The Prince Project’s Vana Carmona and Kathy Ostrander Roberts will offer two in-person presentations in May: Shoulder to Shoulder: Uncovering Free and Enslaved Blacks from Maine Who Served in the American Revolution Scarborough Historical SocietyMay 3, 2026 at 2:00 pmParish Hall, behind the First Congregational Church167 Black Point Rd.Scarborough, Maine 04074 & Buxton Hollis Historical SocietyMay … Continue reading Prince Project Event | Uncovering Free and Enslaved Blacks from Maine Who Served in the American Revolution on 5/3/26 and 5/19/26
Vaughan Homestead Event | “The Great Resistance” | Author talk with Carrie Gibson on 3/29/26
Hosted by Vaughan Woods & Historic Homestead Sunday, March 29, 20262:00- 5:00 pmVaughan Woods & Historic Homestead2 Litchfield RoadHallowell, ME 04347 $10/person includes refreshments and a copy of The Great ResistanceSpace is limited Tickets & Info Acclaimed historian and author Carrie Gibson visits Hallowell's Vaughan Woods and Historic Homestead for their annual Rural Socrates Series Book Talk. Ms. Gibson is the … Continue reading Vaughan Homestead Event | “The Great Resistance” | Author talk with Carrie Gibson on 3/29/26
Scarborough Historical Society Event | “Nimrod the Scarboro Slave” and Other Stories about Slavery in Maine with Eben Miller on 1/4/26
Hosted by Scarborough Historical Society January 4, 2026 at 2:00 pmBlack Point Church Parish Hall167 Black Point RoadScarborough, ME 04074 This talk by Dr. Eben Miller of Southern Maine Community College is in-person, free, and open to the public. It will draw on local traditions—such as stories like "Nimrod the Scarboro Slave"—as well as archival … Continue reading Scarborough Historical Society Event | “Nimrod the Scarboro Slave” and Other Stories about Slavery in Maine with Eben Miller on 1/4/26
Slave Legacy History Coalition Event | Finding Pomp Russell on 11/12/25
Hosted by the Slave Legacy History Coalition Presented by Judy Granger Wednesday, November 12, 2025 | 10:30-11:30 AM ETOnline REGISTER HERE This genealogical and historical research grew out of Judy Granger’s discovery of an amazing document: the first American Anti-Slavery Almanac. Sharing this news prompted a friend’s family story and concern, about a Black infant, enslaved … Continue reading Slave Legacy History Coalition Event | Finding Pomp Russell on 11/12/25
American Ancestors Event | “Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea” with Marcus Rediker on 6/16
With Dr. Marcus Rediker Hosted by American Ancestors June 16, 2025, 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. ET REGISTER HERE A pre-eminent scholar of Atlantic history and the award-winning author of The Slave Ship, Marcus Rediker joins us to share his definitive, sweeping account of the Underground Railroad’s long-overlooked maritime origins. As many as 100,000 people emancipated … Continue reading American Ancestors Event | “Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea” with Marcus Rediker on 6/16
Partnership of Historic Bostons Event | Suing Slavery: Essex County Freedom Suits, 1765-1783 on 6/12
With Jeanne Pickering Hosted by Partnership of Historic Bostons Thursday, June 12, 7:00-8:30 PM, Online REGISTER HERE On July 1, 1714, at the Brattle Street Church in Boston, two so-called “free Negroes,” Anthony Tyns and Armote, were married. Ten months later their daughter, Lydia, was born. We would pay little attention to their marriage except … Continue reading Partnership of Historic Bostons Event | Suing Slavery: Essex County Freedom Suits, 1765-1783 on 6/12
Enslaved Legacy History Coalition Event | Belonging: An Intimate History of Slavery and Family in Early New England on 6/11/25
With Dr. Gloria McCahon Whiting Hosted by the Slave Legacy History Coalition Wednesday, June 11, 2025 | 10:30-11:30 AM EST Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84763385655?pwd=cUU3dVlUa24vdHJHdTYxUHR1U2VCdz09Meeting ID: 847 6338 5655 Passcode: 294088 New England has long been seen as a cradle of liberty in American history, but it was also a cradle of slavery. From the earliest years of colonization, New Englanders … Continue reading Enslaved Legacy History Coalition Event | Belonging: An Intimate History of Slavery and Family in Early New England on 6/11/25
ABB Event | Season Launch of the Walks for Historical and Ecological Recovery (WHERE2025) | online on 6/5
Hosted by Atlantic Black Box Thursday, June 5, 2025 from 6:00 - 7:00 pm ET, Online REGISTER HERE Join Atlantic Black Box and its partner organizations on June 5 to launch a new season of Walks for Historical and Ecological Recovery (WHERE2025). This epic collective journey engages communities throughout the Dawnland in examining the ways that Indigenous, … Continue reading ABB Event | Season Launch of the Walks for Historical and Ecological Recovery (WHERE2025) | online on 6/5
ABB Event | Divided North: Abolition, Slavery, and the Slave Trade in Maine on 5/28/25
With Dr. Carol Gardiner and respondent Bob Greene A Speaker Series event Hosted by Atlantic Black Box Wednesday, May 28, 2025 6:00 pm ET on zoom REGISTER HERE Next Wednesday, Atlantic Black Box is honored to host a presentation by Dr. Carol Gardner that explores how the experiences of two 19th-century Portland families—one Black and one … Continue reading ABB Event | Divided North: Abolition, Slavery, and the Slave Trade in Maine on 5/28/25
TONIGHT! ABB Speaker Series Event | An Uneasy Alliance: Free African Americans & the Colonization Movement to Liberia on 2/19
Tonight at 5 pm ET, Atlantic Black Box is honored to host Dr. Ousmane Power-Greene, Chair of Africana Studies and Professor of History at Clark University, for a talk on Free African Americans and the Colonization Movement to Liberia in the 19th-century.
Old York Historical Society Event | Abolition and the Underground Railroad in Maine on 2/19
Mary T. Freeman explores the long history of slavery and emancipation in Maine, focusing on antislavery activism in the decades leading up to the Civil War.
Simmons Center Event @ Brown | A More Just Curriculum Launch on 1/29
Join Brown's Simmons Center team in launching a curriculum designed to provide K–12 teachers and students with resources that foreground the histories and experiences of the Dawnland’s (New England’s) Indigenous and African-descended communities.
Maine Historical Society Event | A Plausible Man: The True Story of the Escaped Slave Who Inspired Uncle Tom’s Cabin on 1/23/24
Join author Susanna Ashton for a talk on her book A Plausible Man, a historical detective story of Jackson’s remarkable flight from slavery to freedom, his quest to liberate his enslaved family, and his emergence as an international advocate for abolition.
MHS Event | We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance
In her book We Refuse, historian Kellie Carter Jackson examines the breadth of Black responses to white oppression, particularly those pioneered by Black women. In conversation with Kanisorn Wongsrichanalai, Carter Jackson will discuss force alongside other vital tactics that have shaped the Black struggle.
Partnership of Historic Bostons Event | “Petition after Petition”: Boston’s Black Freemasons Fight for Freedom – tonight
In 1641 the Puritan commonwealth voted for the Body of Liberties and, in it, recognized inherent, natural rights for all free white men. Nearly 150 years later, Black Bostonians, members of the Freemasons' African Lodge No. 1 , petitioned the Massachusetts state government.
David Chesnut’s Library
By Eleanor Martinez-Proctor Research Fellow, Historic New England This post is a follow-up to research done on David Chesnut in 2022. See post, "Researching Black Histories from the Eustis Estate: Notes on Process." In 1903, David Chesnut Jr. was several years into his position at the Eustis Estate in Milton, working as a coachman alongside … Continue reading David Chesnut’s Library
Radcliffe Event | Black Lead: The Radical Black Roots of New England Liberalism on 10/16/24
Kerri K. Greenidge’s new book complicates the idea—propagated by white nationalists and accepted as fact by most liberal-leaning historians, scholars, and commentators—that New England is a predominantly white space in which African descended people and their communities have had little political effect.
MHS Event | Racial Histories of Higher Education in New England: A Symposium Co-Hosted by The New England Quarterly on 9/27/24
As battles have raged over the meaning and fate of Confederate monuments across the south, colleges and universities in New England, generally regarded as liberal bastions, have also been engaged in a deep and consequential reckoning with aspects of their history and ongoing practices that rest on the legacies of slave trade and settler colonialism. This event will highlight the work of a diverse range of historians, as well as university archivists and museum professionals, discussing a range of issues from the Colonial period to the present that shape the industry, experience, and cultures of higher education.
Jesup Library Event | Eden’s Other Sons: MDI Seafarers, Shipbuilders, and the Slavery-Based Economies of the West Indies Trade with Anna Durand on 8/8/24
Mount Desert Island’s shipbuilders, sea captains, and sailors hold a special place in our collective memory. Hardworking and self-reliant, these men (and occasionally their wives) created a living from the sea. But historical records also show that trading Maine-made products like salt cod and barrel staves for rum, sugar, and molasses brought MDI seafarers into economic partnership with the slave-holding plantations of the West Indies.
Revolutionary Spaces Events: Daily Tour on Slavery and Resistance in Colonial Massachusetts
Uncover the realities of slavery and learn how enslaved people resisted oppressors at our newest tour, Slavery & Resistance in Colonial Massachusetts. Hear the compelling stories of figures like Scipio Gunney, Phillis Wheatley, and Belinda Sutton on this engaging 60-minute experience.