
Found in Philadelphia
27 episodes
Episode No. 26 – In Conversation with Elijah Anderson: Studying Culture on Philly Streets, Part 2
Over the past 50 years, the streets of Philadelphia have been a living laboratory for ethnographer Elijah Anderson. He’s been on the ground here since 1975 studying the people and the culture of our city. He’s published his findings in a series of groundbreaking books that have brought the lessons he’s learned in Philly to the rest of the world. This is the second half of a two-part series. In this episode, we’ll pick up the story where Professor Anderson tries to understand the rise in violence in Philly streets. Elijah Anderson is currently the Sterling Professor of Sociology and of African American Studies at Yale University. He’s the author of A Place on the Corner (1978), Streetwise (1990), Code of the Street (1999), the Cosmopolitan Canopy (2011), and Black in White Space (2021). In 2021, Professor Anderson was awarded the international Stockholm Prize in Criminology for his pioneering work. The Stockholm Prize in Criminology is awarded for outstanding achievement in criminological research and the advancement of human rights. Code of the Streets is being re-released by W.W. Norton in Spring 2025 with a new introduction by Professor Anderson. The post Episode No. 26 – In Conversation with Elijah Anderson: Studying Culture on Philly Streets, Part 2 first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.
Episode No. 25 – In Conversation with Elijah Anderson: Studying the Culture of Philly Streets, Part 1
Over the past 50 years, the streets of Philadelphia have been a living laboratory for ethnographer Elijah Anderson. He’s been on the ground here since 1975 studying the people and the culture of our city. He’s published his findings in a series of groundbreaking books that have brought the lessons he’s learned in Philly to the rest of the world. Over two episodes, we’ll learn how Professor Anderson became an ethnographer, what drew him to the streets of Philadelphia, and what he learned there. Elijah Anderson is currently the Sterling Professor of Sociology and of African American Studies at Yale University. He’s the author of A Place on the Corner (1978), Streetwise (1990), Code of the Street (1999), the Cosmopolitan Canopy (2011), and Black in White Space (2021). In 2021, Professor Anderson was awarded the international Stockholm Prize in Criminology for his pioneering work. The Stockholm Prize in Criminology is awarded for outstanding achievement in criminological research and the advancement of human rights. Code of the Streets is being re-released by W.W. Norton in Spring 2025 with a new introduction by Professor Anderson. The post Episode No. 25 – In Conversation with Elijah Anderson: Studying the Culture of Philly Streets, Part 1 first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.
Episode No. 24 – Election Day on the Streets of Philadelphia (Part 4 – The 20th Century City)
Casting a ballot on Election Day transformed into a completely different experience in the early twentieth century. Generally, voting in Philadelphia moved indoors, grew safer, more inclusive, and, maybe, a little boring. Or has it? Our guest for this series is Professor Mark Brewin, Associate Professor of Media Studies, at the University of Tulsa. This mini-series relies heavily on Professor Brewin’s 2008 book Celebrating Democracy: The Mass Mediated Ritual of Election Day. If you want to learn more and see images of Election Day in Philadelphia throughout history, follow this link to read the Election Day in Philadelphia Companion Blog. You’ll find a full list of my sources there as well. This episode was mixed by The Wave Podcasting. Guitar, bass and drums played by Kai Reuter.The post Episode No. 24 – Election Day on the Streets of Philadelphia (Part 4 – The 20th Century City) first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.
Episode No. 23 – Election Day on the Streets of Philadelphia (Part 3 – The Gilded Age City)
Voting changed after the Civil War in the newly consolidated City of Philadelphia. More men could vote on Election Day than ever before, and the vast majority of them did, though not without deadly violence. Government corruption also expanded. The Pennsylvania Republican party machine blatantly manipulated the vote. Yet, no one did much about it. Our guest for this series is Professor Mark Brewin, Associate Professor of Media Studies, at the University of Tulsa. This mini-series relies heavily on Professor Brewin’s 2008 book Celebrating Democracy: The Mass Mediated Ritual of Election Day. If you want to learn more and see images of Election Day in Philadelphia throughout history, follow this link to read the Election Day in Philadelphia Companion Blog. You’ll find a full list of my sources there as well. This episode was mixed by The Wave Podcasting. Guitar, bass and drums played by Kai Reuter. The post Episode No. 23 – Election Day on the Streets of Philadelphia (Part 3 – The Gilded Age City) first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.
Episode No. 22 – Election Day on the Streets of Philadelphia (Part 2 – The New American Capital)
The founding fathers wanted to pretend that the government of the newly formed United States stood above faction. But organizing and get out the vote tactics in the streets of Philadelphia proved this wasn’t true. By 1830, political parties had become a driving force behind Election Day. Voting was now a partisan contest limited to only white men. In Philly, the day had a wild, festival feeling that could, and often did, turn violent. Our guest for this series is Professor Mark Brewin, Associate Professor of Media Studies, at the University of Tulsa. This mini-series relies heavily on Professor Brewin’s 2008 book Celebrating Democracy: The Mass Mediated Ritual of Election Day. If you want to learn more and see images of Election Day in Philadelphia throughout history, follow this link to read the Election Day in Philadelphia Companion Blog. You’ll find a full list of my sources there as well. This episode was mixed by The Wave Podcasting. Guitar, bass and drums played by Kai Reuter.The post Episode No. 22 – Election Day on the Streets of Philadelphia (Part 2 – The New American Capital) first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.
Episode No. 21 – Election Day on the Streets of Philadelphia (Part 1 – The Colonial City)
Colonial Philadelphia’s government provided a striking contrast to the more egalitarian, consensus-driven leadership of the Native American Lenape. Election Day in colonial Philadelphia placed a spotlight on the social hierarchy with a highly orchestrated, political ritual where wealthy male voters took the stage. But maintaining the high ground wasn’t always easy. Our guest for this series is Professor Mark Brewin, Associate Professor of Media Studies, at the University of Tulsa. This mini-series relies heavily on Professor Brewin’s 2008 book Celebrating Democracy: The Mass Mediated Ritual of Election Day. If you want to learn more and see images of Election Day in Philadelphia throughout history, follow this link to read the Election Day in Philadelphia Companion Blog. You’ll find a full list of my sources there as well. This episode was mixed by The Wave Podcasting. Guitar, bass and drums played by Kai Reuter.The post Episode No. 21 – Election Day on the Streets of Philadelphia (Part 1 – The Colonial City) first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.
Episode No. 20: These are the People in the Gilded Age, Part 2 – Women and Reform
These are the women’s movement histories that you haven’t heard. After the Civil War, women from all walks of life worked to make Philadelphia a better place. Some tried to clean up the streets. Some walked the streets in protest. And some continued, quietly, to improve their everyday lives through community and collective action. If you learned something new in the episode, don’t forget to leave a review and tell a friend about the podcast! Find out what I couldn’t fit into this episode at the companion blog for Episode 20 at FoundinPhiladelphia.com. You’ll also find historical images and find a full list of resources for this episode. Purchase books that inspired the podcast while supporting your local bookstore (and this podcast!) at bookshop.org/shop/foundinphilly. This episode was edited and mixed by The Wave Podcasting.The post Episode No. 20: These are the People in the Gilded Age, Part 2 – Women and Reform first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.
Episode No. 19: These are the People in the Gilded Age (Part 1)
When you walk around the city at night, do you enjoy the glimpses you get of other people’s well-lit homes? If you do (and who doesn’t?), then this episode is for you. We’re going to peer into the homes of the different people living in Philadelphia during the Gilded Age. We’ll look at how they lived, what they ate, and explore what happened when they all met in the street. If you enjoy the episode, don’t forget to leave a review and tell a friend about the podcast! Check out some historical images and find a full list of resources for this episode in the companion blog for Episode 19 at FoundinPhiladelphia.com. Purchase books that inspired the podcast while supporting your local bookstore (and this podcast!) at bookshop.org/shop/foundinphilly. This episode was edited and mixed by The Wave Podcasting.The post Episode No. 19: These are the People in the Gilded Age (Part 1) first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.
Episode No. 18 – Philly Streets in the Gilded Age: Depression, Development, and Deadly Trolleys
Despite cycles of economic depression, Philadelphia transformed during the Gilded Age. Entire neighborhoods sprang up to house a growing population. Major infrastructure projects changed how people experienced the street. For some, it was a time of marvels. For others, it brought new perils to the street. To see historical images and find a full list of resources for this episode, check out the companion blog for Episode 18 at FoundinPhiladelphia.com. Purchase books that inspired the podcast while supporting your local bookstore (and this podcast!) at bookshop.org/shop/foundinphilly. If you enjoyed the episode, don’t forget to leave a review!The post Episode No. 18 – Philly Streets in the Gilded Age: Depression, Development, and Deadly Trolleys first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.
NEW Mini Episode No. 17 – Philadelphia Blue Stockings: Women and Baseball in the 19th Century
A 144-year old hotel register from Springfield, Ohio, sends us on the trail of the fly-by-night Philadelphia Blue Stockings. The pursuit will take us through the rough-and-tumble world of late 19th century baseball as we uncover the precarious place of women in sport. WARNING: This episode deals with sexual abuse of minors and may not be suitable for everyone. Support your local bookstore and the podcast by buying books that inspired this episode at https://bookshop.org/shop/foundinphilly.The post NEW Mini Episode No. 17 – Philadelphia Blue Stockings: Women and Baseball in the 19th Century first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.
REBROADCAST Episode No. 4 – The Fight for Philly’s Streetcars
We’re rebroadcasting this earlier episode about the Black community’s fight to integrate Philly’s streetcars in the years following the Civil War 1865-1871. This story fits into the timeline of the series on the history of Philly’s streets. It details the legislative and physical battles fought to win access to public transportation in Philadelphia. Stay tuned as we continue to work on new episodes in this series on the history of Philly’s streets. The post REBROADCAST Episode No. 4 – The Fight for Philly’s Streetcars first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.
Episode No. 16 – Civil War Flows through Philly Streets
Philadelphia, like the rest of the nation, was poorly prepared for war. When the Civil War broke out, the cobbled-together city became a key part of the North’s thrown-together war machine. The war flowed through Philly streets, where city residents fought to make the best of a bad situation. To see historical images and find a full list of resources for this episode, check out the companion blog for Episode 16 at FoundinPhiladelphia.com. Purchase books that inspired the podcast while supporting your local bookstore (and this podcast!) at bookshop.org/shop/foundinphilly. If you enjoyed the episode, don’t forget to leave a review!The post Episode No. 16 – Civil War Flows through Philly Streets first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.
Episode No. 15 – Streetcars Seize the Streets
In a remarkably short period of time, the newly consolidated city of Philadelphia was covered in rails. These rails ushered in a transit revolution: the horse-drawn streetcar. From 1858 to 1861, the streetcar transformed Philly streets. It filled a major gap in the city’s existing, patchwork transportation system. But the streetcar also disrupted city life because demolition, greed, and racism ran along those rails too. To see historical images and find a full list of resources for this episode, check out the companion blog for Episode 15 at FoundinPhiladelphia.com. Purchase books that inspired the podcast while supporting your local bookstore (and this podcast!) at bookshop.org/shop/foundinphilly. Contribute to the fundraiser to erect a gravestone marker for Caroline Le Count in Eden Cemetery at GoFundMe https://www.gofundme.com/f/honor-caroline-lecount-philadelphias-rosa-parks/share Find out how you can get involved with the Rename Taney effort online at https://www.renametaney.com/and on Instagram @rename_taney Learn more about the amazing work of the Young Chances Foundation http://www.youngchancesfoundation.org/The post Episode No. 15 – Streetcars Seize the Streets first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.
Episode No. 14 – Violence in the Streets: The Origins of our Modern City
What kind of city did Philadelphia want to be? There were lots of different opinions in the 1840s and 1850s, but everyone agreed: it did not want to be like this. Our modern city was born out of the ashes of racist violence and anti-immigrant riots. During unstable times, the streets themselves became a weapon used by mobs to break, bludgeon, and burn. The efforts to restore order in the streets moved Philly towards the modern city we know today. To see historical images and find a full list of resources for this episode, check out the companion blog for Episode 14 at FoundinPhiladelphia.com. Purchase books that inspired the podcast while supporting your local bookstore (and this podcast!) at bookshop.org/shop/foundinphilly.The post Episode No. 14 – Violence in the Streets: The Origins of our Modern City first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.
Episode No. 13 – Steam, Steam (kind of) Revolution: Philly Streets in the 1830s and 40s
This episode is all about change and disruption. Early factories were changing the way Philadelphia worked, and it wasn’t pretty. Dismal conditions brought workers together in the streets to demand reforms, which were derailed by an economic collapse. In the background, steam technology was about to transform Philly’s streets. A frenzy of railroad construction in the city brought chaos, as railways unsettled the traditions of street life in an expanding, explosive Philadelphia. Explore historical maps and images, and see a full list of my sources, in the companion blog for this episode at FoundinPhiladelphia.com. Purchase books that inspired the podcast while supporting your local bookstore at bookshop.org/shop/foundinphilly. Any questions or comments? You can contact the podcast on the “About” page of the website, or on Instagram. And if you’re enjoying the show, help others find it by leaving a review! Thank you!The post Episode No. 13 – Steam, Steam (kind of) Revolution: Philly Streets in the 1830s and 40s first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.
Episode No. 12 – Philly Streets in the Early Republic
Life overflowed onto the streets of Philadelphia in the Early Republic. The streets were intensely social spaces, but could also be extremely dangerous. As the city grew, it began to take an interest in its past. Street life ebbed and flowed around a boozy calendar of events, where the powerful displayed the proper order of things, and the working class turned that proper order on its head. Find out more and see a full bibliography in the companion blog for this episode at FoundinPhiladelphia.com. Join the podcast and Beyond the Bell Tours for our joint “Badass Women’s History Tour” on July 21, 2022, at 6:30pm. Book you tickets here, or find the tour at BeyondtheBellTours.com. You can page through the 1810 Cries of Philadelphia children’s book here; and learn about the history of pepper pot stew in Philly from food historian Tonya Hopkins here.The post Episode No. 12 – Philly Streets in the Early Republic first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.
Episode No. 11 – The American Revolution on Philly’s Streets
The United States of America was street tested in Philly. From the chaos of the American Revolution, to its role as the national capital of the early Republic, Philadelphia was a messy, testing ground for seeing how the ideas of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness were lived by people on the street. The city was a place of divided loyalties and social divisions that played out in public. Streets were the stage for political theater, where mainstream and dissenting voices vied for control during war and its aftermath. And all of this turmoil took place against a backdrop of recurring public health crises. Check out the companion block to find out more, get a full bibliography, and see some period images FoundinPhiladelphia.com. Shop the Found in Philly Bookshop at Bookshop.org/shop/foundinphilly. Get out and see some Philly history for yourself with Beyond the Bell Tours.The post Episode No. 11 – The American Revolution on Philly’s Streets first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.
Episode No. 10 – Philly Streets in the 1700s
Philadelphia in the 1700s is a tale of two cities. The city is innovative and forward thinking about improving public spaces. But the city is also a place of deeply entrenched inequality. And you can see it in the streets. From small colonial town, to the largest city in British North America, Philadelphia’s wealth and prosperity is built with the bound labor of enslaved Africans and desperately poor, white indentured servants. The city grows by criss-crossing Penn’s large city blocks with alleyways and courts, where smaller and smaller houses shelter the working class, while the wealthy live in bigger houses on the main streets. For everyone, the streets are dirty, dark, and dangerous. And the city has few resources to make things better. But something’s got to change, and some things do. Find out more at FoundinPhiladelphia.com. Check out the podcast bookstore at Bookshop.org/shop/foundinphilly. You can support both the podcast and your favorite local bookstore while shopping for books. You can also get outside, with real people, who are interested in the history of Philadelphia at Beyond the Bell Tours.The post Episode No. 10 – Philly Streets in the 1700s first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.
Episode No. 9 – A Guide to Why Streets Matter, plus Philly’s Early Streets
Streets are our most basic, and fundamental, public spaces. Cities can’t work without them. But we tend to take them for granted. The everyday-ness of the street gives us a false sense that the streets were always there, pretty much doing the same thing. But our streets have a history too. In this episode, we’ll get in to why streets, and their history, matter. And then we’ll discuss some of the early history revealed by Philly’s streets. Find out more at the companion blog for this episode at FoundinPhiladelphia.com. You can also get outside, with real people, who are interested in the history of Philadelphia at Beyond the Bell Tours. If you enjoy the episode, don’t forget to rate the podcast and leave a review. Thank you!The post Episode No. 9 – A Guide to Why Streets Matter, plus Philly’s Early Streets first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.
Episode No. 8 – History of the Street… Coming soon!
trailerAt long last… the Found in Philadelphia podcast is back with a new series about the history of Philly’s streets. It’s been… a pandemic. But it feels good to be back. While you’re waiting, check out some Philly history in the news: The amazing Sha’von Smith and the Grounded Theatre Company continue to produce original works that are inspired by history. See what they’re up to next at www.groundedtheatrecompany.org, and bring the theatre production to your school courtesy of the Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion. Residents choose to rename their street after Caroline Le Count! Read all about it at www.renametaney.com. Archeological excavations continue at the James West shipyard site along Columbus Boulevard, revealing insights into Philadelphia’s early trading history. Philly’s 7th Ward Tribute project is working with artists on a place-based experience to be installed later this year. Stay tuned at www.7thwardtribute.com Beyond the Bell Tours is back in person, offering inclusive history tours for visitors and locals alike at www.beyondthebelltours.com. Get in touch on your Instagram or at the Found in Philadelphia podcast website.The post Episode No. 8 – History of the Street… Coming soon! first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.
Episode No. 7 – Women and the Centennial
Women are organizing to fund raise for the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, a moment when our city and our nation will be at the center of an international stage. The United States will be celebrating 100 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The country has just survived a bloody Civil War and is in the middle of Reconstruction. But questions remain about whose country this is anyway, who has the right to lead, and whose role it is to serve. Black American women in Philadelphia have some very clear ideas about that, but they don’t always agree on how best to achieve their goals within the narrow options that are available. This story is about Philadelphia in the 1870s, but it remains relevant today. It’s about inclusion, what it means to be an American citizen, and whose histories matter. For those in positions of power, for those talking about being “inclusive,” this story has some powerful lessons for us today. Links: Find out more and see a full bibliography and additional images in the companion blog for this episode at https://foundinphiladelphia.com/. You can attend actor Shav’on Smith’s “Tea with Frederick Douglass” event at the Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion at https://ebenezermaxwellmansion.org/tea-with-frederick-douglass/ Please participate in the Found in Philadelphia podcast survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Y23Q8S5 And for some additional visuals for this episode, you can check out the podcast on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/found.in.philadelphia/The post Episode No. 7 – Women and the Centennial first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.
Episode No. 6 – Philadelphia Public Schools and Caroline Le Count: Part 2
Philadelphia, 1867. A 21-year-old Black woman was recently appointed principal of a new public school on a small alley in the Seventh Ward. This woman is Caroline Le Count, and she will go on to build the largest Philadelphia public school with an all Black student body, and an all Black teaching staff. But Le Count’s successful experiment will be short lived, and we are still living with the consequences of that fallout today. In the years following the Civil War, Philadelphia invested in its public school system and developed new types of schools. We might recognize some of these today. They included “normal” schools for training teachers, industrial schools for the skilled trades, select magnet high schools, and night schools for adults. Pioneering African-American educators saw an opportunity to create good public schools for the Black community as well. They knew that all Black schools were needed in order to create jobs for Black teachers, who could not teach at all white, or mixed schools. The educator activist, Caroline Le Count, dedicated her career to establishing one of these all Black schools, and to fiercely defending and advocating for her fellow Black, public school teachers. This is the second of two episodes that looks at Le Count’s legacy in public education and what we can learn from it. Links:Please participate in the Found in Philadelphia podcast survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Y23Q8S5 You can attend Shav’on Smith’s “Tea with Frederick Douglass” event at the Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion at https://ebenezermaxwellmansion.org/tea-with-frederick-douglass/ Find out more and see a full bibliography and additional images in the companion blog for this episode at https://foundinphiladelphia.com/. And for some additional visuals for this episode, you can check out the podcast on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/found.in.philadelphia/The post Episode No. 6 – Philadelphia Public Schools and Caroline Le Count: Part 2 first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.
Episode No. 5 – Philadelphia Public Schools and Caroline R. Le Count: Part 1
In this city, there are very different educational opportunities for the wealthy and the poor. But reformers and activists are trying to find ways to provide an education for all children. It is the beginning of a colossal and imperfect experiment in publicly-funded schools in nineteenth-century Philadelphia. One group in particular, Black Philadelphians, was determined not to be left out of this educational experiment. They undertook studies to understand in detail the state of education in their community. And they invested in training a new generation of teachers, who were ready to take charge in the years following the Civil War. Some of the best and brightest worked to create quality schools for Black children within this emerging public school system. One of these educators and activists was the formidable Caroline Le Count. This episode is part of a series on Le Count, this late-nineteenth century educator and activist. It is the first of two episodes that will look at Le Count’s legacy in public education. Find out more and see a full bibliography in the companion blog for this episode at https://foundinphiladelphia.com/. And for some additional visuals for this episode, you can check out the podcast on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/found.in.philadelphia/The post Episode No. 5 – Philadelphia Public Schools and Caroline R. Le Count: Part 1 first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.
Episode No. 4 – The Life and Times of Caroline R. Le Count: Part 2
A city at war with a not-so-distant enemy, hospitals overwhelmed and spilling over into temporary tents, nurses asking citizens to donate critical supplies, it’s Philadelphia in 1863. Philadelphia was central to the Union war machine during the Civil War, but that doesn’t mean it was a bastion of abolitionist sentiment. As the war exposes deep inequality in the city, some citizens see an opportunity to push for change on the streets of Philadelphia. So, even as the city is organizing and mobilizing for the war effort to the south, the city’s own streetcars are becoming the frontlines of a battle for civil rights. Philadelphia’s Black women are putting their bodies on the line in this fight. And like any battle, there is violence, murder, and those left to carry on. This episode is the second in a three-part series on the life of one of these women, Caroline Le Count. Find out more in the companion blog post to this episode at https://foundinphiladelphia.com/. And if you enjoyed the episode, I’d love it if you left a review in your podcast app.The post Episode No. 4 – The Life and Times of Caroline R. Le Count: Part 2 first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.
Episode No. 3 – The Life and Times of Caroline R. Le Count: Part 1
An important moment of the Civil Rights movement happened right here in Philadelphia, and it took place nearly 100 years earlier than the well-known demonstrations of the twentieth century. Philadelphia in the 1860s was a city on the move. The city was growing fast and developing new city-wide services, but progress wasn’t being felt equally by all of its residents. Philadelphia’s free Black population was discriminated against and was excluded from the city’s progress. In response, Black residents of the Seventh Ward established their own system of schools, banks, libraries, and healthcare. However, during the turmoil of the Civil War, Black residents seized the moment to upend the status quo in Philadelphia. The battlefront was on the streets of Philly, and those in the front lines were Black women, ready for the fight. This episode is the first in a three-part series on the life of one of those women, Caroline Le Count. Find out more in the companion blog post to this episode at https://foundinphiladelphia.com/The post Episode No. 3 – The Life and Times of Caroline R. Le Count: Part 1 first appeared on Found in Philadelphia.
Episode 2: The Aftermath of the Germantown Protest
Early colonial Philadelphia was a place of contention. Colonists had strong opinions about what this Quaker experiment should look like, and they didn’t always agree. From its earliest days, Philadelphia was a diverse place with class divisions, religious discord, and economic inequality. These fractures in the young colony were intensified by the practice of slavery by the wealthy Quaker elite. But Philadelphia was also a center of dogged, grass-roots activism and resistance, especially in the newly founded settlement of Germantown. 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Episode 1: The Germantown Protest of 1688
I became interested in the story of the Germantown Protest of 1688 after hearing about it on another podcast, the “Seeing White” series by the Scene on Radio podcast. I highly recommend the entire series, but “Episode 33: Made in America” was where I first heard about the Germantown Protest. I was surprised that I had never heard of it before, being a Philadelphia history nerd. So, of course, I rushed to the internet and quickly found all of the fascinating threads of this story. How the writers were there at the very beginning of Penn’s colony. How they founded Germantown after facing religious intolerance in Europe for generations. How their search for the true way, the right way, to live led them to join one religious splinter group and then another. How angry they were when the Quaker’s colony of Pennsylvania fell short of their dreams by allowing African slavery to thrive here. And how the Protest itself somehow survived and was now in the archives of Haverford College. The “Seeing White” series also connected me to Ibram Kendi’s book Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racism in America. While Kendi does not delve into the backstory of the Protest, he does put it into context within the history of anti-racist ideas in America. I would also highly recommend Stamped from the Beginning for providing the reader with a pair of magical glasses that allow you to see his three proposed historical trends throughout American history: anti-racism, assimilationist theories, and straight up racism. You’ll start seeing these trends everywhere, maybe even in your own personal beliefs. Kendi contends that anti-racist activists have had to fight against not only racism, but also assimilationist ideas, which might be well-meaning but still perpetuate racist thinking. My pursuit of the Germantown Protest story took me across war-torn northern Europe in the 1600s, where I discovered the violent histories of the Mennonites and Amish, and all of the other splinter groups they formed. It made me completely revise my preconceived notions about these religious groups, who are still a large part of central Pennsylvania culture. You need to take a look at the Martyr’s Mirror, a seminal publication for both Mennonites and Amish, which was first published in 1660, to understand how religious persecution, defiance, and radicalism helped define these groups. While we might think of them as somewhat old-fashioned today, they were well-organized, white-hot radicals of their day, and were just starting to be tolerated by the end of the seventeenth century. As I pursued the different threads of the Germantown Protest story, I kept running into the work of historian Katherine Gerbner. She was everywhere I went, answering the questions that I had, following in the footsteps of the writers of the Protest, and giving this story a fresh perspective. This episode owes a great deal to her research. And if you were shocked to learn that Pennsylvania’s Quaker founders were slave owners who profited from the slave trade, Gerbner has been working on that history too. Her recent book, Christian Slavery, tackles the complicity of Protestantism with slavery across the Atlantic world. This episode only scratches the surface of that story. Bibliography: Beiler, Rosalind J. “Dissenting Religious Communication Networks and Migration, 1660-1710. ” Bernard Bailyn ed. Soundings in Atlantic History: Latent Structures and Intellectual Currents, 1500-1825 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009): pages unknown. Butler, Jon. “‘Gospel Order Improved’: The Keithian Schism and the Exercise of Quaker Ministerial Authority in Pennsylvania.” The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 3, 1974, pp. 431–452. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1921631. Frost, J. William. “George Fox’s Ambiguous Anti-slavery Legacy.” Quakers & Slavery website, http://web.tricolib.brynmawr.edu/speccoll/quakersandslavery/commentary/people/fox.php, accessed 3/31/19. Reprinted from New Light on George Fox (1624-1691). Edited by Michael Mullett. York, England: William Sessions, 1994, pp. 69-88. Gerber, Katharine. “Antislavery in Print: The Germantown Protest, the ‘Exhortation,” and the Seventeenth-Century Quaker Debate on Slavery.” Early American Studies, vol. 9, no. 3, 2011, pp. 552–575. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23546669. Gerbner, Katharine. Christian Slavery: Conversion and Race in the Protestant Atlantic World. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019. Gerbner, Katharine. “’We are Against the Traffik of Men-Body’: The Germantown Quaker Protest of 1688 and the Origins of American Aboli