Author Talk: Boutwell: Radical Republican and Champion of Democracy

The son of a modest Massachusetts farming family, George Boutwell achieved a seven-decade career in public life, during which he fought for racial equality and economic equity, and highlighted a principled use of American power abroad. He, along with John Murray Forbes, was at the center of the efforts to abolish slavery and helped facilitate Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Alongside Andrew Carnegie, Mark Twain, and Booker T. Washington, he opposed American imperialism. He was instrumental in framing and enacting the 14th and 15th civil rights Amendments. As one of the 19th century's greatest champions of human rights, he deserves to be remembered. 

Read about BOUTWELL in the Wall Street Journal, "A Man Ahead of His Times," by Harold Holzer (2/11/2025)

Author Jeffrey Boutwell will give an illuminating talk about George Boutwell's life and work, and then be available for a book signing. Books will be available for purchase at the event.

Author Jeffrey Boutwell, who shares a common ancestor with George Boutwell, is a writer, historian, and science policy specialist whose forty-year career has spanned journalism, government, and international scientific research.