How do we uncover queer lives from the distant past, especially in an era when language and records often erased or obscured them?

What did queerness look like in early America, and how might it have intersected with power, religion, and empire on the eve of the American Revolution? 

John McCurdy, a Professor of History and Philosophy at Eastern Michigan University and the author of Vicious and Immoral: Homosexuality, the American Revolution, and the Trials of Robert Newburgh, joins us to explore these questions through the remarkable story of British Army Chaplain Robert Newburgh.

John's EMU Webpage | Book 

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/414

 
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 002: "That's So Gay" Exhibit, Library Company
🎧 Episode 004: Sex and the Founding Fathers
🎧 Episode 013: Charity & Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America
🎧 Episode 278: Polygamy: An Early American History
🎧 Episode 354: The Sewing Girl's Tale
🎧 Episode 359: Transing Gender in Early America

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June 17, 2025, marks the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, the first full-scale battle of what would become the American War for Independence.

Although technically a British victory, Bunker Hill proved that colonial soldiers could hold their own against the might of the British Empire. New England militiamen inflicted 1,054 casualties on the British, 50 percent of the British force. The New Englanders sustained 411 casualties that day, including the man who stood at the heart of this battle: Dr. Joseph Warren.

Who was Dr. Joseph Warren, and why did he risk his life in the first major battle of the Revolutionary War? What drove this physician, political thinker, and revolutionary leader to become the face of the American Revolution in Boston?

Christian Di Spigna, Executive Director of the Dr. Joseph Warren Foundation, joins us to explore these questions and commemorate this important anniversary with details from his book, Founding Martyr: The Life and Death of Dr. Joseph Warren, the American Revolution’s Lost Hero.

Christian’s Foundation | Book 

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/413
 
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 130: Paul Revere's Ride Through History
🎧 Episode 301: From Innoculation to Vaccination, Part 1
🎧 Episode 350: The Revolutionary Samuel Adams
🎧 Episode 388: John Hancock
🎧 Episode 409: The Battles of Lexington & Concord

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Juneteenth, the holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, is nearly upon us, and it offers us the perfect moment for reflection.

What do we know about Juneteenth? Where did this holiday begin? And how has it grown from a regional commemoration into a national conversation about freedom, equality, and memory?

In this episode, we return to our conversation with Annette Gordon-Reed in Episode 304. A native Texan and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, Annette brings both personal insight and deep historical knowledge to her book On Juneteenth, which is a rich meditation on Texas history, African American identity, and the long arc of emancipation.

Annette’s Website | Book | Bluesky

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/304
 
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 067: Cattle Colonialism
🎧 Episode 115: The Early History of Texas
🎧 Episode 117: The Life and Ideas of Thomas Jefferson
🎧 Episode 139: The Other Slavery
🎧 Episode 281: The Business of Slavery
🎧 Episode 282: Tacky's Revolt

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It might surprise you, but in the 18th century, people across the globe were reckoning with colder-than-usual weather brought on by the Little Ice Age—a centuries-long chill that made heating homes more urgent than ever.

At the same time, early Americans were cutting down trees at an unsustainable pace to stay warm. Enter Benjamin Franklin.

In this episode, Harvard historian Joyce Chaplin joins us to explore how Franklin tackled this problem by designing five different stove models, and what these innovations reveal about early American science, sustainability, and life with fire.

Joyce’s Website | Book

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/412
 
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 015: Round About the Earth: Circumnavigation from Magellan to Orbit
🎧 Episode 086: Benjamin Franklin in London
🎧 Episode 169: The Religious Life of Benjamin Franklin
🎧 Episode 189: The Little Ice Age
🎧 Episode 207: Young Benjamin Franklin
🎧 Episode 397: Native Nations

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To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Second Continental Congress, this episode revisits the origins of the United States Congress and how early Americans built a representative government from revolutionary ideals.

Historians Matt Wasniewski and Terrence Ruckner of the Office of the Historian of the U.S. House of Representatives join us to explore how Congress evolved from its colonial and revolutionary predecessors into the bicameral legislature established by the Constitution.

House History Office Website

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/202
 
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 040: For Fear of an Elected King
🎧 Episode 078: Washington Brotherhood
🎧 Episode 153: Governments of the American Revolution
🎧 Episode 179: Governance During the Critical Period
🎧 Episode 338: The Early History of the United States Senate

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Two hundred fifty years ago, in May 1775, delegates from thirteen British North American colonies gathered in Philadelphia for the Second Continental Congress. 

Why was Philadelphia chosen as the seat of Congress? What made the city a critical hub for revolutionary ideas, commerce, and culture? And how has Philadelphia’s early history shaped the broader narrative of American Independence? 

Paul Kahan, a historian of American political, economic, and urban history, joins us to explore Philadelphia’s early American history with details from his book. Philadelphia: A Narrative History, the first comprehensive history book about Philadelphia in over 40 years.

Paul’s Website | Book 

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/411
 
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 153: Committees and Congresses: Governments of the American Revolution
🎧 Episode 242: A History of Early Delaware
🎧 Episode 332: Experiences of Revolution, Pt 1: Occupied Philadelphia
🎧 Episode 352: James Forten and the Making of the United States
🎧 Episode 379: Women Healers in Early America
🎧 Episode 396: Carpenters' Hall and the First Continental Congress
🎧 Episode 402: Clocks, Watches, and Life in Early America

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What did friendship between men and women look like in the decades following the American Revolution? Could emotional closeness and intellectual kinship flourish outside of marriage— and without scandal?

In this episode, we revisit our earlier conversation with historian Cassandra Good, author of Founding Friendships: Friendships between Men and Women in the Early American Republic. Building on our recent exploration of love and advice in 1690s England, we take a closer look at how early Americans navigated the shifting social norms of gender, intimacy, and platonic relationships.

Cassie’s Website | Book

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/094

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This is a 30-second trailer for Ben Franklin's World.

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When did people begin seeking anonymous advice for their most profound personal dilemmas? What can the answers to their early questions tell us about the emotional lives of people in the past? 

We’re traveling back in time to 1690s England to explore the world’s first personal advice column, The Athenian Mercury. This two-sided broadsheet publication invited readers to send in questions about anything–from science and religion to love and marriage– and its creators, a small group of Londoners who dubbed themselves the “Athenian Society,” answered these queries with a surprising blend of wit, morality, and insight.

Joining us for this investigation is Mary Beth Norton, the Mary Donlon Alger Professor Emerita at Cornell University and award-winning historian who is a trailblazer in the field of early American women's history.

Mary Beth's Bio | Book

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/410
 
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 094: Founding Friendships
🎧 Episode 112: The Tea Crisis of 1773
🎧 Episode 155: Pauline Maier's American Revolution
🎧 Episode 294: 1774, The Long Year of Revolution

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Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride is one of the most famous events in American history. On the night of April 18, 1775, Revere set out to warn the Massachusetts countryside that British regulars were marching to seize rebel supplies in Concord. Revere’s name has become legendary, immortalized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous poem, The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.

But how much do we really know about Paul Revere beyond that single night?

In this revisited episode, we’ll explore the history and memory of Paul Revere. Why has he endured as a national icon, while other revolutionary couriers and figures have faded from public consciousness? How does the story of Revere’s ride illustrate the power of historical memory? And what does Revere’s real life—beyond that one night—tell us about the American Revolution and the ways we remember it?

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/130

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April 19, 2025 marked the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord—the moment the American Revolution turned from protest to war.

What do we really know about that fateful day? How did the people of Concord prepare for what they faced in April 1775?

David Wood, the longtime curator of the Concord Museum and the author of Eyewitness to Revolution: The American Revolution in the Concord Museum, joins us to explore answers to these questions.

Concord Museum Website | Book |

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/409

RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES

🎧 Episode 112: The Tea Crisis of 1773

🎧 Episode 129: The Road to Concord

🎧 Episode 130: Paul Revere's Ride Through History

🎧 Episode 158: The Revolutionaries' Army

🎧 Episode 229: The Townshend Moment

🎧 Episode 401: Tea, Boycotts, and Revolution

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