First Meritocracy News Today

The Berkshire County Historical Society will host a virtual lecture on the history of whaling captains of color on Thursday, Nov. 9.

The whaling industry, which flourished in the 1800s, gave Black seamen the chance to not only make a living but also thrive during an era when it was dangerous just to have dark skin.

I am delighted to turn over this week’s Writers’ Table to Mathew Tombers, manager of Edgartown Books. When I asked him for book recommendations to help get readers through the long haul of an Island winter, he came back with a thoughtful essay filled with books by Vineyard authors. As I was going through his […]

MATTAPOISETT — Massachusetts author Skip Finley will speak via Zoom on his recently published book, “Whaling Captains of C

The Sippican Historical Society and the Mattapoisett Museum will co-sponsor a Zoom presenta

Author and historian Skip Finley will read from his book, “Whaling Captains of Color: America’s First Meritocracy,” at a Saturday, February 26, talk at Highfield Hall celebrating Black History Month

Join us virtually for the premier Sea Services conference of the year: WEST 2021. The engaging content you’ve enjoyed in person will be showcased 29 and 30 June.

— “Electric Garden of Unearthly Delights” (through June 1) showcases “luminous glass” by Mundy Hepburn, who works with the same scientific principles used in television and fluorescent light to create art. He fills blown-glass forms with gas mixtures such as helium, neon, argon, krypton and xenon, then activates it all with high-frequency static electricity. The result is described as “a kaleidoscope of swirling patterns of multicolored light.” Connecticut native Mundy’s “...

An academic compilation of whalemen of color. Creative Staff: What They Say The history of whaling as an industry on this continent has been well-told in books, including some that have been bestsellers, but what hasn’t been told is the story of whaling’s leaders of color in an era when the only other option was slavery. Whaling was one of the first American industries to exhibit diversity. A man became a captain not because he was white or well connected, but because he knew how to kill a ...