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American Ancestors

American Ancestors and New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) is America’s founding genealogical organization and the most respected name in family history. Established in 1845, they are the nation’s leading comprehensive resource for family history research and the largest Society of its kind in the world. The group provides family history services through their staff, original scholarship, data-rich website, educational opportunities and its research center to help family historians of all levels explore their past and understand their families’ unique place in history.

http://www.americanancestors.org

The Chinese Question: The Gold Rushes and Global Politics

Tue, Oct 19, 2021

American Ancestors/NEHGS and Boston Public Library in partnership with the Boston Book Festival present author and Columbia University Professor Mae Ngai and her latest work. “The Chinese Question” looks at how the Chinese diaspora, particularly migration to the world’s goldfields, reshaped the nineteenth-century world. In roughly five decades, between 1848 and 1899, more gold was removed from the earth than had been mined in the 3,000 preceding years, bringing untold wealth to individuals and nations. But friction between Chinese and white settlers on the goldfields of California, Australia, and South Africa catalyzed a global battle over “the Chinese Question”: would the United States and the British Empire outlaw Chinese immigration? Join us for a discussion of these definitive cultural and political movements which impact us to this day, featuring two remarkable authors and experts on the topics of Chinese-American history and immigration. Mae Ngai is Lung Family Professor Asian American Studies and a professor of history at Columbia University. Professor Ngai will be joined by Jia Lynn Yang, author of One Mighty and Irresistible Tide: The Epic Struggle Over American Immigration, 1924-1965, and national editor at The New York Times. She was previously deputy national security editor at The Washington Post, where she was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team.

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Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar: American Women Writers

Thu, Sep 2, 2021

American Ancestors NEHGS and Boston Public Library present a conversation on feminist history with three remarkable writers. Following up on their award-winning 1979 book, “Madwoman in the Attic,” examining the works of 19th century feminist writers, the duo of Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar are back to introduce the women of the 20th century who penned their dreams, their demands, their beliefs and their frustrations as they witnessed social tumult and incremental changes that offered them a glimpse of hope for equality in a very different future. "Still Mad: American Women Writers and the Feminist Imagination” maps out key events and introduces the important writers in the second wave of the women’s movement from the 1950s with Plath, Didion, Friedan, and Sontag, and moving into the 21st Century, with Le Guin, Steinem, Morrison, Rankine, and Jemisin, each of whom brings new views, new expressions, creative new forms of protests and changing attitudes toward gender and sexuality.

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Nathaniel Philbrick: In Search of Washington and His Legacy

Thu, Sep 23, 2021

When George Washington became president in 1789, the United States of America was a tentative political experiment. Washington undertook a tour of the ex-colonies to talk to citizens about his new government, and to imbue in them the idea of being Americans. In his book "Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy,"" bestselling author Nathaniel Philbrick illustrates George Washington’s unique contribution to the forging of America by retracing Washington’s journey as a new president through the unsure nation made up of thirteen former colonies. Philbrick follows Washington’s route to Mount Vernon; Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, among many other stops. Ryan Woods, Executive Vice President and COO of American Ancestors and New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS), will moderate.

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The story of Canada’s famous Hudson's Bay Company

Mon, Jun 28, 2021

Scholar Stephen Bown shares his compelling narrative history of Canada’s famous Hudson's Bay Company. Follow its rise from a small 1670 trading business backed by Royal Charter through its intersections as a political and economic force working with indigenous people as well as French, and American settlers on both sides of the 49th parallel and beyond. The Company became the single biggest political and economic force in North America, influencing the lives of people from Hudson’s Bay to the Pacific Ocean. See Bown’s illustrated presentation and insights on this rich and peopled history; and his discussion of Canada, then and now, with fellow countryman Jeff Breithaupt. ### RESOURCES Learn more about Stephen Bown and his books, including “The Company,” https://stephenrbown.net/ More about our moderator Jeff Breithaupt and his podcast, Canadians Among Us. https://twitter.com/jeffbreithaupt Find additional author events, webinars, and family history resources, chat with an expert genealogist at www.americanancestors.org Check out the many resources at American Ancestors, like this French-Canadian Genealogy page: https://www.americanancestors.org/education/learning-resources/read/french-canadian-guide

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American Inspiration Author Series

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Daniel James Brown: “Facing the Mountain”

Wed, May 12, 2021

American Ancestors NEHGS and Boston Public Library in partnership with the Japan Society of Boston and GBH Forum Network host celebrated author Daniel James Brown to discuss his book “Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II.” Known for his #1 New York Times bestselling book “The Boys in the Boat,” Brown now looks at the World War II saga of patriotism, contributions and sacrifices of Japanese immigrants and their American-born children. Brown tells a the story of one courageous Japanese-American Army unit that overcame brutal odds in Europe while their families were incarcerated back home; and the tale of a young man who refused to surrender his constitutional rights, even if it meant imprisonment. Following a short, illustrated presentation by the author, Roland Nozomu Kelts joins him in conversation.

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Meet playwright and author Quiara Alegría Hudes

Thu, Apr 29, 2021

Quiara Alegría Hudes tells her lyrical story of coming of age against the backdrop of a Philadelphia barrio, with her sprawling Puerto Rican family as a collective muse. She was awed by her aunts and uncles and cousins, but haunted by the secrets of the family and the unspoken, untold stories of the barrio—the sea of language around her, written and spoken, English and Spanish. Hudes has since found her language, and in this powerful work, “her sentences will take your breath away. How lucky we are to have her telling our stories,” said Lin-Manuel Miranda, award-winning creator of Hamilton. Hudes is joined by journalist Maria Hinojosa, whose work has informed millions about the changing cultural and political landscape in America and abroad. Image: book cover RESOURCES Explore the work of Quiara Alegría Hudes http://www.quiara.com/mybrokenlanguage Purchase Quiara’s memoir from Porter Square Books https://www.portersquarebooks.com/eve... Maria Hinojosa is the founder of Futuro Media Group https://www.futuromediagroup.org/mari... Check out Latino USA https://www.latinousa.org/ In the Thick podcast https://www.inthethick.org/ Emancipated Stories is a collection of writing and art by those behind bars. http://www.quiara.com/emancipatedstories Explore the work of Melinda Lopez http://www.melindalopez.com/ Huntington Theater https://www.huntingtontheatre.org/

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Historian John Matteson on "A Worse Place Than Hell"

Tue, Mar 23, 2021

See Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Matteson with his latest work, “A Worse Place Than Hell: How the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg Changed a Nation.” Matteson is joined by guest moderator author Debby Applegate, winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. December 1862: As Abraham Lincoln’s government threatened to fracture, five extraordinary individuals were tested – Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., army chaplain Arthur Fuller, poet Walt Whitman, Louisa May Alcott, and John Pelham, a West Point cadet on the other side of the national schism. The months ahead had repercussions in the country’s law, literature, politics, and popular mythology. Hear about the lives of these individuals and John Matteson’s new work, an interweaving of the personal and the historic. Our featured author is joined on screen by guest moderator author Debby Applegate, also winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History. Image: American Ancestors

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Janice Nimura on "The Doctors Blackwell"

Thu, Feb 4, 2021

Join us for a discussion about women in medicine revealing the remarkable lives of Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman in America to receive an M.D. in 1849, and her younger sister Emily, an even more brilliant physician. Exploring their allies, enemies, and enduring partnership, award winning author Janice P. Nimura presents their story of trials and triumph. From Bristol, Paris, and Edinburgh to the rising cities of antebellum America, this richly researched new biography celebrates these two complicated pioneers who exploded the limits of possibility for women. The discussion is moderated by New York Times columnist and author Perri Klass, M.D., a Professor of Journalism and Pediatrics at New York University. This event is part of the American Stories, Inspiration Today series sponsored by American Ancestors NEHGS and the Boston Public Library. Image: Book Cover

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Nadia Owusu with "Aftershocks: A Memoir"

Tue, Jan 19, 2021

When Nadia Owusu moved to New York City at age 18, she had already lived in five countries outside the United States and her parents’ homelands of Ghana (her father’s) and Armenia (her mother’s family). She grew up disconnected, without a culture she called her own. In _Aftershocks_ she shares her jarring story of being state-less and, ultimately, parent-less, as the survivor of trauma; she describes the heart and will it takes to pull though. Listen to her life and memoir that looks at race identity and immigration, the seismic emotional toll of family secrets, and the push and pull of belonging in the United States. Image: book cover

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The life of Henry Wadsworth and Fanny Appleton Longfellow

Mon, Dec 7, 2020

The book "Cross of Snow" is the result of more than twelve years of research, including access to never-before-examined letters, diaries, journals, and notes. Author Nicholas Basbanes reveals the life, the times, the work--the soul--of the man who shaped the literature of a new nation. In this dialogue between Basbanes and Diana Korzenik, learn about the life and work of Henry and his multi-talented second wife, Fanny Appleton Longfellow (1817-1861) at various stages of their lives. Diana Korzenik is an author, artist, professor emerita (Massachusetts College of Art), and compiler of five research collections housed at libraries and museums nationwide. Her first book, Drawn to Art: A Nineteenth-Century American Dream, won a Boston Globe Literary Award. Since the Basbanes biography was released, reviewers have taken particular note of the modern feminist approach Basbanes has employed to give full biographical attention to Fanny, taking in her work as a brilliant artist, diarist, correspondent, and chronicler of her times. Presented as a partnership between the American Inspiration author series by American Ancestors NEHGS and the State Library of Massachusetts, produced by GBH Forum Network.

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