Join us for a series of winter lectures at Fruitlands Museum. We’ll be gathering in the Museum cafe to enjoy some hot beverages and lively discussions about the history of the site and its collections.

In honor of Black History Month, local historian Jane Sciacca will be giving a talk on the history of enslavement in the colonial north. Published in 2025, Jane’s book, Enslavement in the Puritan Village, examines the previously untold stories of the men, women, and children who were enslaved in colonial towns such as Sudbury, Concord, and Framingham. Using church records, bills of sale, and military documents, Jane’s research sheds new light on the pervasive impact of slavery across colonial Massachusetts. This program invites community members to learn and engage with the often-overlooked history of enslavement in Massachusetts.

About the speaker: Jane Sciacca is a retired national park ranger with a degree in history education from Simmons University. Her work as an interpreter for the National Park Service in Concord, Boston and Cambridge led to her interest in researching enslavement and abolition in her own community of Wayland, where she has lived with her family for more than fifty years. As chair of the Wayland Historical Commission, she oversaw the 1981 publication of the first history of Wayland as a separate town, The Puritan Village Evolves. More information about Jane and her book can be found here.

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