The Friday & Saturday evening plenaries are FREE and open to the public, 'For 2026' conference registrants, Colonial Williamsburg passholders, staff and volunteers, and William & Mary faculty, staff and students. Seating will be available on a first come, first served basis, and the recorded programs will be available online on both William & Mary and Colonial Williamsburg supported pages following the event.
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🗣️ Dr. Shirley L. Green
📅 Friday, October 24, 2025
📍 Hennage Auditorium, Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg
🪑 Seating begins at 4:30pm | Program begins at 5pm
Dr. Green will speak about her recent book, Revolutionary Blacks: Discovering the Frank Brothers, Freeborn Men of Color, Soldiers of Independence (Westholme Publishing; 2023). The narrative follows the lives of William and Benjamin Frank, two brothers who enlisted in Second Rhode Island Regiment during the American Revolutionary War in the spring of 1777. Their military experiences quickly diverged, and Dr. Green explores their stories to provide context and substance to the Black experience during the war years, as well as underscore the significant distinction between free Blacks in military service and those who had been enslaved.
Shirley Green is Adjunct Professor of History at the University of Toledo and Bowling Green State University. She is also the Director of the Toledo Police Museum. She earned a B.A., Magna Cum Laude, from the University of Toledo, an M.A. from the University of Toledo, and a Ph.D. from Bowling Green State University. Green received the Graduate College Distinguished Dissertation Award from Bowling Green State University; and the Emerging Leader, Excellence Category from the African American Legacy Project of Northwest Ohio. Before earning her M.A. and Ph.D. and subsequently becoming a Professor of History, Green followed in her father’s footsteps and was an officer in the Toledo Police Department, rising through the ranks from Patrol Officer to Sergeant, and then Lieutenant throughout her 26 years of service. She has been Director of the Toledo Police Museum since 2016.
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🗣️ A lecture by author Dr. Robert Parkinson
📅 Saturday, October 25, 2025
📍 Glenn Close Theatre, PBK Memorial Hall, Campus of William & Mary
🪑 Seating begins at 4:30pm | Program begins at 5pm
On April 30, 1774, something very terrible happened where Yellow Creek empties into the Ohio River, which led to the deaths of eight Indigenous people. That incident spiraled into a bloody war between Virginia and Native peoples in the Ohio Country at the same time that the First Continental Congress sat in Philadelphia. This talk will explore how the Yellow Creek Massacre happened, who did it, and what it means – and how we narrate it.
Robert Parkinson is professor of history at Binghamton University, and the author of two books published with the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, including Thirteen Clocks: How Race United the Colonies and Made the Declaration of Independence. He held an NEH postdoctoral fellowship at the Omohundro Institute. His most recent book, Heart of American Darkness: Bewilderment and Horror on the Early Frontier, was published by W.W. Norton in 2024. He has another book with W.W. Norton forthcoming in 2026 called Tyrants and Rogues.
You may also like the following events from Colonial Williamsburg:
- This month, 15th October, 11:00 am, Jane Austen's World Through Family Eyes: Heirlooms, Stories & Heritage in Williamsburg
- This month, 15th October, 02:00 pm, Touring Jane Austen in Williamsburg
- This month, 16th October, 06:30 pm, Unseen Creatures: A Collector's Tales Tour in Williamsburg
Also check out other
Arts events in Williamsburg,
Literary Art events in Williamsburg,
Sports events in Williamsburg.
