Flames of Freedom

In 2024 Season One of Flames of Freedom was nominated for a Webby award for best historical podcast. In Season Two, we continue the saga of the Nunes family when they arrive on the shores of what is now Savannah, and James Oglethorpe is faced with a dilemma. The Colony was suffering from an epidemic that had killed their doctor and twenty other settlers, and half the Colony was deathly ill. And he...

Season 1 wrap-up. A look behind the scenes with interviews of the series creators: Executive Producer, Lance Tōland / Writer, Rick Stone / Producer-Director, Mark Simon / Audio Editor, Composer & Sound Designer, Dave Wilson / and a few of the Cast Members: Ian Russell (James Oglethorpe & multiple character voices) / Juan-Pablo Gamboa, (Dr. Diogo Nunes) / Jamie Treselyan (young-Benjamin Phi...

While they await the repairs on their ship, the Jews disembark and learn invaluable lessons about surviving in the American wilderness. While they labor away, Oglethorpe is faced with growing dissension among his settlers around issues of slavery and drinking rum and then faces an even bigger challenge as an epidemic threatens to wipe out the entire colony. When Samuel Nunes and the Jews finally a...

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Divisions begin to appear among the Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews on their journey to America, while James Oglethorpe, with the help of Colonel Bull, selects Yamacraw Bluff for the new settlement. Oglethorpe also meets Mary Musgrove, a woman of English and Indian descent who is an invaluable partner in the years ahead as Oglethorpe navigates relations with the neighboring Creek Indians. The ship ca...

Michael Thurmond, the chief executive officer of DeKalb County, Georgia, is the author of James Oglethorpe, Father of Georgia, Freedom: Georgia’s Antislavery Heritage, 1733–1865 , and A Story Untold: Black Men and Women in Athens History . Thurmond explores the foundation of the Georgia Colony and Oglethorpe’s increasing resistance to the institution of slavery. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priv...

Samuel Nunes agrees to lead the Jewish settlers to the Georgia Colony, and they depart some weeks after Oglethorpe on a ship requisitioned and paid for by London’s wealthiest Jews. But the ship encounters turbulent weather, an omen for what will be a nearly disastrous journey across the Atlantic Ocean, foreshadowing the loss of life. While they faced horrendous trials at sea, Oglethorpe and his se...

Dr. Lucci explores the roots of antisemitism in early Christian thought and looks at how John Toland's writings completely changed the conversation around the equality of Jews in English and European culture. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Daniel and Moses become enamored with the idea of a clean start in America, an idea that their father, Samuel, rejects out of hand. When King George approves the new colony, the Trustees are faced with a thorny dilemma—what to do with the efforts of the richest Jews of England to send their fellow Jews to Georgia? Their debate and subsequent decision have unexpected consequences that will echo thr...

Dr. Diego Lucci is a professor at the American University in Bulgaria and has previously been a research fellow at the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London and the Maimonides Center for Advanced Studies at the University of Hamburg. His book on the Enlightenment debate on Jewish emancipation is essential to studying Jewish-Gentile relations in 18th-century Europe. Hosted on...

James Oglethorpe sets out to win parliamentary approval to change the laws related to the incarceration of people for the mere crime of owing someone money. This move leads to his pursuit of an idealistic dream of creating a colony where the poor can have a fresh start and where slavery is prohibited. Oglethorpe’s dream becomes the perfect vehicle for the wealthy Jews of London to solve a problem...

Dr. Roitman delves into the growing role of Jews in trade in Europe and the Caribbean and explores how economic pressures on the Jewish community of Amsterdam drove many Jews to depart, seeking their fortunes in the New World. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Moses’s arrest for a gambling debt leads to his incarceration in Marshalsea Prison. Samuel’s quest to free him results in two significant encounters—one with Antony da Costa, one of the wealthiest Jews in England, and one with James Oglethorpe, who discovers that his best friend has died in the same prison after being thrown into a cell with forty other prisoners with smallpox. Both meetings fores...

Dr. Jessica Roitman is a Professor of Jewish Studies at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She is a historian of early modern and modern Jewish History, and her research focuses on Jews and Jewish communities in the (Dutch) Caribbean. In this episode, Dr. Roitman explores the dynamics of the growing Amsterdam Jewish community in the 16th Century as New Christians, also known as Conversos, bega...

Samuel confronts the hard reality that his medical skills and reputation mean little within London’s physician community and is forced to open a practice serving mainly indigent refugees. Daniel and Moses continue to struggle to find meaningful employment, and tragedy strikes when Rebekah goes into labor prematurely, leading to a crisis in her commitment to the Jewish faith.   Hosted on Acast...

Dr. Hessayon explores the economic, social, and religious forces that led to Oliver Cromwell's re-admitting Jews to England in 1656 and the dynamic political forces that followed his death and King Charles II’s taking back the throne, all of which could have easily led to a second expulsion of the Jews from England.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As Samuel’s sons Moses and Daniel confront the ugly face of antisemitism that is rife throughout English society, Gracia, who adopts the Jewish name Rebekah, confronts the fact that Orthodox Judaism makes her feel like a second-class citizen. The men must confront another stark reality. To become fully recognized as Jews, they must be circumcised. To complicate their lives, Rebekah, who is now in...

Dr. Ariel Hessayon is an early modern historian who is a faculty member at Goldsmiths, University of London. Dr. Hessayon discusses the increasing number of pogroms directed against the Jews before their expulsion from England in 1290, traces the history of the Jews in England up to and after their expulsion, and details the events that led to their absence from England for over 350 years. Hosted...

After the family’s daring escape from Lisbon aboard a British frigate, they face a host of unknowns upon their arrival in London. They have fallen from the pinnacle of society to become indigent. Not only are they facing economic ruin, but they must now face the gap between their expectations of what it means to revert to Judaism and leave the strictures of Catholicism behind and the reality of as...

Dr. Eliezer Papo is  a senior lecturer of Hebrew Literature at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Be’er Sheva, Israel. He serves as Chairman of the Moshe David Gaon Center for Ladino Culture and is the chief editor of El Prezente – Journal for Sephardic Studies .   We concluded the last episode by discussing the distinctions between Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jewish traditions. This...

With the family’s rearrest on charges of Judaizing and aiding other Conversos to escape, Diogo confronts the Inquisitor General, who is also his patient. The Inquisitor General is faced with a dilemma—he needs Diogo’s medical care and can’t afford to jail him, but his reputation is also on the line if word gets out that he is being too lenient with apostates. His solution is to place two Inquisiti...

Our guest today is Dr. Eliezer Papo, who is senior lecturer of Hebrew Literature at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Be’er Sheva, Israel. He serves as Chairman of the Moshe David Gaon Center for Ladino Culture and is the chief editor of El Prezente – Journal for Sephardic Studies . In the previous segment of our interview with Dr. Papo, we explored several issues related to the world of the J...

Beginning with the ruination of Diogo Nunes’s reputation after losing all of his possessions when he and his wife were arrested by the Portuguese Inquisition and tortured in 1703 for Judaizing, we trace the slow rehabilitation of his career culminating in his appointment as the physician to the new Inquisitor General as well as Portugal’s king, a position that Diogo uses to his advantage to assist...

In today’s episode, we start with part 1 of a 3-part conversation with Dr. Eliezer Papo, senior lecturer of Hebrew Literature at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Be’er Sheva, Israel. He serves as Chairman of the Moshe David Gaon Center for Ladino Culture and is the chief editor of El Prezente – Journal for Sephardic Studies . In this first episode, Dr. Papo unravels the story of the Jews in t...

The story opens in 1790 as Zipporah Jacobs, the daughter of Samuel Nunes, feels called to share with her grandson, Benjamin Phillips, the tale of her ancestors as they traversed a world hellbent on eradicating Jews from Spain and Portugal, the forced conversions of her ancestors in 1497 in Lisbon, and her parents’ torture by the Inquisition for the crime of Judaizing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.co...