Events

On Saturday, February 27yh at 10:30 Am, join The Bookloft at the Stockbridge Library for a morning with Jana Laiz and Ann-Elizabeth Barnes, the authors of the new book A Free Woman on God's Earth: The True Story of Elizabeth "Mumbet" Freeman, the Slave Who Won Her Freedom! Come listen to stories, hear passages from the book, and get your copy signed!

A biography for children ages 8 and up, A Free Woman on God's Earth tells the story of Elizabeth "Mumbet" Freeman, a slave owned by the Ashley Family of Sheffield in the 18th Century. After more than 30 years of bondage, Mumbet successfully sued for her freedom in a Great Barrington court of law, setting the stage for the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts in 1783.

Jana Laiz has been writing for as long as she can remember. She wrote
her first novel at age 6: Fuzzy Wuzzy Rabbit. She is the author of the
triple Award Winning novel, Weeping Under This Same Moon, Elephants of
the Tsunami, written to raise money for tsunami relief, and the
co-author of "A Free Woman On God's Earth, The True Story of Elizabeth
"Mumbet" Freeman, The Slave Who Won Her Freedom". Fascinated by other
cultures, Jana studied anthropology and Chinese language at University.
She is a teacher, a writer, an editor, a publisher, a photographer, a
mom, an animal lover and keeper of pets, a sea glass collector, a
jeweler, a musician and a dreamer. She is passionate about our
beautiful planet and endeavors to make a difference in the world and to
work with others who feel the same. Her novel, The Twelfth Stone, a
Celtic American faerie tale, adventure, romance, coming of age,
environmental novel for adults and young adults is due out soon. She
lives in a 200-year-old farmhouse in the Berkshire Hills of
Massachusetts.

Ann-Elizabeth Barnes has been a
story-teller since she was a child. Her favorite thing to do is to make
complicated subjects uncomplicated. She likes to put history in context
so that it is easier to remember. She likes to make history
interesting, simple and manageable! To this end she developed the now
10 year old “Mumbet in the Schools” program for which she has received
numerous Massachusetts Cultural Council grants and lots of help from
the teachers and children in Berkshire County schools.

Noted historian and economist Gene Dattel, author of many history articles for various publications and the book The Sun that Never Rose, will be reading from and signing his new book, Cotton and Race in the Making of America. Join The Bookloft at the Clinton African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Great Barrington on February 27th at 2:30 PM for this historical event!

Gene Dattel has a long history as an economic advisor. A graduate of both Yale and Vanderbilt Law School, he has worked for both Salomon Brothers and Morgan Stanley, as well as government and private sectors. He is an advisory scholar for the New York Historical Society, and contributes his writing and performance skills to theater.

Cotton and Race in the Making of America explores the connection between slavery and cotton, and how, even after the Civil War, free black citizens could not escape the shadow of the cotton industry. Dattel demonstrated that it was not until mechanical cotton picking machines were invented that large numbers of African Americans could finally break free from the industrial prison that had contained them for over 150 years - and how even now black Americans live in a society built on the backs of their families.