Lincoln to mark Juneteenth with ringing of bells, author talk

This Saturday, Lincoln will officially recognize Juneteenth, the annual occasion celebrating the end of slavery in the United States. Federal troops arrived in Texas on June 19, 1865 to announce the end of the Civil War and slavery, and that day is now a state holiday in 45 states including Massachusetts.

The Bemis Lecture Series and the Lincoln Historical Society will host “Slavery in Lincoln, Massachusetts: Reckoning with Our Past, Planning for a More Honest and Inclusive Future” on Saturday, June 19 from 4–5 p.m. The speaker will be Professor Elise Lemire, author of Black Walden: Slavery and Its Aftermath in Concord, Massachusetts (2009; 2019 with a new preface)

Lemire grew up in Lincoln on land once tended and tilled by men and women enslaved by Lincoln’s wealthiest land owner. She credits Lincoln’s history for sparking her interest in how Lincoln and its neighboring town of Concord were indelibly shaped by slavery. Lemire will recount the history of slavery in Lincoln and Concord and discuss how Lincoln might make this history more visible in the local landscape as a means of beginning to address the complicated truths of our colonial past.

Lemire is professor of literature at Purchase College, the State University of New York, and a two-time fellowship recipient from the National Endowment for the Humanities. She is also the author of the just-released Battle Green Vietnam: The 1971 March on Concord, Lexington, and Boston.

Click here to register in advance. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. A limited number of the 2019 edition of Black Walden signed by the author will be available through the Lincoln Historical Society following the event. For more information, email bemislectures@gmail.com or president@lincolnhistoricalsociety.org.

The Select Board also recently signed a proclamation officially marking Lincoln’s Juneteenth recognition on June 19 of each year, “to be celebrated at 4:00 p.m. by vigorous ringing of bells throughout the community.”