If you will recall from Episode 331, the Williamsburg Bray School is the oldest existing structure in the United States that we know was used to educate African and African American children. As the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation prepares the Bray School for you to visit and see, we’re having many conversations about the history of the school, its scholars, and early Black American History in general. During one of these conversations, the work of Kevin Dawson came up. Kevin is an Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Merced and author of the book, Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/383   Sponsor Links  Colonial Williamsburg Foundation  Complementary Episodes  Episode 104: The Saltwater Frontier: Europeans & Native Americans on the Northeastern Coast Episode 241: Pearls and the Nature of the Spanish Empire Episode 250: Virginia, 1619 Episode 277: Who's Fourth of July? Episode 331: Discovery of the Williamsburg Bray School Episode 347: African and African American Music Episode 352: James Forten and the Making of the United States  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   

383 Aquatic Culture in Early America

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.

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

The United States Constitution of 1787 gave many Americans pause about the powers the new federal government could exercise and how the government's leadership would rest with one person, the president. The fact that George Washington would likely serve as the new nation’s first president calmed many Americans’ fears that the new nation was creating an opportunity for a hereditary monarch. Washington had proven his commitment to a democratic form of government when he gave up his army command peacefully and voluntarily. He had proven he was someone Americans could trust. Plus, George Washington had no biological heirs–no sons–to whom he might pass on the presidency. But while George Washington had no biological heirs, he did have heirs. Cassandra A. Good, an Associate Professor of History at Marymount University and author of First Family: George Washington’s Heirs and the Making of America, joins us to explore Washington’s heirs and the lives they lived. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/385    Sponsor Links  Colonial Williamsburg Foundation   Complementary Episodes  Episode 027: A History of Stepfamilies in Early America Episode 033: George Washington and His Library  Episode 061: George Washinton in Retirement  Episode 074: Martha Washington  Episode 137: The Washingtons’ Runaway Slave Episode 183: George Washinton’s Mount Vernon  Episode 222: The Early History of Washington, D.C.  Episode 265: An Early History of the White House     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 

385 Did George Washington Have Heirs?

Article IV, Section 3 of the United States Constitution establishes guidelines by which the United States Congress can admit new states to the American Union. It clearly states that “no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State…without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.” Five states have been formed from pre-existing states: Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Maine. How did the process of forming a state from a pre-existing state work? Why would territories within a state want to declare their independence from their home state? Joshua Smith, the interim director of the American Merchant Marine Museum in Kings Point, New York, and author of the book Making Maine: Statehood and the War of 1812, leads us on an exploration of Maine’s journey to statehood. Show Notes:https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/384    Sponsor Links  Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Juneteenth at Colonial Williamsburg   Complementary Episodes  Episode 030: Northern New England’s Religious Geography Episode 057: Money and the American State Episode 098: Birth of the American Tax Man Episode 103, James Monroe and & His Estate Highland Episode 134: Pulpit and Nation Episode 309: Merchant Ships of the Eighteenth Century   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 

384 Making Maine: A Journey to Statehood

Within the Declaration of Independence, the founders of the United States present twenty-seven grievances against King George III as they declare their reasons for why the thirteen British North American colonies sought their independence from Great Britain. Their twenty-fifth grievance declares that King George III “is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat [sic] the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun.” What do we know about the “Armies of foreign Mercenaries” King George III sent to his rebellious American colonies?  Friederike Baer, an Associate Professor of History at Penn State Abbington College, joins us to explore the lives and wartime experiences of the 30,000 German soldiers the British Crown hired and dispatched to North America during the American War for Independence. Frederike is the author of the award-winning book Hessians: German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/382    Sponsor Links  Colonial Williamsburg Foundation   Complementary Episodes  Episode 046: Whirlwind: The American Revolution & the War That Won It  Episode 048: Dangerous Guests: Enemy Captives During the War for Independence  Episode 081: After Yorktown Episode 144: The Common Cause Episode 147: British Soldiers, American War  Episode 157: The Revolution’s African American Soldiers Episode 252: The Highland Soldier in North America Episode 375: Misinformation Nation   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 

382 Hessians in the American Revolutionary War

The vast and varied landscapes of Texas loom large in our American imaginations. As does Texas culture with its BBQ, cowboys, and larger-than-life personality. But before Texas was a place that embraced ranching, space flight, and country music, Texas was a place with rich and vibrant Indigenous cultures and traditions and with Spanish and Mexican cultures and traditions. Martha Menchaca, a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Texas, Austin, is a scholar of Texas history and United States-Mexican culture. She joins us to explore the Spanish and Mexican origins of Texas with details from her book, The Mexican American Experience in Texas: Citizenship, Segregation, and the Struggle for Equality. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/381    Sponsor Links  Colonial Williamsburg Foundation   Complementary Episodes  Episode 037: Kathleen DuVal, Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution Episode 115: Andrew Torget, The Early American History of Texas Episode 178, Karoline Cook, Muslims & Moriscos in Colonial Spanish America Episode 241: Molly Warsh, Pearls & the Nature of the Spanish Empire Episode 334, Brandon Bayne, Missions and Mission Building in New Spain Episode 358: Charles Tingley, St Augustine and Early Florida Episode 371: Estevan Rael-Gálvez, An Archive of Indigenous Slavery   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 

383 Aquatic Culture in Early America

Download our free app to listen on your phone