Thompson Free Library to host Bicentennial speaker online 

DOVER-FOXCROFT – Thompson Free Library will host Mary Freeman, assistant professor of history at the University of Maine, live via Zoom at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 7 as the first speaker in a series celebrating Maine’s Bicentennial. This series is supported by a Bicentennial Grant from the Maine Arts Commission and will explore topics and perspectives sometimes overlooked in traditional narratives of our state’s history.

Professor Freeman’s talk, titled “The Politics of Slavery in the Era of Maine Statehood,” will explore how the issue of slavery influenced Maine’s development and entrance into the U.S. as an independent state. It will also focus on African American political activism in Maine surrounding the issues of abolishing slavery and fighting for equal rights.

Freeman studies the history of slavery and abolition in the United States, with a focus on Maine and New England. She received her PhD from Columbia University. Her current book project examines letter writing in the nineteenth-century antislavery movement, and she is also working on an article about abolition and African American politics in Maine.

This event is free and open to the public. Please visit the Thompson Free Library website at thompson.lib.me.us or email thompsonfreelibrary@gmail.com for information about how to participate.