday from October 28-December 2, while the second six episodes will be released every Tuesday from February 17-March 24.   Catch up on Season One, "America's Colonial Era," Season Two, "America's Revolution," and Season Three, "America's Crucial Years," wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Feel free to contact us with feedback or questions by clicking the "Send Us a Text" link or email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Now known as the prototypical Loyalist, it wasn't always this way...Thomas Hutchinson was one of the most well-known men in Boston when the French and Indian War ended.  He had a successful career as a merchant and a public servant, with a keen eye towards further advancement in the political  climate in pre-Revolutionary North America.  Yet, Hutchinson wasn't necessarily a fan of the "Acts" that Britain passed following the war...so how did he become associated with those who stood firm in their loyalty to Britain at all costs?  In the season opener of History: Beyond the Textbook, we begin the study of America's Revolution with Thomas Hutchinson's role in the Sugar and Stamp Acts, along with his path towards choosing his "side" in the coming conflict.

Key People
Thomas Hutchinson
Benjamin Franklin
Samuel Adams

Key Events
Stamp Act
Sugar Act
Boston Massacre
Albany Conference

We're back for Season Four of History: Beyond the Textbook!  This season will  focus on the stories of individuals who shaped "America's Federalist Era" in the years roughly 1789-1800.  The first six episodes will release every Tuesday from October 28-December 2, while the second six episodes will be released every Tuesday from February 17-March 24.   Catch up on Season One, "America's Colonial Era," Season Two, "America's Revolution," and Season Three, "America's Crucial Years," wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Feel free to contact us with feedback or questions by clicking the "Send Us a Text" link or email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

He led his forces against the mighty British military, captured their forts, forced them to surrender...and ultimately lost the war that bears his name.  Odawa Chief Pontiac, an Anishinaabeg of the western Great Lakes, fought a war against the British after the latter presumed that the North American theater of the Seven Years' War had drawn to a close.   The events, and results, of Pontiac's actions caused  British officials to reconsider their perceptions of this portion of their growing empire that they often took for granted...and would set in motion a series of decisions that would lead to the loss of this territory,   This episode of History: Beyond the Textbook, the final episode of season one, focuses on Pontiac: his background, actions, and motivations for partaking in another in a series of attempts by Indigenous forces to fight back against European colonizers. 

Key People
Pontiac, Odawa Sachem and war leader
Neolin, Lenape prophet
Jeffrey Amherst, British military officer

Key Events
French and Indian War
Pontiac's War
Royal Proclamation of 1763

We're back for Season Four of History: Beyond the Textbook!  This season will  focus on the stories of individuals who shaped "America's Federalist Era" in the years roughly 1789-1800.  The first six episodes will release every Tuesday from October 28-December 2, while the second six episodes will be released every Tuesday from February 17-March 24.   Catch up on Season One, "America's Colonial Era," Season Two, "America's Revolution," and Season Three, "America's Crucial Years," wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Feel free to contact us with feedback or questions by clicking the "Send Us a Text" link or email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

As a man given the nickname "First in the Hearts of his Countrymen," among many others, what could we possibly explore about the life of the famous George Washington that hasn't already been written?  He led America's Continental Army in the War for Independence against the British, agreed to attend the pivotal Philadelphia Convention in May 1787, and served two terms as the first President of the United States.  However, before all of this, Washington had aspirations of elevating his social status to that of Virginia's elite planter gentry...and he dreamt of military glory on behalf of His Majesty's growing British Empire, and this may well be an aspect of his life about which the least is taught.  This episode of History: Beyond the Textbook focuses on the inexperienced George Washington...the young man who sought advancement, but in the process, inadvertently helped trigger a global war that reshaped the relationship between Great Britain and her North American Colonies.

Key People
George Washington, colonial planter and military officer
Tanaghrisson, captured Catawba man and Seneca "Half-King"
Ensign Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Joumonville-ill-fated French diplomat
Edward Braddock-British General

Key Event
French and Indian War

We're back for Season Four of History: Beyond the Textbook!  This season will  focus on the stories of individuals who shaped "America's Federalist Era" in the years roughly 1789-1800.  The first six episodes will release every Tuesday from October 28-December 2, while the second six episodes will be released every Tuesday from February 17-March 24.   Catch up on Season One, "America's Colonial Era," Season Two, "America's Revolution," and Season Three, "America's Crucial Years," wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Feel free to contact us with feedback or questions by clicking the "Send Us a Text" link or email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Slavery has existed for as long as humans have lived in settled society, but it was taken to another level in colonial America, and eventually, the United States.  Humans were legally classified as property and treated with intense brutality, while their stories mostly went unrecorded.  This episode seeks to shine a light on three individuals whose experiences were noted for various reasons: Alice of Dunks Ferry, Ayuba Suleiman Diallo, and Louis Congo.  Each lived in a different region of colonial North America and has a different skill set, but the spotlight on their lives in this episode of History: Beyond the Textbook serves as a means of learning about different slave experiences during this time frame.

Key People
Alice of Dunks Ferry: businesswoman, oral historian of Philadelphia
Ayuba Suleiman Diallo: royalty, Islamic scholar
Louis Congo: royal executioner

We're back for Season Four of History: Beyond the Textbook!  This season will  focus on the stories of individuals who shaped "America's Federalist Era" in the years roughly 1789-1800.  The first six episodes will release every Tuesday from October 28-December 2, while the second six episodes will be released every Tuesday from February 17-March 24.   Catch up on Season One, "America's Colonial Era," Season Two, "America's Revolution," and Season Three, "America's Crucial Years," wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Feel free to contact us with feedback or questions by clicking the "Send Us a Text" link or email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

He lead a full-scale rebellion against Spanish rule in the American Southwest.  This rebellion was so successful that it expelled the Spaniards from the region and allowed the Pueblo  to return to their traditional ways...for a time.  Although the Spanish would return about one decade later, the Great Southwest Rebellion, as history has come to call this 1680 event, stands out for the ruthlessness with which it was carried out, and the tenacity of the leader who planned it.  This episode of History: Beyond the Textbook focuses on this leader, who spent years planning this rebellion after suffering so much in the years before: Po'Pay, a Tewa medicine man who now enjoys enshrinement in National Statuary Hall.

Key People
Po'Pay, Tewa medicine man
Don Juan de Onate, first Adelantado of New Mexico

Key Event
Great Southwest Rebellion of 1680

We're back for Season Four of History: Beyond the Textbook!  This season will  focus on the stories of individuals who shaped "America's Federalist Era" in the years roughly 1789-1800.  The first six episodes will release every Tuesday from October 28-December 2, while the second six episodes will be released every Tuesday from February 17-March 24.   Catch up on Season One, "America's Colonial Era," Season Two, "America's Revolution," and Season Three, "America's Crucial Years," wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Feel free to contact us with feedback or questions by clicking the "Send Us a Text" link or email us at: [email protected]