Mutiny on the Rising Sun, with Dr. Jared Ross Hardesty

HUB History - Our Favorite Stories from Boston History

This week, Jake interviews Dr. Jared Ross Hardesty, author of the new book Mutiny on the Rising Sun: a tragic tale of smuggling, slavery, and chocolate, which uncovers the dark web of interconnections between Old North Church, chocolate, and chattel slavery. Dr. Hardesty will explain why a reputable sea captain would become a smuggler, trafficking in illegal chocolate and enslaved Africans; the risks an 18th century Bostonian would take to provide himself with a competence, or enough money to allow his family to live independently; and what it meant in that era to be of but not from Boston. At the heart of the story is a brutal murder and mutiny on the high seas, illustrating the fundamental brutality of life in the 18th century, but the role of the church (specifically Old North Church) in the social and economic lives of Bostonians is also central to understanding the life and death of Captain Newark Jackson.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/234/

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Mutiny on the Rising Sun

Dr. Jared Ross Hardesty is an associate professor of history at Western Washington University, way out in Bellingham, Washington. He studies the global entanglements of colonial Boston, and is the author of two previous books exploring slavery in Boston. His Unfreedom: Slavery and Dependence in Eighteenth-Century Boston was our Boston Book Club pick back in episode 160, and featured a talk about Black Lives, Native Lands, White Worlds: A History of Slavery in New England as our upcoming historical event in episode 162. His latest work, Mutiny on the Rising Sun: a tragic tale of smuggling, slavery, and chocolate, was published last week.

Upcoming Events

November 3, 2021 at 7pm via Old North Church: “In this talk, historian Jared Ross Hardesty recounts the origins, events, and eventual fate of the Rising Sun’s final smuggling voyage in vivid detail. That story, as told in his new book, Mutiny on the Rising Sun: A Tragic Tale of Slavery, Smuggling, and Chocolate, was part of a multi-year, international research project that revealed the mutiny’s connection to the Old North Church. More significantly, the project uncovered an unknown part of Old North’s history: a connection to slavery and the slave trade.”

November 10, 2021 at 6pm via Boston Public Library: “Author Jared Ross Hardesty puts Old North Church under the spotlight as parishioners of the church who were formerly well-regarded and even helped pay for the famous steeple turn out to be involved in the slave trade. Captain Newark Jackson is the central figure, who was formerly honored with a chocolate shop in the North End named after him (2013–2019), but his name has now been removed from the store due to these revelations. At once startling and captivating, Mutiny on the Rising Sun shows how illegal trade created demand for exotic products like chocolate, and how slavery and smuggling were integral to the development of American capitalism.”