As the 250th anniversary of America’s independence is observed, there is opportunity to reflect on the act of historical commemoration. Join the Jonathan Fisher House and the Blue Hill Public Library on Wednesday, August 5 at 7:30 pm for a Symposium exploring commemoration in the context of liberty and the abolition movement.

In July of 1826, 50 years after American independence, Blue Hill’s first settled minister Jonathan Fisher preached a sermon that focused on the concept of liberty, a supposed value of the nation, in an era when chattel slavery was an institution in the young country. In this sermon, Fisher refutes claims of Biblical or legal justification of the continuing enslavement of Black Africans, and proposes a number of approaches for how Americans could work to give African slaves liberty. He concludes by exulting in how since 1776 liberty has worked to improve American society and make it more prosperous, and how its benefits should be extended to everyone in the country.

After some remarks from Fisher House board members on this sermon and Fisher’s views on abolition generally, Dr. Mary T. Freeman, Associate Professor of New England History at the University of Maine, will widen the scope and deliver a lecture on “Abolitionists and American Radical Politics,” offering an overview of the abolitionist movement and considering its relevance to broader questions of liberty in the U.S., including connections to Fisher and abolitionist activism in Maine.

Dr. Freeman studies the history of slavery and abolition in the United States, with a focus on Maine and New England. She received her PhD from Columbia University. Her book, Abolitionists and the Politics of Correspondence, was published by University of Pennsylvania Press in 2026.

This event is co-sponsored by the Jonathan Fisher House and the Blue Hill Public Library. It will be held in the Howard Room at the library, and is free and open to all. For more information, visit the Fisher House website at jonathanfisherhouse.org, the library website at bhpl.net, or call (207) 374-2459.