During the week of November 4-7, the McNeil Center for Early American Studies will debut the first endowed lecture series in the field of early American studies: the Benjamin Franklin Distinguished Lectures.
To inaugurate the series, David Waldstreicher, Distinguished Professor of History at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York, will deliver three lectures under the collective title “Three Ages of Slavery and the Future of U.S. History.”
A prolific scholar of the American revolution, David Waldstreicher has edited six volumes and authored four monographs, including Runaway America: Benjamin Franklin, Slavery, and the American Revolution (2004) and, most recently, The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet's Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence (2023).
Schedule of Events:
Monday, November 4, 5:15pm
Looking Back at 2019/1619: The Problems of Slavery in an Age of History Wars
Wednesday, November 6, 5:15pm
Tryon's Travels and Franklin's Fish: From War Slavery to Antiwar Antislavery
Thursday, November 7, 5:15pm
Franklin's Fantasy, Jefferson's Gestures, Wheatley's Wonder: Slavery, Antislavery, and the First American Civil War
All lectures will be held at the McNeil Center for Early American Studies and will be followed by a reception. Registration will open in May 2024.