Originally published on June 6, 2022 (Episode 267)
Introduction
In 1609 a free man of African and European ancestry, Juan Rodriguez, left the Dutch ship Jonge Tobias anchored off Manhattan Island with “eighty hatchets and some knives” to set himself up in trade with the local Indians. Ashore in the years that followed he fought off Dutch rivals, married an Indian woman, and started a family—all while prospering in the trade of bear and beaver pelts.
His is one of the many stories presented by David Hackett Fischer in his sweeping new book African Founders: How Enslaved People Expanded American Ideals (Simon & Schuster, 2022), which examines nine Afro-European regional cultures in North America. Following in the footsteps of Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America, Liberty and Freedom: A Visual History of America’s Ideals, and Champlain’s Dream, Fischer demonstrates how free and enslaved Africans acted with purpose and resolve to shape the systems that became the United States.
About the Guest
David Hackett Fischer is University Professor and Warren Professor of History Emeritus at Brandeis University. Author of many books, his Washington’s Crossing won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize in History.
For Further Investigation
David Hackett Fischer, African Founders: How Enslaved People Expanded American Ideals (Simon & Schuster, 2022)
David Hackett Fischer, Washington’s Crossing (Oxford University Press, 2004)
💬 Listen & Discuss
What difference does it make to see African-descended people—free and enslaved—not just as laborers, but as founders who shaped American ideals? Share your thoughts in the comments, and pass this episode along to someone interested in the deeper roots of American history.
