Ray Raphael discusses whether or not Samuel Adams really gave a "signal" for the Boston Tea Party, the real story of Paul Revere's ride, and the role of the average person in the events leading up to the American Revolution. Raphael focuses on the overlap of history and storytelling, and the creation of history-based mythology.
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Pulitzer-Prize-winning historian Joseph Ellis tells six stories from the early years of the American Republic, looking at the choices the Founding Fathers faced and the choices they made. Ellis examines the impact these decisions had on U.S. history and how they relate to current situations and life.
Professor Brendan McConville describes the systematic use of violence and intimidation by revolutionary committees and congresses leading up to the Revolutionary War. He focuses on the British view of these events as attacks and atrocities and on the degree to which the revolutionaries' methods contradicted today's idealistic view of Patriot colonists.
Pulitzer-Prize-winning author David McCullough talks about his book 1776, which covers the year 1776 in American history and the corresponding Revolutionary War events.
Author Hiller Zobel explores the death of Christopher Seider, an 11-year-old shot and killed during a riot on Feb. 22, 1770, and the trial of Boston loyalist Ebenezer Richardson for his murder. Zobel casts this as an event leading up to the Boston Massacre.
Historian Charles Bahne examines Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, "Paul Revere's Ride," looking at Longfellow's motivations for writing it, its writing, its publication and reception, its historical inaccuracies, and its enduring impact.
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A panel of scholars responds to the second part of the PBS miniseries Slavery and the Making of America, which focuses on the Northeast, and includes the story of Mum Bett, who sued for her freedom in Massachusetts and whose victory led to the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts in 1783.
NPR senior news analyst Cokie Roberts tells the stories of women who supported and took part in the Revolutionary War on the colonial side.
Director of the National Center for History in the Schools Gary Nash examines the stories of African Americans during the Revolutionary War and the early years of the United States. Nash focuses on the search to define identity by these African Americans, whether slave or free.
Director of the National Center for History in the Schools Gary Nash considers whether or not the Founding Fathers, in forming the United States of America, could have successfully abolished slavery.