Black History Month

Departments of history, Bishop's University and UdeS
Monday, February 2, 2009 at 4:00 p.m.
Centennial Theatre Bishop's University

Anthony Burns: The Story of an extraordinary African-American who adopted Canada

To celebrate Black History Month, Dr. Gordon S. Barker will give a general interest lecture based on his research on Anthony Burns, Virginia's most famous fugitive slave and the last fugitive slave returned to bondage from Boston.  Although Dr. Barker will briefly discuss his scholarly reconsideration of the Burns drama—its impact on the antislavery movement in the North and secessionist sentiment in the South—he will focus primarily on Anthony Burns, his life, ideology, and achievements, thus making this talk of interest to a broader range of people who may want to participate in the celebration of Black History Month.  Dr. Barker will demonstrate that Anthony Burns's story rivals those of other famous Americans who inspired so many people from “the streets of Boston.”  He will also touch on Burns's final years in St. Catharines, Ontario, and highlight Anthony Burns's special connection to Canada.  

Dr. Gordon S. Barker
After receiving Bachelor of Arts degrees in economics and history from McGill University, Dr. Barker entered the graduate program in American history at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. He received his MA in 2003 and completed his PhD in 2008 after defending his dissertation entitled Anthony Burns and the North-South Dialogue on Slavery, Liberty, Race and the American Revolution, which he is now re-working as a full-length book. His fields of concentration are the American Revolution, African Americans and Antebellum America. Dr. Barker contributed articles to the Oxford University Press reference edition on African American history entitled From the Colonial Period to the Age of Frederick Douglass and several entries for the American Encyclopedia of Civil Liberties. His recent publications also include an article entitled Unraveling the Strange History of Jefferson's Observations sur la Virginie" and a review of Jerry W. Knudson's Jefferson and the Press: Crucible of Liberty which both appeared in the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography.

Everyone is invited to attend.