Fall Lecture: Remember Liss – A New Founding Figure

Monday, October 9, 7:00 pm – Remember Liss: A New Founding Figure, Claire Bellerjeau

Historian and author, Claire Bellerjeau will discuss the discovery of a new founding figure named Elizabeth, or Liss. Liss was enslaved by the Townsend family of Oyster Bay, New York, whose most famous member was Robert Townsend aka “Culper, Jr.”, George Washington’s lead spy in Manhattan during the Revolutionary War. As Robert and Liss’s story unfolds, prominent figures cross their path, including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Benedict Arnold, John Graves Simcoe, John André and John Adams; as well as the Culper Spy Ring, the Boston Massacre, the Battle of Long Island, and the Benedict Arnold treason plot. Liss’s escape with the British, re-enslavement in Manhattan and later Charleston, and her complex struggle for freedom gives new insight into the country’s founding era, through the eyes of an enslaved Black woman seeking liberty in a country fighting for its own. Claire Bellerjeau is the co-author of “Espionage and Enslavement in the Revolution: The True Story of Robert Townsend and Elizabeth” and recently published a student version of Liss’s story, titled “Remember Liss”. She also co-founded a non-profit organization called Remember Liss, with the mission to educate the community about Liss’s extraordinary life and times. She formerly served as Historian and Director of Education at Raynham Hall Museum in Oyster Bay, New York. Teachers attending the presentation will receive a complementary copy of “Remember Liss”.

Light refreshments to be served. All lectures are free and open to the public!