Shapiro Book Prize Lecture: “Happy Dreams of Liberty”

On the occasion of winning The Huntington's 2023 Shapiro Book Prize for Happy Dreams of Liberty: An American Family in Slavery and Freedom, R. Isabela Morales will share the story of the 19th-century Townsend family in their journey from slavery to freedom, from Alabama to the American West, and from the antebellum period to the rise of Jim Crow. The children of a wealthy white cotton planter and several enslaved African American women whom he owned, the Townsends were emancipated and inherited their father's $200,000 fortune when he died. Searching for communities where they could exercise their freedom and wealth to the fullest, members of the Townsend family homesteaded in Ohio and Kansas, fought for the Union Army in Mississippi, mined for silver in the Colorado Rockies, and, in the case of one son, even returned to Alabama to purchase part of the old plantation where he had once been enslaved. In her talk, Dr. Morales will discuss the significance of writing family history, the challenges of tracing the lives of enslaved people, and the incredible cache of unpublished letters and legal documents that forms the archival core of her book.

A reception follows the program. Light refreshments will be served.

This event will be livestreamed at 7:30 p.m. (PT) and recorded for later viewing.
Reserve livestream (Zoom link will be sent in confirmation email.)

About R. Isabela Morales
A public historian, Morales is the editor and project manager of the Princeton & Slavery Project and the digital projects manager at the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum in Skillman, New Jersey.

About the Shapiro Center
Established in 2019, thanks to the vision and generosity of L. Dennis and Susan R. Shapiro, The Shapiro Center was created to advance scholarship, knowledge, and understanding of American history and culture and to promote use of The Huntington’s premier library collections in this field, which are unique west of the Mississippi.