“Faces of the Global Refuge: Huguenot Stories from the Early American Northeast,” a virtual presentation with Dr. Owen Stanwood

During the late-1600s hundreds of Huguenot refugees moved to New England and New York, fleeing persecution in their native France. Aside from being important players in local societies, these Huguenots also served to attach the region to a much larger world, through their connections to family members and former neighbors in the British Isles, the Netherlands, France, and other parts of the Americas. This paper will examine the Huguenots through the stories of a number of people and families who settled in the region — starting with Gabriel Bernon, a merchant who attempted to start an autonomous community in central Massachusetts, and ending with the Jay family of New York and New Rochelle. Taken together, these stories illustrate a change over several decades, as dreams of distinctive French Protestant communities faded, and the refugees became enthusiastic partisans of the British empire.

Dr. Owen Stanwood is Professor of History at Boston College. A specialist on colonial American, Atlantic, and global history, he is the author of two books and numerous articles, including most recently The Global Refuge: Huguenots in an Age of Empire (Oxford University Press, 2020). He has held a number of prestigious fellowships, including from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute for Advanced Study, and the British Library.

General Admission $8

Discounted Admission $5

This program is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

This program is funded in part by a Humanities New York SHARP Grant with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the federal American Rescue Plan Act.

Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.