FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 7, 2025
MEDIA CONTACT:
Derek Sands
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BERGEN250 ANNOUNCES FALL SERIES OF FREE REVOLUTIONARY WAR LECTURES
Revolutionary War Roundtable Fall Speaker Series begins on Wednesday, September 10th in Hackensack
HACKENSACK, N.J. – County Executive James J. Tedesco III, the Board of Commissioners, and the County Parks Department, through the Division of Cultural & Historical Affairs, invite you to the last two Spring Series lectures for their Revolutionary War Roundtable, and have now announced this year’s fall series of speakers! This free lecture series is open to the public to come and learn about our nation’s history and struggle for independence and to commemorate the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Revolutionary War. The next roundtable discussions will be on Wednesday, April 9, and Wednesday, May 7, with the first lecture in the fall series taking place on Wednesday, September 10. All roundtable discussions begin at 7pm, in the 4th Floor Learning Center at One Bergen County Plaza, Hackensack, NJ.
The Bergen250 initiative will commemorate the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution through Bergen County’s diverse lens of people, places, and cultures.
Asher Lurie, April 9: “The Battle of Trenton”
Asher Lurie is the Chief of Historical Interpretation at the Old Barracks Museum in Trenton, New Jersey. His area of expertise is the study of the British and American armies in the last two quarters of the 18th century. He has also studied Hessian accounts of the Battle of Trenton and the mythology that surrounds the battles of Trenton and Princeton.
Pat Schuber, May 7: “George Rogers Clark & The Revolutionary War in the West. The Siege of Fort Vicennes, February 23-25, 1779”
Join us for the last roundtable discussion before summer, featuring Pat Schuber, esteemed professor of public administration at the School of Public and Global Affairs at FDU, former mayor of Bogota and former Bergen County Executive, as he delves into one of the most daring campaigns of the American Revolution—George Rogers Clark’s conquest of the Western frontier, focusing on the siege of Fort Vicennes in 1779. This victory not only weakened British control in the West but played a crucial role in America’s post-war expansion.
Keith Muchowski, Sept. 10: “Hackensack’s Own: The Life and Times of Lieutenant Colonel Richard Varick”
The first lecture of the fall series discusses the life of Lieutenant Colonel Richard Varick, a Hackensack-born Revolutionary War hero who served under Generals Philip Schuyler, Horatio Gates, Benedict Arnold, and George Washington before becoming the 45th mayor of New York City. Leading this lecture is Keith Muchowski, a librarian and professor at the New York City College of Technology in Brooklyn. He has volunteered at numerous National Park Service sites throughout the New York City area for more than fifteen years.
William L. (Larry) Kiddler, Oct. 8: “Defending Fort Stanwix in the Mohawk River Valley: An element of the 1777 Saratoga Campaign”
The second lecture will focus on the history of the defense of Fort Stanwix in the Mohawk River Valley during the Saratoga campaign, in which the successful defense by American revolutionary forces disrupted the British strategy to control the Hudson Valley and directly contributed to the defeat of British General John Burgoyne, a major turning point in the Revolution. This lecture will be led by William L. (Larry) Kiddler, who authored six books on the American Revolution with his latest, Defending Fort Stanwix, being published by the Cornell University Press in November 2024. Larry is active in multiple historical societies and served as a historian at the Howell Living History Farm in the Mercer County Park System in Hopewell, NJ.
John U. Rees, Nov. 12: “Many of them have Proved themselves brave …”: An Overview of African Americans in the Continental Army
The third lecture will focus on the role of African Americans, free and enslaved, in the regiments of the Continental Army. That fact is not well-known; neither is the fact that relatively large numbers served in southern regiments and that the greatest number served alongside their white comrades in integrated units from the conflict’s beginning to end. John U. Rees, our third lecturer, will discuss Black soldiers’ acceptance, service, and experiences during and after the War for American Independence, focusing on those who served in Continental regiments. Black women with the army will also be featured, as will the only known wartime letter written by a Black Revolutionary soldier to his family. John U. Rees has been writing for almost 40 years on the experiences of common soldiers and women in the armies of the American Revolution. He has authored over 200 articles, most available online at https://tinyurl.com/JohnURees-articles.
Robb Haberman, Dec. 10: “Surviving Through Community: Sergeant James Selkirk at the Morristown and Pompton Encampments”
Sergeant James Selkirk was a Scottish immigrant who came to New York in 1774 and then served more than seven years as a sergeant in the Continental Army. In the twilight years of his life Selkirk wrote an account of his wartime experiences and tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to have it published in his lifetime. Our lecturer, Robb Haberman, has received fellowships to research Selkirk’s life from the American Philosophical Society and the American Revolution Institute of the Society of the Cincinnati. Robb is a historian of early America who received his doctorate in history from the University of Connecticut. Robb has held visiting lectureships at Trinity College in Hartford and Colby College in Maine and currently serves as an adjunct assistant professor in the History Department at Fordham University. His work on politics, media, and memory in Revolutionary-era New York has appeared in several print and online publications, including the peer-reviewed journals New York History, Early American Studies, and American Periodicals.
For more information on the Bergen250 Initiative, please visit: https://bergen250.com/