The third lecture of the John and Francie Pepper Freedom Lecture series features Christopher Hager, Associate Professor of English and American Studies at Trinity College, Hartford. Hagar will discuss his book, Word by Word: Emancipation and the Act of Writing, which was awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2009.

His book reveals various writings by enslaved African Americans who managed to become literate during a time when salves were forbidden to read and write and during the years of emancipation. The writings include letters by individuals sold away from their families, diary entries and petitions from freedmen. Through these writings, Hager forces us to examine the relationships between freedom and literacy.

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