I Will Be Heard: The Legacy of William Lloyd Garrison and The Liberator - December 3rd, 6:00 PM

On Thursday, December 3, 2015, the Associates of the Boston Public Library is pleased to present a special lecture by Donald Yacovone, Ph.D. marking the 150th anniversary of the final issue of William Lloyd Garrison’s renowned abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator.

In the pages of The Liberator, William Lloyd Garrison led a crusade against slavery and for the rights of black Americans for 35 years - beginning on January 1, 1831 until the shuttering of the paper on December 29, 1865 following ratification of the 13th Amendment. Dr. Yacovone will examine The Liberator’s uncompromising advocacy for equality and Garrison’s critical role in shaping politics in the antebellum era and beyond, with a focus on the role of the “agitator” and free press in a democracy.

Thursday, December 3, 2015 at 6 PM
Boston Public Library’s Central Library in Copley Square

Highlights from the Boston Public Library’s Antislavery Collection will be on display. Presentation begins at 6:00 PM. Reception to follow.

Seating is available on a first-come first-served basis on the night of the event; but for planning purposes, please RSVP for this free event at www.Liberator.Eventbrite.com.

About Donald Yacovone, Ph.D.

Donald Yacovone, Ph.D. is the fomer Manager of Research and Program Development at the Hutchins Center’s W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University, and a recipient of the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal, the highest honor awarded by Harvard in the field of African and African American studies. He earned his Ph.D. from the Claremont Graduate University and has taught at Pitzer College, the University of Arizona, and Millersville University of Pennsylvania. He was an editor at the Black Abolitionist Papers project before becoming the senior associate editor at the Massachusetts Historical Society, where he founded and edited the Massachusetts Historical Review.

An expert in the antislavery movement, Yacovone is about to publish his eighth book: Wendell Phillips, Social Justice and the Powers of the Past, a co-edited essay collection for Louisiana State University Press. His previous work includes Samuel Joseph May and the Dilemmas of the Liberal Persuasion (Temple); A Voice of Thunder: The Civil War Letters of George E. Stephens (Illinois), Lincoln on Race and Slavery (Princeton), with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and in 2013 co-authored with Gates, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross (SmileyBooks), the companion volume to the popular PBS series.