American Studies Seminar

Fall 2021

A Second and More Glorious Revolution:
Protest and Radical Thought in the Nineteenth-Century United States

with Holly Jackson, University of Massachusetts, Boston

Socialist communes; antislavery insurrections; strikes and riots; Free Love dance parties: the nineteenth-century United States bubbled over with schemes to overthrow the existing social order at a time that is too often misremembered as conservative or “Victorian.” Students in this seminar will explore the literature and culture of American radicalism, discovering the forgotten historical precursors of contemporary social movements like Black Lives Matter, Occupy Wall Street, and Me Too. We will read revolutionary manifestoes, convention proceedings, black nationalist novels, and newspapers that advocated the abolition of slavery, capitalism, marriage, and the private home. Though they tirelessly critiqued the nation’s injustices, these activists regarded themselves as the true heirs of the American founders, striving to make good on the utopian promise of the American Revolution and rout out the entrenched social inequalities that had marred the project from its beginnings. Focusing primarily on Massachusetts – and often on Worcester specifically – we will approach the history of social justice activism, and its international implications, from our local context. Pairing assigned readings with primary materials drawn from the unsurpassed collections of the American Antiquarian Society, this seminar provides students with a unique opportunity for guided, hands-on archival research into the texts, movements, and ideas that shaped the culture of radical dissent and the course of American history.


Holly Jackson is an associate professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Her work has appeared in scholarly journals including PMLA, American Literature, ESQ: A Journal of the American Renaissance, and the New England Quarterly, as well as in popular venues including the Boston Globe, New York Times, and Washington Post. She is the author of two books, most recently American Radicals: How Nineteenth-Century Protest Shaped the Nation (2019), which was hailed among the year’s best works of nonfiction by Smithsonian Magazine and The Advocate.

WHEN AND WHERE
The seminar will meet Thursday afternoons from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM at the American Antiquarian Society, 185 Salisbury Street, Worcester, Massachusetts.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE
The seminar welcomes applications from students in all disciplines whose academic record, personal statement, and letter of recommendation indicate a commitment to academic excellence, the ability to work independently, and a sincere interest in the seminar’s subject matter.

Previous Seminars

Each year the Society sponsors the American Studies Seminar for a select group of undergraduates from the five four-year colleges and universities in Worcester: Assumption University, Clark University, the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and Worcester State University. Over the course of the semester, students will produce a significant research paper on a topic related to the seminar theme and based on research using primary sources such as lithographs, city views, photographs, maps, portraits, newspapers, and letters held in the AAS collections.