Annual Jamaican Emancipation Day Commemorative Lecture

Annual Jamaican Emancipation Day Commemorative Lecture

Each August, Vaughan Woods & Historic Homestead commemorates Jamaican Emancipation Day through a special lecture. As stewards of a site whose history is intertwined with the Atlantic slave economy, we believe it is important to observe the abolition of slavery in the British West Indies while also exploring the broader histories, voices, and knowledge systems that have too often been overlooked. From the legacies of slavery to Indigenous understandings of place, we invite audiences to consider the many ways people choose to experience, remember, and interpret the past.

2026 Featured Lecture: Penobscot’s Sense of Place
What if the names on a map weren't just labels—but an ancient, living GPS system?

Join James Francis, Director of Cultural and Historic Preservation and Tribal Historian for the Penobscot Nation, as he explores how Wabanaki language and oral traditions transform the landscape of Maine into a living map of memory, ecology, and belonging. Through the concept of place literacy, Francis reveals how rivers, mountains, and coastlines have long served as navigational guides, seasonal calendars, and repositories of cultural knowledge. Penobscot's Sense of Place offers a compelling new way of seeing the Maine landscape through an Indigenous lens, reminding us that history lives not only in archives and monuments, but also in language, storytelling, and our enduring relationship with the land.

Where: Vaughan Homestead, Garden Pavilion, 2 Litchfield Road, Hallowell
When: Sunday, August 9, 2026 at 2:00 p.m.
Admission: Free. Registration is recommended, as seating is limited.
For more details email info@vaughanhomestead.org or call (207) 622-9831.