Stories for the Semiquincentennial

In 1976, the Bikecentennial became the first organized bike tour across the U.S. Around 4,000 bicyclists pedaled to celebrate the Bicentennial, or America’s 200th anniversary. Tom Ewing breaks down the spirit of the Bikecentennial, its grassroots nature, and lessons to be learned for America’s upcoming 250th celebration. Later in the show: At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, 87 enslaved people on the Willoughby Plantation in Norfolk, VA escaped under the cover of night. Ervin Jordan traces their remarkable journey from Norfolk to New York to Nova Scotia and then to Sierra Leone in Africa. Plus: The Revolutionary War is often framed as a righteous fight for liberty and representative government. But Mark Boonshoft says those same ideals didn’t always make their way into our state constitutions. His forthcoming book is, The Violent Origins of Constitutional Democracy in Revolutionary New York.