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Ben Franklin's world is a production of Colonial Williamsburg Innovation Studios.

There was an underground railroad in California and there was a mass exodus in 1858 of 800 African Americans

who fled to Vancouver. So I think we're living with a series of myths because

California was and has been a slave state.

Hello and welcome to episode 37 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.

And I'm your host, Liz Kovart. When we think of California, our minds might conjure sunny weather, Hollywood, beaches, wine country, or perhaps even the gold rush.

What we don't usually think about when we think about California is the state's long history

with slavery.

Gene Felser, a Californian and a professor of merit of English, Asian studies and women in

gender studies at the University of Delaware, joins us to lead us through some of California's long 250 year history of slavery

with details from her book, California, a slave state.

Now during our investigation of California's slave past, Jean reveals the great diversity of

California's indigenous populations prior to Spanish colonization.

Details about how and why the Spanish, Russians, Americans, and Chinese brought different forms of slavery to California,

and the truth about the myth that California entered the United States Union as a free state in 1850. But first, if you can believe it, our

400th episode will be published in December, and we need your help to figure out how we

should celebrate.

So what kind of episode would you like to hear for episode 400?

Right now we're asking this question of members of our listener community on Facebook.

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