01/20/2026
In Honor of Black History Month - "Unhired Hands: 18th Century Northern Slavery"
Storytelling & poetry program by award-winning poet and actor, David Mills.
Sunday, February 1, 2026 at 3pm
Weston Public Library
FREE EVENT, registration recommended: https://westonpl.librarycalendar.com/event/david-mills-presentation-4910
The Declaration of Independence was signed 250 years ago, declaring, “all men are created equal”, however that was not the case for many of the men and women of African and Indigenous descent in 1776.
"Unhired Hands", presented by David Mills, will explore the history of slavery in the North during the 18th century, interweaving poems with remarkable stories.
Mills will introduce the audience to Millie Tunnell, who served George Washington and would become the oldest living woman in Queens, Onesimus, an African man enslaved by Puritan preacher Cotton Mather who would go on to help save the Massachusetts colony from smallpox, and Victoria Earle Matthews, an enslaved woman who became a celebrated writer and leader in the settlement movement.
"Unhired Hands" will remind us that this nation is built on the labor of remarkable people.
This event kicks-off the “America 250: The Revolutionary Spirit Lecture Series”, co-sponsored by the Friends of the Weston Public Library, The Weston History & Culture Center and the League of Women Voters of Weston, with financial support by the Weston America 250 Committee.
.ct Cultural Alliance FC
