An Unfinished Project: Reflections on the Promises of Revolution at the Nation’s 250th

Join the New Bedford Whaling Museum for a special program marking the opening of Forging Independence | Building a Nation, a new semi-permanent exhibition developed in recognition of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. The exhibition explores the diverse regional experiences that shaped the struggle for independence and the new nation that emerged. The evening begins with a 30-minute screening of excerpts from Ken Burns’ The American Revolution that highlight the many individuals whose beliefs, identities, and courage propelled the nation toward independence.

After the screening, a panel discussion will examine how the Revolution reshaped people’s lives across the region, how ideas about nationhood, abolition, citizenship, and racial identity evolved in its aftermath, and how the legacies of these questions are with us in the present. Naomi Slipp will introduce the project and discuss some of the key individuals, including women and people of color, who are highlighted in the exhibition; Lee Blake will consider the roles of free people of color in the fight for Independence, the limitations of citizenship in this period, and the importance of freedom seekers and free Black citizens in the work of abolition; and Donika Kelly will reflect on the poetic potentialities embedded in this country’s beginnings and the meanings of the semi-quincentennial today.

A light reception will follow in the Jacobs Family Gallery, along with an invitation to explore the new exhibition. Copies of The Natural Order of Things will be available for purchase in the Museum Store, with a signing opportunity.

This program is offered in partnership with PBS and is free to the public.

Panelists

Naomi Slipp, Chief Curator & Director of Museum Learning, New Bedford Whaling Museum

A museum professional with diverse experience in exhibition curation, academic publishing, higher education, and strategic visioning and implementation, Naomi Slipp is passionate about interdisciplinary storytelling, leveraging collections to connect with diverse audiences in meaningful ways, and inspiring connections between past and present. Slipp holds a PhD from Boston University and MA from the University of Chicago, is trained as an art historian, and has published and presented widely on diverse topics for different audiences. As the Douglas and Cynthia Crocker Endowed Chair for Chief Curator and Director of Museum Learning at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, Slipp is a member of the senior leadership team, directs all activities related to collections, curatorial, and museum learning for the organization, and has curated several special exhibitions including the recently opened permanent installation Forging Independence | Building a Nation.

Lee Blake, educator, historian, and President of the New Bedford Historical Society

A recipient of the 2019 Governor’s Award in the Humanities from Mass Humanities, Lee Blake has spent much of her life raising awareness about black history, and the important role New Bedford played in the Underground Railroad in the 1800s. As president of the New Bedford Historical Society, oversees Abolition Row Park, a public open-air museum chronicling and celebrating Frederick Douglass and Black history, and the Nathan & Polly Johnson House in New Bedford, MA. Awarded an honorary doctoral degree from UMass Dartmouth in 2023, Blake is also a Trustee of the New Bedford Free Public Library, Vice President of Waterfront Historic League, National Trust for Historic Preservation, President of Spinner Publications, Academic scholar for Sailing to Freedom, Teacher Institute for National Endowment for the Humanities, and cohort member of 10 million names for American Ancestors.

Donika Kelly, celebrated Poet and Author of The Natural Order of Things (2025), Assistant Professor of English at the University of Iowa, and National Book Award nominee

Donika Kelly is the author of three collections of poetry, most recently The Natural Order of Things. Her work has received numerous honors including the Anisfield-Wolf book award in poetry, the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and a Kate Tufts Discovery Award. Kelly’s poetry has been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Publishing Triangle Awards, the Lambda Literary Awards, and longlisted for the National Book Award. A Cave Canem graduate fellow, National Endowment for the Arts fellow, and Pushcart Prize winner, she has also received a Lannan Residency Fellowship, and a summer workshop fellowship from the Fine Arts Work Center. She earned an MFA from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin and a PhD in English from Vanderbilt University. Her poems have been published in The New Yorker, Poetry, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. Donika is an associate professor in the English Department at the University of Iowa.

Corporate funding for THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION was provided by Bank of America. Major funding was provided by The Better Angels Society and its members Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine with the Crimson Lion Foundation; and the Blavatnik Family Foundation. Major funding was also provided by David M. Rubenstein; The Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Family Foundation; Lilly Endowment Inc.; and the following Better Angels Society members: Eric and Wendy Schmidt; Stephen A. Schwarzman; and Kenneth C. Griffin with Griffin Catalyst. Additional support for THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION was provided by: The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations; The Pew Charitable Trusts; Gilbert S. Omenn and Martha A. Darling; Park Foundation; and the following Better Angels Society members: Gilchrist and Amy Berg; Perry and Donna Golkin; The Michelson Foundation; Jacqueline B. Mars; Kissick Family Foundation; Diane and Hal Brierley; John H. N. Fisher and Jennifer Caldwell; John and Catherine Debs; The Fullerton Family Charitable Fund; Philip I. Kent; Gail Elden; Deborah and Jon Dawson; David and Susan Kreisman; The McCloskey Family Charitable Trust; Becky and Jim Morgan; Carol and Ned Spieker; Mark A. Tracy; and Paul and Shelley Whyte. THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION was made possible, in part, with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.