March Lectures from the Friends of Minute Man National Park

The Friends of Minute Man National Park is sponsoring a series of lectures on Sunday afternoons in March.

4 March: Hilary Anderson Stelling, “Sowing the Seeds of Liberty: Lexington and the American Revolution”

On a spring day more than 200 years ago, battles at Lexington and Concord launched the American war for independence. “Sowing the Seeds of Liberty: Lexington and the American Revolution” will introduce some of the members of the Lexington community who played a role in these important events, discuss the political and social circumstances that led to the armed confrontation and explore what the choices made on April 19th meant for Lexington residents in the years to come.

11 March: Emily Murphy and Alicia Paresi, “Town and Country: An Exploration of Archeological Collections”

One of the best ways that we can get an idea of how people lived in past centuries is through what they left behind. Join National Park Service historian Emily Murphy and NPS archaeologist Alicia Paresi to explore what the archaeological records say about life in Salem and Lincoln in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and the surprising similarities between the two.

18 March: George Quintal, “Patriots of Color at Battle Road and Bunker Hill”

At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, a little more than 20 Patriot men of color responded to the alarm and actively engaged the British on the Battle Road. In the weeks leading up to the Battle of Bunker Hill, hundreds of men of color converged from all over New England to assist at the Siege of Boston. More than 100 fought at Bunker Hill. For decades, these men were forgotten. This talk is one small step in telling their story.

25 March: David Wood, “The Greatest Events of the Present Era: Collecting History at the Concord Museum”

The events of April 19, 1775, permanently changed the way Concord has viewed itself. One example of that is the collection that was begun in 1850 and in 1886 became the Concord Antiquarian Society, now the Concord Museum. In an illustrated presentation Concord Museum curator David Wood will discuss some examples from the museum’s remarkable collection, including objects associated with April 19th and the people who were there on that epochal day.

All these lectures start at 3:00 P.M. at the Minute Man Visitor Center in Lincoln, and all are free—though the Friends suggests a friendly $5 donation.