From The Secular Coalition for America <[email protected]>
Subject The Secular Coalition for America is pleased to be a sponsor of The Anti-Slavery Efforts of Thomas Paine International Event
Date January 11, 2024 10:00 PM
  Links have been removed from this email. Learn more in the FAQ.
  Links have been removed from this email. Learn more in the FAQ.
The Thomas Paine Memorial Association (TPMA) is celebrating both the January 29th birthdate of Thomas Paine and Black History Month

View this email in your browser ([link removed])
Logo
[link removed]


** The Secular Coalition for America is pleased to be a sponsor of The Anti-Slavery Efforts of Thomas Paine International Event
------------------------------------------------------------

The Thomas Paine Memorial Association (TPMA) is celebrating both the January 29th birthdate of Thomas Paine and Black History Month, with an international event focusing on Paine’s significant anti-slavery efforts.

Black leaders, educators, celebrities, politicians, social influencers, and others duly impressed with Paine’s foresight and warnings of civil unrest to end slavery are scheduled to appear throughout this greatly anticipated event. Guests include comedian Ty Barnett; Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY 16th District); Representative Shontel M. Brown (D-OH 11th District); poet Victor Harris; feminist/activist Dom Jones; emergency room doctor and nontheist activist Wil Jeudy; educator, author and historian Richard Newman; Professor Anthony Pinn; Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD 8th District); Smithsonian Museum Curator Teddy Reeves; Representative Victoria Spartz (R-IN 5th District); and Black Nonbelievers founder and president Mandisa Thomas.

Also participating will be event planners TPMA president Margaret Downey, and History Professor Christopher Cameron, author of Black Freethinkers: A History of African American Secularism.

Musical performances by Cynthia McDonald, a member of Godless Gospel and leader of Chicago’s Black Nonbelievers chapter, will open and close the event.

Actor Ian Ruskin will recite a letter that Paine wrote to Thomas Jefferson, using the persona of an enslaved person to emphasize the urgency of ending slavery. The 1808 letter, written seven months before Paine’s death, reveals a frustrated and angry abolitionist who had lost patience with those who participated in the debauchery.

Thomas Paine expert Gary Berton, president of the Thomas Paine National Historical Association, will be in attendance to introduce the letter from “A Slave” and answer questions.

“Thomas Paine stood for equality like no other Founder and more people should know his legacy,” says Downey.

“This event will prove that Thomas Paine’s legacy should be honored and recognized. A Thomas Paine monument in Washington, DC is needed to complete the story of the founding of the United States of America,” she continued.

A post-event social hour will allow audience participation. Sculptor Zenos Frudakis will Zoom from his studio in Glenside, Pennsylvania to show his clay statue of Thomas Paine.

Sponsors of the Monday, January 29, 2024 event are the Secular Coalition for America, the Thomas Paine Memorial Association, Black Nonbelievers, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the Center for Inquiry, and the Freethought Society.

Pre-registration for the event, which begins 4:00 PM PST/7:00 PM EST, is required.

You can register for the event here:

[link removed]

TPMA has been charged by Congress with creating a long-overdue monument to this “forgotten founder” in Washington, DC. A bill sponsored by Representatives Raskin and Spartz was signed into law by President Biden in December 2022. TPMA is in the midst of finding a location and getting final approval for the monument. Raskin and Spartz now serve as the nonprofit group’s honorary co-chairs. Learn more about TPMA at:

[link removed] ([link removed])

For more information, please contact event coordinators:

Margaret Downey, President
Thomas Paine Memorial Association

(A nonprofit educational 501(c)3 organization)

Phone: 610-357-9432

Email: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

Christopher Cameron, Board Member

Thomas Paine Memorial Association

Phone: 919-360-1848

Email: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

Donate ([link removed])
[link removed] [link removed] [link removed]
Logo

Copyright (C) 2024 Secular Coalition for America. All rights reserved.
Contributions to the Secular Coalition for America are not tax-deductible; they support our effective, citizen-based advocacy and lobbying efforts. Tax-deductible donations, including from Donor Advised Funds and IRA Rollovers, can be made to the Secular Coalition for America Education Fund.



You are receiving this email because you requested to receive updates from the Secular Coalition for America.



If you have a Facebook account, consider creating a Facebook donation campaign to help raise money for our cause: [link removed]
Our mailing address is:
Secular Coalition for America
1012 14th St, NW
Suite 205
Washington, DC xxxxxx
USA
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences ([link removed]) or unsubscribe ([link removed])
Screenshot of the email generated on import

Message Analysis