Upcoming Programs
"The National Colored Convention in Session at Washington, D. C." Sketched by Theo. R. Davis. Harper’s Weekly, February 6, 1869. Howard University (mss_5785A).
When Movement Struggles Produce Progressive Thought
A Zoom Presentation by Sarah Lynn Patterson

Thursday, April 28, 2022 | 7 pm
Over seven decades, from 1830 until 1900, tens of thousands of Black men and women from different walks of life attended meetings publicly advertised as “Colored Conventions.” At these political gatherings, free-born and formerly enslaved African Americans organized and strategized for racial justice. Providing a powerful structure and platform for Black organizing, more than 200 state and national Colored Conventions were held between 1830 and the 1890s; Massachusetts held five state conventions.

Professor Sarah Lynn Patterson of the University of Massachusetts Amherst will discuss the rise and the fall of the Colored Conventions movement as a way of understanding dialogues about progressive politics at the turn of the twentieth century. Professor Patterson will explore how conflict within the organization gave the oppressed their bearings to become torches for social reform.

Sponsored by Whalen Insurance

Register for the Zoom link
Sliding scale admission: $5-25
“To Live in the Common Cause:”
Activism and Community at the Northampton Association
A Zoom Presentation by Christopher Clark

Friday, May 6, 2022 | 3 - 4 pm
In April 1842 (180 years ago), a group of radical abolitionists formed the Northampton Association of Education and Industry, a utopian community they sustained for four-and-a-half years. How did their activism contribute to the campaign against slavery? What did they learn about living in community? And although the Association itself broke up in 1846, how did its members help found the village of Florence that still thrives today?
Christopher Clark is author of The Communitarian Moment: The Radical Challenge of the Northampton Association and Letters from an American Utopia: The Stetson Family and the Northampton Association, 1843-1847 (edited with Kerry W. Buckley).

This free event is co-presented by Historic Northampton, the David Ruggles Center for History and Education, and Northampton Neighbors.

Zoom link to free public talk:
Meeting ID: 993 6788 2715
Passcode: 591001
 

Image: Williston's Cotton Mill, Stereoscopic Views of Florence by the Knowlton Brothers Photographers. Courtesy of Periodyssey.
Walk with the Indian Doctress: Restorative Approaches to Interpreting Native American Medicine
A Zoom Presentation by Margaret Bruchac
Dr. Margaret Bruchac will describe the lives and work of several female Indigenous doctors, including Rhoda Rhoades (1751-1841) who treated people from Northampton. Rhoades doctored people at her home in “Indian Hollow,” a section of Huntington later destroyed by the construction of the Knightville Dam.
Rhoades grew “every kind of flower imaginable” and used them to make an herbal medicine called "The Extract." She cured illnesses using traditional ingredients such as burdock, turkey rhubarb, and slippery elm. Dr. Bruchac of the University of Pennsylvania will discuss the interactions between Anglo and Indian medicine, including religion and superstition, and the social, political, and economic reasons for revealing or hiding medicinal sources. In her talk, Dr. Bruchac will discuss public reaction to her portrayal of an Indian Doctress in the 1990s.

Sponsored by Whalen Insurance

Register for the Zoom link
Sliding scale admission: $5-25


Image: Margaret Bruchac as Indian Doctress. Photo by Justin Kennick.
HISTORIC NORTHAMPTON
46 Bridge Street
Northampton, MA 01060