Bearing Witness and the Endurance of Voice
Mon, May 09
|Zoom Event
Shanta Lee Gander illustrates Lucy Terry Prince’s importance as the first African-American poet who fought for her rights within the landscape of early Vermont. Although an RSVP is not required to attend, your response does allow us to send you an event reminder and any other important updates.
Time & Location
May 09, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
Zoom Event
About the Event
Bearing Witness and the Endurance of Voice
With Poet and Author Shanta Lee Gander
{This program is made possible by a grant from the New Hampshire Humanities "Humanities to Go" program.}
Lucy Terry Prince was born in Africa, where she was kidnapped by slave traders and transported to Rhode Island. While still enslaved in 1746, she wrote “Bars Fight,” the oldest known poem in the United States written by an African American. Prince later regained her freedom and moved to Vermont with her husband, Abijah Prince, and fought for her family’s land rights all the way to the highest court in Vermont. In this presentation, Shanta Lee Gander illustrates Prince’s importance as a poet and orator, and as one unafraid to fight for her rights within the landscape of early Vermont, New England, and America. Gander will also perform Lucy’s only surviving poem, “Bars Fight.”