A Day in the Life of a Puritan

A Day in the Life of a Puritan

From American History Hit by History Hit

May 4, 2026 · 54 min · Episode 380

About this episode

This episode explores the misconceptions about Puritans and their moral codes with guest Lori Rogers-Stokes.

What if we told you that puritans were actually sex-crazed? Well maybe not crazed but definitely not opposed to it. What if we told you that, actually, the entire mainstream belief of puritans being bound to strict moral and religious codes isn't totally true? In this episode of American History Hit, Don is joined by Lori Rogers-Stokes to answer some of the big questions. Did the Puritans really wear all black? What's the difference between a Puritan and a Pilgrim? And was anyone ever marked with a scarlet letter? Lori is an independent scholar, public historian, and contributing editor for New England’s Hidden Histories. She is the author of two books on the Puritans: 'Records of Trial from Thomas Shepard’s Church in Cambridge, 1638–49: Heroic Souls', and 'Gathered into a Church: Indigenous-English Congregationalism in Woodland New England'. Edited by Tim Arstall. Produced by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick. Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe .   All music from Epidemic Sounds. American History Hit is a History Hit…

People in this episode

Host: Don

Guest: Lori Rogers-Stokes

Topics covered

  • Puritans
  • moral codes
  • historical misconceptions
  • Pilgrims
  • scarlet letter
  • public history

Keywords

  • Puritans
  • moral codes
  • Pilgrims
  • scarlet letter
  • Lori Rogers-Stokes
  • history

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: New England’s Hidden Histories, History Hit, Acast

Books & works: Records of Trial from Thomas Shepard’s Church in Cambridge, 1638–49: Heroic Souls, Gathered into a Church: Indigenous-English Congregationalism in Woodland New England

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