Chaotic Freedom in Civil War Louisiana: The Origins of an Iconic Image
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Speaker:
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Bruce Laurie, Professor Emeritus of History at UMass/Amherst
Saturday, June 17, 2017 at 2 pm Historic Northampton, 46 Bridge Street, Northampton, MA 01060 The Massachusetts Review with grant funding from the Northampton Arts Council |
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Bruce Laurie will speak at Historic Northampton on his research into two Pioneer Valley soldiers who changed the course of the Civil War. Laurie’s work culminated in the essay, “Chaotic Freedom” in Civil War Louisiana: The Origins of an Iconic Image, a Working Titles e-book published by The Massachusetts Review.
Chaotic Freedom is the story of two men transformed for the better through the Civil War. It is also the biography of an iconic photograph. Northampton-based printer and newspaper publisher Henry S. Gere (Hampshire Gazette) and Greenfield currier and carpenter Marshall S. Stearns, collaborated to produce a photo that became an emblem of abolitionism during the Civil War, featured in Harper’s and throughout the country. The carte de visite features “Peter,” often misidentified as “Gordon,” the slave with scourged back, elbow jutting, and striking profile. Together, these histories tell of personal redemption, the importance of the abolitionist movement in western Mass, and the power of an image to change the country.
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Bruce Laurie, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, holds a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh. He is the author of Rebels in Paradise: Sketches of Northampton Abolitionists (2015); The Rise of Conservatism in America: A Brief History with Documents with Ronald Story (2008); Beyond Garrison: Antislavery and Social Reform (2005); and others. In 2011, Laurie was Scholar in Residence at Historic Northampton under a research grant awarded by MassHumanities, where he studied abolitionism in Northampton using the resources of Historic Northampton, the David Ruggles Center, and Forbes Library.
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The Massachusetts Review was founded in 1959 by professors from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Mount Holyoke, and Smith Colleges.
One of the nation’s leading literary magazines, MR is distinctive in joining the highest level of artistic concern with pressing public issues. MR's history of significant criticism includes work by W.E.B. Du Bois, James Baldwin, Henry David Thoreau, and Grace Paley. Learn More |
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This project is supported in part by a grant from the Northampton Arts Council.
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