December | January | February | March

Many of our lectures are recorded, and broadcast online as a webcast on the WGBH Forum Network at www.wgbh.org/forum. The WGBH Forum Network is an online resource offering live and on-demand webcasts of free pubic lectures from Boston's leading cultural and educational institutions.

Permanent Exhibition:

Voices of Protest
A permanent, multimedia exhibition, Voices of Protest traces the use of Old South Meeting House over three centuries as a gathering place for religious, political, and social debate.

If These Walls Could Speak
This hands-free, innovative audio exhibition takes visitors through time to various events at Old South, such as the fiery debate that led to the Boston Tea Party.

Behind the Scaffolding
Great color photographs show an insider's peek at the process of the $7 million restoration that took place from 1995-1997.

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Author Events, Lectures, Performances & Walking Tours:

December 2005

Saturday, December 31
First Night - Buttons on sale here!
In Concert: Amaryllis Duo
3:00 p.m.
Flutist Bonnie L. Cochran performs with harpist Sarah Anne Manning

January 2006

Middays at the Meeting House
Old South Goes South: Celebrating Latin Jazz
Co-sponsored with WGBH
Thursdays in January 5, 12, 19, 26
12:15 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Admission: Free with museum admission

Thursday, January 5, 12:15 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Jonathan �Juanito� Pascual has been called �one of the greatest American flamenco guitarists.� He is a multifaceted guitarist, composer, and teacher who has performed in styles ranging from jazz and blues, to classical guitar, klezmer, as well as flamenco. Based in Boston, he tours frequently and has played for most of the country�s major flamenco dance companies as well as the Tanglewood Jazz Festival and New York City�s Fringe Festival.

Thursday, January 12, 12:15 p.m. � 1:00 p.m.
Teresa Ines is probably the most well-known Brazilian vocalist in the New England area. Growing up in Rio de Janeiro, Ines absorbed a rich blend of musical styles from Rodas de Samba and Choro to concerts by the most sophisticated artists. Adding jazz influences to her broad range of Brazilian styles and rhythms, The Boston Globe says Ines possesses an �authentically sensual Brazilian style reminiscent of several of the greats.�

Tuesday, January 17   Happy Birthday Ben!
6:30 p.m.
Stealing God�s Thunder: Benjamin Franklin�s Lightning Rod and the Invention of America
Free to all Boston residents, 9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Long before Benjamin Franklin was an eminent statesman and a father of American democracy, he was famous for being a revolutionary scientist, most notably for his experiments with lightning and electricity. But Franklin had many powerful doubters who were troubled by his presumption in denying God his favorite weapon of resentment. For as long as anyone could remember, all the way back to Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology, one of the gods� privileges had been the ability to hurl thunderbolts to punish the misdeeds of mortals. Pulitzer Prize finalist Philip Dray uses the story of Franklin�s wild experiments and his battles with his vehement detractors as a metaphor for America�s struggle for democracy and the establishment of our fundamental democratic values.

Philip Dray is the author of At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America, which won the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Book Prize and the Southern Book Critics Circle Award, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Award
Q & A to follow lecture followed, birthday cake too!
Admission: Free
An Inside the Issues program.

Thursday, January 19, 12:15 p.m. � 1:00 p.m.
Born in Santa Clara, Cuba, Osmany Parades has been an internationally acclaimed pianist and composer in Mexico for many years. A graduate of the esteemed National School of Music in Havana, he has worked or recorded with such legends of Latin American music as Israel �Cachao� Lopez and Enrique Jorrin. He has also appeared at the renowned Havana Jazz Plaza Festival as well as appearances in Austria, Germany, and Colombia. Paredes has been described as �an aggressive stylist with a bright-sounding, percussive approach and penchant for fiery improvisations.�

Thursday, January 26, 12:15 p.m. � 1:00 p.m.
The heart and soul of Sol y Canto is its lush harmonies, sumptuous Spanish guitar, and a combination of churning Latin rhythms and beautiful ballads performed with excitement and enthusiasm. Puerto Rican/Argentine singer/percussionist Rosi Amador and New Mexico guitarist Brian Amador take the audience on a journey through a rich variety of acoustic Afro-Latin and Caribbean rhythms. Sol y Canto have long been hailed as ambassadors of Latin culture, bringing North American and Latin American audiences into concert halls and festivals year after year.

February 2006

Sundays in February are FREE!

Middays at the Meeting House
Slavery in New England
Thursdays in February 2, 9, 16, 23
12:15 p.m. � 1:00 p.m.
Free with museum admission.

Thursday, February 2, 12:15 p.m. � 1:00 p.m.
The Remonds of Salem: An African American Dynasty
Of African, Dutch and Jewish descent, John Remond (1788-1874) was Salem�s leading caterer for more than half a century. His marriage to Nancy Lenox, the daughter of a black Revolutionary War veteran, led to the creation of a highly successful catering team that was called upon to cater lavish entertainments in Boston and Newport. Julie Winch, Professor of History at UMass Boston, will discuss how growing prosperity and links with influential whites strengthened John and Nancy Remond�s commitment to antislavery and civil rights. At considerable cost to themselves, they fought school segregation and even their children became famed antislavery orators and fought for full citizenship for the Commonwealth�s African American community.

Thursday, February 9, 12:15 p.m. � 1:00 p.m.
Epic Journeys of Freedom: Runaway Slaves of the American Revolution and Their Global Quest for Liberty
Award-winning author Cassandra Pybus tells the alternative and heroic story of freedom fought and won by dozens of slaves. During the American Revolution, thousands of slaves fled their masters to find freedom with the British. Having emancipated themselves � and with the rhetoric about the inalienable rights of free men ringing in their ears � these men and women struggled tenaciously to make liberty a reality in theirs.
Booksigning to follow.
Free with museum admission.

Thursday, February 16, 12:15 p.m. � 1:00 p.m.
Fulfilling the Revolution: Memory and Abolitionism in 1850s Boston
In 1843, the suspicion that President John Tyler had brought a slave to the dedication of the Bunker Hill Monument set Boston abolitionists up in arms. This incident was by no means the only time in the antebellum years when the celebration of American liberty ran up against the messy reality of slavery. Margot Minardi, Ph.D. candidate in History at Harvard University, explores why the Revolutionary past mattered to nineteenth-century Bostonians and how they used that history to make the case for or against abolition.

**February School Vacation Week**
Free with museum admission.
Tuesday, February 21, 11:00 a.m. � 2:00 p.m.
Colonial Clothing
Step back in history with your kids! Swap your baseball cap for a tri-corne hat and see how dressing in colonial times was not as easy as you may think!
Free with museum admission.

Wednesday, February 22, 11:00 a.m. � 2:00 p.m.
Colonial Games
What did children play with before the age of the video game? Pick up sticks, cup in bowl, nine pins � just to name a few. Learn how to play these old fashioned favorites and more.
Free with museum admission.

Thursday, February 23, 12:15 p.m. � 1:00 p.m.
William Lloyd Garrison and the Ambassadors of Abolition
On January 1, 1831, William Lloyd Garrison published the first issue of his antislavery newspaper the Liberator, quickly gaining him a reputation as one of the most radical abolitionists of his day. Marion Kilson, co-curator of the Words of Thunder exhibitions at the Boston Public Library and the Museum of Afro-American History will discuss Garrison�s life work, the black and white men and women who worked with him in the anti-slavery movement, and his unique relationship with Black Boston.

Thursday, February 23, 11:00 a.m. � 3:00 p.m.
Phillis Wheatley Day
As one of Old South�s most famous congregation members, slave and world renown poet, Phillis Wheatley�s life is celebrated all day with activities such as a scavenger hunt & quill pen writing.
Admission: Free with museum admission.

Friday, February 24, 11:00 a.m. � 3:00 p.m.
Ben Franklin Day: Celebrate his 300th Birthday!
Born in Boston across the street from the Old South Meeting House, Benjamin Franklin was baptized at the Old South and his family worshipped here for many years. Visit the pew his family rented (No. 11) and learn about his life as a boy.
Admission: Free with museum admission.

March 2006

Middays at the Meeting House
Statesman, Philosopher, Diplomat and Scientist: The Many Faces of Benjamin Franklin
Thursdays in March 2, 9, 16, 23, 30
12:15 p.m. � 1:00 p.m.
Admission: Free with museum admission.

Thursday, March 2, 12:00 pm � 5:00 pm
Marathon Reading of Benjamin Franklin�s Writings
In celebration of Franklin�s 300th birthday, Old South presents a five-hour marathon reading of many of Franklin�s most beloved writings. Beginning with Franklin�s Autobiography and including works such as his Silence Dogood letters, listen as local figures, historians and students bring Franklin�s witty and insightful voice to life.
* Any participant who remains for the full five hours will receive a free bound copy of Franklin�s writings and membership to Old South Meeting House.

Thursday, March 9, 12:15 p.m. � 1:00 p.m.
Franklin�s Gulf Stream: Science and Circulation in the Atlantic
Benjamin Franklin drew one of the first accurate charts of the Atlantic Gulf Stream enabling ships to take full advantage of the swifter current. Joyce E. Chaplin, Professor of History at Harvard University, explores the impact of Franklin�s discovery and how his own observations and experiments fit into the 18th century scientific world in the British colonies.

Thursday, March 16, 12:15 p.m. � 1:00 p.m.
Franklin�s Boyhood in Boston
Born in 1706 across Milk Street from Old South Meeting House, Benjamin Franklin lived the first 17 years of his life in Boston. Historian Keith Arbour discusses Franklin�s early education, his indenture as a printer to his brother James and his often troubled relationship to the town of his birth.

Thursday, March 16, 7:00 p.m.
The Brothers Bulger: How they Terriorized and Corrupted Boston for a Quarter Century
Journalist Howie Carr reveals the real story behind the infamous Bulger brothers�two brothers from South Boston who grew up to control a state. With political corruption on one side and deadly force on the other, the Bulgers shared a diabolic and destructive alliance for decades. Carr�s telling of these parallel stories of these two brothers, rich in anecdote and shocking in their revelations, read like an unholy hybrid of All the King�s Men and The Godfather.
Book Signing to Follow.
Free and Open to the Public.

Thursday, March 23, 12:15 p.m. � 1:00 p.m.
Benjamin Franklin and the Wild Turkey: Two �Original Natives�
The wild turkey plays an integral role in American history. Historian Elizabeth Riely explores Benjamin Franklin�s encounters with the odd-looking bird, from his �turkey-fries� leading up to his famous kite-flying experiment with electricity to his celebrated remarks on why the turkey would be more suitable than the bald eagle as a symbol of our nation.

Thursday, March 30
Benjamin Franklin on Sale! 12:00 - 4:00 pm only
In honor of his 300th birthday, any purchase of books and/or items related to Benjamin Franklin will be discounted 20% for members of Old South Meeting House (non-members receive 15% on Franklin related items).

Thursday, March 30, 6:30 p.m.
Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement, and the Bombing that Divided Gilded-Age America
In May of 1886 Americans awoke to the news that a bomb had exploded a Chicago labor rally killing several policemen. Coming in the midst of the largest national strike Americans had ever seen, the bombing, the mass hysteria it created, and the sensational trial and executions that followed, made headlines across the country. National sentiment turned against the burgeoning labor movement, ending a moment of hope for the nation�s working class. James Green, professor of history at UMASS Boston and Howard Zinn, author of A People�s History of the United States will discuss the exhilarating rise of a visionary union movement and its downfall in the wake of the Haymarket tragedy.

Music at the Meeting House: The Artist Diploma Series
Free Classical Music every Friday in March, 12:15 p.m. � 1:00 p.m.
Co-Sponsored by New England Conservatory and WGBH 89.7 FM
The best and brightest of the New England Conservatory bring their amazing talent to Downtown Crossing.

March 3, 12:15 p.m. � 1:00 p.m., Stefan Jackiw, violin
March 10, 12:15 p.m. � 1:00 p.m. Susie Park, violin
March 17, 12:15 p.m. � 1:00 p.m. Karen Gomyo, violin
March 24, 12:15 p.m. � 1:00 p.m. Chris Guzman, piano
March 31, 12:15 p.m. � 1:00 p.m. Korbi Altenberger, violin