In this episode of the Revolution 250 Podcast, host Professor Robert Allison speaks with Emily Sneff, author of When the Declaration of Independence Was News. Together they explore how the Declaration spread across the colonies and the wider world—not as a sacred founding text, but as breaking news. Sneff, co-founder of the Declaration Resources Project at Harvard University, traces how printers, sailors, and town criers turned Congress’s resolution into headlines that shaped the very idea of independence.

From the first public readings to the global echoes in newspapers and pamphlets, this conversation reveals how revolutionary ideas went viral in the 18th century—and how that moment still defines what it means to announce freedom today.

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Join host Professor Robert Allison as he speaks with historian and author Edward Andrews about his new book, Newport Gardner’s Anthem: A Story of Slavery, Struggle, and Survival in Revolutionary America. Together, they explore the remarkable life of Newport Gardner—born Occramer Marycoo in Africa, enslaved in Newport, and later freed to become a composer, community leader, and founder of one of America’s first Black churches. This story is a powerful look at how music, faith, and freedom intertwined in America’s first Black communities.

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Host Professor Robert Allison talks with Donna Curtin, Executive Director of Pilgrim Hall Museum, the oldest continuously operating public museum in America, about the surprising links between Plymouth’s Pilgrims and the Revolution. They spotlight the bold voices of James and Mercy Otis Warren, and explore Pilgrim Hall’s Revolutionary collections that connect 17th-century ideals to the fight for independence a century later.

Tickets for the "Plymouth Voices" play can be purchased HERE!

Website for Pilgrim Hall is Here!

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