Liberty's Chain: Slavery, Abolition, and the Jay Family of New York

David Gellman, author of Liberty’s Chain, forges a new path for thinking about slavery and the nation’s founding. John Jay, diplomat, Supreme Court justice, and Federalist, embodies the contradictions of the revolutionary age. A slaveholder whose personal dealings with the enslaved ranged from caring to callousness, he also served as the inaugural president of a pioneering antislavery society. His descendants, especially his son William Jay and his grandson John Jay II, embraced radical abolitionism in the nineteenth century. The Jays, as well as those who served them, demonstrated the elusiveness and the vitality of liberty’s legacy. This remarkable family story forces us to grapple with what we mean by patriotism, conservatism, and radicalism. Their story speaks directly to our own divided times. Books will be available for sale and signing.

David N. Gellman is Professor of History at DePauw University, where he has taught since 1999. His book Liberty’s Chain: Slavery, Abolition, and the Jay Family of New York was published in Spring 2022 by Three Hills, an imprint of Cornell University Press. Among his other publications are Emancipating New York: The Politics of Slavery and Freedom, 1777-1827 and Jim Crow New York: A Documentary History of Race and Citizenship, 1777-1877. Both were selected as Choice Outstanding Academic Titles.

This is a hybrid event.
Tickets: $10 Members; $15 Non-members