Ben Franklin's World is a production of the Yomohundro Institute.

Hello and welcome to episode 310 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 with a van.

And I'm your host, Liz Covart.

The history of early America is vast and complex.

It's a history that requires us to understand the people and events of at least four different

continents across four different centuries.

This is why we always have so much to discuss on Ben Franklin's world.

The history of early America is really vast.

Now in order for us to understand the early American history of North America, we need

to investigate and understand North America as an indigenous space.

Native American populations, politics, religion, and trade networks prevailed throughout the

North American continent for centuries before and centuries after the arrival of Europeans

and enslaved Africans.

So today, we're going to travel into the heart of the North American continent to explore

the life, history, and culture of the Black people, one of the many indigenous peoples

who lived in North America during the early American period and who still live in North

America today.

In ethno-botnist and word-winning indigenous writer Rosalind LePierre, we'll serve as

our guide for this exploration.

Rosalind is a professor of environmental studies at the University of Montana, and she's

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