Ben Franklin's World is a production of the

O'Mohandro Institute.

Welcome to Ben Franklin's World,

Podcasts About Early American History with Liz Covert.

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

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

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

now here's your host Liz Koval.

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

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

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

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

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

the same sex marriage and stepper blended families.

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

family.

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

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

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

own their spouse and children.

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

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

...