Jamestown Settlement To Present 'Tenacious Women Lecture Series'

WILLIAMSBURG, Va., February 27, 2019 – Jamestown Settlement, a museum of 17th-century Virginia history and culture, will present a “Tenacious Women Lecture Series” on Thursday evenings from March through November in conjunction with the yearlong special exhibition “TENACITY: Women in Jamestown and Early Virginia.”

The eight-part lecture series features scholars, curators and authors speaking on women throughout history. The series launches on March 7 with a look at the life of Queen Victoria by Dr. Lucy Worsley, OBE, Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces and one of British television’s leading public historians and authors.

“TENACITY: Women in Jamestown and Early Virginia,” a special yearlong exhibition on display at Jamestown Settlement through January 5, 2020, explores little-known, captivating personal stories of real women in Jamestown and the early Virginia colony and their tenacious spirit and impact on a fledgling society. The special exhibition is a legacy project of the 2019 Commemoration, American Evolution, a national observance of the 400th anniversary of key historical events that occurred in Virginia in 1619 and continue to influence America today.

The free public lectures will begin at 7 p.m. in Jamestown Settlement’s Robins Foundation Theater. Seating is limited. Advance reservations are required at (757) 253-4572 or rsvp@jyf.virginia.gov. To learn more, visit https://www.historyisfun.org/tenacity/tenacious-women-lecture-series/.

JAMESTOWN SETTLEMENT’S ‘TENACIOUS WOMEN LECTURE SERIES’

March 7: “Queen Victoria: Daughter, Wife, Mother and Widow.” Dr. Lucy Worsley, OBE, Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces, presents an illustrated talk that makes you rethink what you know about Queen Victoria and takes you into the life, palaces and rich colorful age of a woman who ruled a quarter of the globe.

March 14: “Prisoners of History: Pocahontas and American Indian Women in Cultural Context.” Dr. Karenne Wood, Director of Virginia Indian Programs at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, explores two very different stories of American Indian women, Pocahontas and Mary Jemison.

April 4: “Matter Out of Place: The Writing of Ar’n’t I a Woman.” Dr. Deborah Gray White, Board of Governors Distinguished Professor of History at Rutgers University examines researching and writing “Ar’n’t I a Woman: Female Slaves in the Plantation South.”

May 2: “Colonizing Women.” Dr. Kathleen Brown, David Boies Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania, explores the relationships between the English women brought to early Jamestown, the men who desired them as wives and the Powhatan and Afro-Caribbean/African women affected by their presence.

September 12: “My Family of Women’s Rights Advocates: From Elizabeth Cady Stanton to Me.” Coline Jenkins, legislator, author, and the great-great granddaughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a leading figure of the early women’s rights movement, sheds light on the evolution of American democracy through the inclusion of women as full citizens.

June 20: “England’s Bartered Brides: Building New Lives in Early Jamestown.” British author Jennifer Potter shares untold stories of 17th-century English women who crossed the ocean to find husbands in Virginia.

October 10: “Gilt and Silk: Early 17th-Century Costume.” Dr. Rebecca Quinton, curator of European Costume and Textile at Glasgow Museums, explores Jacobean dress and the textiles used to make it, with particular reference to women’s wear and surviving items in the Burrell Collection in Glasgow, Scotland.

November 14: “We Cannot Be Tame Spectators: Tenacious Women in Early Virginia.” Dr. Cynthia Kierner, Professor of History at George Mason University, shares the stories of women who survived and thrived in an era when many women lacked property, education and civil rights.

About Jamestown Settlement
Jamestown Settlement is a year-round stage for the 2019 Commemoration, American Evolution, with new gallery exhibits debuting this summer and a series of events and programs commemorating key historical events that occurred in 1619. The museum features immersive gallery exhibits, films and interactive experiences that tell the story of America’s first permanent English colony and of the Powhatan Indian, European and African cultures in 1600s Virginia. The 17th century comes alive outdoors with hands-on historical interpretation in re-creations of a Powhatan Indian village, 1610-14 English fort, and on board one of three re-created 1607 ships that brought English colonists to Virginia in 1607.

Admission
Daytime admission to Jamestown Settlement and the “TENACITY: Women in Jamestown and Early Virginia” special exhibition, open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily year-round, is $17.50 for adults and $8.25 for ages 6-12. Children under 6 are free. The Tenacious Women Lecture Series is free to the public. Seating is limited. Advance reservations are required at (757) 253-4572 or rsvp@jyf.virginia.gov.

Jamestown Settlement is located on State Route 31 near the Colonial Parkway in James City County, just southwest of Williamsburg and adjacent to Historic Jamestowne. Parking is free. For more information, call (888) 593-4682 toll-free or (757) 253-4838, or visit http://www.historyisfun.org.