Community Corner
Medford's 'Community Read' Program Tackles Slavery
This year the program is based around C.S. Manegold's "Ten Hills Farm: The Forgotten History Of Slavery In The North" and events will take place at the library throughout spring.
Event and book info and text courtesy of the Medford Public Library.
The book selection for the 2012 Community Read is: "Ten Hills Farm: The Forgotten History of Slavery in the North," by C.S. Manegold.
Ten Hills Farm tells the story of five generations of slave owners in colonial New England. Settled in 1630 by John Winthrop, Ten Hills Farm was a six-hundred-acre estate in the area of the Royall House. Each successive owner of Ten Hills Farm, from John Winthrop to John Usher to Isaac Royall, would depend upon slavery's profits until the 1780s, when Massachusetts abolished the practice.
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We have selected two titles for children. For older readers the selection is War Comes to Willy Freeman by James Lincoln Collier. This historical novel tells the story of a free 13-year-old black girl in Connecticut who is caught up in the horror of the Revolutionary War and the danger of being returned to slavery when her patriot father is killed by the British and her mother disappears.
For our younger readers (and those who read to them!) we have chosen the picture book Zomo : A Trickster Tale from West Africa by award-winning illustrator Gerald McDermott. Zomo the Rabbit, a West African trickster, is very small in a very big world. Clever, courageous, and irrepressible, he must accomplish three impossible tasks. Is the little rabbit clever enough to do it?
Find out what's happening in Medfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Books will be available to borrow and purchase in March. Events are as follows:
Medford's Community Read Events:
Wednesday, April 4 at 7:00 p.m.:
- "West Africa: Slave Trade and Cultural Arts" lecture by Barry Pell.
Tuesday, April 17 at 11:00 a.m.:
- Zomo Story Walk.
Thursday, April 19 at 7:00 p.m.:
- In Hagar’s Kitchen, a performance by Gwendolyn Quezaire-Presutti.
Wednesday, May 2 at 10:00 a.m.:
- Zomo Story Time (for ages 2-5).
Friday, May 4 at 7:00 p.m.:
- "A Taste of History" Community Reads Fundraiser at the Medford Historical Society.
Saturday, May 12 at 1:00 and 2:00 p.m.:
- Community Read Day at the Royall House.
Tuesday, May 15 at 7:00 p.m.:
- "Traces of the Trade: A Story From the Deep North" documentary screening.
Wednesday, May 23 at 7:00 p.m.:
- An Evening with C.S. Manegold, Author of "Ten Hills Farm."
More info on each of these events will be in Medford Patch's events calendar once the info is available.
