Hey everybody. So on this day, in 1865, 160 years ago, Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, to bring the news of freedom to some of the last enslaved people in the United States. It had already been nearly two years since emancipation, but news

moved slowly back then. And so today is Juneteenth. And so today we are taking the day off,

and we're also going to play for you one of our favorite classic episodes. It's a story about

emancipation. I think you're going to like it.

It's a good one. Producer Baudelaire Seuss brings us this story. I'll let him take it from here.

In Sheffield, Massachusetts, in 1773, Revolution was in the air. And Colonel John Ashley was at the center.

He was a local businessman, and he often hosted other businessmen in his home

to discuss what revolution from the British Empire could look like.

These men were plotting out the ideals of a new nation.

There's a committee of 12 people who are meeting in this little study upstairs.

They're throwing their ideas around and they're writing it out.

That's Mark Wilson.

He's the associate curator and manager of the Ashley's home, which was turned into a museum.

The Sheffield Resolves is basically a statement of grievances against British occupation.

And they're writing things like, you know, we are slaves to the king.

These, you know, white individuals are writing, we are slaves to the king, but they are slave

holders themselves.

In fact, while Colonel John Ashley was having these meetings in the attic, an enslaved woman

he owned was attending to the men.

Her name was Elizabeth, and she was listening.

So she's standing in the room, in the door, bringing food and drink out, and so she hears what

is being spoken of in that room about this statement against, I don't want to be

...