Middlesex County Historical Society to Host Author of "For Adam's Sake"

The Middlesex County Historical Society is pleased to
present Allegra di Bonaventura who will discuss her book, For Adam’s Sake, in the Hubbard Room at Russell Library at 7:00 pm
on Tuesday, November 19. For Adam’s Sake
has been described by John Demos, the author of Unredeemed Captive, as “A work of astonishing ingenuity,
intellectual and emotional depth, and (most of all) brilliant writing.” It is
the story of two families: Joshua Hempstead, a well-respected farmer and
tradesman in New London, Connecticut and his slave of thirty years,
Adam Jackson. Hempstead’s remarkable
diary—kept from 1711 until 1758—is the basis of this engrossing narrative of
family life and the slave experience in the colonial North. Significant primary
documents from churches and various civic and private archives also serve as
source material.

For Adam’s Sake
describes the complexity of this master/slave relationship and traces the
intertwining stories of two families until the eve of the Revolution. Slavery
is often left out of our collective memory of New England’s
history, but it was hugely impactful on the central unit of colonial life: the
family. In every corner, the lines between slavery and freedom were blurred as
families across the social spectrum fought to survive. In this enlightening
study, a new portrait of an era emerges.

Allegra di Bonaventura is Assistant Dean of the Graduate
School of Arts and Science at Yale
University. She received
a Ph.D. in History from Yale as well as a Juris Doctor.  She also holds a B.A. in History and an M.A.
in German from Middlebury
College. Her responsibilities
include the academic affairs of the graduate programs in the Humanities,
African American Studies, East Asian Studies, European and Russian Studies,
International Development & Economics, and International Relations. She
will have copies of the book for purchase and inscription.

Russell Library, located at 123 Broad Street in Middletown, is handicap accessible.  The program is free and open to the
public.  For more information, contact
the Historical Society at 860-346-0746.