“I am an honest woman”
Female Revolutionary Resistance along the New England Seacoast
A lecture at the Newport Historical Society
Newport, RI – This lecture is rescheduled from a canceled January date. On Thursday September 19, 2019 at 5:30.
pm, at the Newport Historical Society Resource Center, 82 Touro Street, Newport, RI, Dr. Emily Murphy, Curator for the National Park Service at Salem Maritime National Historical Site, will discuss the political spinning bees of the New England seacoast in the late 1760’s and early 1770’s, including several that took place in colonial Newport. This presentation will examine how middle-class women participated in resisting the importation of British Goods in the years leading up to the American Revolution.
In Colonial New England, lower class men and women could take to the streets and protest, men of the middling sort could participate in political action, yet women of the middling class were restricted by law and society.
This didn’t stop these wealthier women, who became known as Daughters of Liberty, from showing their support for the Patriot cause. Along the New England seacoast, it became a popular springtime occurrence for ladies to participate in spinning bees where they would create homespun fabric and boycott purchasing fabrics imported from England.
Dr. Murphy earned her Ph.D. in American Studies from Boston University in 2008. She earned her undergraduate degree from St. John’s College and her masters from Penn State. She has worked for the National Park Service for nearly 20 years and is an accomplished living historian who has participated in many living history events across New England, including programs with the Newport Historical Society.
This event takes place at the Newport Historical Society Resource Center, located at 82 Touro Street, Newport, RI.
General admission costs $5 per person, $1 for Newport Historical Society members along with retired and active duty military.