A Feb. 12 program in Weymouth will trace the transition from slavery to freedom in Massachusetts after the Civil War.
WEYMOUTH -- After they were freed from slavery, African Americans in Massachusetts and the rest of the country had to struggle to refuse to be relegated to the backwaters of American society.
Julie Winch, a noted historian and professor at UMass-Boston, will present a program on this journey on Monday, Feb.12 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Tufts Library, 46 Broad St.
The program is titled "Between Slavery and Freedom: Free People of Color in America from Settlement to the Civil Wars."
It is sponsored by the Abigail Adams Historical Society and the Weymouth Public Libraries to commemorate African-American History Month.
Winch, who lives in Maine, is the author of a book by the same name, "Between Slavery and Freedom: Free People of Color in America from Settlement to the Civil War."
Winch will explore slavery in Massachusetts, the effect of the American Revolution on its demise, and the efforts of ex-slaves to find a place for themselves in the post-Revolutionary era.
In a press release, the Abigail Adams Society noted that Abigail Smith Adams strongly opposed the institution of slavery, yet she grew up in a slave-owning household.
Her father, the Reverend William Smith, was the owner of several slaves, each of whom played a significant role in Abigail Adams’s life.
This program represents the latest in a series of programs hosted by the Abigail Adams Historical Society in its continuing efforts to explore the subject of early American slavery.
Winch has been the recipient of two National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships and has held research awards at Mystic Seaport, the American Antiquarian Society, the John Carter Brown Library, and Yale University’s Beinecke Library.
She is the author of The Clamorgans: One Family's History of Race in America; A Gentleman of Color: The Life of James Forten; and Philadelphia's Black Elite: Activism, Accommodation, and the Struggle for Autonomy, 1787-1848, and has worked on documentary projects including PBS’s Africans in America and the Learning Channel’s genealogy program, Who Do You Think You Are?
Time will be allowed for audience questions, and books will be available for purchase. Admission is free; reservations are not necessary.
The Abigail Adams Society are stewards of Abigail Adams birthplace in Weymouth.
The publicity for the book, sold on Amazon, states about the struggles of former slaves: "However they had navigated their way out of bondage – through flight, through military service, through self-purchase, through the working of the law in different times and in different places, or because they were the offspring of parents who were themselves free – they were determined to enjoy the same rights and liberties that white people enjoyed.
"Refusing to be relegated to the margins of American society and languish in poverty and ignorance, they repeatedly challenged their white neighbors to live up to the promises of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” enshrined in the Declaration of Independence."