Speaker Series to Celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the Bunker Hill Monument

Please join the Friends of the Charlestown Public Library in partnership with the Bunker Hill Monument Association, for a series of free lectures celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Bunker Hill Monument.

All talks will be held at the Charlestown Brand Library, 179 Main Street, and are open to all.

Patriarch and Prophet - Keith Stokes

Thursday, April 3, 6:00 p.m.

Keith Stokes joins us to lecture on his ancestor, Judah Touro. Touro was the hazzan, a role similar to a cantor, at the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island beginning in 1762. Among his many charitable works was contributing to the construction of the Bunker Hill Monument. Stokes, a descendant of Touro and his Black house woman, will describe how a Jew from Newport and New Orleans joined with a Protestant Brahmin to ensure the monument was built.

Lafayette In America - Alan Hoffman

Thursday, April 10, 6:00 p.m.

Join Alan Hoffman, president of the Massachusetts Lafayette Society and author of the book Lafayette in America in 1824 and 1825, on a deep dive into the connection between Gilbert du Motier (better known as the Marquis de Lafayette) and the Bunker Hill Monument. Learn about the Marquis’ activities from 1777 to 1781 during the Revolutionary War, and how he laid the cornerstone of the Bunker Hill Monument during his grand tour of the United States to mark the 50th anniversary of the Revolution.

Lady Editor - Melanie Kirkpatrick

Thursday, May 15, 6:00 p.m.

Melanie Kirkpatrick, biographer and author of Lady Editor: Sarah Josepha Hale and the Making of the Modern American Woman, joins us to discuss Mrs. Hale’s patriotic and feminist work. Learn about the famous bake sale that raised funds for the completion of the Bunker Hill Monument!

The Bunker Hill Monument