Hi John -- I wanted to make sure you saw our online program for this Friday’s Lunch & Learn. 

Dr. Meadow Dibble will join us via Zoom to discuss the Atlantic Black Box Project—a Portland-based public history initiative devoted to researching and reckoning with New England’s role in the slave trade and the economy of enslavement. 

Despite the 1820 federal act that made participation in the slave trade a capital offense, many merchants and mariners of this region continued to engage in this illicit traffic, right up to the eve of the Civil War. This highly lucrative activity, along with the related practices of provisioning plantations of the Americas and processing their produce in Northern mills, served as the primary fuel powering New England’s economic ascent. And yet our regional narratives have carefully avoided this topic for the past two centuries. 

I hope you’ll plan to join us on Friday - You can REGISTER HERE. 

I look forward to our Lunch & Learns each week and I hope you do, too! Check our website to see the rest of the July schedule and to listen to recordings of past events. 

As always, if you have any suggestions for future Lunch & Learn topics, please email me!

Warmly,

Will