Slavery Episodes

June 24, 2022

224. Unpacking the Slave Empire with Dr. Padraic Scanlan

In the early decades of the nineteenth century, the British Empire began dismantling the slave system that had helped to build it. Parliament banned the transatlantic slave trade in 1807, and in 1833 the government outlawed …
April 6, 2022

Introducing Intertwined Stories: Finding Hercules Posey

We're delighted to bring you one of the bonus episodes from our other podcast, Intertwined: The Enslaved Community at George Washington’s Mount Vernon . In Intertwined Stories , we're featuring extended interviews with some …
March 9, 2022

221. Reading the Political Poetry of Hannah Lawrence Schieffelin with Dr. Kait Tonti

Hannah Lawrence Schieffelin was an American poet who rhymed about some of the most important issues facing the early United States in the eighteenth century, including the British occupation of New York City during the Ameri…
Guest: Kait Tonti
Jan. 20, 2022

218. Finding Washington at the Plow with Dr. Bruce Ragsdale

In the 1760s, tobacco was one of Virginia’s chief exports. But George Washington turned away from the noxious plant and began dreaming of wheat and a more profitable future. Washington became enamored with new ideas powering…
Jan. 6, 2022

217. Exploring Star Territory with Dr. Gordon Fraser

In the 18th and 19th centuries, North Americans looked up at the sky in wonder at the cosmos and what lay beyond earth’s atmosphere. But astronomers like Benjamin Banneker, Georgia surveyors, Cherokee storytellers, and gover…
Guest: Gordon Fraser
Nov. 17, 2021

Previewing Episode 1 of Intertwined: The Enslaved Community at George Washington's Mount Vernon

On this week's show, we bring you Episode 1 of Intertwined: The Enslaved Community at George Washington's Mount Vernon. Entitled "Passages," it features the life of Sambo Anderson, who was just a boy when he was captured in …
Nov. 10, 2021

Intertwined: The Enslaved Community at George Washington's Mount Vernon (Coming November 15, 2021)

Intertwined tells the story of the more than 577 people enslaved by George and Martha Washington at Mount Vernon. Told through the biographies of Sambo Anderson, Davy Gray, William Lee, Kate, Ona Judge, Nancy Carter Quander,…
Oct. 23, 2021

213. Sailing to Freedom with Dr. Timothy D. Walker

In May 1796, an enslaved woman named Ona Judge fled the presidential household in Philadelphia and escaped to freedom on a ship headed for New Hampshire. Judge’s successful flight was one of many such escapes by the sea in t…
March 18, 2021

197. Stumbling Upon the Journal of Johann Peter Oettinger with Craig Koslofsky and Roberto Zaugg

Two weeks ago, we brought you the story of Johann Peter Oettinger, a seventeenth-century German-speaking barber-surgeon who in 1693 journeyed to Africa and the West Indies on behalf of the Brandenburg African Company. His jo…
March 4, 2021

196. Reconstructing the Life of a German Barber-Surgeon in the Atlantic Slave Trade with Craig Koslofsky and Roberto Zaugg

In 1693, the young German barber-surgeon Johann Peter Oettinger joined a slave trading venture for the second time. In the employ of the Brandenburg African Company, Oettinger sailed with his shipmates from Europe to the Afr…
Dec. 31, 2020

191. (Recast) The Only Unavoidable Subject of Regret with Mary Thompson: Part 2

This is Part Two of Jim Ambuske's July 2019 chat with Washington Library Research Historian Mary V. Thompson. We’re recasting it in celebration of her 40th anniversary at Mount Vernon. If you missed Part One, please do give …
Guest: Mary Thompson
Dec. 31, 2020

190. (Recast) The Only Unavoidable Subject of Regret with Mary Thompson: Part 1

Forty years ago, Mary V. Thompson began her career at Mount Vernon as a museum attendant and history interpreter. She was quickly promoted to Curatorial Assistant, and within a few short years was named Curatorial Registrar,…
Guest: Mary Thompson
Nov. 19, 2020

185. Seeking a City of Refuge in the Great Dismal Swamp with Marcus P. Nevius

The Great Dismal Swamp is a remarkable feature of the southern coastal plain. Spanning from Norfolk, Virginia to Elizabeth City, North Carolina, the Swamp is now a National Wildlife Refuge home to Bald cypress, black bears, …
Aug. 27, 2020

173. Tracing the History of the Syphax Family with Steve Hammond and Brenda Parker

The Syphax Family has deep historic ties to Mount Vernon and other sites of enslavement in Virginia. In 1821, Charles Syphax, an enslaved man at Arlington House in Northern Virginia, married Maria Carter, the daughter of a w…
Aug. 20, 2020

172. Exploring White Women as Slave Owners in the American South with Stephanie Jones-Rogers

It’s easy to think of slave holding as a male profession. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and countless other men are often the names that come to mind when we think about early Americans who held other p…