      Exhibits Events Past Program Highlights          
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Northampton, Florence and
the Split in Anti-Slavery
by Steve Strimer
Saturday, July 19th at 11 am
Historic Building #20, Laurel Park
| Steve Strimer will present a talk on anti-slavery in Northampton and Florence as part of the Chautauqua Festival of Ideas at Laurel Park on Saturday, July 19, 2014 at 11 am. |
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Since the publication of Christopher Clark's The Communitarian Moment: The Radical Challenge of the Northampton Association, the focus of local versions of the story of abolition has been on the village of Florence. The wing of abolition led by William Lloyd Garrison included local activity by famous figures such as Lydia Maria Child, Sojourner Truth, David Ruggles, and Charles C. Burleigh. |
Recent research conducted by scholar-in-residence Bruce Laurie has revealed that more socially conservative but equally committed abolitionists--leaders of the Liberty and Free Soil parties--made downtown Northampton a hotbed of resistance to the slave power and an active center of Underground Railroad activity. Equally prominent evangelicals had significant ties to the "old town" including Arthur and Lewis Tappan, Joshua Leavitt and Abel Brown. |
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Saturday, July 19th at 11 am Historic Building #20, Laurel Park, Northampton Chautauqua Festival of Ideas |
Laurel Park Arts is hosting the Chautauqua Festival of Ideas on July 18-19. To view the schedule of events, visit www.laurelparkarts.org. |
Bruce Laurie conducted research on Northampton abolitionists funded in part |
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This program is funded in part by Mass Humanities, which receives support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and is an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. |
Contents Historic Northampton.