In 1621, the Pilgrims of Plimoth (or Plymouth) Colony and their Wampanoag neighbors came together to celebrate their first harvest. Today we remember this event as the first Thanksgiving.
But what do we really know about this holiday and the people who celebrated it?
So much of what we know about the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving comes to us through myth and legend, which is why Rebecca Fraser, author of The Mayflower: The Families, the Voyage, and the Founding of America, joins us to help suss out fact from fiction.
About the Show
Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.
It is a show 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 a conversation with a historian who helps us shed light on important people and events in early American history.
Ben Franklin’s World is a production of the Omohundro Institute.
Episode Summary
Rebecca Fraser, a writer, biographer, and the author of The Mayflower: The Families, the Voyage, and the Founding of America, joins us to explore the historical facts behind the Pilgrims and their establishment of Plimoth Colony in 1620.
As we investigate the lives and experiences of the Pilgrims, Rebecca reveals details about the group we know as the Pilgrims and why they chose to migrate to North America; How the Pilgrims experienced their transatlantic crossing aboard the Mayflower; And information about how the Pilgrims established Plimoth Colony and celebrated the so-called first Thanksgiving.
What You’ll Discover
- The Pilgrims
- The Pilgrims’ time and lives in the Netherlands
- Worship of the Scrooby Congregation in Leiden
- How the Pilgrims’ faith differed from Anglicanism
- Differences between the Pilgrims and the Puritans
- Pilgrims’ decision to settle in North America
- Mayflower and the Pilgrims’ transatlantic voyage to North America
- Goods the Pilgrims brought to build their new homes in Plimoth
- How and why the Pilgrims came to settle at Plimoth
- The Pilgrims’ interactions with Native American peoples
- The Mayflower Compact
- Building Plimoth Colony
- The first Thanksgiving
- Biggest misconception about the Pilgrims and Plimoth
Links to People, Places, and Publications
- Rebecca Fraser
- Rebecca on The Biographers Club
- Rebecca on Twitter: @rfraserauthor
- The Mayflower: The Families, the Voyage and the Founding of America
- A People’s History of Britain
- Charlotte Brontë: A Writer’s Life
- Leiden American Pilgrim Museum
- Plimoth Plantation
- Witness
Seattle Meet Up Details
Sponsor Links
- Omohundro Institute
- Babbel (Use promo code BFWorld to save 50% on first 3 months)
Complementary Episodes
- Episode 095: Rose Doherty, A Tale of Two Bostons: The History of Boston, England & Boston, New England
- Episode 104: Andrew Lipman, The Saltwater Frontier: Europeans & Native Americans on the Northeastern Coast
- Episode 121: Wim Klooster, The Dutch Moment in the 17th-Century Atlantic World
- Episode 182: Douglas Winiarski, Darkness Falls on the Land of Light, the Great Awakening in New England
- Episode 191: Lisa Brooks, A New History of King Philip’s War
- Episode 209: Considering Biography
Time Warp Question
In your opinion, how might the history of New England and North America have been different if the Pilgrims stayed in the province of Holland?
Questions, Comments, Suggestions
Do you have a question, comment, or suggestion?
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