“Freedom’s Woods: Peterborough and African Americans in Midcoast Maine, 1776-1865” with Kate McMahon of the National Museum of African American History & Culture

The Camden Public Library welcomes Kate McMahon, Global Slavery Historian at the National Museum of African American History & Culture for her talk, “Freedom’s Woods: Peterborough and African Americans in Midcoast Maine, 1776-1865” on Sunday, February 11, at 2:00 p.m. in the Picker Room and on Zoom. This event is part of the 2024 Speaker Series co-sponsored by the Camden-Rockport Historical Society and is free and open to the public.

The historic African American community of Peterborough was founded by Amos and Sarah Peters in Warren, Maine. Amos and Sarah built a community based upon kinship and freedom-making in the woods of rural Maine that existed until the early 20^th century. This talk will explore the history of Peterborough, and the broader history of African Americans in Maine during the 18^th and 19^th centuries.

Amanda Shelmerdine, the town of Warren’s sexton, will also be present. Amanda will share about her work researching and dedicating a war memorial for the veterans of the Peterborough community.

This is a hybrid event and will take place in the Picker Room as well as on Zoom. To attend virtually, register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ptAz4Vd0TImVa9fUWgq_5w

Kate McMahon is the Historian of Global Slavery at the National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington, D.C. and leads research efforts at the Center for the Study of Global Slavery. She currently leads research on an exhibition that will open at the NMAAHC in December 2024, titled In Slavery’s Wake: Making Black Freedom in the World. She received her B.A. in Art History and M.A. in American and New England Studies from the University of Southern Maine. She completed her Ph.D. in History at Howard University in 2017. Her dissertation was entitled The Transnational Dimensions of Africans and African Americans in Northern New England, 1776-1865. Her current research explores New England’s connections to and complicity in the illegal slave trade and colonialism, 1809-1900. She is committed to exploring the living legacies of slavery and the slave trade in the present day and interpreting this history for a broad public through frequent public speaking engagements and scholarly production. Learn more about Kate McMahon at her website, www.katemcmahon.net.