How did ordinary home gardeners in nineteenth-century America perceive their gardens as tied to the fates of the nation and the world? This talk shows how caring for plants brought nineteenth-century home gardeners face-to-face with the greatest political issues of the day: colonialism, conquest, slavery, and democracy. It focuses on a selection of gardeners who were also famous writers—including Emily Dickinson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Frederick Douglass—and shows how their homes and gardens were important places for broader environmental thinking. This talk draws on research from Mary Kuhn’s new book, The Garden Politic: Global Plants and Botanical Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century America. Registration will be available April 1. Click here for details.

DATE AND TIME
Thursday, June 13, 2024
2:00 p.m. Eastern

LOCATION
Live on Zoom

REGISTRATION
$5 for members of the Garden Conservancy
$15 for General Admission