Read the Revolution Speaker Series with Julie Winch, Featuring Atwood "Kip" Forten Jacobs

Author and historian Dr. Julie Winch will join the Museum for a special presentation reflecting on her groundbreaking biography, A Gentleman of Color: The Life of James Forten, more than 20 years after it was first published. Joining Winch onstage will be Atwood “Kip” Forten Jacobs, the great-great-great-great grandson of James Forten, who will reflect on how discovering her book — and his own family heritage — changed his life. Winch and Jacobs also will discuss their involvement in the Museum’s special exhibition Black Founders: The Forten Family of Philadelphia, including the Forten family Bible, an heirloom that has been in the family for six generations, that Jacobs loaned to the Museum for display in the exhibit.

A Gentleman of Color, written by Winch in 2002, was the first full-length biography of James Forten, a hero of African American history and one of the most remarkable men in 19th-century America. Born into a free Black family in 1766, Forten served as a privateer during the Revolutionary War as a teenager. By 1810, he had earned the distinction of being the leading sailmaker in Philadelphia. Forten emerged as a leader in Philadelphia's Black community and was active in a wide range of reform activities. He and his large family played integral roles in abolition and women’s suffrage movements.

The hybrid program will be held in the Museum’s Liberty Hall and will be broadcast live via Zoom. Following the presentation, Museum President & CEO Dr. R. Scott Stephenson will join the conversation to facilitate a live Q&A with the onsite and online audiences. 

Doors open at 6 p.m. for onsite guests to see a featured artifact from the Museum collection, enjoy refreshments at a cash bar, and have opportunities to purchase signed copies of the featured book. Revolution Society members are invited to join an exclusive reception with the speakers at 5:30 p.m.