Corinne Dame, an actor-interpreter at Colonial Williamsburg, describes the work involved in researching and portraying a variety of historical characters, including Frances Davenport, an upper-middling wife, married to Matthew Davenport, a clerk of the courts; Barbry Hoy, whose husband enlists in the Army during the Revolutionary War; and Elizabeth Maloney, who has two children with a slave.

Jason Whitehead, supervisor of historic masonry training at Colonial Williamsburg, discusses the process of making bricks according to colonial-era practices.

Bill White, Executive Producer and Director of Educational Program Development at Colonial Williamsburg, discusses the range of the slave trade and its importance to the colonial and global economy, as well as Colonial Wiliamsburg's efforts to educate on the slave trade and slavery in general.

James Ingram, a character interpreter at Colonial Williamsburg, describes the life of Gowan Pamphlet, a colonial tavern slave who, influenced by the Great Awakening, became a Baptist slave preacher. For the first part of this interview, click here.

Note: this podcast is no longer available. To view a transcript of the original podcast, click here.

James Ingram, a character interpreter at Colonial Williamsburg, describes the early life of Gowan Pamphlet, a colonial tavern slave who, influenced by the Great Awakening, would eventually become a slave preacher. For the second part of this interview, click here.

Note: this podcast is no longer available. To view a transcript of the original podcast, click here.

Bridgette Houston, an African American interpreter at Colonial Williamsburg, discusses the process of manumission, by which slaves in colonial Virginia might be freed.

Colonial Williamsburg actor-interpreter James Ingram details the life of Matthew Ashby, a free black man who purchased his wife and two children in order to set them free.

Historian Cathy Hellier explains the differences between modern American English and the English of the colonists during the 1700s; she looks also at new ideas on the dialect of African Americans in the Williamsburg area at the time. Click here to learn more about 18th century speech.

Headmistress Ann Wager taught at the Bray School in Williamsburg, VA, from 1760 to 1774, educating enslaved children. Interpreter Antoinette Brennan shares details from Wager's life and describes the school and its operations.

Relating the daily lives of America's ancestors is the product of research and performance. Performer Kat Getward shares the part that music plays in the Electronic Field Trip "Making History Live."