      Exhibits Events Past Program Highlights          
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Rebels in Paradise:
Sketches of Northampton Abolitionists
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Sylvester Judd Jr. |
John Payson Williston |
David Ruggles |
Henry S. Gere |
Erastus Hopkins |
Join author Bruce Laurie for a book signing of Rebels in Paradise: Sketches of Northampton Abolitionists Neilson Library Browsing Room, Smith College Thursday, January 8th at 7 pm |
Bruce Laurie, professor of history emeritus at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, will discuss his newly published book, Rebels in Paradise: Sketches of Northampton Abolitionists. The author presentation will occur Thursday, January 8th at 7 pm in the Browsing Room of Neilson Library at Smith College. Refreshments will be served and books will be offered for sale and signing by the author. |
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In this book, Laurie profiles five rebellious figures - Sylvester Judd Jr., John Payson Williston, David Ruggles, Henry Sherwood Gere and Erastus Hopkins - who launched Northampton's abolitionist movement. Through their individual stories, Laurie traces the evolution of the antislavery movement in western Massachusetts and links it to broader developments in economics, civil life and political affairs. Northampton's abolitionists were a heterodox group, yet most were intrepid devotees of democracy and racial equality, idealists who enjoyed genuine friendships and political alliances with African Americans. Several even took the bold step of hiring African Americans in their businesses. Although a prohibitionst faction disrupted the Northampton abolitionist movement for a time, the leaders prevailed on the strength of their personal prestige and political experience, making the seat of Hampshire County what one of them called an abolitionist "stronghold." |
Rebels in Paradise by Bruce Laurie |
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Published by the University of Massachusetts Press, 2015 |
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Bruce Laurie is author of Beyond Garrison: Antislavery and Social Reform (2005), Artisans into Workers: Labor in Nineteenth-Century America (1989) and Working People of Philadelphia, 1800-1850 (1980). |
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In 2011-2012 Laurie was Scholar in Residence at Historic Northampton under a research grant awarded by MassHumanities to study abolitionism in Northampton using the resources of Historic Northampton, the David Ruggles Center and Forbes Library. |
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Sponsored by |
Historic Northampton, Northampton, MA |
The Smith College Department of American Studies |
The David Ruggles Center for Early Florence History & UGRR Studies |
The History Department of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst |
Contents Historic Northampton.