BFW Revisited: Smuggling and the American Revolution
British officials had a problem: Their American colonists wouldn't stop smuggling. Even after Parliament slashed tea prices and passed laws to make legal imports cheaper, colonists kept buying Dutch a...
23 Dec 20251h 21min
429 Coffee in Early America: Why Americans Really Drink Coffee
Think the Boston Tea Party made America a coffee-drinking nation? Historian Michelle McDonald reveals the truth: colonists were already choosing coffee over tea because it was cheaper. Michelle Craig ...
16 Dec 20251h
428 America's Forgotten Quest to Link Two Oceans
In the 1820s, American entrepreneurs, engineers, and politicians dared to dream big. They believed they could cut a canal, not through Panama, but through the wild, rain-soaked terrain of Nicaragua. T...
9 Dec 202558min
427 How States Are Planning the 250th: Commemorating the American Revolution in 2026
As we look ahead to the 250th anniversary—the semiquincentennial—of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, communities and commissions across the United States are asking big questions: How should w...
2 Dec 202549min
BFW Revisited: The Mayflower
Each November, we Americans come together to celebrate Thanksgiving, a holiday that invites us to reflect on gratitude, community, and the stories we tell about our past. But what do we really know ab...
25 Nov 202557min
426 Indigenous Agriculture and the Hidden Science of Native Foodways
As Thanksgiving approaches, many Americans are gathering to reflect on gratitude, family—and of course—food. It's the time of year when we may think about the so-called "First Thanksgiving" and imagi...
18 Nov 202550min
425 Ken Burns' The American Revolution
What does it take to bring the American Revolution to life? How can an event that took place 250 years ago be conveyed to us through modern-day film? Ken Burns and his team worked to answer these ques...
11 Nov 202552min
424 Dunmore's Proclamation & the American Revolution in Virginia
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 ...
4 Nov 20251h 3min
