Join the New Bedford Whaling Museum for a special program marking the opening of Forging Independence | Building a Nation, a new semi-permanent exhibition developed in recognition of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. The exhibition explores the diverse regional experiences that shaped the struggle for independence and the new nation that emerged. The evening begins with welcome remarks from Jon Mitchell, Mayor of New Bedford, followed by a 30-minute screening of excerpts from Ken Burns’s The American Revolution that highlight the many individuals whose beliefs, identities, and courage propelled the nation toward independence.

After the screening, a panel discussion will examine how the Revolution reshaped people’s lives across the region, how ideas about nationhood, abolition, citizenship, and racial identity evolved in its aftermath, and how the legacies of these questions are with us in the present. Naomi Slipp will introduce the project and discuss some of the key individuals, including women and people of color, who are highlighted in the exhibition; Lee Blake will consider the roles of free people of color in the fight for Independence, the limitations of citizenship in this period, and the importance of freedom seekers and free Black citizens in the work of abolition; and Donika Kelly will reflect on the poetic potentialities embedded in this country’s beginnings and the meanings of the semi-quincentennial today.

A light reception will follow in the Jacobs Family Gallery, along with an invitation to explore the new exhibition. Copies of The Natural Order of Things will be available for purchase in the Museum Store, with a signing opportunity.

This program is offered in partnership with PBS and is free to the public.