PENNSYLMANIA

EPISODE 22: THE PENNSYLVANIA, PART 2. In the previous episode, we described how the Pennsylvania Assembly’s Committee on Safety established the Pennsylvania Navy, developed three forts along the Delaware River, and installed a series of underwater hazards to big ships sailing up the Delaware. These were all meant to defend Philadelphia from the powerful British Navy. It worked until the British Army sidestepped the River defenses in their efforts to reach Philadelphia. They landed at the top of

EPISODE 21: THE PENNSYLVANIA NAVY, PART 1. Did you know that, during the American War for Independence, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had a navy? Let that sink in. It’s true. The Pennsylvania Navy was established in 1775, six months before the U.S. Navy. Its job was to police and protect the capital city Philadelphia and the surrounding region. It played a prominent role in two major Revolutionary War battles: the Battle of Fort Mercer and the Battle of Fort Mifflin, the second of which wa

EPISODE 20: RENAMING ALLENS LANE. What does Black Lives Matter have to do with rededicating a street in Northwest Philadelphia? In February, 2022, community leaders in Philadelphia celebrated the recognition of an important historical figure, the Reverend Richard Allen, when City Council named a street in his honor. Allen was one of the City’s first Black preachers and founder of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, of which he ultimately became bishop. He was also co-founder of the Fre

EPISODE 19: DEATH IN YELLOW, PART 2. In 1793, the U.S. capital Philadelphia was struck by a terrible yellow fever epidemic, one that caused President George Washington and Congress to flee the City, which ultimately lost 10% of its population to the disease. In our last episode, we met three notable Philadelphians of the Early American period. Most famous among them was Dr. Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence, physician to America’s founding fathers, and one of the most prom

EPISODE 18: DEATH IN YELLOW, PART ONE. It was perhaps the greatest calamity of the newly constituted United States, and it struck the capital city. In 1793, an epidemic of yellow fever decimated Philadelphia, and caused President George Washington and Congress to flee the City. By the end of the outbreak, about 10% of the city’s population had died of the disease. Three important people stayed in the City to tend the sick and combat the disease: Dr. Benjamin Rush, a founding father later known a

EPISODE 17: THE PITTSBURGH LINEUP CARD. On September 1, 1971, something unusual happened at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The game that night – between the Pittsburgh Pirates and their home-state rivals, the Philadelphia Phillies – started at 8:05pm when Dock Ellis, the Pirates’ pitcher, strode to the mound. From where he stood, he could have looked from the outfield to the infield to the catcher and noticed that every one of his starting teammates was Black or Latino, including superstars