354 The Sewing Girl’s Tale

2023-03-28

Download

History tells us who we are and how we came to be who we are. It also allows us to look back and see how far we’ve come as people and societies. Of course, history also has the power to show us how little has changed over time. John Wood Sweet, a professor of history at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and author of the book, The Sewing Girl’s Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America, winner of the 2023 Bancroft Prize in American History, joins us to investigate the first published rape trial in the United States and how one woman, Lanah Sawyer, bra...

John Wood Sweet, a professor of history at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and author of the book, The Sewing Girl’s Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America, winner of the 2023 Bancroft Prize in American History, joins us to investigate the first published rape trial in the United States and how one woman, Lanah Sawyer, bravely confronted the man who raped her by bringing him to court for his crime.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/354

Join Ben Franklin's World!

Subscribe and help us bring history right to your ears!

Sponsor Links

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Women’s History Month at Colonial Williamsburg

Complementary Episodes

Episode 020: Kyle Bulthuis, Four Steeples Over the City Streets
Episode 069: Abby Chandler, Law, Order, and Sexual Misconduct in Colonial New England
Episode 113: Brian Murphy, Building the Empire State
Episode 174: Thomas Apel, Yellow Fever in the Early American Republic
Episode 185: Joyce Goodfriend, Early New York City & Its Culture
Episode 190: Jennifer Goloboy, Origins of the American Middle Class
Episode 225: Elaine Forman Crane, The Poison Plot: Adultery & Murder In Colonial Newport
Episode 257: Catherine O’Donnell, Elizabeth Seton An Early American Life

Listen!