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

Hello and welcome to Ben Franklin's World Revisited, a series of classic episodes to bring fresh perspective to our latest episodes and had deeper connections to our understanding of early American history.

And I'm your host, Liz Covart.

What does freedom mean when the deck is stacked against you?

To commemorate Black History Month, we're revisiting a story that's too

often overlooked, but critical to our understanding of early America. While we often think of

early American society in terms of stark contrasts, enslaved or free, wealthy or poor, the reality

was far more complex. In this episode, we'll revisit episode 328 from 2022 to uncover the lives of free

people of color in early America. These were black people who were free from enslavement,

but who stood in the shadow of slavery where they carved out lives of resilience and purpose.

Now, since we spoke in 2022, Warren Militier Jr. is now an associate professor of history at George

Washington University. Using details from his books, North Carolina's Free People of Color and Beyond Slavery

Shadow, Warren leads us on a journey from the colonial era through the American Revolution and into

the pre-Civil War period. Now, during our journey, Warren reveals where free people of color lived and thrived,

the surprising opportunities free people of color ceased during the American Revolution,

and the legal battles they faced just to exist in early American society.

This is a story of courage, determination, and what it truly means to fight

for a place in the world. I hope you enjoy as we revisit our conversation with Warren and

re-explore the complexities and contradictions of freedom in early America. Our guest is an assistant professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

His research expertise is in the early American South, free people of color, race, slavery, and Native

America.

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