Ben Franklin's World

People of African descent have made great contributions to the United States and its history. Think about all of the food, music, dance, medicine, farming and religious practices that people of African descent have contributed to American culture. Think about the sacrifices they’ve made to create and protect the United States as an independent nation.Matthew Skic, a Curator of Exhibitions at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, joins us to investigate the life and deeds of the Forten Family. A family of African-descended people who worked in the revolutionary era and beyond to build a better world for their family, community, state, and nation.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/352 Complementary Episodes🎧 Episode 142: Manisha Sinha, A History of Abolition🎧 Episode 151: Defining the American Revolution🎧 Episode 157: The Revolution’s African American Soldiers🎧 Episode 245: Celebrating the Fourth of July🎧 Episode 277: Whose Fourth of July? 🎧 Episode 332: Experiences of Revolution Part 1: Occupied Philadelphia  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

African chattel slavery, the predominant type of slavery practiced in colonial North America and the early United States, did not represent one monolithic practice of slavery. Practices of slavery varied by region, labor systems, legal codes, and empire.Slavery also wasn’t just about enslavers enslaving people for their labor. Enslavers used enslaved people to make statements about their social status, as areas of economic investment that built generational wealth, and as a form of currency.Nicole Maskiell, an associate professor of History at the University of South Carolina and the author of Bound By Bondage: Slavery and the Creation of the Northern Gentry, joins us to investigate the practice of slavery in Dutch New Netherland and how the colony’s elite families built their wealth and power on the labor, skills, and bodies of enslaved Africans and African Americans.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/351 Complementary Episodes🎧 Episode 121: Wim Klooster, The Dutch Moment in the 17th-Century Atlantic World🎧 Episode 139: Andrés Reséndez, The Other Slavery🎧 Episode 170: Wendy Warren, Slavery in Early New England🎧 Episode 185: Joyce Goodfriend, Early New York City and its Culture🎧 Episode 220: Margaret Newell, New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of Slavery🎧 Episode 242: David Young, A History of Early Delaware🎧 Episode 256: Christian Koot, Mapping Empire in the Chesapeake🎧 Episode 324, Andrea Mosterman, New Netherland and 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

Before the American Revolution became a war and a fight for independence, the Revolution was a movement and protest for more local control of government. So how did the American Revolution get started? Who worked to transform a series of protests into a revolution?This is a BIG question with no one answer. But one American who worked to transform protests into a coordinated revolutionary movement was a Boston politician named Samuel Adams.Stacy Schiff, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, joins us to explore and investigate the life, deeds, and contributions of Samuel Adams using details from her book, The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/350 Complementary Episodes🎧 Episode 130: Paul Revere’s Ride Through History🎧 Episode 145: Rosemarie Zagarri, Mercy Otis Warren and the American Revolution 🎧 Episode 152: Bernard Bailyn, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution🎧 Episode 153: Revolutionary Committees and Congresses🎧 Episode 193: Partisans: The Friendship and Rivalry of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson🎧 Episode 228: Eric Hinderaker, The Boston Massacre🎧 Episode 296: Serena Zabin, The Boston Massacre: A Family HistoryREQUEST 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

There are a lot of books about Benjamin Franklin. They tell us about his youth and accomplishments in business, politics, and diplomacy. They tell us about his serious interest in electricity and science, and about his philanthropic work. But only a handful of these books tell us about Benjamin Franklin as a man. What did Benjamin Franklin think about and experience when it came to his private, lived life?Nancy Rubin Stuart, an award-winning historian and journalist and author of Poor Richard’s Women: Deborah Read Franklin and the Other Women Behind the Founding Father, joins us to investigate the private life of Benjamin Franklin by using the women in his life as a window on to his experiences as a husband, father, and friend.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/349 Complementary Episodes🎧 Episode 022: Vivian Bruce Conger, Deborah Read Franklin & Sally Franklin Bache🎧 Episode 031: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin🎧 Episode 149: George Goodwin, Benjamin Franklin in London🎧 Episode 175: Daniel Mark Epstein, The Revolution in Ben Franklin’s House🎧 Episode 193: Partisans: The Friendship and Rivalry of John Adams & Thomas Jefferson🎧 Episode 207: Young Benjamin Franklin🎧 Episode 320: Benjamin Franklin’s London 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

On December 19, 1777, George Washington marched his Continental Army into its winter encampment at Valley Forge. In school we learned this was a hard, cold winter that saw the soldiers so ill-supplied they chewed on the leather of their shoes. But is this what really happened at Valley Forge? Were soldiers idle, wallowing in their misery?Ricardo Herrera, a historian of American military history and a visiting professor in the Department of National Security and Strategy at the U.S. Army War College, joins us to investigate the winter at Valley Forge with details form his book, Feeding Washington’s Army: Surviving the Valley Forge Winter of 1778.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/348 Complementary Episodes🎧 Episode 158: The Revolutionaries’ Army🎧 Episode 189: Sam White, The Little Ice Age  🎧 Episode 194: Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters🎧 Episode 298: Lindsay Schakenbach Regele, Origins of American Manufacturing🎧 Episode 301: From Inoculation to Vaccination, Part 1🎧 Episode 302: From Inoculation to Vaccination, Part 2🎧 Episode 332: Experiences of Revolution: Occupied Philadelphia🎧 Episode 333: Experiences of Revolution: Disruptions in Yorktown 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

It’s impossible to overstate the importance of African and African American music to the United States’ musical traditions. Steven Lewis, a Curator of Music and Performing Arts at the Smithsonian, notes that “African American influences are so fundamental to American music there would be no American music without them.”Jon Beebe, a Jazz pianist, professional musician, and an interpretive ranger at the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, leads us on an exploration of how and why African rhythms and beats came to play important roles in the musical history and musical evolution of the Untied States.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/347 Complementary Episodes🎧 Episode 167: Eberhard Faber, The Early History of New Orleans🎧 Episode 295: Ibrahima Seck, Whitney Plantation Museum🎧 Episode 308: Jessica Marie Johnson, Slavery & Freedom in French New Orleans🎧 Episode 342: Elizabeth Ellis, The Great Power of Small Native Nations🎧 Episode 343: Chad Hamill, Music & Song in Native North America🎧 Episode 344: Music in British North America🎧 Episode 345: Amateur Musicians in the Early United States🎧 Episode 346: Music & Politics in the Early United States 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

How did everyday Americans in the early United States use and enjoy music? How did they create and circulate new songs and musical lyrics?Our five-episode series about music in early America continues in this fourth episode about music and politics in the early United States.Billy Coleman, an Assistant Teaching Professor of History at the University of Missouri and author of the book Harnessing Harmony: Music, Power, and Politics in the United States, 1788-1865, joins us to investigate the role music played in early American politics.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/346 Complementary Episodes🎧 Episode 207: Nick Bunker, Young Benjamin Franklin🎧 Episode 227: Kyle Courtney, Copyright & Fair Use in Early America🎧 Episode 243: Joseph Adelman, Revolutionary Print Networks🎧 Episode 343: Chad Hamill, Music and Song in Native North America🎧 Episode 344: David Hildebrand, Music in British North America🎧 Episode 345: Glenda Goodman, Amateur Musicians in the Early United StatesREQUEST 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

Our study of music in Early America continues with this third episode in our five-episode series.Our last two episodes (Episode 343 and Episode 344) helped us better understand the musical landscapes of Native North America around 1492 and colonial British America before 1776. In this episode, we jump forward in time to the early days of the United States.Glenda Goodman, an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of the book Cultivated by Hand: Amateur Musicians in the Early American Republic, joins us to investigate the role of music in the lives of wealthy white Americans during the earliest days of the early American republic.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/345 Complementary Episodes🎧 Episode 145: Rosemarie Zagarri, Mercy Otis Warren🎧 Episode 237: Nora Doyle, Motherhood in Early America🎧 Episode 311: Katherine Carté, Religion in the American Revolution🎧 Episode 343: Chad Hamil, Music and Song in Native North America🎧 Episode 344: David Hildebrand, Music in British North AmericaREQUEST 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

Our 5-episode series about music in Early America continues with this second episode that seeks to answer your questions about music in Early America.David Hildebrand is a musicologist and an expert on early American music. His research specialty is in Anglo-American music, and he joins us to answer your questions.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/344 Complementary Episodes🎧 Episode 219: Adrian Covert, Taverns in Early America🎧 Episode 250: Virginia, 1619🎧 Episode 290: The World of the Wampanoag, Part 1🎧 Episode 291: The World of the Wampanoag, Part 2🎧 Episode 343: Chad Hamill, The Musical Landscape of Native America  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

What was music like in Early America? How did different early Americans—Native Americans, African Americans, and White Americans—integrate and use music in their daily lives?Your questions about music inspired this 5-episode series about music in Early America.Our exploration begins with music in Native America. Chad Hamill, a Professor of Applied Indigenous Studies at Northern Arizona University, is an ethnomusicologist who studies Native American and Indigenous music. He will guide us through Native North America’s musical landscapes before European colonization.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/343 Complementary Episodes🎧 Episode 163: The American Revolution in North America🎧 Episode 290: The World of the Wampanoag, Part 1🎧 Episode 291: The World of the Wampanoag, Part 2🎧 Episode 297: Claudio Saunt, Indian Removal Act of 1830🎧 Episode 310: Rosalyn LaPier, History of the Blackfeet🎧 Episode 323: Michael Witgen, American Expansion and the Political Economy of Plunder🎧 Episode 342: Elizabeth Ellis, The Great Power of Small Native Nations 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