“The United States came out of violence,” the historian Maya Jasanoff reminds us in our series “The American Revolution” (premiering tonight on PBS). And in 1776, the awful violence of war was centered in and around New York City. Between late August and mid-November, five significant battles were fought within New York City’s present-day borders … Read more
Ken Burns’ upcoming six-part, 12-hour documentary “The American Revolution” doesn’t just tell the story of icons like George Washington or Benjamin Franklin. The series, which premieres Sunday on PBS, brings to life the ordinary people — teenagers, women, free black Americans, immigrants, and ne’er-do-wells — who history usually crops out of the frame. We all … Read more
Documentary maker Ken Burns doesn’t think today’s polarized politics are anything new, especially for a country that, as he sees it, already had two civil wars — the American Revolution of 1776 and the 1861 war between the Union and Confederacy. “Every era thinks they’re Chicken Little, the sky is falling,” Burns said in an interview … Read more
Archaeologists at George Washington’s Mount Vernon have discovered dozens of glass jars filled with fruit preserves in the cellar of the historic Northern Virginia home that “likely haven’t seen the light of day since before the American Revolution.” Twenty-nine of the 35 bottles remain intact, and all contain either cherries, gooseberries or currants, the home and museum … Read more
This Connecticut town never forgets a traitor. Hundreds are expected to gather in New London Saturday for the Burning of Benedict Arnold Festival, during which a paper mâché figure of the disgraced American Revolutionary is torched to mark the anniversary of when Arnold led a group of more than 1,600 British soldiers to burn most … Read more
Americans may know the story behind Thanksgiving, but there’s more historical facts about how Thanksgiving became a national holiday. Source link
In the mid-1700s, any traveler of a certain class knew he was welcome to a bed and hot meal at George Washington’s Virginia estate, Mount Vernon. But contrary to customs of the time, Washington didn’t want his guests “ravishing” the property’s slaves. As one Major William North wrote to a friend, “Will you believe it? I … Read more