EVENTS
ENSLAVEMENT IN A PURITAN VILLAGE
ONLINE
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2025, 7-8:30PM ET
JANE SCIACCA
It was lauded as the quintessential Puritan village in a Pulitzer Prize winning history. But what was the true story of Sudbury, Massachusetts - the second town established west of Boston in the first decade of English Puritan settlement? Local historian Jane Sciacca, author of a new book, delves into church records, wills, bills of sale, medical records, diaries and more to tell us of the intimate lives of both Sudbury’s enslaved people and people who were enslavers, such as the Rev. Loring, whose home is pictured here.
The Revolution before the Revolution: Boston, 1689
ONLINE
TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2025, 7-8:30PM ET
ADRIAN CHASTAIN WEIMER
We think of America’s revolutionary moment as 1776. But nearly a century before, New England rose up against the Crown, imprisoned the royal governor, refused to pay tax without being represented, and resisted arbitrary rule. Prize-winning historian Adrian Chastain Weimer offers us a unique insight into this revolution before the (American) revolution during the Puritan-Whig Revolution of 1689. Take that, Lexington and Concord!
A tradition of resistance: the puritan prequel
ONLINE
THURSDAY, MAY 22, 2025, 7-8:30PM ET
FRANCIS J. BREMER
Why did John Adams sign himself “John Winthrop” when advocating revolution? Because he knew the Puritan drive for self-governance that made Puritan New England a bastion of resistance to royal rule. Renowned historian Francis J. Bremer explores the Puritan prequel to the American Revolution, their belief in self-government and representative institutions - without which the US might still be an English colony.
Suing Slavery: Freedom Suits in 18th C essex county
ONLINE
THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 2025, 7-8:30PM ET
JEANNE PICKERING
Dozens of enslaved people in Essex county, Massachusetts, sued for their freedom and won in the late 18th century. Starting as suits on the basis of a free parent, soon these freedom suits posed questions to white citizen juries: whose side had rights, the enslaved or the enslaver? Jeanne Pickering explores these lawsuits and how they both helped to end Massachusetts slavery and expanded the American definition of freedom.
“This presentation nailed it - and should cause people to sit back and realize that mankind has done a lousy job of planning for pandemics because they don’t pay attention to history.”
participant, reading group