This fictional version of the lead up to war in Boston from mid 1773 to just after the battles at Lexington and Concord in 1775 was published in 1943 and won the next year’s Newberry award. Make sure to watch the websites and social media profiles for the Boston National Historical Park ( twitter, facebook, instagram) and the Boston African American National Historic Site ( twitter, facebook, instagram) for information about virtual events developed by our interviewee Theo Linger.Įsther Forbes is well known as the author of Johnny Tremain, a beloved novel for young readers.
We’re also going to meet a researcher who has uncovered new information about Prescott Townsend as part of an effort to improve how the National Park Service interprets the LGBTQ history of Boston. He served time in prison after getting caught in a Beacon Hill tryst back when homosexuality was a crime in Boston, and spent decades as an activist, helping to found the gay liberation movement, and marched at the head of the nation’s first pride parade on the first anniversary of Stonewall. He was the ultimate Boston Brahmin, coming of age at Harvard in the shadow of Teddy Roosevelt and enlisting in the Navy during World War I. Prescott Townsend was one of the most interesting figures in Boston’s LGBTQ history.
