Sure some of you have seen some of those man on the street interviews situations where they go up and ask really basic questions that people have no clue what youre talking about. You know, they think, you say who was the first president . They say, reagan . They just, they just, they have no idea. Its funny but its so sad because our founders, and particularly franklin and jefferson, emphasized education and they emphasized being informed. And they said our system of governance and our freedoms are dependent on a well informed and educated populace. Because they recognize that if the people were not well informed, that they would be easy to manipulate. And all it would take is dishonest politicians and the complicit news media and off you go into another direction very, very quickly. You can watch this and other programs online that booktv. Org. Welcome to western massachusetts on booktv. Located in the central part of the state gets a population of about 180,000 residents in the second largest city in new england. With help of our Charter Communications partners, over ththe next 90 to through her frm local authors on a bright of topics including the story of 19 such economic and political philosopher henry george. One day hes an editor. Next he gets fired for are the with the owner of a newspaper. A couple months later he support owner of every successful newspaper and then things fall apart. And thats what against experience kind of hard times that will shape his understanding of poverty and the nature of the economy. Later the American Antiquarian Society a look at selected items from the collection and use history and culture. At first we speak with author Janette Greenwood about the migration of former slaves in their search for equality in worcester. The theme of my book is first fruits of freedom and its about the migration of former slaves to worcester in Central Massachusetts beginning in the era of the civil war and going up to around 1900. The reason i wrote it is has been a whole lot of Research Done on this migration of former slaves in the immediate aftermath of the civil war. Most of the Research History has been written about migration is about the great migration that occurs beginning around an era of world war i and last well into the 20th century. But there was a migration of former slaves who made their way north and seeking a better life. And i felt the story was an important one because it shows you the very important decisions made by people coming out of slavery, that they wanted to leave the south behind. They wanted to have a new start in the north for themselves and for their children. And also really tells the story of the civil war that i thought really have not been told much before, if at all, which is about the relationship that gets built in the midst of a civil war between white soldiers, missionary teachers who come the south to teach recently emancipated slaves, and emancipated slaves themselves which is really at the core of the migration, from the personal relationships that get built during the civil war. The place to begin to something called the burnside expedition, which takes place in all december 1861, very early in the war. It culminates in many ways by march 1862 with the invasion of Roanoke Island and new bern North Carolina in particular in march 1862. This was one of the few Union Victories in the first earliest of the war, and the expedition was made up of a number of regiments in the north, many from new england. At least one from Worcester County as well as several other union regiments. In the union army goes in and the defeat of the confederates and take control of new bern north, and that they needed cash immediately pick they are greeted by slaves who are abandoned by their masters as well as numerous slaves and basically ran to the freedom once they heard that the union army had appeared in new bern. At its at that particular moment that this is really interesting kind of interaction that takes place between the union soldiers, the white union soldiers, and a slice running to the freedom but in many cases really freeing themselves. This is still before the emancipation proclamation. This is still a time when lincoln is saying this is not a war about slavery come is really about a war about union. The slaves dont care abou about that. To them to union army is there. This is a fulfillment of prophecy that theyve been waiting for for years. This migration begins even before the war is over of horace james and some other Union Officers seem to put a part in sending an africanamerican family. These people were called contraband at the time. That was the term given to them before the emancipation proclamation, that they were considered to be by the federal government contraband of war and not returned to their masters. So the first contraband they recalled appears in worcester in june 1862 just a few months after the invasion of new bern and the newspaper in worcester says we have this young man and his wife and his child, and a chance for employment is when all he asked. And can a Community Come forward . At that point the very small but very active africanamerican communities that existed in worcester at this and also helped in terms of getting this particular family a job and a place to live and things like that and they will continue to do that. So thats the first, you know, my set of migrants that come north that i was able to find. And then when the war ends, white soldiers we find are bringing occasionally some africanamericans north with them, and they are living in places like worcester end of the parts of Worcester County. They serve as patrons for these emancipated slaves who they have gotten to know in the time is spent in new bern and help set them up with the jobs, again, places to live. I was able to find in a couple places that this sort of patronage, in some cases by some pretty powerful wise in the worcester community, help set up some of these families for impact several generations. Theres actually a famous incident in worcester that takes place in 1854 when a Deputy Marshal comes to the city and immediately, worcester has the Vigilance Committee in worcester which is made up of white abolitionists and black activist, find out the Deputy Marshal is here. Gets a reputation as being a slave catcher. They literally chased him out of town. The worcester had a reputation for being pretty a safe haven. A couple were very prominent antislavery advocates. Addie califf fostered even spoke at antislavery rallies with Frederick Douglass back up to a lot of trouble. As you can imagine the white woman appearing in public with a black man. Sometimes they had all kinds of rotten fruit thrown at them and chased out of the cities across the north cities across the north as theyre spreading their antislavery message. People like Thomas Whitten would take them in, i mentioned before, very radical minister involved in underground Railroad Activities and other antislavery activity. Their antislavery organizations in worcester. Almost every town in the county had one. There were lots of come as soon as the war breaks out there are quite a few freedmen aid societies organize by black and white. It is very forward and progress in lots of ways. It also has considerable immigrant population, irish population that was a necessary to interested in antislavery because they feared the competition. But over all i would say it is a very forwardlooking city. As i said in some ways much more radical than boston. We do have a wonderful narrative written by a woman who came to worcester by at the time of the civil war. Shed been a slave in virginia. She was brought north by some folks from providence and ultimately was freed and made her way to which she writes this wonderful narrative later in the 19th century and has really, she helps give kind of an inside view and what was this world like for people. Again, they are in a very small number and tiny minority. They are in a very different climate, weather climate. New england is a harsh place to live, if youre from the south im not used to the kind of weather that new england weather. She talks about how hard it was to come north. She said even working in a northern kitchen was like, you know, mystifying to her because there were all these kind of, theres technology there that she hadnt really worked with before. Different kinds of pots and pans and kitchen implements that were confusing. She talked a lot about missing the south. Even though she had, you know, a child sold away from her as a slave, there was still this very important connection that she felt with the south. She talked about being a stranger in a strange land, is how she puts it. Im sure lots of migrants felt that way. Even though they had been many cases these white patrons who helped them out, at least the first generation that came. It mustve been a lonely experience at times. Some of these towns in Worcester County sometimes it would have been the only africanamericans within miles once the war is over and emancipation, the 13th amendment finally settles the issue of slavery in this country. We see migrants making an effort to bring other family members in north. So the first sort of Pioneer Generation becomes north as soldiers and missionary teachers and others once they return to worcester, they begin the process of bringing other family members north. Usually get the sense of how important it was to reconstitute family after slavery. People who were separated and now, when possible, brought back together. Some of the earliest migrants i know begin by bringing and one woman and thank in particular brings her mother and then her brother, and then by the next census in here you see that there may be nieces and nephews and theyre all like living in the same house or their purchasing property and that sort of thing. You see this chain migration take place and importance of family and trying to reconstitute family after a period when families were constantly being broken up. You see it again by the 1890s, this is a Small Community but by that point it is very clear that africanamericans, southern migrants or earlier, you know, people who came here couldnt get good jobs in industry. There was an informal color bar in worcester industry that worcester industrialists were only willing to hire in most cases european immigrants. They hired the irish, the french canadians, the swedes who all flocked here to work in worcester industry but africanamericans are not getting their jobs. What it means is they are consigned to oftentimes unskilled labor jobs, domestic service, these kind of position from a very lowpaying, low skill jobs but if you look at where the community is into 1880, they are at the same place in 1900 thats not true of the european immigrant groups that are coming in because they are getting jobs in industry and oftentimes they can work their way up from unskilled to skill positions, and their children can come in at a higher level than they were. They are flourishing, working their way up the social ladder. But by 1890, its clear the community of people of color in worcester are stagnating and they are not having the same opportunities. So they are dealing with economic discrimination thats going to cascade down, unfortunately, for many generations when they dont get that light up that many of their european immigrants do. So that clearly is a development again that is national but also again is taking place here in worcester. I think the story again just tells us that no matter how hard africanamerican struggle, former slaves struggled to make a new life and to begin a new life in the north, and some of them again did well, that the north, like the south and other parts of the country, new england set up a number of obstacles that made it difficult for them regardless of how hard they worked. You are watching booktv on cspan2 booktv on cspan2. As as we can we visit worcester, massachusetts, talking with local authors and touring the citys literary sites with help of our local cable partner Charter Communications. Next we visit the American Antiquarian Society one of the largest repositories in the country of materials relating to Early American History and culture. The American Antiquarian Society is a Great Research library but its more than that. Its a learned society. Its a community of scholars, librarians, curators, conservators. We have been recognized as the place to safeguard americas story. The American Antiquarian Society collections are fast. Its our intention to have everything printed in america from the time and thing began in 1642 the year 1876, the centennial of the United States. So on 25 miles of shelves we have hundreds of thousands of books and pamphlets, 2 million newspapers, innumerable images of things that were never necessary meant to be kept in a library but document the story of who we are as a nation. At American Antiquarian Society was the brainchild if you of Isaiah Thomas who was printer and publisher who got his start during the american revolution. He was a young man. He had been apprenticed as a child to learn how to be a printer, and by the time the revolution in boston came along he was printing a newspaper, which was a very lively voice for the cost of revolution. So in april of 1775 he feared that he would lose the Printing Press did the British Military were not too happy with them. He accepted an invitation of the patriots out here in worcester, some 40 miles inland, eddie brock his Printing Press here. He came to live here in worcester as well as in boston. And he put together a collection documenting early printing in america, because he thought publishers such as himself had created the nation with their newspapers and pamphlets, and she set about to document that early printing history. Back collection that he put together became the foundation of the library, and he wanted it to be a national institution. So its really the Oldest NationalHistorical Society in the country. He set up the American Antiquarian Society in 1812 with other likeminded. As i said it is a national institution. Some members were elected from all over the country and asked to send printed materials from their own areas, their states, regions, to worcester as well. He also set up arrangements with various government entities. The federal government, for instance, the Government Printing office set up a the Antiquarian Society as the first depository library. So they sent government documents to worcester to be included in the library. And of all the deposit libraries we are the oldest. We think of collections in several different ways. We have the book collections and we have some books printed in europe, but we have mostly books printed in america. Including the very first book printed in america, which was printed in 1640. We also have books like the elite indian bible, the first bible printed in america. And it is printed in the language of the outcome quinn indians because it was used to christianize the indians. Said john elliott arranged working with a native speaker to translate the bible into the algonquin language. We have newspapers of every sort. Is what happens to also be in an indian language. Its called the cherokee phoenix, and half of the characters in the stories are in roman type, in english, and half are in the syllabary of the cherokee people. So we have newspapers, books, manuscripts. This manuscript is the oldest manuscript that relates to the founding of new england. This was a minute the of the council for new england that was, back in england had the rights to settle new england and this is their minute but that they kept from 1622. But some of things that we have, this was given to us in the 19th century and its a childrens book, a very well preserved little pamphlet called a new years present. And it contains the first picture of santa claus. Santa claus is here with his sleigh, and it was something that came to us with a collection of well preserved childrens books. From the period before 1820, we estimate we had the best collection in the work of materials rented in british north america brusokas approach to work with these books and pamphlets on a daily basis and able to provide them to researchers so they can use these pieces of history in order to tell our story, the american story and our history. I pulled a few of my favorite things to give you an idea of the types of collections that we have. I mentioned were founded by a printer, and this item is an almanac from 1776. It has great resonance for all of us in america. This was actually printed by Isaiah Thomas who was the printer who founded our society. We have a diverse collection of his publications printed here in worcester and this is the first almanac printed in worcester. It was printed in 1775 because you didnt want an almanac, its like getting a calendar in february. You want to have it from the first day. This almanac was printed in 1775 and was advertised in the newspaper. One of the fibers things about it is its very early in the american story of the United States. This is during the revolution has started. About an election and conquered has the battle of lexington and concord ha has just happened and theres an eyewitness account of that battle. These would have their daily forecasts and horoscope outlined here in this wonderful g