KINGSTON, R.I. -- April 11, 2003 -- It’s been a long and eventful journey for William B. Gould IV since he graduated from the University of Rhode Island in 1958. He has served as chairman of the National Labor Relations Board during the Clinton administration and has written extensively about labor law.

Gould will visit his alma mater on Monday, April 28 to discuss his newly released book, Diary of Contraband: The Civil War Passage of a Black Sailor (Stanford University Press). The book is based on the diary of Gould’s great-grandfather. It is a remarkable account of his great-grandfather, an escaped slave who served in the United States Navy during the Civil War.

Gould's talk will be held in the Kirk-Cherry Auditorium, located in URI’s engineering complex, from noon to 1 p.m. A reception and book signing will follow in the University Club, located directly across the street. Both events are free and open to the public. Gould’s visit is part of the Center for the Humanities Visiting Scholar Series.

According to a Stanford University press release, with a forward by Senator Mark Hatfield, the book recounts the adventures of Gould’s great-grandfather and namesake, William Benjamin Gould, an escaped slave who served in the U.S. Navy from 1862 until the end of the war.

One of only three known diaries of African American sailors from the Civil War, it records Gould’s activity as part of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron off the coast of North Carolina and Virginia; his visits to New York and Boston; the pursuit to Nova Scotia of a hijacked Confederate cruiser; and his service in European waters pursuing a Confederate ship constructed in Great Britain and France.

In the fall of 2002, Gould joined the faculty of Willamette College of Law as the William M. Ramsey Distinguished Professor of Law. Before joining Willamette, he was the Charles A. Beardsley Professor of Law at Stanford University.