Conferences

Like all conflicts, the Revolutionary War (1775-1783) brought disruption, violence, and uncertainty. However, because it unfolded at a moment when Transatlantic Slavery was yet to be abolished in the regions that were to become Canada and the USA, for the enslaved, the war also brought large-scale upheaval of forced inland and maritime migration which opened opportunities for escape and emancipation. On the 250^th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, this conference presents papers that rethink the cultures, events, and experiences of the war across the liminal borders (regional and proto-national) of British North America.

While scholars of early America have centered studies on the political motivations and military maneuvers that influenced the rebels, the grassroots impact of sedition, and the interpretation of constitutional debates, most scholarship on the Canadian side of the border has been regionally and thematically biased towards a celebratory focus on White Loyalists in the Maritimes.

Meanwhile, little scholarship – Canadian or American – has been devoted to recuperating and understanding the experiences of the enslaved across regions, origins, identities, climates, geographies, and circumstances. Nor has attention been paid to the turmoil that ensued when White Loyalist enslavers, those they enslaved, and newly freed Black Loyalists were all evacuated into northern (Canadian) territories which had already been shaped by Transatlantic Slavery.

Join us for two keynote lectures and nine panels that engage new approaches and perspectives, interrogate un(der)studied archives, and tackle original topics and themes on the art, cultural, material, and traditional histories of the Revolutionary War on both sides of the 49^th parallel. Our organizing premise insists that participants recuperate and centre the aspirations, resistance, perspectives, and experiences of enslaved people and communities.

THURSDAY, JULY 9, 2026

2:00 – 4:00 Conference Registration
4:00 PM, Opening Remarks
4:15-5:15 PM, Keynote – Dr. dann j. Broyld
5:15-7:00 PM, Cocktail Reception

FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2026

Continental breakfast ongoing from 8:15 – 10:15 AM
Vendors’ Market ongoing from 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM
8:30 AM – 1:15 PM, Panel 1, Panel 2, Panel 3
1:15-2:15 PM, Lunch
2:15 PM  – 5 PM, Panel 4, Panel 5

SATURDAY, JULY 11, 2026

Breakfast Ongoing from 9 – 11 AM
Vendors’ Market ongoing from 9 AM – 4:30 PM
9:30–10:45 AM, Keynote – Dr. Richard Bell
11:00 AM –12:15 PM, Panel 6
12:15-1:30 PM, Lunch
1:30 PM – 4:15 PM, Panel 7, Panel 8
6:00-8:00 PM, Presenters’ Dinner

SUNDAY, JULY 12, 2026

8:45 AM-1PM Presenters’ field trip to Historic Deerfield
Attendees self-guided exploration of regional exhibitions and cultural sites

Location: Old Chapel, 144 Hicks Way, Amherst MA 01002 

2:00-4:00 PM, Conference Registration

4:00 PM, Opening Remarks, Dean Maria del Guadalupe Davidson, College of Humanities and Fine Arts, UMass Amherst, and Dr. Charmaine A. Nelson, Provost Professor of Art History and Founding Director, Slavery North

4:15 – 5:15 PM, Keynote – Dr. dann j. Broyld

5:15 – 7:00 PM, Cocktail Reception with live jazz quartet

Location: Old Chapel, 144 Hicks Way, Amherst MA 01002 

Continental breakfast ongoing from 8:15 – 10:15 AM
Vendors’ Market with books, art, and more from local black and Latino artists and businesses, ongoing from 8:30 AM – 5 PM

8:30 AM, Welcoming Remarks

8:40 AM – 9:55 AM, Panel 1: Creating Community: Diasporic Experiences on Turtle Island

Moderator: Tim Hastings

The Second Maroon War: African and African American Resistance Culture 1775–1783
Presenter: Dr. Ainsworth L. Tracey

Caesar’s Journey to Indian Country: Finding Freedom in Revolutionary America
Presenter: Dr. Roy E. Finkenbine

Africans and Acadians between Revolution and Abolitionon
Presenter: Dr. Colby Gaudet

10:10–11:25 AM, Panel 2: Sound and Image in the Revolutionary Era: Uncovering Black Lives

Moderator: Elana Casey

The Art of the Freedom Song: Songs and Hymns used for the Freedom of Black People during the American Revolution
Presenter: Christopher D. Sims

Grenadian domestics and slaves in the snow: what the journals and artwork of British military engineer William Booth reveal about slavery and the slave trade in Nova Scotia
Presenter: Dr. Bonnie Huskins

The Fifers at the Gates of Dawn: Black Musicians in the American Revolution
Presenter: Dr. Bianki J. Torres

11:40AM-1:15 PM, Panel 3: Contradictions of Freedom in the Age of Revolution

Moderator: Olivia Haynes

Slavery in the District of Maine & Atlantic Canada: Exploring Revolutionary Connections
Presenter: Dr. Mary T. Freeman

Rebellion, Refuge, and the Roots of Empire: Elizabeth Richards and the Afterlives of Revolutionary Freedom
Presenter: Dr. Ben Wright

Reactionary Re-Enslavement in the Monongahela Valley Borderlands
Presenter: Dr. Cory James Young

“The Old Blackman left at Halifax, 1776”: The Liminality of Harry [Hallowell]
Presenter: James Tanzer

1:15-2:15 PM, Lunch

2:15–3:30 PM, Panel 4: Circulating the Atlantic: Textiles, Tales, and Tars

Moderator: Emily Whitted

Cloth in Motion: Textile Circulation, Enslaved Mobilities, and Caribbean-Canadian Entanglements during the Revolutionary War
Presenter: Grayson Chong

How Loyalist Revolutionaries Transformed an Enslaver into an Emancipator
Presenter: Jordan B. Smith

Black Mariners’ Fight for Freedom in the Revolutionary Atlantic, 1772-1815
Presenter: Charles Foy

3:45–4:55 PM, Panel 5: Black Soldiers in Post-Revolutionary New England: Strategies for Survival

Moderator: Emma O’Neill-Dietel

Beyond Enlistment: Black Revolutionary Soldiers and Self-Determination in Rural New England
Presenters: Nikki Metzger and Anaëlle Cama

“I Was Present and Saw Him Die”: The Black Patriot Community in Bridgewater, MA
Presenters: Emily D. Field and Jamie Huff

Location: Old Chapel, 144 Hicks Way, Amherst MA 01002 

Continental breakfast ongoing from 9 – 11 AM
Vendors’ Market with books, art, and more from local black and Latino artists and businesses, ongoing from 9 AM – 4:30 PM

9:30 AM, Welcoming Remarks

9:45 AM, Keynote – Dr. Richard Bell

11:00 AM–12:15 PM, Panel 6: Reading Against the Grain: New Approaches to Print and Manuscript Sources

Moderator: Becca LoPresti

Patriots of Color: From an Archive to an Online Storytelling Experience
Presenter: Alexandra Cade and Adrienne G. Whaley

Manuscript Testimonies: Reading the Black Experiences and Voices in John Clarkson’s Halifax Notebook
Presenter: Dr. Eleanor L. Bird

Will Likely Endeavor to Pass for Free: Runaway Slave Advertisements in New Jersey Newspapers, 1777-1808
Presenters: Dr. James Amemasor

12:15-1:30PM, Lunch

1:30–2:45 PM, Panel 7: Following the Paper Trail: Countering Northern Slavery’s Erasure

Moderator: Elizabeth Pangburn

The Pen is Mightier than the Sword: Black Abolitionists and Intellectual Resistance in Revolutionary Massachusetts
Presenter: Julia Jorati

The Book of Negroes: A blueprint for Loyalist Society
Presenter: Graham Nickerson

Representing Race and the American Revolution
Presenter: Lisa Merrill

3:00–4:15 PM, Panel 8: On the Edge of Freedom: Black Agency and Border Crossing

Moderator: Tim Hastings

“The Ballad of Prince Greene”: Agency, Resistance, and Archival Silences in Revolutionary Rhode Island
Presenter: Michael J. Simpson

“It is feared they will attempt to go off to the enemy”: Enslaved People Seeking Freedom across the Borders of Revolutionary New Jersey
Presenter: Jonathan Sassi

Loyalist-Owned Enslaved Afro-Virginian Women in a Revolutionary World
Presenter: Adam Xavier McNeil

6:00-8:00 PM, Presenters’ dinner, Marriott Room, 11th Floor, 1 Campus Centre Way, Amherst, MA 01003

8:45-1:00 PM, Presenters’ field trip to Historic Deerfield

Field trip bus pick-up/drop-off is Parking Lot 64, between 140 Hicks Way and 150 Hicks Way, Amherst, MA 01003

Field trip participants driving themselves should meet the tour group at the Flynt Center of Early New England Life, located at 37 Old Main St in Deerfield, MA 01342

Attendees self-guided exploration of regional exhibitions and cultural sites:

David Ruggles Center

Sundays 12-4pm
Free
davidrugglescenter.org
225 Nonotuck St, Northampton, MA 01062
[email protected]
11 miles from UMass Amherst
Bus: PVTA B43 to Masonic St & Academy of Music > R42 Main & Maple > Walk down Maple > Turn right onto Nonotuck St. > Ruggles Ctr is on the right.

Historic Deerfield

Wednesday-Sunday 9:30-4:30
General Admission: $20
historic-deerfield.org
80 Old Main St, Deerfield, MA 01342
(413) 774-5581
15 miles from UMass Amherst

Multiple Exhibitions on at the Flynt Center for Early New England Life related to the American Revolution: 37 Old Main Street, Deerfield, MA 01342.

Mobile App based walking tours of Deerfield’s Indigenous History as well as Guided Tours of the Colonial Houses are available

The Witness Stones Project: 35 memorials created to restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved individuals who lived and worked in Deerfield. Along the Old Main St walkways

Bus: PVTA 31 to Sugarloaf St & Mountain Rd. > FRTA 31 to Greenfield Rd & Memorial St. > Walk down Memorial St and turn left onto Old Main St. (~1hr)

Historic Northampton

Wednesday-Sunday 11-4
Admission by donation
historicnorthampton.org
46 Bridge St, Northampton, MA 01060
(413) 584-6011
8.5 miles from UMass Amherst
Current Exhibition: Slavery and Freedom in Northampton, 1654 – 1783
Bus: PVTA B43 to Northampton Post Office

Sojourner Truth Memorial and Self-Guided Walking Tour

Free
sojournertruthmemorial.org
121 Pine St, Florence, MA 01062
11 miles from UMass Amherst
Bus: PVTA B43 to Masonic St & Academy of Music > R42 Main & Maple > Walk left along Meadow St and stay left onto Park St. > Sojourner Truth Memorial Park is on the left

The Porter-Phelps-Huntington House Museum

General Admission: $5 (cash only)
pphmuseum.org
130 River Dr, Hadley, MA 01035
(413) 584-4699
4.3 miles from UMass Amherst
No direct bus route. 10-minute Uber ride