Are there new ways of looking at oft-taught events that can help us see new details about them, even 250 years after they happened?
Serena Zabin, a Professor of History at Carleton College in Minnesota and the author of the award-winning book, The Boston Massacre: A Family History, joins us to discuss the Boston Massacre and how she found a new lens through which to view this famous event that reveals new details and insights.
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.
Ben Franklin’s World is a production of the Omohundro Institute.
Episode Summary
During our conversation, Serena reveals: why Americans are so interested in the Boston Massacre; How viewing the Boston Massacre through the lens of family reveals new details and context for the Massacre; And, details about Serena’s work to turn research about the Boston Massacre into a fun and educational video game.
What You’ll Discover
- Boston Massacre as a “chestnut of the American Revolution”
- The Boston Massacre
- Why Americans are so interested in the Massacre
- How the lens of family opens up new details about the Massacre
- Boston on the eve of the Boston Massacre
- Why the British Army occupied Boston
- The Townshend Duties & Boston’s reaction to them
- Number of soldiers in Boston
- Housing the British soldiers in Boston
- Quartering Act
- The women and children who accompanied the British Army
- The experiences of military families in 1770 Boston
- Impact of quartering 4 regiments in Boston in late the 1760s and 1770
- The Boston Massacre
- Creating a video game about the Boston Massacre
- Differences in eyewitness testimony
- The historical process for a creating a video game
- What we should know about the Boston Massacre
Links to People, Places, and Publications
- Serena Zabin
- Serena’s website
- Serena on Twitter
- The Boston Massacre: A Family History
- Edith Finch game
- Austin Mason
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Complementary Episodes
- Episode 159: Serena Zabin, The Revolutionary Economy
- Episode 228: Eric Hinderaker, The Boston Massacre
- Episode 229: Patrick Griffin, The Townshend Moment
- Episode 230: Mitch Kachun, The First Martyr of Liberty
- Episode 294: Mary Beth Norton, 1774: The Long Year of Revolution
In your opinion, what might have happened if the British Army had refused to transport the wives and children of its soldiers to Boston? How would the occupation of Boston and the Boston Massacre have been different if wives and children had been barred from accompanying the army?
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