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'Longfellow and the Network to Freedom' Feb. 2-Mar. 1

Story posted January 29, 2008

Longfellow_portrait.jpg

Longfellow Days 2008, scheduled for February 2 through March 1, will probe the relationship of the nation's foremost 19th-century poet to the struggle for emancipation.

"Longfellow and the Network to Freedom" will include lectures by noted historians, film screenings, a house tour, devotions with dance and music, and five separate poetry events.

Each Longfellow Days event will relate to abolition issues and will focus on Brunswick, Maine, and Bowdoin College, Longfellow's alma mater (Class of 1825).

During the 1830s and '40s Brunswick was home to a flourishing community of African American farmers, and was also the birthplace of Harriet Beecher Stowe's pivotal novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin. In that turbulent period, sentiments for and against the abolition of slavery were equally strong.

Recent scholarly research has uncovered Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's consistent and generous financial support for freed slaves and the African American community of his time, including the Canadian academy founded by former slave Josiah Henson. The poet was well acquainted with author Stowe, who, legend has it, was once greeted by Lincoln as "the little woman who wrote the book that started this Great War." He was also a close friend of Charles Sumner, the ardent abolitionist and senator from Massachusetts. In late 2007, Longfellow's Boston home, Craigie House, was officially designated as a part of the Underground Railroad.

With one exception, Longfellow Days programs are free. All are handicapped accessible.

Longfellow Days is a program of the Brunswick Downtown Association in cooperation with Bowdoin College and is supported by a grant from the Davis Fund. For more information call 207-729-4439.

COMMUNITY HISTORY EVENTS

Saturday, February 2 and 9
Silent film from 1927: Uncle Tom's Cabin with piano accompaniment by Doug Protsik, 11 a.m., Eveningstar Cinema, Tontine Mall, Brunswick. Admission: $8. This film is faithful to the stage versions of the novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe that barnstormed across the country for half a century.

Saturday, February 9
Lecture and discussion by Bowdoin College Associate Professor of History Patrick Rael: "Uncle Tom's Cabin in Context and in History," 3 p.m., Searles Science Building, Room 315, Bowdoin College. Free. Rael is the author of Black Identity and Black Protest in the Antebellum North, and is a specialist in African American history.

Wednesday, February 20
Lecture by biographer Charles Calhoun: "Longfellow's Civil War," 7 p.m., Daggett Lounge, Thorne Hall, Bowdoin College. Free. Calhoun is the author of Longfellow: A Rediscovered Life. His new book, due in 2008, will be titled Whitman's and Longfellow's Civil War.

Saturday, February 23
Lectures by writers Barbara Desmarais and Bob Greene: "Three Ladies and the Journey to Freedom" and "Black in Blue — Maine's African Americans Answer the Union's Call to Arms," 2–4 p.m., Morrell Room, Curtis Memorial Library. Free. Refreshments at intermission. Desmarais and Greene are contributing authors to Maine's Visible Black History: The First Chronicle of Its People, which will be available for purchase at the event. Sponsored by the Association of Bowdoin Friends.

Sunday, February 24
Tours of the Joshua Chamberlain House — Longfellow's home from 1830–1832: noon–3 p.m., Potter Street. Free. Courtesy of the Pejepscot Historical Society.

19th-century Chapel Service: Mary Baard, associate pastor of First Parish Church officiating, with Moving Spirit Dancers, 3 p.m., Bowdoin Chapel. Offering benefits restoration of the Abyssinian Church in Portland, Maine's first official Underground Railroad site.

Wednesday, February 27
Illustrated dramatic reading by National Park Service performers: "Longfellow and the Network to Freedom," 12:15 p.m., Morrell Room, Curtis Memorial Library. Free; donations accepted to benefit the restoration of the Abyssinian Church in Portland, Maine's first official Underground Railroad site. Co-sponsored by Mid-Coast Senior College Winter Wisdom Series.

POETRY, POETRY, POETRY

Sunday, February 3
Poetry Reading I: Herb Coursen, Marta Finch, David Moreau, 1 p.m., Fireplace Room, Curtis Memorial Library. Free.

Sunday, February 10
Poetry Reading II: Henry Braun, Lee Sharkey, Betsy Sholl, 1 p.m., Fireplace Room, Curtis Memorial Library. Free.

Sunday, February 17
Poetry Reading III: Marcia Brown, Robert Chute, Martin Steingesser, 1 p.m., Fireplace Room, Curtis Memorial Library. Free.

Wednesday, February 27
Community Poetry Read and Birthday Cake: hosted by Gary Lawless, 7 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Church, Pleasant Street. Free.

Saturday, March 1
Spoken Word Performance and Poetry Slam: Patricia Smith, acclaimed performance poet, and the Bowdoin College Poeting Group, 7 p.m., Kresge Auditorium, Visual Arts Center, Bowdoin College. Free.

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