Lectures For Lifelong Learners!

Don’t let the Founding Fathers’ powdered wigs and polished manners fool you: they were political brawlers at a time when the brand new nation’s survival was at stake. Alexander Hamilton was one of the fiercest political combatants of his day. In this session, Dr. David Head explains how early American politicians such as Hamilton battled each other in public, in private, and, sometimes, on the dueling ground.

Curiously named after the meat-curing process they used to survive, the seventeenth-century buccaneers rose from humble origins as runaways and drifters to become the nightmare of Spanish colonists across the Caribbean. This talk will explore their beginnings as hunters-turned-pirates, their role as instruments of English imperial ambition, and their raids on Spanish towns—including the infamous Sack of Panama in 1671, led by Henry Morgan.

Blackbeard, Calico Jack, Bartholomew Roberts, Anne Bonny, and Mary Read loom large in pirate legend. But how much of what we think we know is fact? How much is fiction? Can we separate the two? This talk dives into the real lives of these eighteenth-century pirates, exploring who they were, how we know about them, and why their stories still capture our imaginations centuries later.

Which British colony was more important: Jamaica or Virginia? Barbados or New York? Antigua or Pennsylvania? In the eighteenth century, London officials would likely have chosen their Caribbean colonies over the North American ones. This presentation tells the often-overlooked story of how the American Revolution was fought far from American shores by the navies of the United States, France, Spain, the Netherlands, and Britain.

What, exactly, was a pirate? Did pirates really have pet parrots? Did they bury their treasure? Just how much did pirates drink? And did they really talk like pirates–you know, saying “arrgh!” all the time? In this fun and educational presentation, Dr. David Head answers these and other Frequently Arrgh-st Questions about the real history of everyone’s favorite maritime rogues.

As 13 of Britain’s colonies declared independence in 1776, the empire’s Florida colonies, East Florida and West Florida, remained loyal to King George. Eyed by American and Spanish forces alike, the Floridas were soon engulfed in war. This lecture tells the often-overlooked story of Florida in the War of Independence.

This presentation tells the story of the Newburgh Conspiracy, a mysterious event at the end of the American Revolution in which Continental Army officers, disgruntled by a lack of pay and pensions, may have collaborated with nationalist-minded politicians such as Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and Robert Morris to pressure Congress and the states to approve new taxes and strengthen the central government. Fearing what his men might do with their passions inflamed, Washington averted the crisis with an impassioned speech to a group of angry officers and an unexpected gesture: donning new glasses. Why the army and civilians were so suspicious of each other throughout the American Revolution will be explored, as will whether there was really a coup in motion to supplant Washington’s command. How Washington, a man of action, diffused the crisis with his words and his reputation for virtue and why demobilizing an army is so difficult even when a war ends in victory will also be examined.