Franklin Faces His Racial Prejudices

A visit to a school for Black children challenged Franklin’s racial prejudices.

Deborah Franklin encouraged her husband to visit a new school for enslaved and free Black children in Philadelphia. After his visit, Benjamin Franklin admitted that he had previously held a low opinion of the “natural Capacities of the black Race,” but observing the children at school had proven his prejudices wrong. He now knew they were “in every Respect equal to that of white Children.”

AIR DATE 4/4/22

Benjamin Franklin House in London

Compromise and the Constitution of the United States

Franklin and the Antislavery Movement

Franklin Hears About Washington’s Victory at Yorktown

Franklin’s Endlessly Quotable Poor Richard’s Almanack

Behind the Scenes | Exploring Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin and Inoculation

Franklin Makes a Name for Himself as a Printer

Franklin and Slave Labor

Benjamin Franklin Invents the Glass Armonica

Now Playing

Franklin Faces His Racial Prejudices

The Stamp Act

Franklin’s Observations and Experiments on Electricity

The Franklins Choose Opposing Sides in the Revolution

Publicly Humiliated in London

Videos

About Benjamin Franklin

Ken Burns’s two-part, four-hour documentary, “Benjamin Franklin,” explores the revolutionary life of one of the18th century’s most consequential and compelling personalities, whose work and words unlocked the mystery of electricity and helped create the United States.

Broadcast Dates

This show is not scheduled to air soon.

Top

To Top