This Week @MHS

Join us for a program at the MHS. Here is a look at what is going on this week.

- Monday, 24 September, 6:00 PM: Under the Starry Flag: How a Band of Irish Americans Joined the Fenian Revolt & Sparked a Crisis over Citizenship with Lucy Salyer, University of New Hampshire. In 1867, 40 Irish-American freedom fighters, outfitted with guns and ammunition, sailed to Ireland to join the effort to end British rule. Yet they never got a chance to fight. British authorities arrested them for treason as soon as they landed, sparking an international conflict that dragged the United States and Britain to the brink of war. Under the Starry Flag recounts this gripping legal saga, a prelude to today’s immigration battles. A pre-talk reception begins at 5:30 PM; the speaking program begins at 6:00 PM. There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders). 

- Tuesday, 25 September, 5:15 PM: Radical Nonviolence & Interracial Utopias in the Early Civil Rights Movement with Victoria Wolcott, State University of New York at Buffalo and comment by Jason Sokol, University of New Hampshire.This paper examines how radical pacifists refined nonviolent direct action to challenge racial segregation and inequality in the United States. These activists adopted the methods of earlier utopian communities by living communally and practicing a prefigurative politics that called for immediate change. This seminar is part of the Boston Seminar on Modern American Society and Culture series. Seminars are free and open to the public.

- Thursday, 27 September, 6:00 PM: Race Over Party: Black Politics & Partisanship in Late 19th-Century Boston with Millington Bergeson-Lockwood. In late 19th-century Boston, battles over black party loyalty were fights over the place of African Americans in the post–Civil War nation. Party politics became the terrain upon which black Bostonians tested the promise of equality in America’s democracy. Most African Americans remained loyal Republicans, but a determined cadre argued that the GOP took black votes for granted and offered little meaningful reward for black support. These activists branded themselves “independents,” forging new alliances and advocating support of whichever candidate would support black freedom regardless of party. A pre-talk reception begins at 5:30 PM; the speaking program begins at 6:00 PM. There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders). 

The Library is CLOSED on Wednesday, 26 September, for for a staff development event.

Visit www.masshist.org/events for upcoming programs.