Theodore Parker of Lexington and Ralph Waldo Emerson of Concord were directly linked to the events of April 19, 1775. Both men’s grandfathers were involved in the battles that sparked the American Revolution.
How did Parker and Emerson view their revolutionary heritage? How did this shape their thinking in the turbulent years leading up to the Civil War? In this lecture, Public Historian Richard Smith will discuss the literary and spiritual connections between the two men and their two towns. How did Parker and Emerson use their heritage to help change American literature and thought? How did this affect the Anti-slavery Movement of the 1850s?
Richard Smith has lectured on and written about antebellum United States history and 19th-century American literature for 26 years. He has worked in Concord as a public historian and Living History Interpreter since 1999 and has written or edited 11 books for Applewood Books/Arcadia Publishing. Richard is a regular contributor to Discover Concord Magazine.
