Talk: Out of the Frame—Poetry and Perspectives on Slavery in Massachusetts

Speaker: David Mills (poet and historian) 

Join us for a talk and poetry reading by poet and historian David Mills. In 2019, Mills spent the year as a Hearst Foundation Fellow at Worcester’s American Antiquarian Society researching slavery in antebellum New England – focusing on Massachusetts and New York City. He uses poetry to give voice to the enslaved. His poems exploring the past focus on Belinda Sutton, the first person to secure legal emancipation from slavery in Massachusetts; and Quock Walker, an enslaved man in Worcester County who ran away from his abusive owner and had three local trials that led to his emancipation. Mills also has poems featuring Phillis Wheatly, John Greenleaf Whittier, Cotton Mather, and William Lloyd Garrison, all individuals with a connection to Massachusetts and slavery.

As the Worcester Art Museum works on re-envisioning and reinstalling our American Art Galleries, we invite you to join and think about how art can help give voice to those who were enslaved in the North.