Program at Kellogg Environmental Center in Derby to highlight abolitionist

'Setting the World by the Ears'

 

Historical interpreter Laura Rocklyn

DERBY - Celebrate Women’s History Month with a special living history performance of the 19th century abolitionist Maria Weston Chapman at 3 p.m. March 30 at Kellogg Environmental Center, 500 Hawthorne Ave.

Award-winning writer and historical interpreter Laura Rocklyn will perform “Setting the World by the Ears” about this 19th century activist.

The year is 1855 and Maria Weston Chapman is preparing to return to her home in Weymouth, Mass. after seven years of living in Europe.

During those years abroad she has seen her children complete their educations and marry, and she has found powerful new international allies for the cause that is so dear to her heart: Abolition.

The preparations to return to her beloved but far distant home prompt memories of her childhood in Weymouth, and of the turbulent early days of her involvement in the Abolition Movement in Boston.

Chapman revisits the triumphs and fears that came with her work with the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society.

She reflects on how her strength in the face of violence and her passion for the cause to which she has devoted her life took her from Boston to New York and Philadelphia and, eventually, to the capitals of Europe, in pursuit of justice.

Photo by Laura Rocklyn