EVENTS
Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA
STEALING AMERICA: THE DISCUSSION
BOOK CLUB, SATURDAY, OCT 17, 2026, 7-8:30PM
EVANA ROSE TAMAYO
“I love to hear everyone’s opinions,” says one member of our book club. Come join us in discussing Linford Fisher’s masterful Stealing America: The Hidden History of Indigenous Slavery in US History. What does it say to you? Does New England have a particular role? What do we do now, once we have know the enormity of our history? A sweeping account from 1492 to the 20th century, Stealing America makes it impossible to ignore Indigenous enslavement - if we’re willing to look.
PURITANS IN THE 21ST CENTURY: A SYMPOSIUM
AMERICAN ANCESTORS, IN PERSON AND ONLINE, SATURDAY, NOV. 7, 9AM-5PM
HOLLY BREWER, JOHN COFFEY, DAVID HALL, ABRAM VAN ENGEN, MEREDITH NEUMAN, ADRIAN WEIMER
Join luminaries of Puritan history in this remarkable day-long symposium in the gorgeous setting of American Ancestors in central Boston or online. From Christian Nationalism and American exceptionalism to enslavement and religious toleration, how valid are the myths surrounding the Puritans? Do the Puritans matter today? Held in honor of Francis J. Bremer, this symposium makes the case for the Puritans and their too-little understood role in American history. It is hosted by six leading historical organisations: American Ancestors, Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Congregational Library & Archives, First Church Boston, Massachusetts Historical Society and the Partnership of Historic Bostons. $25/person, $10 for students, free online.
THERE AND YET NOT THERE: THE LIFE OF ZIPPORAH ATKINS
ONLINE, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2026, 7-8:30PM
DOROTHY CLARK
“There, but yet not there.” That’s how independent researcher and historian Dorothy Clark describes the life of Zipporah Potter Atkins, the first Black woman in Boston known to have purchased her own home, in 1670. Her story shows how free Black people in early New England challenged the assumptions around them. But it also reveals, through the trail of property records, wills, church documents and maps, the elusive, little documented nature of early Black history. Through this original presentation - first given here! - Dorothy Clark helps us to consider who is remembered, who forgotten, and why.
“You knocked it out of the park with this lecture. Have signed up for them all.”
—attendee, Enslavement & Resistance series