JBL! dishes up historical treats at midsummer programs

WESTPORT | Historian Connor Williams opens John Brown Lives! (JBL!) midsummer season at the John Brown Farm State Historic Site with a talk on our nation's history as the slave society into which abolitionist John Brown was born, matured and martyred. On Sunday, July 30, Williams, (ret.) Lead Historian on the Naming Commission, will focus on events on the 1850s and the laws that ruled the land, the passions that stirred its people, and the politics that charted the nation's course as a slave society. His talk will take place at 2 p.m. in the lower barn at the John Brown Farm, followed by a Q&A discussion and reception with light refreshments. On Tuesday, Aug. 1, JBL!, Adirondack Trail Improvement Society (ATIS), and Craigardan will present an afternoon program with JBL! Fellows Gloria Browne-Marshall and Lewis Sheridan Hughes. Playwright, civil rights attorney, and constitutional law scholar Browne-Marshall will explain why "John Brown Must Live." Hughes, descendant and namesake of Harper's Ferry Raider Lewis Sheridan Leary, will share his personal story of discovering that his ancestor's remains are buried at the John Brown Farm. Their talks begin at 3 p.m. and will follow a special tour of exhibits, picnic, and trail walk starting at 12 p.m. Participants should bring lunch and water. On Saturday, Aug. 5, the Long Table Dinner will feature an open-ended conversation with New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie, artist and historian Nell Painter, and historian and Frederick Douglass biographer David Blight at a farm-to-table dinner prepared by Chef Lewis Hughes. For information and tickets for this event, go to eventbrite.com/e/the-long-table-dinner. On Sunday, Aug. 13, Louis Bickford will draw from more than 20 years working in the field of international human rights on a talk titled "Addressing Past Atrocity through Public Memory Initiatives." Founder and CEO of Memria, Bickford will discuss partnering with organizations to collect, analyze, and circulate narrative accounts of past violence with the aim of strengthening human rights. His talk will begin at 4 p.m. Light refreshments will be served. On Saturday, Aug. 19, JBL!'s second-annual Adirondack Family Book Festival will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., featuring 15 beloved, award-winning children's and young adult authors. Readers of all ages are welcome to mix and mingle with their favorite authors whose books will be on sale throughout the day. Ren Davidson Seward's Nine Conversations about Equity and Justice will continue every Thursday in August from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in A Memorial Field. All these events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted. For more information, contact John Brown Lives! at 518-744-7112 or info@johnbrownlives.org.

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JBL! dishes up historical treats at midsummer programs

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