Slavery and Freedom in Northampton and in the Colonial North Lecture Series: Lecture 3
An Introduction to Transatlantic Slavery and Canadian Slavery
Dr. Charmaine A. Nelson, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Wednesday, March 19, 2025 at 7 pm
On Zoom | Register for the Zoom link
 THE PRINTER (William Brown),
​"RANAWAY from the Printing-office,"
Quebec Gazette, 27 November 1777, ​no. 639, p. 3
If you're unfamiliar with slavery in Canada, you’re not alone. Most people have never had the opportunity to learn about the 200-year history of Canadian participation in Transatlantic Slavery under the British and the French. This lack of knowledge is principally because scholarship on Canadian Slavery falls far short of the research that has been produced about the U.S. South, the Caribbean, and northern South America.
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This talk explores various dimensions of Canadian Slavery within the broader context of transatlantic histories with attention to how scholars conduct research on unfree people using archival and cultural sources. It also connects the dots between histories of slavery and ongoing anti-Black racism. ​​
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In Partnership with the Northampton Reparations Study Commission
A Light Under the Dome: A Staged, Dramatic Reading
A play by Patrick Gabridge, Producing Artistic Director, Plays in Place
Wednesday, April 2, 2025 or Thursday, April 3, 2025 | 6:30 pm
Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence, 220 Main Street, Northampton, MA
Historic Northampton, in collaboration with Plays In Place and in partnership with ​the Racial Justice Team of the Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence, proudly ​presents two staged, dramatic readings ​of ​A Light Under the Dome.
​On February 21, 1838, exiled Southerner Angelina Grimke became the first American woman to address a legislative body when she delivered a speech about abolition and the full citizenship of American women at the Massachusetts State House.

A Light Under the Dome brings us to this moment in history, showcasing Grimke and taking us inside the minds and hearts of four abolitionist and suffragist leaders--Maria Weston Chapman, Susan Paul, Julia Williams, and Lydia Maria Child, who in 1838 was living in Northampton. As Grimke readies herself for this moment, her four friends help support and guide her through this pressure-packed moment. A few years later, Grimke would give a similar speech here in Northampton.

Each hour-long performance will be followed by a post-show discussion with the playwright and a historian.​
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Reservations Strongly Recommended | Available seats: 150
All reservations are for general seating  |  Sliding Scale Admission 
The readings will not be recorded.
Slavery and Freedom in Northampton and in the Colonial North Lecture Series: Lecture 4
Living and Laboring in the Business of Slavery in Rhode Island
Dr. Christy Clark-Pujara
​Thursday, April 10, 2025 at 7 pm
On Zoom | Register for the Zoom link
Dr. Christy Clark-Pujara will speak via Zoom on April 10, 2025. Clark-Pujara is professor of history in the Department of African American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of Dark Work: The Business of Slavery in Rhode Island (NYU Press, 2016).​
The Business of slavery—specifically the buying and selling of people, food, and goods—shaped the experience of slavery, the process of emancipation, and the realities of Black freedom in Rhode Island from the colonial period through the American Civil War. In the colonial period, Rhode Islanders dominated the American trade in African slaves and provided the slave-labor-dependent West Indies with basic necessities. In the post-colonial period, as slavery was legally dismantled, Rhode Islanders became the leading producers of slave clothing. Black people resisted their bondage, fought for their freedom, and strove to build a community in a racially hostile colony and state; their assertions of humanity shaped Rhode Island society, politics, and economy. The erasure of this history has allowed for a dangerous myth—that the North has no history of racism to overcome and that white northerners had no substantive investments in race-based slavery.

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In Partnership with the Northampton Reparations Study Commission
Sophia Smith — Hatfield, Northampton, and the Founding of Smith College
A Presentation by Laurie Sanders, co-director of Historic Northampton
First Congregational Church, 41 Main Street, Hatfield, MA
Co-sponsored by the Hatfield Historical Society​
Wednesday, April 16, 2025 at 6 pm
Sophia Smith, 1858
Smith College Special Collections
In April 1870, Sophia Smith, a lifelong resident of Hatfield, executed her will, ensuring that her future namesake college would be located in Northampton–not in Hatfield as she had initially envisioned. To mark the 150 year anniversary of this event, on Wednesday, April 16, the Hatfield Historical Society and Historic Northampton are collaborating:  

  • From 4-5:45 pm, the Hatfield Historical Society (2nd floor, 39 Main Street, Hatfield) will open a new exhibit, Sophia Smith At Home, which features artifacts from Smith's private life.
  • At 6 pm, Historic Northampton's co-director and Smith College alumna Laurie Sanders will give a presentation at Hatfield's First Congregational Church about Sophia Smith's life, her deep roots in Hatfield, her decision to fund a women's college, and the factors that influenced her decision to locate the college in Northampton.

Reserve your place. Walk-ins allowed. 
Sliding scale: $5-20.
All contributions jointly benefit the Hatfield Historical Society and Historic Northampton.

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