"Meanings of Independence" Papers

October 18-20, 2021

Papers for "Meanings of Independence" can be found below.  You will be required to enter a password provided by conference organizers to access them. Please contact Adrianna Link at [email protected] if you are attending the conference but have not yet received the password.

Papers are not to be cited or circulated without the written permission of the author

The following events will be held via Zoom (times listed in EDT)


Monday, October 18

1:00–2:15 p.m.: Sexuality & Identity in the American Revolution

"Violations, Mortifications, Transformations: The Pinckney Women Confront the Revolutionary War"
Lorri Glover (Saint Louis University)

Slavery, Freedom, and Survival: Life at Westover Plantation in Revolutionary Virginia
Ami Pflugrad-Jackisch (University of Toledo)

Female Genius: Eliza Harriot and George Washington at the Dawn of the Constitution
Mary Sarah Bilder (Boston College)

'Damn the Bougre': LGBTQ+ People and the American Revolution"
John G. McCurdy (Eastern Michigan University)


Tuesday, October 19

1:00–2:15 p.m.: Slavery, Race, & Revolution

“'Cruel war against human nature itself’: Understanding the American Revolution’s Impact on Slavery within the Context of Imperial Governance"
Holly Brewer (University of Maryland)

“Reexamining Activism in the Revolutionary Era: The Life-Long Efforts of the Revolution's Soldiers of Color”
Benjamin Remillard (University of New Hampshire)

A Call to Stand Up: Meanings of Independence for People of African Descent"
Sherri Burr (University of New Mexico)


Wednesday, October 20

1:00–2:15 p.m.: Contesting Power & Authority in the Age of Revolutions

 “Sigenauk’s War of Independence: New Indian Leadership and the Struggle for Autonomy in the Revolutionary Borderlands"
John Nelson (Texas Tech University)

the disagreeable situation in between the Civil in the Military’: Prisoners of War and Local Governance in the American Revolution
Susan Brynne Long (University of Delaware)

Taxation With and Without Representation: The Union Crisis in Scotland, The  Imperial Crisis in North America, and the Prospects and Costs of Incorporating Union"
Ned Landsman (SUNY Stony Brook)