Ben Franklin's World

All year, we’ve explored the American Revolution from many vantage points, from its politics and battles to the experiences of women, enslaved and free people of color, Native Americans, and Loyalists.In this episode, we’re going to take an LBGTQ+ lens to the Revolution.Three historians, Rachel Hope Cleves, Jen Manion, and John McCurdy bring together different stories to explore how everyday LGBTQ+ people took part in the American Revolution and how its legacy shaped LGBTQ+ lives in the new United States.Rachel’s Book | Jen’s Book | John’s BookShow notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/453EPISODE OUTLINE00:00:00 Introduction00:05:02 Meet Our Guest Historians00:06:51 LGBTQ+ Lives and Language in the Revolutionary Era00:14:21 Finding a Same-Sex Marriage in the Archives00:24:16 A British Army Chaplain Under Suspicion00:28:33 Reading Through the Bias of Trial Transcripts00:35:37 Fluid Identities and Historical Erasure00:37:57 Military Service as a Path to Reinvention00:47:40 War, Upheaval, and New Possibilities00:54:24 LGBTQ+ People and the Culture of the New Nation01:10:10 Final ThoughtsRECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 004: Sex and the Founding Fathers: The American Quest for a Relatable Past🎧 Episode 013: Charity & Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America🎧 Episode 278: Polygamy: An Early American History🎧 Episode 359: Trans-ing Gender in Early America🎧 Episode 414: Robert Newburgh’s Trials: Queerness & Reputation in Revolutionary AmericaSUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 [email protected] YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩‍💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩‍💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast.

In late spring 1776, 150 armed revolutionary soldiers marched into the Anglican Trinity Church to warn the reverend to stop praying for King George III and his family. The reverend read the prayers anyway. Later that year, another Anglican reverend faced the same choice but made the opposite decision.Throughout our recent conversations about Loyalism, we’ve heard that religion shaped the loyalty choices many early Americans made. In this revisited episode, Kate Carté helps us explore how the British Empire was a Protestant Empire and how the Revolution broke religious bonds, as well as political bonds.Kate’s BookRECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 214: Skepticism & American Faith🎧 Episode 317: Jewish colonists in Early America🎧 Episode 356: The Moravian Church in North America🎧 Episode 392: Religion and Race in Early America🎧 Episode 399: Denmark Vesey’s BibleSUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 [email protected] YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter👩‍💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts💚 Spotify🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩‍💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast.

We often ask why some Americans chose to remain loyal to the British and why they did not want to seek independence. But the question some Americans asked at the time of the Revolution focused more on navigating daily life: How could they protect their families, property, and honor when neighbors, committees, and crowds decided what side they were on?Today we’re joined by three guests who will help us investigate the American Revolution through Loyalist eyes and explore how Loyalists experienced the American Revolution.Timothy Compeau, an Associate Professor of History at Huron University College at Western University in London, Ontario; Bonnie Huskins who teaches history at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick; and Kacy Tillman, a professor of English and Writing at the University of Tampa.Timothy's Book | Bonnie's Work | Kacy's BookShow notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/452EPISODE OUTLINE00:00:00 Introduction00:06:07 The Origins and Definitions of the Term “Loyalist”00:11:11 Common Misconceptions about Loyalists00:22:52 How Communities Identified their Loyalist Neighbors00:31:34 How Everyday Loyalists Experienced the Revolution00:40:19 Women Loyalists and the Fear of Violence00:50:40 Black Loyalists and the Search for Freedom01:00:05 Post-War Animosities Between Loyalists and Revolutionaries01:09:12 What We Still Get Wrong About the RevolutionRECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 085: American Loyalists in Canada🎧 Episode 126: The Reintegration of American Loyalists🎧 Episode 380: The Tory's Wife🎧 Episode 421: Loyalism and Revolution in Georgia🎧 Episode 441: The Escapes of David GeorgeSUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 [email protected] YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩‍💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩‍💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast.

Rebecca Brannon, a historian of the American Revolution and loyalism, explores South Carolina’s brutal civil war, where neighbors and families chose opposing sides. She discusses slavery and Black Loyalist flight, the challenges of rebuilding after independence, and the apologies, petitions, and political compromises that helped former Loyalists regain citizenship. The conversation also considers memory, reconciliation, and the dangers of forgetting civil conflict.

Brad Jones, a California State University, Fresno historian of the American Revolution and British Atlantic, explores loyalism as a form of British identity. He reframes the Revolution as a civil war among British subjects and examines liberty, Protestantism, empire, and monarchy. From New York to Halifax, Kingston, and Glasgow, local trade, violence, slavery, and politics shaped competing loyalties.

Beth English, executive director of the Organization of American Historians, and Kate Masur, a Northwestern historian of Civil War and Reconstruction, introduce We Want More History weekend. They discuss the movement from monument debates to broader public conversations, spotlight local events in libraries, museums, schools, and parks, and explain how maps, toolkits, and grassroots participation can bring history to life.

Timothy Breen, an American historian and scholar of the Revolution, explores Colonel David Henley’s explosive court-martial. A minor clash with a British prisoner becomes a test of aristocratic privilege, republican honor, and wartime justice. Hear about life in Cambridge’s POW camps, Burgoyne’s campaign against Henley, and how the trial exposed America’s struggle to define its cultural independence.

Bernard Bailyn, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Harvard professor emeritus, explores the ideas behind the American Revolution. He discusses how pamphlets revealed fears of concentrated power, why British opposition writings mattered more than Enlightenment theory, and how colonists interpreted imperial policies as signs of an authoritarian conspiracy. He also examines loyalist Thomas Hutchinson’s tragic perspective.

In December 1776, a Delaware Chief named White Eyes stood before the Second Continental Congress. He had not come to declare himself a revolutionary, nor had he come to pledge his loyalty to King George III. White Eyes came to test a promise.What does the American Revolution look like to people for whom independence was never a question? For the Delaware, also known as the Lenape, the War for Independence raised older and harder questions:Whose word could be trusted? What choices can we make about whether to fight, stay neutral, or flee that might let our community remain itself on the land we know?Jeremy Johnson, Cultural Education Director for the Delaware Tribe of Indians, traces Lenape and Delaware history from long before European contact through the American Revolution. He also introduces us to the September 1778 Treaty of Fort Pitt, the first treaty the United States made with a Native Nation and which promised a 14th Native state.Delaware Tribe of Indians’ WebsiteShow Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/450EPISODE OUTLINE 00:00:00 Introduction00:02:35 The Lenape Experience of the American Revolution00:07:56 Lenape History and Indigenous Origin Stories00:10:52 Diplomacy in Lenape Traditions00:15:32 Evolution of Lenape Diplomacy Through European Contact00:20:00 The Walking Purchase of 173700:24:55 Lenape Experiences of the Seven Years' War00:32:13 Lenape Participation in Pontiac's Rebellion00:37:17 The Delaware and the American Revolution00:46:32 Negotiating the Treaty of Fort Pitt00:50:16 The Hope for Delaware Sovereignty00:52:53 The Delaware People & America's 250th01:00:02 Time Warp01:02:41 ResourcesRECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 163: The American Revolution in North America 🎧 Episode 264: The Treaty of Canandaigua 🎧 Episode 286: Elections in Early America: Native Sovereignty🎧 Episode 323: American Expansion and the Political Economy of Plunder🎧 Episode 397: Native Nations: A Millennium in North America🎧 Episode 449: Stealing America: Indigenous Enslavement & the American RevolutionSUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 [email protected] YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩‍💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩‍💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast.

In 1723, the College of William & Mary opened the Brafferton building, a permanent home for an Indian School the college had been chartered to run and struggled to fill for its first 30 years. The premise of the Brafferton: take Native boys and strategically teach them in ways that would make them more useful to the British Empire.So what actually happened inside the Brafferton Indian School?In this revisited episode, the first of a two-part series, our three guests investigate why the Brafferton School existed, how the English filled Brafferton with students even as Native families refused to send their children, and what the Indigenous students did with the knowledge the English taught them.We’ll also explore how a school built on a colonial college campus during the reign of King George I connected to schools like the Carlisle School, which were still separating Indigenous children from their families in the 1950s.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/367RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES:🎧 Episode 158: The Revolutionaries' Army🎧 Episode 290: The World of the Wampanoag, Pt. 1🎧 Episode 291: The World of the Wampanoag, Pt. 2🎧 Episode 353: Women and the Making of Catawba Identity🎧 Episode 368: The Brafferton Indian School, Part 2: Legacies🎧 Episode 449: Stealing AmericaSUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 [email protected] YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter👩‍💻 BFW Listener Community🌍 The History Explorers ClubLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩‍💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast.