Author Talk with Barbara Berenson of "Boston and the Civil War: Hub of the Second Revolution"

Author Barbara Berenson will present a lecture about her latest book, "Boston and the Civil War: Hub of the Second Revolution" at Falmouth Museums on the Green on Tuesday, April 28 at 7 PM. Admission is $5 members/$8 non-members; no reservations required. Sponsored by Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank, this lecture was re-scheduled due to a February snowstorm. The event will be held in the Cultural Center, located at 55 Palmer Avenue.

Most people know that the American Revolution began in Boston, but many people don't know that the nation's Civil War – the war that ended slavery – also began in Boston. Led by William Lloyd Garrison, a group of Boston abolitionists, black and white, male and female, organized an unrelenting campaign against southern slavery. They were determined to lead a Second American Revolution to force the nation to live up to the promises of liberty and equality contained in the Declaration of Independence.

When war came, Boston remained at the forefront: the first Union soldiers to die were Massachusetts men killed at the "Lexington of 1861." Boston's soldiers included descendants of Revolutionary War patriots, members of the first black regiment raised in the North, and newly-arrived Irish immigrants. Women activists opposed both slavery and their own lack of legal rights.

Ms. Berenson is the author of "Walking Tours of Civil War Boston: Hub of Abolitionism," and co-editor of "Breaking Barriers: The Unfinished Story of Women Lawyers and Judges in Massachusetts. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, she works as a Senior Attorney at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.