THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS, ENGLISH COLONIZATION, AND THE ENLIGHTENMENT

Wille Hiatt via Zoom

What occurred in Salem, Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693 wasn’t a particularly large witching event by Western standards. However, the trials, prosecutions, and executions that led to the death of at least twenty-five people help disentangle complex class, gender, racial, and intellectual currents in Colonial American history. This lecture explores how the New England borderland region and settler colonialism helped foster the context in which charges of witchcraft were mobilized in an era before the American Enlightenment.

[A Zoom link will be sent to you prior to each session, typically on the day before your class and the morning of your class.  If you have any questions or need help getting online, feel free to call us at 516-480-5733 and we’ll get right back to you with assistance.]