NEWBURYPORT – Dr. Kellie Carter Jackson, historian, author, and Wellesley College professor, will focus on the history of black resistance to oppression and white supremacy in her featured presentation at the 5th Annual William Lloyd Garrison Lecture on Sunday, Dec. 8, at Old South Church, 29 Federal St., Newburyport.
Carter Jackson’s lecture shares the same title as her latest book, “We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance.”
The annual Garrison lecture celebrates the work of crusading newspaper editor William Lloyd Garrison and Black abolitionists from Newburyport. Garrison, the founder and publisher of “The Liberator” anti-slavery newspaper, was born in Newburyport in 1805. Free and open to the public, the lecture begins at 3 p.m. at the church.
Carter Jackson is a professor in the Department of Africana Studies and chair of Africana Studies at Wellesley College. In addition to “We Refuse,” she also wrote “Force and Freedom: Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence (America in the Nineteenth Century).”
After the lecture Carter Jackson will be available to sign books, and Jabberwocky Bookshop will have books on hand for sale.
Mayor Sean Reardon is expected to proclaim the week of Dec. 4-10 as Human Rights and Anti-Oppression Education Week. The Newburyport Public Library will recommend a reading list of books for adults and children relating to Garrison, the abolitionist movement and racial justice.
As part of the celebration of Garrison’s legacy, on Thursday, Dec. 5, at 3 pm, the Black History Initiative and the city of Newburyport will dedicate a new interpretive sign, Fighting for Double Victory: Newburyport’s Black Soldiers and Sailors, in Brown Square.
Speakers include former Essex County Sheriff Frank Cousins, William Cousins and local officials. Descendants of veterans featured on the sign, including members of the Cousins family, are expected to attend the dedication.
The Annual William Lloyd Garrison lecture is organized by the independent volunteer group, Friends of William Lloyd Garrison, with help from the Museum of Old Newbury, Old South Presbyterian Church, the Newburyport Black History Initiative, the Newburyport Human Rights Commission, and the PEG Center for Art and Activism.
This lecture receives support from Mass Humanities, the Mass Cultural Council, the Newburyport Cultural Council, Newburyport Bank, Newburyport Preservation Trust, and the Newburyport Trust Fund Commission
For more information visit: www.wlgarrison.com.