SOLD OUT – Lunch and Learn: Interracial But Not Integrated: Race and Connecticut’s Colonial Churches

UPDATE: THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT

Join us as Professor Richard Boles draws from his recently published book to discuss his research into the religious lives of the African Americans and Native Americans who affiliated with Connecticut and other northern colonial churches.

By attending services, being baptized, and taking the Lord’s Supper, numerous Native Americans and mostly-enslaved African Americans participated in a substantial number of Connecticut’s churches during the eighteenth century. They did so despite segregated seating arrangements and prohibitions against voting and holding church leadership positions. Because so many northern Protestants worshipped in interracial contexts, race relations in churches influenced the political and social treatments of African Americans and American Indians across society.

As a former recipient of a New England Regional Fellowship Consortium grant, Professor Boles conducted research at the CMCH’s Waterman Research Center.  We are thrilled Professor Boles is returning to share his findings and his new book, Dividing the Faith: The Rise of Segregated Churches in the Early American North.

This program is full.  If you have previously registered, you’ll receive an email reminder on the day of the program.  Please do not share the link you receive!

Questions? Contact Jennifer Busa, Public Programs and Special Events Coordinator, at jennifer_busa@chs.org.

Image:  Book cover image of Dividing the Faith, courtesy of New York University Press.

About the speaker

Richard J. Boles is an Assistant Professor of History at Oklahoma State University, where he teaches courses in early American history. His first book, Dividing the Faith: The Rise of Segregated Churches in the Early American North, was published by New York University Press in 2020. Boles has published articles about race relations in northern churches in the New England Quarterly, the Journal of Rhode Island History, the Lutheran Quarterly, and other publications.

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