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History Podcasts

This is a show about early American history. Awarded Best History Podcast by the Academy of Podcasters in 2017, it’s for people who love history and for those 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 Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture.

This is a show about early American history. Awarded Best History Podcast by the Academy of Podcasters in 2017, it’s for people who love history and for those 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 Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture.

Location:

Williamsburg, VA

Description:

This is a show about early American history. Awarded Best History Podcast by the Academy of Podcasters in 2017, it’s for people who love history and for those 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 Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture.

Language:

English

Episodes

286 Elections in Early America: Native Sovereignty

10/20/2020
Who is American democracy for and who could participate in early American democracy? Women and African Americans were often barred from voting in colonial and early republic elections. But what about Native Americans? Could Native Americans participate in early American democracy? Julie Reed, an Assistant Professor of History at the Pennsylvania State University, and Kathleen DuVal, the Bowman and Gordon Gray Distinguished Term Professor of History at the University of North...

Duration:00:56:35

285 Elections in Early America: Elections & Voting in the Early American Republic

10/13/2020
Independence from Great Britain provided the former British American colonists the opportunity to create a new, more democratic government than they had lived under before the American Revolution. What did this new American government look like? Who could participate in this new American democracy? And what was it like to participate in this new democracy? Scholars Terrance Rucker, a Historical Publications Specialist in the Office of the Historian of the U.S. House of Representatives, and...

Duration:01:10:10

284 Elections in Early America: Democracy & Voting in British North America

10/6/2020
The British North American colonies formed some of the most democratic governments in the world. But that doesn't mean that all early Americans were treated equally or allowed to participate in representative government. So who could vote in Early America? Who could participate in representative government? Historians James Kloppenberg, the Charles Warren Professor of History at Harvard University, and Amy Watson, an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Alabama, Birmingham,...

Duration:00:51:42

Bonus: A Brief History of the United States Supreme Court

9/22/2020
On Friday, September 18, 2020, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, died. Justice Ginsburg's death has caused a lot of debate about whether the President should appoint a new justice to fill her seat and, if he does appoint someone, whether the Senate should vote on the President’s nomination before the election. This short bonus episode offers a brief history of the Supreme Court and how it functions within the United States government. Our guest...

Duration:00:10:38

283 Anne Marie Lane Jonah, Acadie 300

9/22/2020
2020 commemorates the 300th anniversary of French presence on Prince Edward Island. Like much of North America, the Canadian Maritime provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island, and Prince Edward Island were highly contested regions. In fact, the way France and Great Britain fought for presence and control of this region places the Canadian Maritimes among the most contested regions in eighteenth-century North America. Anne Marie Lane Jonah, a historian with the Parks...

Duration:01:02:44

282 Vincent Brown, Tacky's Revolt

9/8/2020
Between 1760 and 1761, Great Britain witnessed one of the largest slave insurrections in the history of its empire. Although the revolt took place on the island of Jamaica, the reverberations of this revolt stretched across the Atlantic Ocean and into the British North American colonies. Vincent Brown, the Charles Warren Professor of American History and a Professor of African American Studies at Harvard University, joins us to investigate Tacky’s Revolt and how that revolt served as an...

Duration:01:00:21

281 Caitlin Rosenthal, The Business of Slavery

8/25/2020
We live in an age where big businesses track our shopping habits and in some cases our work habits. But is the age of data new? When did the “age of the spreadsheet” and quantification of habits develop? Caitlin Rosenthal, an Assistant Professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley and the author of Accounting for Slavery: Masters and Management, leads us on an investigation into the origins of how American businesses came to collect and use data to manage their workers and...

Duration:00:53:23

280 Rick Atkinson, The British Are Coming

8/11/2020
The American Revolution is embedded in the American character. It’s an event that can tell us who we are, how we came to be who we are, and how we can strive to be who we want to be as a nation and people. Rick Atkinson, a three-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, a journalist who has worked at The Washington Post, and the author of The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777, joins us to explore how the War for Independence has impacted and shaped the...

Duration:01:02:29

279 Lindsay Chervinsky, The Cabinet: Creation of an American Institution

7/28/2020
As the first President of the United States, George Washington set many precedents for the new nation. One of the biggest precedents Washington set came in the form of the Cabinet, a body of advisors from across the U.S. government who advise the president on how to handle matters of foreign and domestic policy. Today, we investigate Washington’s creation of the Cabinet and how it became a government institution with Lindsay Chervinsky, a Scholar-in-Residence at the Institute for Thomas...

Duration:01:12:39

278 Sarah Pearsall, Polygamy: An Early American History (No Ad)

7/14/2020
Polygamy is not a practice that often comes to mind when many of us think about early America. But it turns out, polygamy was a ubiquitous practice among different groups of early Americans living in 17th and 18th-century North America. Sarah Pearsall, a University Teaching Officer, Fellow, and Historian at the University of Cambridge, joins us to discuss the surprising history of polygamy in early North America, with details from her book, Polygamy: An Early American History. Show Notes:...

Duration:00:52:52

278 Sarah Pearsall, Polygamy: An Early American History

7/14/2020
Polygamy is not a practice that often comes to mind when many of us think about early America. But it turns out, polygamy was a ubiquitous practice among different groups of early Americans living in 17th and 18th-century North America. Sarah Pearsall, a University Teaching Officer, Fellow, and Historian at the University of Cambridge, joins us to discuss the surprising history of polygamy in early North America, with details from her book, Polygamy: An Early American History. Show Notes:...

Duration:00:54:30

277 Whose Fourth of July?

6/30/2020
On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass delivered a speech to an anti-slavery society and he famously asked “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” In this episode, we explore Douglass’ thoughtful question within the context of Early America: What did the Fourth of July mean for African Americans in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries? To help us investigate this question, we are joined by Martha S. Jones, the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and Professor of...

Duration:01:12:05

Bonus Listener Q & A: Young Benjamin Franklin

6/26/2020
This special bonus episode introduces the Ben Franklin's World Subscription program and a new monthly Listener Question & Answer feature for subscribers to that program. In this preview, award-winning historian Nick Bunker answers your questions about the life of young Benjamin Franklin. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/207 Join Ben Franklin's World! Subscribe and help us bring history right to your ears! Sponsor Links Omohundro InstituteThe Ben Franklin's World...

Duration:00:16:00

276 Stephen Fried, Benjamin Rush: Founding Father

6/16/2020
Who gets to be a founding father? “Founding Father” status goes to men who helped found the United States. That means the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence, those who led the Continental Army, and the 36 delegates who signed the Constitution. We’re talking about more than 100 men and yet, we don’t really talk about more than a handful of these “founders” as Founders. Stephen Fried, an award-winning journalist and author of Rush: Revolution, Madness, and Benjamin Rush, the...

Duration:01:05:29

275 Ingrid Tague, Pets in Early America

6/2/2020
What kinds of animals did early Americans keep as pets? How did early Americans acquire pets? What kinds of animals did early Americans keep as pets? Ingrid Tague, a Professor of History at the University of Denver and the author of Animal Companions: Pets and Social Change in Eighteenth-Century Britain, joins us to answer your questions about pets and pet keeping in Early America. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/275 Sponsor Links Omohundro InstituteThe Ben Franklin's...

Duration:00:25:17

274 Alan Gallay, Walter Ralegh: Architect of Empire

5/19/2020
What do we know about how and why England came to establish its first permanent colony at Jamestown? And what do we know about the English colony that came before it, the Colony of Roanoke? Alan Gallay, Lyndon B. Johnson chair of United States History at Texas Christian University and author of Walter Ralegh: Architect of Empire, leads us on exploration of the life and work of Sir Walter Ralegh, the man who crafted the blueprint for England’s colonization plans in the Americas. Show Notes:...

Duration:01:09:11

273 Victoria Johnson, David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Early Republic

5/5/2020
How did Americans learn to establish philanthropic institutions? Victoria Johnson, an Associate Professor of Urban Policy and Planning at Hunter College in New York City and author of American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic, leads us on an investigation of the life of Dr. David Hosack and the many organizations he founded, including the Elgin Botanical Garden. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/273 Sponsor Links Omohundro...

Duration:01:03:36

272 Origins of the 11th Amendment

4/21/2020
What do you know about the Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution? Caitlin Galante-DeAngelis Hopkins, a Lecturer in the History Department at Harvard University and a former research associate for the Harvard and Slavery Project, joins us to explore the origins of the Eleventh Amendment and why the United States added it to its Constitution. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/272 Sponsor Links Omohundro InstituteBen Franklin’s World Virtual Reading GroupThe...

Duration:00:11:06

286 Vast Early America Series: The Oregon Trail

4/14/2020
Do you have what it takes to be a pioneer? If offered the opportunity, would you undertake a journey across the Oregon Trail in a mule-pulled covered wagon? Today, we explore the Oregon Trail past and present with Rinker Buck, author of The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/077 Sponsor Links Omohundro InstituteThe Ben Franklin's World Shop Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World...

Duration:00:46:14

285 Vast Early America Series: Age of American Revolutions

4/7/2020
The American Revolution inspired revolutions in France, the Caribbean, and in Latin and South America between the late 18th and mid-19th centuries. Naturally, Spanish and Portuguese American revolutionaries turned to the United States for assistance with their fights. How did Americans in the United States respond to these calls for assistance? What did they make of these other “American Revolutions?” Caitlin Fitz, an Associate Professor of History at Northwestern University and the author...

Duration:00:44:44

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