Ben Franklin's World artwork

Ben Franklin's World

718 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 month ago - ★★★★★ - 988 ratings

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.

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Episodes

378 Everyday Black Living in Early America

February 20, 2024 06:30 - 49 minutes - 45.4 MB

When we study the history of Black Americans, especially in the early American period, we tend to focus on slavery and the slave trades. But focusing solely on slavery can hinder our ability to see that, like all early Americans, Black Americans were multi-dimensional people who led complicated lives and lived a full range of experiences that were worth living and talking about. Tara Bynum, an Assistant Professor of English and African American Studies at the University of Iowa and the aut...

377 Phillis Wheatley & the Playwright

February 06, 2024 06:00 - 45 minutes - 42.2 MB

2023 marked the 250th anniversary of the arrival of Phillis Wheatley's published book of poetry in the British American colonies. Phillis Wheatley was an enslaved African woman who, as a teenager, became the first published African author of a book of poetry written in English.  Ade Solanke, an award-winning playwright and screenwriter, has written two plays about Phillis Wheatley’s life to commemorate the semiquincentennial of Wheatley’s literary accomplishments. She joins us to not onl...

376 Cotton Mather's Spanish Lessons

January 23, 2024 06:00 - 1 hour - 59.3 MB

Colonial America was born in a world of religious alliances and rivalries. Missionary efforts in the colonial Americas allow us to see how some of these religious alliances and rivalries played out. Spain, and later France, sent Catholic priests and friars to North and South America, and the Caribbean, purportedly to save the souls of Indigenous Americans by converting them to Catholicism. We also know that Protestants did similar work to help counteract this Catholic work in the Americas. ...

375 Misinformation Nation: Fake News in Early America

January 09, 2024 06:00 - 58 minutes - 53.8 MB

Over the past decade, we’ve heard a lot about “fake news” and “misinformation.” And as 2024 is an election year, it’s likely we’re going to hear even more about these terms. So what is the origin of misinformation in the American press? When did Americans decide that they needed to be concerned with figuring out whether the information they heard or read was truthful or fake? Jordan E. Taylor joins us to find answers to these questions. Jordan is a historian who studies the history of me...

374 The American Revolutionary War in the West

December 26, 2023 06:00 - 53 minutes - 49.1 MB

The American Revolution and its War for Independence comprised the United States’ founding movement. The War for Independence also served as the fifth major war for European empire in North America. The fourth war for European empire, the Seven Years’ War, reshaped and redefined Europe’s worldwide colonial landscape in Great Britain’s favor. The American Revolutionary War presented Britain’s European rivals with an opportunity to regain some of the territory they had lost. An opportunity w...

373 The Gaspee Affair, 1772

December 12, 2023 06:30 - 54 minutes - 50.5 MB

The so-called “March to the American Revolution” comprised many more events than just the Stamp Act Riots, the Boston Massacre, and the Tea Crisis. One event we often overlook played an essential and direct role in the events needed to draw the thirteen rebellious British North American colonies into a union of coordinated response. That event was the Gaspee Affair in 1772. Adrian Weimer, a professor of history at Providence College, has been researching the Gaspee Affair and what it can t...

372 A History of the Myaamia

November 28, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 63.9 MB

Early America was a diverse place. A significant part of this diversity came from the fact that there were at least 1,000 different Indigenous tribes and nations living in different areas of North America before the Spanish and other European empires arrived on the continent’s shores.  Diane Hunter and John Bickers join us to investigate the history and culture of one of these distinct Indigenous tribes: the Myaamia. At the time of this recording, Diane Hunter was the Tribal Historic Prese...

371 An Archive of Indigenous Slavery

November 14, 2023 06:00 - 50 minutes - 46.8 MB

Long before European arrival in the Americas, Indigenous people and nations practiced enslavement. Their version of enslavement looked different from the version Christopher Columbus and his fellow Europeans practiced, but Indigenous slavery also shared many similarities with the Euro-American practice of African Chattel Slavery. While there is no way to measure the exact impact of slavery upon the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, we do know the practice involved many millions of Indige...

370 The Ruin of All Witches

October 31, 2023 05:00 - 51 minutes - 47.8 MB

Happy Halloween! In honor of the 31st of October and All Hallows Eve, we investigate a historical incident of witches and witchcraft in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1651. Malcolm Gaskill, Emeritus Professor of Early Modern History at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, and one of the leading experts in the history of witchcraft, joins us to discuss details from his new book, The Ruin of All Witches: Life and Death in the New World. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworl...

369 Livestock and Animal Breeds in Early America

October 24, 2023 05:00 - 52 minutes - 48 MB

Establishing colonies in North America took an astonishing amount of work. Colonists had to clear trees, eventually remove stumps from newly cleared fields, plant crops to eat and sell, weed and tend those crops, and then they had to harvest crops, and get the crops they intended to sell to the nearest market town, and that was just some of the work involved to establish colonial farms. Colonists did not often perform this work on their own. They enlisted the help of children and neighbors...

368 Legacies of the Brafferton Indian School

October 10, 2023 05:00 - 1 hour - 58.5 MB

The Brafferton Indian School has a long and complicated legacy. Chartered with the College of William & Mary in 1693, the Brafferton Indian School’s purpose was to educate young Indigenous boys in the ways of English religion, language, and culture. The Brafferton performed this work for more than 70 years, between the arrival of its first students in 1702 and when the last documented student left the school in 1778.  This second episode in our 2-episode series about the Brafferton Indian ...

367 The Brafferton Indian School, Part 1

September 26, 2023 05:00 - 1 hour - 74.5 MB

In 1693, King William III and Queen Mary II of England granted a royal charter for two institutions of higher education in the Colony of Virginia. The first institution was the College of William & Mary. The second institution was the Indian School at William & Mary, known from 1723 to the present as the Brafferton Indian School. The history of the Brafferton Indian School is a story of power, trade, land, and culture. It’s an Indigenous story. It’s also a story of English, later British, ...

366 Michael Taylor, James Wilson & the U.S. Constitution

September 12, 2023 05:00 - 53 minutes - 50.2 MB

On September 17, 1787, the members of the Constitutional Convention concluded their work by signing the final draft of their new proposed government. The document they signed was the United States Constitution, which is why the United States marks Constitution Day each year on September 17. In honor of Constitution Day, we explore the life of a Founder who played a large role in the creation and shaping of the United States Constitution: James Wilson. Michael H. Taylor, Professor of Unit...

366 James Wilson & the U.S. Constitution

September 12, 2023 05:00 - 53 minutes - 50.2 MB

On September 17, 1787, the members of the Constitutional Convention concluded their work by signing the final draft of their new proposed government. The document they signed was the United States Constitution, which is why the United States marks Constitution Day each year on September 17. In honor of Constitution Day, we explore the life of a Founder who played a large role in the creation and shaping of the United States Constitution: James Wilson. Michael H. Taylor, Professor of Unit...

365 Road Trip 2023: Early Settlement at Île Ste. Jean

August 29, 2023 05:00 - 1 hour - 58.7 MB

2020 commemorated 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 C...

364 Road Trip 2023: La Pointe-Krebs House & Museum

August 15, 2023 05:00 - 54 minutes - 50.5 MB

The Mississippi Gulf Coast was the home of many different peoples, cultures, and empires during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. According to some historians, the Gulf Coast region may have been the most diverse region in early North America.
 Matthew Powell, a historian of slavery and southern history and the Executive Director of the La Pointe-Krebs House & Museum in Pascagoula, Mississippi, joins us to investigate and explore the Mississippi Gulf Coast and a prominent family wh...

363 Road Trip 2023: Ste. Genevieve National Historical Park

August 01, 2023 05:00 - 1 hour - 55.3 MB

About 620 miles north of New Orleans and 62 miles south of St. Louis, sits the town of Ste. Geneviéve, Missouri. Established in 1750 by the French, Ste. Geneviéve reveals much about what it was like to establish a colony in the heartland of North America and what it was like for colonists to live so far removed from seats of imperial power. Claire Casey, a National Park Service interpretative ranger at the Ste. Geneviéve National Historical Park, joins us to explore the early American hi...

362: David W. Penney, Treaties Between the United States & American Indian Nations

July 18, 2023 05:00 - 1 hour - 57 MB

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian has an exhibit called Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States & American Indian Nations. This exhibit allows you to see treaties the United States has made with American Indian nations and learn more about those treaties and their outcomes. David W. Penney is the Associate Director of Museum Scholarship, Exhibitions, and Public Engagement at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. He’s also an internati...

362 Treaties Between the United States & American Indian Nations

July 18, 2023 05:00 - 1 hour - 57 MB

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian has an exhibit called Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States & American Indian Nations. This exhibit allows you to see treaties the United States has made with American Indian nations and learn more about those treaties and their outcomes. David W. Penney is the Associate Director of Museum Scholarship, Exhibitions, and Public Engagement at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. He’s also an internati...

361 The Fourth of July in 2026

July 04, 2023 05:00 - 1 hour - 73.2 MB

July 4, 2023 marks the 247th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the birth of the United States. In three short years, we will be marking the 250th anniversary of these events. How are historians thinking about the American Revolution for 2026? What are they discussing when it comes to the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding?  Lindsay M. Chervinsky, Ronald Angelo Johnson, and Kariann Akemi Yokota join us to answer these questions. All three guests are historia...

360 Slavery and Freedom in Massachusetts

June 20, 2023 05:00 - 1 hour - 61.9 MB

Juneteenth is a holiday that celebrates and commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. We choose to reflect on the end of slavery in the United States on June 19, because, on June 19, 1865, United States General Gordon Granger issued his General Order No. 3 in Galveston, Texas, informing Texans that all slaves are free. Juneteenth may feel like it is a mid-19th-century moment, but the end of slavery didn’t just occur on one day or at one time. And it didn’t just occur in the mid...

360 Kyera Singleton, Slavery and Freedom in Massachusetts

June 20, 2023 05:00 - 1 hour - 61.9 MB

Juneteenth is a holiday that celebrates and commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. We choose to reflect on the end of slavery in the United States on June 19, because, on June 19, 1865, United States General Gordon Granger issued his General Order No. 3 in Galveston, Texas, informing Texans that all slaves are free. Juneteenth may feel like it is a mid-19th-century moment, but the end of slavery didn’t just occur on one day or at one time. And it didn’t just occur in the mid...

359 Trans-ing Gender in Early America

June 06, 2023 05:00 - 53 minutes - 49.4 MB

“People are complicated” is a truism that holds in the past and the present. Seldom do we find a person where all of their actions and thoughts are black and white. What we see instead is that people are colorful because they aren’t just one thing and they don’t think and act in one way. Human identities are one area where we find a lot of colorfulness and complexity. Most humans have multiple Identities based in geography, nationality, religious affiliation, race and ethnicity, and also g...

359 Jen Manion, Trans-ing Gender in Early America

June 06, 2023 05:00 - 53 minutes - 49.4 MB

“People are complicated” is a truism that holds in the past and the present. Seldom do we find a person where all of their actions and thoughts are black and white. What we see instead is that people are colorful because they aren’t just one thing and they don’t think and act in one way. Human identities are one area where we find a lot of colorfulness and complexity. Most humans have multiple Identities based in geography, nationality, religious affiliation, race and ethnicity, and also g...

358 St. Augustine & Early Florida

May 23, 2023 05:00 - 1 hour - 59.1 MB

For much of the colonial period, Spain claimed almost all of North America as Spanish territory. It displayed this claim on maps and in the administrative units it created to govern this vast territory: New Spain and La Florida. Charles Tingley is a Senior Research Librarian at the St. Augustine Historical Society in St. Augustine, Florida, and an expert in the history of St. Augustine. He joins us to explore the early American history of La Florida through the lens of one of its capitals:...

358 Charles Tingley, St. Augustine & Early Florida

May 23, 2023 05:00 - 1 hour - 59.1 MB

For much of the colonial period, Spain claimed almost all of North America as Spanish territory. It displayed this claim on maps and in the administrative units it created to govern this vast territory: New Spain and La Florida. Charles Tingley is a Senior Research Librarian at the St. Augustine Historical Society in St. Augustine, Florida, and an expert in the history of St. Augustine. He joins us to explore the early American history of La Florida through the lens of one of its capitals:...

357 Eric Jay Dolin, Privateering in the American Revolution

May 09, 2023 05:00 - 58 minutes - 53.9 MB

How did the Continental Congress approach creating military forces that could go toe-to-toe with the British military during the American War for Independence? Eric Jay Dolin joins us to answer part of that question by looking at the creation of the United States’ privateer fleet. Dolin is the author of fifteen books about the maritime history of early America, including Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/357 Join Ben F...

357, Privateering in the American Revolution

May 09, 2023 05:00 - 58 minutes - 53.9 MB

How did the Continental Congress approach creating military forces that could go toe-to-toe with the British military during the American War for Independence? Eric Jay Dolin joins us to answer part of that question by looking at the creation of the United States’ privateer fleet. Dolin is the author of fifteen books about the maritime history of early America, including Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/357 Join Ben F...

356 Paul Peucker, The Moravian Church in North America

April 25, 2023 05:00 - 54 minutes - 50.4 MB

In 1682, the first Assembly of Pennsylvania and the Delaware counties met in Chester, Pennsylvania, and adopted “the Great Law,” a humanitarian code that guaranteed the people of Pennsylvania liberty of conscience. “The Great Law” created an environment that not only welcomed William Penn’s fellow Quakers to Pennsylvania but also created space for the migration of other unestablished religions, such as the Lutherans, Schwenkfelders, and Moravians. Paul Peucker, an archivist and the Direc...

356 The Moravian Church in North America

April 25, 2023 05:00 - 54 minutes - 50.4 MB

In 1682, the first Assembly of Pennsylvania and the Delaware counties met in Chester, Pennsylvania, and adopted “the Great Law,” a humanitarian code that guaranteed the people of Pennsylvania liberty of conscience. “The Great Law” created an environment that not only welcomed William Penn’s fellow Quakers to Pennsylvania but also created space for the migration of other unestablished religions, such as the Lutherans, Schwenkfelders, and Moravians. Paul Peucker, an archivist and the Direc...

355 Misha Ewen, The Virginia Venture

April 11, 2023 05:00 - 54 minutes - 52.3 MB

On April 10th, 1606, King James I granted the Virginia Company of London a charter. Just over a year later, on May 14, 1607, this privately-funded, joint-stock company established the first, permanent English colony in North America at Jamestown, in the colony of Virginia.  What work did the Virginia Company have to do to establish this colony? How much money did it have to raise, and from whom did it raise this money, to support its colonial venture? Misha Ewen, a Lecturer in early mode...

355 The Virginia Venture

April 11, 2023 05:00 - 54 minutes - 52.3 MB

On April 10th, 1606, King James I granted the Virginia Company of London a charter. Just over a year later, on May 14, 1607, this privately-funded, joint-stock company established the first, permanent English colony in North America at Jamestown, in the colony of Virginia.  What work did the Virginia Company have to do to establish this colony? How much money did it have to raise, and from whom did it raise this money, to support its colonial venture? Misha Ewen, a Lecturer in early mode...

354 John Wood Sweet, The Sewing Girl's Tale

March 28, 2023 05:00 - 1 hour - 62 MB

History tells us who we are and how we came to be who we are. It also allows us to look back and see how far we’ve come as people and societies. Of course, history also has the power to show us how little has changed over time. John Wood Sweet, a professor of history at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and author of the book, The Sewing Girl’s Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America, winner of the 2023 Bancroft Prize in American History, joins us to i...

354 The Sewing Girl's Tale

March 28, 2023 05:00 - 1 hour - 62 MB

History tells us who we are and how we came to be who we are. It also allows us to look back and see how far we’ve come as people and societies. Of course, history also has the power to show us how little has changed over time. John Wood Sweet, a professor of history at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and author of the book, The Sewing Girl’s Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America, winner of the 2023 Bancroft Prize in American History, joins us to i...

353 Women and the Making of Catawba Identity

March 14, 2023 05:00 - 55 minutes - 51.4 MB

How did Indigenous people adapt to and survive the onslaught of Indigenous warfare, European diseases, and population loss between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries?  How did past generations of Indigenous women ensure their culture would live on from one generation to the next so their people would endure? Brooke Bauer, an assistant professor of history at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and author of the book Becoming Catawba: Catawba Women and Nation Building, 1540-1840, joi...

353 Brooke Bauer, Women and the Making of Catawba Identity

March 14, 2023 05:00 - 55 minutes - 51.4 MB

How did Indigenous people adapt to and survive the onslaught of Indigenous warfare, European diseases, and population loss between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries?  How did past generations of Indigenous women ensure their culture would live on from one generation to the next so their people would endure? Brooke Bauer, an assistant professor of history at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and author of the book Becoming Catawba: Catawba Women and Nation Building, 1540-1840, joi...

352 James Forten and the Making of the United States

February 28, 2023 06:00 - 47 minutes - 44 MB

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 ...

352 Matthew Skic, James Forten and the Making of the United States

February 28, 2023 06:00 - 47 minutes - 44 MB

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 ...

351 Nicole Maskiell, Wealth and Slavery in New Netherland

February 14, 2023 06:00 - 51 minutes - 47.1 MB

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 curren...

351 Wealth and Slavery in New Netherland

February 14, 2023 06:00 - 51 minutes - 47.1 MB

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 curren...

350 Stacy Schiff, The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams

January 31, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 58.2 MB

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, ...

350 The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams

January 31, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 58.2 MB

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, ...

349 Nancy Rubin Stuart, The Women Behind Benjamin Franklin

January 17, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 59.7 MB

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 Ric...

349 The Women Behind Benjamin Franklin

January 17, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 59.7 MB

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 Ric...

348 Valley Forge

January 03, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 60.5 MB

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 W...

348 Ricardo Herrera, Valley Forge

January 03, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 60.5 MB

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 W...

Bonus: Craft in Early America

December 30, 2022 06:00 - 7 minutes - 9.33 MB

Thank you for being a subscriber! How did early Americans create all of the the things they needed and wanted in life? We re-visit with Glenn Adamson to answer more of your questions about trade and crafts work in Early America. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/292

347 African and African American Music

December 20, 2022 06:00 - 57 minutes - 52.7 MB

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 Afr...

347 Jon Beebe, African and African American Music

December 20, 2022 06:00 - 57 minutes - 52.7 MB

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 Afr...

346 Billy Coleman, Music and Politics in the Early United States

December 13, 2022 06:00 - 44 minutes - 40.7 MB

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...

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