“Liberty is in real value next unto Life”: Samuel Sewall and The Selling of Joseph

Thursday, November 14, 12:15 PM
“Liberty is in real value next unto Life”: Samuel Sewall and The Selling of Joseph

In 1697, Judge Samuel Sewall offered a public apology at Old South Meeting House for his role in the Salem witch trials. Three years later, Sewall wrote The Selling of Joseph: A Memorial, the first anti-slavery tract published in New England. The only surviving copy of this pamphlet is housed today at the Massachusetts Historical Society.  Peter Drummey, the librarian of the Massachusetts Historical Society, discusses Sewall’s use of Biblical text to decry “Man Stealing” as an atrocious crime, and the place of The Selling of Joseph in ongoing discussions of slavery in 18th century New England.

$6; FREE for OSMH Members

This program is the second  of three Thursday lectures in the November Middays at the Meeting House lecture series "Politics and the Pulpit," co-sponsored by Boston National Historical Park.