May 4, 2008
The Fogg Lecture Series will host a lecture and book signing event for author Eve LaPlante’s new book Salem Witch Judge: The Life and Repentance of Samuel Sewall on Sunday, May 4, 2008 at 7 p.m. More program information...1.1M pdf
In 1692 Samuel Sewall, a forty-year-old father of five, sat on the colonial court that tried hundreds of people accused of witchcraft. Believing the girls who claimed their neighbors bewitched them, Sewall convicted and condemned to death more than thirty women and men, including two of his friends. He and the court executed twenty people before public opinion turned and the governor halted the proceedings. Sewall struggled internally for years before publicly assuming "the blame and shame" for the wrongful convictions and deaths. He went on to compose America’s first antislavery tract and a revolutionary essay portraying Native Americans as virtuous inheritors of God’s grace. In a period when women were considered inferior to men, Sewall publicly affirmed the fundamental equality of the sexes. Through his long repentance Sewall became America’s most surprising moral hero.
Eve LaPlante's Salem Witch Judge: The Life and Repentance of Samuel Sewall , follows the Boston Globe bestseller American Jezebel and Seized . She contributed to the collection Why I'm Still Married (Penguin, 2006) and has written for The Atlantic, The New York Times, Ladies’ Home Journal, and Gourmet. She has been featured on NPR's "Here and Now", in The Boston Globe and on Comcast CN8's "Your Morning". LaPlante has degrees from Princeton and Harvard. She lives with her family in New England on land once owned by Judge Sewall, her 6th great grandfather. Visit her web site at evelaplante.com.
March 30, 2008
The First Parish Fogg Committee sponsored a free Fogg Lecture featuring Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim Elgadi, a Darfur refugee. Dr. Mohamed Elgadi is a survivor of torture in Sudan and is living in the United States under political asylum. Since coming to the US, he has worked to raise awareness about atrocities committed by the Sudanese government and the genocide in Darfur.
Dr. Elgadi earned his M.A. in Environmental Studies at the University of Khartoum and his Ph.D. in Education at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. A committed activist on the American national stage and in international circles, he is the co-founder of the Philadelphia-based Darfur Alert Coalition, a Sudanese-American group of grassroots activists working on issues related to Darfur. He is the founder and chair of Group Against Torture in Sudan (GATS), an advocacy group working among Sudanese refugees. He also serves on the advisory committee of Judgement on Genocide: International Citizens Tribunal for Sudan, a project that has created a forum for discussion of the genocide and crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Sudanese government led by President Omar Hassan al-Bashir (www.judgmentongenocide.com).
More program information....613K pdf
November 14, 2007
Rev. Kate Braestrup will be speaking about her recent book, "Here If You Need Me", which is a beautifully written, deeply moving account of her loss and her work. Numerous articles by and about Kate Braestrup have appeared in such sources as the Oprah magazine, the Boston Globe magazine and the Patriot Ledger. She has a truly fascinating story. Come to hear it and to meet Kate at a reception following her talk. More information....463K pdf
April 15, 2007
Peter Kelly-Detwiler, speaking on "Policy Responses to Climate Change, and Implications for the Individual." What does science tell of climate change? How is the world responding?
