{"id":110437,"date":"2026-08-31T13:53:44","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T13:53:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=110437"},"modified":"2026-08-31T13:53:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T13:53:45","slug":"land-of-the-free-uri-humanities-lecture-series-centering-around-american-revolutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2026\/08\/land-of-the-free-uri-humanities-lecture-series-centering-around-american-revolutions\/","title":{"rendered":"Land of the free? URI Humanities lecture series centering around \u2018American Revolutions\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Aug. 31, 2026 \u2013 As the United States celebrates its 250th<\/sup> birthday this year, two core questions from the days of the American Revolution remain: What does it mean to be free? Who gets to be free?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The University of Rhode Island Center for the Humanities<\/a>\u2019 annual public lecture series goes in depth on how the American Revolution has shaped the United States since gaining its independence from Great Britain in 1776, and how different groups over time have used the ideas of the American Revolution to push their own ideas of freedom. \u201cAmerican Revolutions,\u201d will host seven academic scholars from around the country to discuss how Americans and the world have reflected on the meanings of the American Revolution, then and now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The four presentations during the 2026 fall semester will focus on the American Revolution itself. Events will take place on the Kingston Campus and will also be livestreamed through the lecture series\u2019 website<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to be thinking about the American Revolution in ways that people won\u2019t always get on the History Channel,\u201d URI Center for the Humanities Director Erik Loomis<\/a> said. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping to introduce some perspectives in this series about the Revolution and its impacts that are both familiar and unfamiliar.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loomis also said Rhode Island\u2019s role during the American Revolution will be discussed during this series, particularly how slaves in this state successfully fought to help end slavery in New England and the country. Slaves in Rhode Island at the time used the American Revolution to expand the boundaries of freedom, Loomis said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIdeas of freedom are at the core of what it means to be in Rhode Island with Roger Williams and religious toleration. But what did that mean to interactions between Europeans and Native Americans?,\u201d Loomis said. \u201cHow does that change in a place like Rhode Island and southern New England when you have this new vision of freedom articulated in a new nation? These are questions our series will shed light on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Rob Parkinson. (Courtesy Rob Parkinson)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Series rundown<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lecture series commences Thursday, Sept. 24, at 4 p.m.<\/strong>, with Binghamton University history professor Rob Parkinson discussing \u201cEverything You Wanted to Know About the Declaration* *But Were Afraid to Ask<\/a>\u201d in the Galanti Lounge at the Robert L. Carothers Library and Learning Commons, 15 Lippitt Road on the Kingston Campus. Parkinson has written four books on Revolutionary America, including \u201cTyrants and Rogues: Understanding the Declaration of Independence,\u201d published this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parkinson\u2019s lecture will discuss how there were more than two dozen charges against King George listed in the declaration and what those were all about. He will also share background on the British rogues behind those charges.<\/p>\n\n\n

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From left, Rhode Island College professor of dance Jessica T. Pearson and Langston Hughes Community Poetry Reading Committee Co-Director April H. Brown will perform a monologue and dance titled \u201cSoul Value\u201d. (Courtesy Jessica T. Pearson and April H. Brown)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

On Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 4 p.m.<\/strong>,Rhode Island College professor of dance Jessica T. Pearson will join Langston Hughes Community Poetry Reading Committee Co-Director April H. Brown to perform \u201cSoul Value<\/a>.\u201d Pearson is a dancer, educator and choreographer who danced with the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, Gesel Mason, Concepts In Motion in Bermuda and Denizen Arts. She was also a principal dancer in the 2022 Disney film \u201cHocus Pocus 2.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brown, who earned her MBA at URI, has more than 25 years\u2019 experience in community development, cultural leadership and educational equity. She is also a fellow with Ocean Nexus within the URI Department of Marine Affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brown and Pearson\u2019s performance, to be held in the Hope Room of the Robert J. Higgins Welcome Center, 45 Upper College Road, will bring to life the stories of New England Black women\u2014Elleanor Eldridge, Elizabeth Freeman and Margaret Kinnicutt\u2014and the men of the 1st<\/sup> Rhode Island Regiment during and after the American Revolution. \u201cSoul Value\u201d will be a dynamic blend of monologue, dance, ritual and song highlighting the untold contributions of Black men and women in New England history, focusing on their advocacy, resilience and survival.<\/p>\n\n\n

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David Hsiung. (Courtesy David Hsiung)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

David Hsiung, professor of history emeritus at Juanita College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, will present a lecture titled \u201cEnvironmental Legacies: How the War of Independence Affected the Natural World in Predictable and Surprising Ways<\/a>\u201d on Thursday, Nov. 12, at 4 p.m. in the Higgins Welcome Center\u2019s Hope Room<\/strong>. A Chicago native, Hsiung won the 2008 Theodore C. Blegen Award from the Forest History Society for his article in the New England Quarterly, <\/strong><\/em>\u201cFood, Fuel, and the New England Environment in the War for Independence, 1775-1776.\u201d He is currently working on a book that examines environmental history and the War of Independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hsiung\u2019s lecture will ask how the War of Independence affected the natural world, especially since society\u2019s thoughts about war\u2019s impact on the environment usually turn to such events as the atomic bombings in Japan during World War II and the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Linford Fisher. (Courtesy Linford Fisher)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Linford Fisher, a professor of history at Brown University, will hold the series\u2019 final fall semester lecture titled \u201cA Complicated Revolution: Indigenous Slavery and Dispossession during the War for Independence<\/a>\u201d on Wednesday, Dec. 9, at 5 p.m. in the Hope Room at the Higgins Welcome Center<\/strong>. Fisher has co-authored two edited collections on Roger Williams and has published a dozen academic essays. He is also the principal investigator of a tribal collective database project titled \u201cStolen Relations: Recovering Stories of Indigenous Enslavement in the Americas<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fisher\u2019s presentation will investigate some of the hidden undersides of the Revolutionary War experienced by Native Americans. Some were already enslaved and sought their freedom through court cases and by running away. Others found their freedom by fighting either for or against the Americans. Drawing from 15 years of research, these stories will have the audience consider a more complex and complicated legacy of the American Revolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cAmerican Revolutions\u201d series will resume in early February with three talks on the Revolution\u2019s legacy in Latin America, the Caribbean and the U.S. Civil War. The presentations, running from February through April, will focus on images of Cuban Revolutionary masculinity, anti-colonial resistance among Indentured Indian laborers in Jamaica, and the rise and fall of the Second American Republic\u2014which will be part of the Humanities Festival in April. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur spring discussions will shed light on what freedom means, who gets to be free and who gets to determine their freedom\u2014questions that are debated throughout the United States and in the Americas, especially,\u201d Loomis said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The URI Center for the Humanities\u2019 yearlong lecture series is free and open to the public, and is co-sponsored by the URI College of Arts and Sciences, the Division of Research and Economic Development, the Department of Gender and Women\u2019s Studies, and the Women\u2019s Center.<\/em> A digital archive of last year\u2019s lecture series can be found on <\/em>the humanities center\u2019s website<\/em><\/a>. For more information on the series, email uri.humanities@gmail.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Aug. 31, 2026 \u2013 As the United States celebrates its 250th birthday this year, two core questions from the days of the American Revolution remain: What does it mean to be free? Who gets to be free? The University of Rhode Island Center for the Humanities\u2019 annual public lecture series goes in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":110438,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2,1],"tags":[12,1913,1905,1912],"class_list":["post-110437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","category-uncategorized","tag-college-of-arts-and-sciences","tag-public-engagement","tag-research","tag-special-events"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110437"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110445,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110437\/revisions\/110445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}