
Ben Franklin's World
This is a multiple award-winning podcast about early American history. It’s a show for people who love history and who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.
Each episode features conversations with professional historians who help shed light on important people and events in early American history. It is produced by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
Latest episodes

Nov 2, 2021 • 43min
Bonus: The Object of History
The Massachusetts Historical Society has a podcast! In this bonus episode of Ben Franklin's World, we'll introduce you to The Object of History, with a full-episode preview of "Episode 4: A Miniature Portrait of Elizabeth Freeman." For more information about this new podcast and how to subscribe visit: https://masshist.org/podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 29, 2021 • 20min
Bonus: Colin Calloway, Native Americans in American Cities
We rejoin Colin Calloway, Professor of History and Native American Studies at Dartmouth College, in this bonus episode so he can answer more of your questions about Native American experiences in early American cities. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/314 Join Ben Franklin's World! Subscribe and help us bring history right to your ears! Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Colonial Williamsburg Foundation The Ben Franklin's World Shop Listen! Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links
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Oct 26, 2021 • 1h 3min
314 Native Americans in Early American Cities
Have you ever considered early American cities as places where Native Americans lived, worked, and visited?Native Americans often visited early American cities and port towns, especially the towns and cities that dotted the Atlantic seaboard of British North America.Colin Calloway, an award-winning historian and a Professor History and Native American Studies at Dartmouth College, joins us to investigate Native American experiences in early American cities with details from his book, “The Chiefs Now In This City": Indians and the Urban Frontier in Early America.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/314 Complementary Episodes🎧 Episode 029: Colin Calloway, The Victory With No Name🎧 Episode 132: Coll Thrush, Indigenous Londo 🎧 Episode 139: Andrés Reséndez, The Other Slavery 🎧Episode 223: Susan Sleeper-Smith, A Native American History of the Ohio River Valley & Great Lakes Region🎧 Episode 264: Michael Oberg, The Treaty of Canandaigua REQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩💻 Join the BFW Listener CommunityLISTEN 🎧🍎 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 19, 2021 • 16min
OI Reads: Carolyn Eastman, The Strange Genius of Mr. O
Welcome to OI Reads, an occasional series on Ben Franklin's World where we introduce you to new books that we'll think you love and that are published by the Omohundro Institute. Using details from her book, The Strange Genius of Mr. O, Carolyn Eastman, a Professor of History at Virginia Commonwealth University, acquaints us with James Ogilvie, one of early America's first bonafide celebrities. For more details about The Strange Genius of Mr. O: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/MrO Join Ben Franklin's World! Subscribe and help us bring history right to your ears! Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Purchase your copy of the Strange Genius of Mr. at a 40-percent discount. Promo Code: 01BFW Listen! Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links
Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook Group Ben Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcast Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 12, 2021 • 1h 10min
313 The Marquis de Lafayette
You know “America’s favorite fighting Frenchman” is the Marquis de Lafayette. But what do you know about Lafayette and his life?How and why did this French-born noble end up fighting in the American Revolution?Mike Duncan, a self-described history geek, public historian, and the podcaster behind the award-winning podcast The History of Rome and the popular podcast Revolutions, joins us to investigate the life of the Marquis de Lafayette with details from his book, Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/313 Complementary Episodes🎧 Bonus Episode: The Marquis de Lafayette and the Hermione 🎧 Episode 071: Bruce Venter, Saratoga & Hubbardton, 1777🎧 Episode 203: Joanne Freeman, Alexander Hamilton🎧 Episode 208: Nathaniel Philbrick, Turning Points of the American Revolution🎧 Episode 311: Katherine Carté, Religion and the American Revolution REQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩💻 Join the BFW Listener CommunityLISTEN 🎧🍎 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 28, 2021 • 1h 4min
312 The Domestic Slave Trade
The transatlantic slave trade dominated in North America during the 17th and 18th centuries. But by 1808, a different slave trade came to dominate in the young United States, the domestic or internal slave trade.
Joshua D. Rothman, an award-winning historian, Professor of History at the University of Alabama, and author of the book, The Ledger and the Chain: How Domestic Slave Traders Shaped America, leads us on an exploration of the United States’ domestic slave trade and the lives of three slave traders who helped to define this trade.
Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/312 Complementary Episodes🎧 Episode 063: Megan Kate Nelson, Ruin Nation: Destruction and the Civil War🎧 Episode 118: Christy Clark-Pujara, The Business of Slavery in Rhode Island🎧 Episode 135: Julie Holcomb, The Transatlantic Boycott of Slave Labor 🎧 Episode 142: Manisha Sinha, A History of Abolition🎧 Episode 176: Daina Ramey Berry, The Value of the Enslaved from Womb to Grave🎧 Episode 281: Caitlin Rosenthal, The Business of Slavery REQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩💻 Join the BFW Listener CommunityLISTEN 🎧🍎 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 14, 2021 • 57min
311 Religion and the American Revolution
Investigations of the American Revolution often include explorations of politics, ideology, trade and taxation, imperial control, and social strife. What about religion?What role did religion play in the American Revolution?Katherine Carté, an Associate Professor of History at Southern Methodist University and the author of Religion and the American Revolution: An Imperial History, joins us to investigate the role of religion in the American Revolution.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/311 Complementary Episodes🎧 Episode 025: Jessica Parr, Inventing George Whitefield🎧 Episode 134: Spence McBride, Clergymen and the Politics of Revolutionary America🎧 Episode 152: Origins of the American Revolution🎧 Episode 214: Christopher Grasso, Skepticism & American Faith🎧 Episode 307: Michael Hattem, History and the American Revolution REQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩💻 Join the BFW Listener CommunityLISTEN 🎧🍎 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 31, 2021 • 1h 5min
310 The Blackfeet: A History
To understand early American history, we need to investigate and understand North America as an Indigenous space. A place where Native American populations, politics, religion, and trade networks prevailed for centuries before and after the arrival of Europeans and enslaved Africans.In this episode, we travel into the heart of the North American continent to explore the life, history and culture of the Blackfeet People with Rosalyn LaPier, a University of Montana professor, historian, ethnobotanist, and award-winning Indigenous writer. Rosalyn is a member of the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana and a member of the Métis, one of the three recognized Aboriginal peoples in Canada.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/310 Complementary Episodes🎧 Episode 286: Native American Sovereignty 🎧 Episode 290: The World of the Wampanoag: Before 1620🎧 Episode 291: The World of the Wampanoag: 1620 and Beyond🎧 Episode 301: From Inoculation to Vaccination, Part 1🎧 Episode 302: From Inoculation to Vaccination, Part 2 REQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩💻 Join the BFW Listener CommunityLISTEN 🎧🍎 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 17, 2021 • 1h 5min
309 Merchant Ships of the Eighteenth Century
By the eighteenth century, the Atlantic Ocean had become a busy highway of ships crisscrossing its waters.What do we know about the ships that made these transatlantic voyages and connected the eighteenth-century British Atlantic world through trade, people, and information?Phillip Reid, a historian of the Atlantic World and maritime technology and author of The Merchant Ship in the British Atlantic, joins us to explore the eighteenth-century British merchant ship and the business of transatlantic shipping.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/309 Complementary Episodes🎧 Episode 008: Gregory O’Malley, Final Passages: The Intercolonial Slave Trade of British America, 1619-1807🎧 Episode 012: Dane Morrison, The South Seas & the Discovery of American Identity🎧 Episode 015: Joyce Chaplin, Circumnavigation from Magellan to Orbit🎧 Episode 099: Mark Hanna, Pirates & Pirate Nests in the British Atlantic World🎧 Episode 140: Tamara Thornton, Nathaniel Bowditch: 19th-Century Man of Business, Science, and the Sea REQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩💻 Join the BFW Listener CommunityLISTEN 🎧🍎 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 3, 2021 • 1h 2min
308 Slavery and Freedom in French Louisiana
The story of freedom in colonial New Orleans and Louisiana pivoted on the choices black women made to retain control of their bodies, families, and futures.How did black women in colonial Louisiana navigate French and Spanish black and slavery codes to retain control of their bodies, families, and futures?Jessica Marie Johnson, Assistant Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University and author of the award-winning book Wicked Flesh: Black Women, Intimacy, and Freedom in the Atlantic World, joins us to investigate answers to this question and to reveal what viewing the history of the Atlantic World through the histories of slavery and gender can show us about what life was really like for colonists, settlers, and the enslaved.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/308 Complementary Episodes🎧 Episode 037: Kathleen DuVal, Independence Lost🎧 Episode 120: Marcia Zug, A History of Mail Order Brides in Early America🎧 Episode 167: Eberhard Faber, The Early History of New Orleans🎧 Episode 232: Christopher Hodson, The Acadian Diaspora🎧 Episode 282: Vincent Brown, Tacky’s Revolt🎧 Episode 289: Marcus Nevius, Maroonage & the Great Dismal Swamp🎧 Episode 295: Ibrahima Seck, Whitney Plantation Museum🎧 Episode 303: Matthew Powell, La Pointe-Krebs House REQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩💻 Join the BFW Listener CommunityLISTEN 🎧🍎 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices