What does it mean to escape? For David George, who was born enslaved in Virginia in the 1740s, the answer was never simple. He escaped his enslaver’s plantation, only to be captured by the Muscogee Creek. He escaped the Creek, only to find...
Thomas Jefferson wrote about 30 grievances against King George III in his draft of the Declaration of Independence. Congress adopted 27. One of the cut grievances accused the British king of waging cruel war against human nature itself, trafficking...
The British Army is at your door. They need a room. What do you do? For thousands of civilians living in cities occupied during the American War for Independence — Boston, New York, Newport, Philadelphia, Charleston, and Savannah — that question...
In November 1775, as tensions between the British Empire and its rebellious colonies continued to escalate, Virginia’s royal governor made a radical—and to some, terrifying—proclamation: Any enslaved person who fled a revolutionary enslaver and...
Have you ever noticed how conversations about the American Revolution often center on great battles, founding documents, and famous statesmen? What if, instead, we explored that world through the eyes—and the hands—of everyday people who shaped it...
When we talk about slavery in Early America, we often focus on plantations: their large, fertile fields, their cash crops, and the people who labored on those fields to produce those cash crops under conditions of enslavement. But what about the...
We often learn about slavery in early America through broad economic or political terms—cotton, sugar, markets, revolutions. But what happens when we turn our focus to the lived experiences of enslaved people themselves? What did slavery feel and...
When we think of slavery in Early America, we often think about the plantations and economies of the South. But did you know that slavery was also deeply entrenched in New York City? Did you know that Africans and African Americans helped New York...
Did you know that many of the food traditions that define cuisine in the United States today have roots in African American culinary history? Diane M. Spivey, a culinary historian and author of three culinary history books, joins us to uncover the...
Denmark Vesey’s failed revolt in 1822 could have been the largest insurrection of enslaved people against their enslavers in United States history. Not only was Vesey’s plan large in scale, but Charleston officials arrested well over one hundred...