Ken Burns' American Revolution Screening: Faith & Freedom in the Revolution

In April, the acclaimed director Ken Burns joined us at the Old North Church to discuss his forthcoming documentary THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. On December 9, we are excited to host a special screening of excerpts from the film at Old North!
This special 25-minute screening reel, comprised of clips selected especially for this event, will explore the intersection of faith and freedom in the Revolution. Following the screening, a panel of experts will discuss the role of religion in the Revolution and the legacy of religious liberty in the United States. Panelists include The Rev'd Matthew P. Cadwell, vicar of the Old North Church; Dr. Lori Rogers-Stokes, an independent scholar and public historian; and Dr. Jonathan M. Chu, Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
This event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP by selecting the "Get tickets" button. If you so wish, you can choose to make an entirely optional donation to Old North Illuminated, the nonprofit that preserves and interprets Old North Church Historic Site. Your generosity supports our education programs.

The Rev'd Matthew P. Cadwell is vicar of the Old North Church. He is a graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College; Episcopal Divinity School; and the Toronto School of Theology in the University of Toronto, with a PhD in Anglican history, theology, and ecclesiology. He began ordained ministry over 20 years ago, serving in the Anglican Church of Canada while a doctoral fellow and lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity at Trinity College, University of Toronto. He has published on significant Anglican theologians and institutional histories, and teaches history and polity in Bexley-Seabury Seminary's baptismal living stream.

Lori Rogers-Stokes, Ph.D., is an independent scholar and public historian studying the intersections of religion and politics in colonizing-era Woodland New England through the lens of Congregational church records. Lori is a contributing editor to New England’s Hidden Histories, a digital history project sponsored by the Congregational Library & Archives in Boston, that makes these church records available to the general public. Her most recent book, Gathered into a Church: Indigenous-English Congregationalism in Woodland New England, was published this Fall by the University of Massachusetts Press.

Jonathan M. Chu is Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Boston and the Bernard Bailyn Emeritus Editor of The New England Quarterly. Born and raised in Honolulu, he attended the Punahou School and received his BA in American Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, MA in History from the University of Hawaii, and PhD from the University of Washington. In 1983-84, he attended the Yale Law School and received the degree of Master in the Study of Law. The author of Neighbors, Friends, and Madmen: The Puritan Adjustment to Quakerism in Seventeenth- Century Massachusetts and Stumbling Toward the Constitution: The Legal and Economic Impact of the American Revolution, he has also written on subjects ranging from the Chinese Exclusion Act to the assessment of teaching history.

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION is available to stream for free on PBS.org and on the PBS App.

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.

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