Award-winning journalist and WHRO segment producer Connor Worley takes us deeper into the sporting life of colonial Virginia. From the spectacle of horse racing to the brutal thrill of cockfights and rough-and-tumble wrestling, these contests were not just entertainment but expressions of power and control. Sport upheld social order, blurred class lines, and exposed the colony’s deep racial divides. Connor Worley speaks with local and national historians, bringing us into a world where competition reflected a society on the brink of revolution.

In 18th-century Virginia, sport was more than spectacle—it was status, control, and coded defiance. Horse racing dazzled the elite, while cockfights and wrestling matches drew crowds across class lines. Beneath the excitement, enslaved labor powered the play. Discover how colonial sport revealed the tensions and hierarchies of early American life.

In the 1700s, 'Tidewater' became an economic powerhouse and cultural crossroads. Norfolk emerged as a thriving port, linking the colonies to the wider Atlantic world. Yet beneath the prosperity lay deep divisions—loyalties to the British Crown, a diverse population, and mounting unrest. Learn more about Norfolk’s strategic importance at the heart of the revolutionary conflict.