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Ben Franklin's World

217 Jessica Millward, Slavery and Freedom in Early Maryland

Ben Franklin's World

Liz Covart

Earlyrepublic, History, Benfranklin, Society & Culture, Warforindependence, Earlyamericanrepublic, Earlyamericanhistory, Education, Colonialamerica, Americanrevolution, Ushistory, Benjaminfranklin

4.61.5K Ratings

🗓️ 18 December 2018

⏱️ 49 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How do you uncover the life of an enslaved person who left no paper trail?

What can the everyday life of an enslaved person tell us about slavery, how it was practiced, and how some enslaved people made the transition from slavery to freedom?

We explore the life of Charity Folks, an enslaved woman from Maryland who gained her freedom in the late-18th century. Our guide through Charity’s life is Jessica Millward, an Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine and author of Finding Charity’s Folk: Enslaved and Free Black Women in Maryland.

This episode originally posted as Episode 089.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/217

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Ben Franklin's World is a production of the

0:02.6

O'Mohandro Institute.

0:04.0

Welcome to Ben Franklin's World,

0:08.0

Podcasts About Early American History with Liz Covert.

0:11.0

The study of history is key to understanding who we are and how we can

0:15.5

affect the better future. Ben Franklin's world will introduce you to historical people

0:20.6

and events that have impacted and shaped our present day world. people and

0:24.4

now here's your host Liz Koval.

0:27.2

Hello and welcome to episode 217 of Ben Franklin's world

0:32.0

the podcast dedicated to helping you, learn more about how the people

0:36.2

and events of our early American past have shaped the present day world we live in.

0:41.0

This episode marks the third episode in our four episode series about family in early America.

0:45.0

Now over the last two episodes we've explored the dynamics of two different types of early American family,

0:51.0

the same sex marriage and stepper blended families.

0:54.3

In this episode, we're going to explore a third type of early American family, the African-American

0:59.3

family.

1:00.3

Now, just the same-sex married couples and blended families had interesting dynamics to negotiate, so too did African American families.

1:08.0

Often, these early American families had to negotiate with unique challenges presented by slavery, such as a situation

1:15.3

where one spouse and parent belonged to and lived with a different slaveholder than the one who

1:19.1

own their spouse and children.

1:21.0

Or a situation where parent, spouses, and children lived in completely different states from one another.

1:26.0

Or a situation where some family members were free while others were enslaved.

...

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