Panel: Slavery in Early Massachusetts, MHS, 5/19

Kate Viens Discussion

Boston Area Early American History Seminar, Massachusetts Historical Society

Tuesday, May 19, 2015, at 5:15 PM - Rescheduled from February!

Panel: Slavery in Early Massachusetts

Barbara A. Mathews, Historic Deerfield

Gloria McCahon Whiting, Harvard University

Comment: Maria A. Bollettino, Framingham State University

This session will consider two papers:

“‘Is this where Titus lived?’ Researching and Interpreting African-American Presence in 18th-Century Rural New England,” by Barbara A. Mathews, focuses on the ways in which slavery was part of the social, economic, and political web of Deerfield, Massachusetts, and considers the broader implications of this history.

“The Body of Liberties and Bodies in Bondage: Dorcas the Blackmore, Dorchester’s First Church, and the Legalization of Slavery in the Anglo-Atlantic World,” by Gloria McCahon Whiting, argues that slavery was bound up with democracy in the colony’s early years and that race shaped servitude, family-building, and freedom from the colony’s founding.

RSVP so we know how many will attend. To respond, email seminars@masshist.org or call 617-646-0568.

All seminars are free and open to the public. Unless stated, all seminars take place at the Society, 1154 Boylston St., Boston, MA, and commence at 5:15 p.m. Each seminar consists of a discussion of a pre-circulated paper provided to our subscribers. (Papers will be available at the event for those who choose not to subscribe.) Afterwards the Society will provide a light buffet supper. Visit http://www.masshist.org/2012/calendar/seminars/early-american-history for more information.