The Boston Tea Party was not just a local story, Professor Carp argues, it was also a global story. The East India Company was becoming a territorial power in South Asia. Its principal import, tea, came from China and was becoming a popular drink among Europeans. These Europeans drank their tea with sugar, planted and harvested by Afro-Caribbeans. And when Bostonians protested the East India Company’s tea, they dressed as Native Americans. Professor Carp unpacks the significance of these aspects of the Boston Tea Party, reconsidering this iconic event in a global context.
Part 1 of 12: The Global Story of the Boston Tea Party (2:32)
Part 2 of 12: East India Company and Imperial Control (10:18)
Part 3 of 12: Tea’s Societal Impact (9:42)
Part 4 of 12: Women and Tea (4:02)
Part 5 of 12: Tea, Sugar and Slavery (5:47)
Part 6 of 12: Native American Disguises at the Boston Tea Party (8:24)
Part 7 of 12: The Boston Tea Party and the World’s Memory (1:58)
Part 8 of 12: Why Did Parliament Favor the East India Company? (2:52)
Part 9 of 12: Why Did Colonists Believe Parliament Could Not Tax Them? (3:11)
Part 10 of 12: Did News of the Destruction of the Tea Spread Beyond Boston? (2:09)
Part 11 of 12: What was the Edenton Tea Party? (1:44)
Part 12 of 12: A Lawless Act of Vandalism or Heroic Act of Liberty? (2:44)