Dropkick Murphy : A Legendary Life with Emily Sweeney

Join Boston Globe reporter Emily Sweeney with her authentic Boston accent, for a discussion of her biography of local luminary Dr. John Murphy, aka "Dropkick" Murphy and his life in and outside the wrestling arena.  Newspapers called him the “the man with the cast-iron toes,” “the best drop-kicker in wrestling,” and “one of the mat game’s biggest box office attractions.” But Dr. John “Dropkick” Murphy’s legacy extends far beyond the wrestling ring. Decades before the Betty Ford Center became a household name — and long before the band the Dropkick Murphys named themselves in his honor — the phrase going to Dropkick’s meant a person struggling with addiction needed help and would soon get some. This book chronicles for the first time the unbelievable life of Dr. “Dropkick” Murphy, a professional wrestler who put himself through medical school during the Great Depression and then opened Bellows Farm in Acton, MA, a one-of-a-kind institution that served as both a facility where elite athletes could train as well as a secluded place where down-on-their-luck alcoholics could go to sober up discreetly. The celebrities who frequented Dropkick Murphy’s farm were many, and numerous professional athletes would go there to focus on their training and work out in his state-of-the-art gymnasium. As a result, Bellows Farm featured an unrivaled and revolving cast of colorful characters who brought it to life. Drawing on years of research and interviews, author Emily Sweeney goes behind the scenes to reveal the untold story of Murphy’s life, his farm, and the legendary events that unfolded there. Emily Sweeney is a staff reporter at the Boston Globe and author of the books Boston Organized Crime and Gangland Boston. A proud native of Dorchester, she also appears in Bloody Boston, a two-part documentary special on the Reelz channel; Stranger Than Fiction: The True Story of Whitey Bulger, Southie, and The Departed, a bonus feature on the DVD of the Oscar-winning movie The Departed; and the forthcoming Netflix series How To Become A Mob Boss. <img src="https://bpl.bibliocommons.com/events/uploads/images/full/d87b5d5eefda01493c2c1b98726acdbf/2dced842-ad5e-44e5-8940-3236dd3c5490.png">

Boston Public Library

Climate Change and the Future of Boston

Join us as author Courtney Humphries discusses her new book on the climate impacts facing Boston and the city’s efforts to mitigate and adapt to a changing climate. Like many of the world’s iconic coastal cities, Boston faces potentially severe impacts from climate change. Depending on global emissions, Boston could face several feet of sea level rise this century, which would leave many parts of the city subject to tidal and storm flooding. Precipitation events could become more frequent and extreme, and its already-humid summers could become dangerously hot, with most days over 90 degrees. Today, Boston is a booming city with a growing population, a glittering new waterfront neighborhood, world-class universities and a strong economy. Its future risks and opportunities related to climate change are shaped by the 400-year environmental, social and economic history of the city’s development. Climate Change and the Future of Boston describes how Boston’s history and current context shape future climate impacts and examines the mitigation and adaptation strategies the city has taken. Boston is a leader in acknowledging the problem of climate change; it has set a goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050, among other climate-related goals. It has also developed science-based climate models and undertaken a robust planning process to identify strategies to protect its waterfront from flooding and increase its resilience to other climate-related impacts. Its mayor has embraced a progressive Green New Deal for Boston emphasizing the need for an inclusive and equitable approach to climate mitigation and adaptation. But the city also faces structural challenges, such as aging infrastructure, historic racial inequities, rising gentrification and income inequality and ongoing political and regulatory obstacles that hinder efforts to adapt in an efficient and just manner. She will conclude with a set of forward-looking scenarios about what the future may have in store for the city and the lessons it holds for other coastal cities struggling with these challenges. Courtney Humphries, PhD, is an interdisciplinary scholar, teacher, and award-winning journalist writing about science and the urban environment. <img src="https://bpl.bibliocommons.com/events/uploads/images/full/130278c4a824a1f1dd1ba72b5277fb2d/download.jpg">

Stealing America: The Hidden Story of Indigenous Slavery in U.S. History

Join author Linford Fisher in a discussion of his book, Stealing America, where he shows that although the first enslaved Africans arrived in Jamestown in 1619, European slavery in America began more than a century before. The enslavement of Indigenous people began in the years just after 1492, ensnaring an estimated three to six million Natives throughout the Americas. Although largely erased from the public consciousness, Native enslavement continued for centuries to become a colossal phenomenon that affected nearly 600,000 Native Americans in North America alone, revealing the shocking truth that American colonizers enslaved Natives in roughly the same numbers as they imported enslaved Africans. From Virginia to California, from New England to Barbados, Stealing America traces the history of Indigenous enslavement and land dispossession, detailing how colonizers captured Natives and often deliberately mislabeled them as Black slaves to avoid detection. While the American Revolution pealed the bells of freedom for colonists, it paved a larcenous trail of westward expansion that subsequently plundered Indigenous land and stole the labor of Natives from nations like the Cherokee, Navajo, Nisean, and many others. “This double theft,” Fisher writes, “was central to the origins, growth, and eventual success of the English colonies and the United States—not just initially but throughout all of American history.” Fisher will weave together accounts of major episodes in American history including early colonization, the American Revolution, and the Civil War with lesser-known stories of Native enslavement and land loss. Fisher upends conventional histories about the nature of American slavery, revealing enslaved Natives in places we have overlooked, including southern antebellum plantations and the nineteenth-century American West. After Congress outlawed Native slavery in 1867, Americans forced Indigenous children into boarding schools and white homes, where they labored under forced assimilation. This practice was not reformed until the latter twentieth century, when Native nations finally secured increasing rights and self-determination. Linford D. Fisher is an associate professor of history at Brown University. The author of The Indian Great Awakening and principal investigator of the Stolen Relations project, he lives in Providence, Rhode Island. <img src="https://bpl.bibliocommons.com/events/uploads/images/full/afca8d78836410b0738fd323a534f5b6/FisherHeadshot.jpg">

The Long Legacy: The Cost and Continuance of Indigenous Resistance

In collaboration with the&nbsp;<a href="https://historicbostons.org/">Partnership of Historic Bostons</a>&nbsp;we present&nbsp;a panel of Indigenous speakers to ask how do we reckon with the legacy of King Philip's War today? This event is hybrid and will also be live-streamed. Forced displacement, enslavement, land seizures and dispossession, a global diaspora and suppression of languages&nbsp;—&nbsp;the war that bore the name of Metacom, or Philip, left a long and devastating trail of destruction. Indigenous communities, including the Wampanoag, Nipmuc, Narragansett, Massachusett, Abenaki, and other Algonquian-speaking peoples, became refugees in their own land. People suffered the deaths of respected tribal leaders, warriors, and countless noncombatants, enslavement, and widespread displacement. Many actions during the war carried out by the United Colonies (Massachusetts, Plymouth, and Connecticut), with the aid of Indigenous allies, were deliberate and excessive, intended to remove Native peoples from their homelands and pave the way for colonial occupation. King Philip’s war not only enabled 17th century colonial expansion but laid the foundation for the American Revolution and beyond. This intertribal panel,&nbsp;The Long Legacy: The Cost and Continuance of Indigenous Resistance, explores the lasting consequences of the war for Indigenous people across the region: its human and cultural costs, its role in shaping American history, and the resilience and survivance of Native people. Speakers include Mack Scott, Narragansett, visiting assistant professor of slavery and justice at Brown University; Kimberly Toney, Hassanamisco Band of Nipmuc, coordinating curator for Native American and Indigenous collections, Brown University; Paula Peters, Masheppe Wampanoag, Communications and Programs Coordinator of the Native Land Conservancy. The moderator is Cheryll Toney Holley, sonksq of the Hassanamisco Band of Nipmuc and winner of multiple awards including an honorary doctorate for public service. PANELISTS As sonksq (female leader) of the Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band as well as a researcher, writer and speaker,&nbsp;Cheryll Toney Holley&nbsp;advocates for economic and social justice in all aspects of her community, including land-back opportunities, education and language reclamation. She is a co-founder and board member of the nonprofit Nipmuc Indian Development Corporation (NIDC) and a former director of the Hassanamisco Indian Museum, located on the tribe’s Hassanamesit reservation. For ten years she served on the Massachusetts Commission on Indian Affairs. Currently she is a member of the Commonwealth’s Environmental Justice Council and of the Worcester Black History Project. Holley has a BA in history and an honorary doctorate in public service from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is the recipient of multiple awards including the Mass Humanities Governor’s Award. A veteran and a mom of four and grandmother of eight, she currently lives in Worcester, where generations of her family lived before her. Kimberly Toney&nbsp;is an enrolled member of the Hassanamisco Band of Nipmuc and is the inaugural coordinating curator of Native American and Indigenous collections, jointly appointed to the John Carter Brown and John Hay Libraries at Brown University. Kim has worked in special collections libraries for more than 15 years, including as head of readers’ services and director of Indigenous initiatives at the American Antiquarian Society on Nipmuc homelands in Worcester, Massachusetts. Kim is co-chair of the newly formed Nipmuc Community Land Project and regularly serves as a consultant to cultural heritage institutions across southern New England. Her own research and personal interests include language and cultural reclamation, the intersections of Black and Indigenous histories in the Northeast, connecting Indigenous knowledges and practices to scholarly endeavors, and land back. Mack H. Scott III&nbsp;is an enrolled member of the Narragansett Indian Tribe (Nation), historian, educator, and public scholar specializing in Native American and Indigenous histories, with a particular focus on the Dawnland/Narragansett country and the intersections of indigeneity, race, memory, and futurity. His work bridges academic research and public history, centering Indigenous agency, survivance, and the ethical responsibilities of historical storytelling. His scholarship appears in journals such as&nbsp;Ethnohistory&nbsp;and the&nbsp;Journal of Contemporary History, and he is the author of the forthcoming work&nbsp;The Great Tee and the Summer Sun: Indigeneity and Futurity in the Narragansett Country. He currently serves as director of undergraduate studies for the Native American and Indigenous studies initiative and as a visiting assistant professor at the Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University. Paula Peters&nbsp;is a politically, socially and culturally active citizen of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. For more than a decade she worked as a journalist for the Cape Cod Times and is now co-owner of&nbsp;SmokeSygnals, a Native owned and operated creative production agency. As an independent scholar and writer of Native, and particularly Wampanoag history, she produced the traveling exhibit&nbsp;“Our”Story: 400 Years of Wampanoag History&nbsp;and&nbsp;The Wampum Belt Project&nbsp;documenting the art and tradition of wampum in the contemporary Wampanoag community. In 2020 she wrote the introduction to the 400th Anniversary Edition of William Bradford’s,&nbsp;Of Plimoth Plantation. Paula is also the executive producer of the 2016 documentary film&nbsp;Mashpee Nine&nbsp;and author of the companion book, a story of law enforcement abuse of power and cultural justice in the Wampanoag community in 1976. Paula lives with her husband and children in Mashpee, Massachusetts, the Wampanoag ancestral homeland.

Film Screening and Q/A Six Locked Doors: The Legacy of Cocoanut Grove

Join us for an in-person event featuring the powerful documentary Six Locked Doors: The Legacy of Cocoanut Grove. Watch the film that dives deep into the history and impact of the infamous tragedy, followed by a live Q&amp;A session where you can ask questions and engage with experts including Stephanie Schorow, author of The Cocoanut Grove Nightclub Fire: a Boston Tragedy, and fire specialist Casey Grant, Executive Director Emeritus of National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Don’t miss this chance to connect, learn, and reflect together! Six Locked Doors: The Legacy of Cocoanut Grove examines the story behind the deadliest nightclub fire in American history. On November 28, 1942, the Cocoanut Grove nightclub was the swankiest place in Boston, Massachusetts, attracting socialites, athletes, celebrities and World War II army and navy personnel. With double the allowed occupants, locked doors, flammable materials and a host of other deadly conditions, the fire left 492 people dead. Six Locked Doors explores how corruption, greed and a former gangster-run speakeasy led to an unimaginable tragedy. The film features interviews with survivors who have never before spoken on camera and showcases an extensive archive collection of photos, and unreleased vintage footage. A tragedy of enormous historical significance, the Cocoanut Grove fire set the standards for modern day fire codes, led to major changes in medicine, and resulted in the first conviction of involuntary manslaughter. Presented in collaboration with the <a href="https://www.cocoanutgrove.org/">Cocoanut Grove Memorial Committee</a> which is building a permanent memorial for the Cocoanut Grove Fire projected to open in the fall of 2026 at Statler Park in Boston.

 Lucy Wightman - Princess Cheyenne: My Life as Boston's Most Famous Stripper

Former exotic dancer Lucy Wightman discusses her 2025 memoir, Princess Cheyenne: My Life as Boston's Most Famous Stripper. How did a debutante from Lake Forest, Illinois, end up in Boston's notorious “Combat Zone” and become its most famous stripper? What led her to convert to Islam and get engaged to Cat Stevens? And how did she end up traveling and performing with Andy Kaufman and hosting a radio show for the sexually bewildered opposite Dr. Ruth? In 1977, an eighteen-year-old Lucy Johnson stripped out of her bellbottoms and Birkenstocks and was crowned the feature attraction at the Naked i Cabaret. Local and national media took note of her toney background and, for the next eleven years, she strutted her way into Beantown history as the "Socialite Stripper." In Princess Cheyenne, Lucy Wightman recounts her wild, Zeligesque life both in and out of the Naked i. Smart and uproarious, this is the untold story of a legendary performer whose stage name is synonymous with “The Zone,” Boston's most mythical district, and a fount of nostalgia and wonder to this day. Lucy Wightman's unusual life trajectory brought her to become part of Boston’s history for eleven years that were filled with unexpected adventure. She lives on Cape Cod. <img src="https://bpl.bibliocommons.com/events/uploads/images/full/89d987f51810f2d0af88fb8084895ac4/h219n9j5oq9tsj1i4utasvuunr._SX300_CR0,0,300,300_.jpg">

Boston and the Making of a Global City

Join us to hear James O’Connell, author of the recent book Boston and the Making of a Global City. He'll discuss Greater Boston’s historical rise in the network of competitive global cities, from colonial times, when merchant ships traded with the far corners of the globe, up to the contemporary knowledge-based economy, which has been powered by higher education and life sciences, health care, information technology, and finance. The talk will also cover the role that recent immigration has played in Boston's evolution and how Boston has shaped a globally-recognized urban "brand." O'Connell will examine the impacts of globalization on Boston and how current political developments are posing challenges to its ongoing vitality. James C. O’Connell is adjunct professor of city planning-urban affairs at Boston University. He also guides walking tours of Boston related to urban planning. He has taught at the Boston Architectural College and University of Massachusetts Amherst. For over fifteen years, he was planner for the Boston office of the U.S. National Park Service. He is the author of The Hub’s Metropolis: Greater Boston's Development from Railroad Suburbs to Smart Growth; Dining Out in Boston: A Culinary History; and Becoming Cape Cod: Creating a Seaside Resort. Other writing has appeared in The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History, and the Creating Cape Cod exhibit catalog published by Heritage Museums &amp; Gardens.

The Raven in the Frog Pond: Edgar Allan Poe and the Boston Literati in 1845

A talk in honor of Poe's birth in Boston on January 19, 1809 with Paul Lewis, Professor Emeritus at Boston College 1845 was both the best and worst of years for Edgar Allan Poe. In late January he published his most haunting poem, "The Raven." Widely reprinted, celebrated, and mocked, it boosted Poe's public standing and presence on the lecture circuit. On October 16, Poe spoke at the Boston Lyceum. On the stage of the Odeon Theatre at the intersection of Franklin and Federal Streets, Poe began by insulting the audience. While the ensuing war of words between Poe and the Bostonians was driven by personal animus, it was also based on contrasting views of how literature should affect readers. Poe's standing at the time and his enduring influence on world literature were at stake in this most dramatic moment of his eventful career. After the talk there will be a celebratory group recitation of "The Raven." Paul Lewis is a Professor Emeritus at Boston&nbsp;College, a past president of the Poe Studies Association, and the curator of exhibitions on literary Boston. As the BOD chair of the Edgar Allan Poe Foundation of Boston, Inc., Lewis worked with others to celebrate Poe in the city of his birth by having a square at the intersection of Boylston Street and Charles Street South dedicated to Poe in 2010 and then installing a statue of Poe in it in 2014. His book–Quothing “The Raven”:The First Responses to America’s Most Famous Poem, Including Twenty-Nine Parodies Published During Poe’s Lifetime–is forthcoming from Mercer University Press in 2026.

The Boston Way: Radicals Against Slavery & the Civil War with Mark Kurlansky

New York Times&nbsp;bestselling author&nbsp;Mark Kurlansky discusses his 2025 nonfiction book,&nbsp;The Boston Way: Radicals Against Slavery &amp; the Civil War. How do good people find the courage to resist and end the greatest evil in their country?&nbsp;The Boston Way&nbsp;is an untold story of the Civil War Era: pacifists in Boston who led the fight to end slavery without violence and war. Has there ever been good violence or a good war? The American Civil War is likely considered to be so since there seemed to be no alternative. Or was there? Before the war, Bostonian abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison correctly predicted that fighting would not bring about real freedom and justice. If emancipation came about through violence, he believed, it would take at least a century for Black people to get their rights. As we now know, it has taken even longer than that. Here is the story of Garrison and other abolitionists, Black and white, male and female, who advocated a peaceful end to slavery and the start of human rights for Black people. The Boston Clique, as they were called, were victorious in persuading their fellow Bostonians to end Jim Crow laws on Massachusetts’ railroads. Persuasion was, these pacificists believed, the only means to lasting change. In these pages, we find Frederick Douglass and lesser-known Black abolitionists, William Nell and Charles Remond. We meet leading feminists of the nineteenth century Lydia Maria Child, Margaret Fuller, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Additional key figures include Adin Balou, William Ladd, and Noah Worcester whose voices for nonviolence impacted Leo Tolstoy, Gandhi, and Dr. Martin Luther King. Still, if it meant a faster end to the horrors of slavery, wasn’t violence the answer? In time, pacificist abolitionists such as Douglass and John Brown came to believe the entire system in the South needed to be overthrown and that could only happen through the shedding of blood. Time may now provide a different perspective. While history has little memory of abolitionists, and even less for pacifists, nothing can be learned from that which is not remembered. What if the Civil War had never have been fought? Might we now live in a world of far greater justice and peace? What does this mean today as we still pursue “righteous” violence? This is the story of a road not taken. Mark Kurlansky&nbsp;was born in Hartford in 1948. He graduated from Butler University with a degree in theater in 1970, refused to serve in the Vietnam war, and has opposed every war since. His book,&nbsp;Nonviolence: The History of a Dangerous Idea&nbsp;won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He has written a number of bestselling books, including&nbsp;Cod&nbsp;and&nbsp;Salt&nbsp;and&nbsp;1968: The Year that Rocked the World, as well as a number of books for young readers, six books of fiction, and a translation of a French classic by Emile Zola. This is his fortieth book. The Boston Way: Radicals Against Slavery &amp; the Civil War with Mark Kurlansky

Michael Ansara - The Hard Work of Hope

Michael Ansara discusses his 2025 book,&nbsp;The Hard Work of Hope: A Memoir. Michael Ansara was on the front lines in the eventful heady days of the 1960s and 1970s, and chronicles the hopes and strategies of the young people who created the movements that rocked the country. He traces an arc of discovery: from the hope and moral clarity of the civil rights movement to the ten-year struggle to end the war in Vietnam, with its sit-ins, marches, confrontations, and antiwar riots and takes us into the minds of the activists detailing their successes as well as their mistakes.&nbsp; The Hard Work of Hope&nbsp;tells how he learned to become a more effective organizer and build the Massachusetts Fair Share organization and&nbsp;explores issues that remain urgent. How does a movement build support when large parts of the country are opposed to its goals? How do you connect with people who disagree with you? How do you build organizations that unite across racial lines? How can we make progress on the unfinished business of the hard work of hope?&nbsp; Michael Ansara spent many years as an activist and organizer. At a very young age, he was swept up in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. He then became a regional organizer for Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and a leader in the effort to end the war in Vietnam. He spent many years as a community organizer. In 2009 he co-founded Mass Poetry (<a href="http://www.masspoetry.org/">www.masspoetry.org</a>&nbsp;) and serves on its board. His poems have appeared in numerous literary journals.&nbsp;What Remains, a collection of his poems, was published by Kelsay Books in 2022. His essays have appeared in Vox, Solstice, Cognoscenti, and Arrowsmith.&nbsp; <img src="https://bpl.bibliocommons.com/events/uploads/images/full/2902adca9c2de25c49dd8c690d7564ce/image.png">

The Rise and Fall of Boston Pride

We are very excited to have author Daniel Gonzalez here to talk about his book The Rise and Fall of Boston Pride which delves into the vibrant history of LGBTQ+ activism and community in one of America's most historic cities. From its early roots in the 1970s to becoming a symbol of resilience, visibility, and celebration, this book traces the evolution of Boston Pride and its profound impact on both the city and the national movement for LGBTQ+ rights. From its inception in 1970 through a series of workshops, the early AIDS epidemic of the 1980's, the St. Patrick's Day parade fight in the 1990s and the shutdown of Boston Pride in 2021 due to activism against the organization, the book looks into every year of events that Boston Pride has held. This book represented over two years of research from sources such as the Boston Public Library, the History Project, and two college universities, this is currently the only book that tracks the complete history of Boston Pride. Through personal stories, pivotal moments from every Pride from 1970-2024, and detailed accounts of activism, The Rise and Fall of Boston Pride highlights the struggles and triumphs that shaped the community. The book explores the intersection of local history with broader social justice movements, showing how Boston became a hub of progressive change. With rich historical context and modern perspectives, it honors the legacy of those who fought for equality while offering a hopeful look at the future. The Rise and Fall of Boston Pride is a must-read for those interested in LGBTQ+ history, civil rights, and Boston's unique place in the fight for inclusion. Daniel Joseph Gonzalez, Ed.D, IMH-E® Dr. Daniel Gonzalez has 25 years of experience in the field of early education. He has a Doctorate of Education in Curriculum, Teaching, Learning, and Leadership from Northeastern University. He currently works for Neighborhood Villages, an educational think tank. Dr. Gonzalez lives just outside of Boston with his partner Tim and their dogs Bella and Harry. This is his first book.

The Boston Red Stockings Superstars: How George Wright and Albert Spalding Impacted Sports in America

A fascinating look back on baseball’s lowly beginnings and its transformation into a national pastime, told through the lives of two men who dominated the game. The nineteenth century was a time of rapid growth and development for the game of “base ball,” and Boston Red Stocking players George Wright and Albert Spalding were right in the thick of it. These two young men, the first superstars of the professional game, won the hearts of a country in search of a unifying spirit after a devastating civil war. Join us as author Jeffrey Orens breathes fresh energy into baseball’s beginnings with this captivating tale of two vibrant personalities whose friendly rivalry was integral to the rise of the professional game. While they came from starkly different backgrounds—Albert was a young, gangly pitcher from the country’s rural heartland and George the consummate athlete from the New York City area—their captivating performances on the field, along with their promotion of the game and of sports equipment, fed the public’s insatiable appetite for leisure-time pursuits and helped grow professional baseball to unprecedented heights. George Wright and Albert Spalding’s stories are masterfully woven together to paint a sweeping picture of the early days of professional baseball, the evolution of sports as a business, and the advancement of sports equipment and the sporting goods industry. Their rise as players and businessmen mirrored the rise of a nation that would lead the world in the coming century. Jeffrey Orens is the author of The Soul of Genius: Marie Curie, Albert Einstein and the Meeting that Changed the Course of Science. He is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research and his work has appeared in History Magazine, True West Magazine, and other historical publications. Orens resides in New Jersey.

Nuf Ced! The Story of Michael McGreevy, Baseball’s First Superfan - with David Krell

Join us to hear author David Krell as he covers a once prominent but often overlooked figure in the development of Boston’s baseball devotion. The Boston Public Library has a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bpl.org/archival_post/mcgreevey-michael-t-nuf-ced-collection/">treasure trove of photographs</a>&nbsp;that once belonged to McGreevy, a Boston saloon owner who donated these images as a reflection of his generosity for the city and his passion for baseball. The Michael T. “Nuf Ced” McGreevy Collection comprises an invaluable chronicle of the game’s early years, including photos of Cy Young, Ty Cobb, Kid Nichols, and Huntington Avenue Grounds. The presentation will not only showcase some photos from the collection but also discuss McGreevy’s impact. He named his bar Third Base as a pun—the last stop before home. His nickname was a shortened version of “Enough Said,” a phrase he used to emphatically declare an end to fights or arguments in his saloon. McGreevy’s achievements included leading the Royal Rooters, an informal group that used musical instruments and cheers to show their appreciation for Boston’s baseball players at games taking place at home and on the road. He created the passion that exists today among Boston’s baseball fans. McGreevy died in 1943 at age 77, prompting&nbsp;Boston Daily Record&nbsp;sports writer Dave Egan to eulogize, “It was he, most of all, who by his enthusiasm popularized baseball and helped make it the national sport, so I think that old Nuf Ced deserves a special niche for himself in the Hall of Fame with [Christy Mathewson] and [John] McGraw and Cy Young and Nap Lajoie and so many of his old friends.” This presentation will bring attention to a man who ought to have a statue at Fenway Park for his highly significant contribution in shaping the devotion of Bostonians to the national pastime. David Krell&nbsp;is an author, speaker, and former producer at MSNBC. He is the author of&nbsp;The Fenway Effect : a cultural history of the Boston Red Sox;&nbsp;1962: Baseball and America in the Time of JFK&nbsp;(Nebraska, 2021) and&nbsp;“Our Bums”: The Brooklyn Dodgers in History, Memory, and Popular Culture. <img src="//:0">

The Great Abolitionist: Charles Sumner and the Fight for a More Perfect Union

Join us in welcoming renown local author Stephen Puleo as he discusses his groundbreaking biography of the civil right hero Charles Sumner. In the tempestuous mid-19th century, as slavery consumed Congressional debate and America careened toward civil war and split apart–when the very future of the nation hung in the balance–Charles Sumner’s voice rang strongest, bravest, and most unwavering. Where others preached compromise and moderation, he denounced slavery’s evils to all who would listen and demanded that it be wiped out of existence. More than any other person of his era, he blazed the trail on the country’s long, uneven, and ongoing journey toward realizing its full promise to become a more perfect union. Before and during the Civil War, at great personal sacrifice, Sumner was the conscience of the North and the most influential politician fighting for abolition. Throughout Reconstruction, no one championed the rights of emancipated people more than he did. Through the force of his words and his will, he moved America toward the twin goals of abolitionism and equal rights, which he fought for literally until the day he died. He laid the cornerstone arguments that civil rights advocates would build upon over the next century as the country strove to achieve equality among the races. The Great Abolitionist is the first major biography of Charles Sumner to be published in over 50 years. Acclaimed historian Stephen Puleo relates the story of one of the most influential political figures in American history with evocative and accessible prose, transporting readers back to an era when our leaders exhibited true courage and authenticity in the face of unprecedented challenges. Stephen Puleo is a historian, teacher, public speaker, and the author of several books, including Voyage of Mercy, Dark Tide, American Treasures, and The Caning. A former award-winning newspaper reporter and contributor to American History magazine, the Boston Globe, and other publications, he holds a master's degree in history and has taught at the University of Massachusetts-Boston and Suffolk University. He and his wife, Kate, reside in the Boston area. Copies of the book will be for sale and signing at the event through local independent Trident Booksellers &amp; Cafe. <img src="https://bpl.bibliocommons.com/events/uploads/images/full/5989709b1a072099473ffdfc66e3e13b/PuleoTGAjacketalt4.jpg">

Undergrounds Before Rail: Escaping Slavery, Claiming Liberty

Award-winning historian Margaret Newell tells the stories of Native and Black people escaping slavery, and the people who helped them Freedom was not a concept just for white male Puritans. The right to consent to governance, the right to liberties, equal treatment under law – these were claimed by enslaved people in the only way they could – by escaping. Award-winning historian Margaret Newell, joined by Slave Legacy History Coalition co-founder Egypt Lloyd, explores the network of Indigenous and Black people helping enslaved individuals to escape – the stories of those who fled. This is a rarely revealed story of resistance to tyranny, juxtaposed to Puritan rights and freedoms. Most Americans are familiar with the history of the 19th century Underground Railroad. Formerly enslaved people wrote autobiographies and newspapers published escape accounts, and later historians interviewed participants. We know much less about the experience of Native Americans and Africans who attempted to escape the tyranny of slavery in the colonial era, whose stories often only appear as testimony in courts or in runaway advertisements. Frederick Douglass and other 19th century fugitives escaped via stagecoach, train, and steamship to the North. There, they entered thriving African American communities who assisted them. In a time before toll roads, transit, and diverse urban centers, how did people escape, where did they go, what networks existed to help them, and what challenges did they confront in maintaining freedom? What did freedom mean in an era where no free soil existed, when the bonds of slavery were being tightened by colonial administrations at the behest of slaveholders? The treaty that ended the first major Anglo-Indigenous conflict, the 1637 Pequot War, included a fugitive slave clause. As colonial cities and transportation networks grew, so did newspaper runaway ads, pass requirements, and policing of people of color. Professor Newell will share the stories of Native Americans and African Americans who tried to claim their liberty and the people who helped them, 1620-1750, with respondent Egypt Lloyd. Many of the escapees tried to head home, whether that meant to Pequot, Wampanoag and Narragansett reserves, or La Florida, or even Africa. Some traversed the Atlantic Ocean. Others focused on physical mobility and maintaining family and marriage ties through temporary absence. Still others organized mass escapes that resembled slave uprisings. Meanwhile, communities and individuals shared successful strategies for fighting slavery’s tyranny. They aided fugitives at enormous risk to themselves.

S22: conversations

Wondering what to do in Boston? Places to eat? Free activities? Good for a group? Date night spot? Girls night out? The best things to do? Ask Joyraft!

Best places to go in Boston? Things to do? Places to eat?

Questions & answers about things to do in Boston

Recs 💬

Community recs 💬

S4: top picks

The most fun, cool and unique things to do in Boston. Can’t miss events, shows and experiences. Concerts, restaurants, bars, free things in Boston and beyond.

The most fun and cool events happening around Boston

Hot and new things to do in Boston

Hot & new

Hot & new 🔥

S11: happening this weekend

What to do in Boston this weekend? From festivals, concerts, performances, free events, screenings and more, Joyraft has the best things to do in Boston.

25+ things to do in Boston/Cambridge/Somerville this weekend

Things to do in Boston this weekend

This wknd

This weekend for you

S21: roundups

Our top picks: outdoor dining, free events, spring festivals, best bars, upcoming concerts, museum parties - the latest in and around Boston.  Slug: joyraft-top-picks-best-things-to-do-boston-ma

Top picks of the best things to do in and around Boston

Joyraft picks: Boston’s best things to do

Roundups ⭐️

Curated by Joyraft ⭐️

S28: calendar experiences

This week in Boston

This week in Boston 📆

This week 📆

S20: c+d experiences

Discover new, unique events and experiences happening in and around Boston. Perfect for date night, good for a group or with a friend. Be the first to know.

The newest events happening in and around Boston

The newest events on Joyraft

Just added

Just added to Joyraft

S16: editor picks

The most unique and can’t miss things coming up in Boston / Cambridge / Somerville and beyond. Festivals, food, drinks, fairs, concerts, art and free activities.

Unique and Can’t Miss Things to Do in Boston

Can’t-miss things to do in Boston 🚨

Can't-miss things to do 🚨

S2 (A): top experiences

The most popular things to do on Joyraft. Concerts, restaurants, bars, events, parties, openings, kid friendly, date ideas, free things in Boston and beyond.

Top 20 things to do in Boston

Top 20: Joyraft’s most popular

Top 20

Top 20 on Joyraft

S3 (A): trending experiences

Discover can’t miss events and things to do in Boston. The most fun, unique and cool events coming to the Boston area this spring and summer.

The hottest events happening in Boston

Trending events on Joyraft

Trending 📈

S19: interest based

Kid-friendly events in Boston

S18: interest based

Where to eat and drink in Boston? Joyraft has Boston’s newest bars, restaurants and specials. Drinks and pre fixe dinner menus. Cambridge & Somerville too.

Where

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Experiences