Slavery in Wayland, Sudbury Will Be Focus Of Library Talk

WAYLAND, MA — When Wayland was settled as part of the Sudbury plantation in the late 1630s, slavery was still legal and widely used in Massachusetts — and would be until it was outlawed in 1783.

To shed light on the use of slavery in the early days of the region, the Wayland Historical Society and the Wayland Free Public Library are teaming up for a lecture on the topic.

"Slavery in New England is often overlooked because the general thought is that it was confined to the South. Jane Sciacca will dispel this myth by examining slavery and enslaved people in colonial Sudbury (modern day Wayland and Sudbury). She will shed light on incidents and attitudes that typify slave experiences here as well as in the rest of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the wider area of New England. This is an opportunity to broaden our knowledge of an important subject that has had too little attention for too long," the event description reads.

The talk will happen March 21 at 2:30 p.m. You can register for the event on the Wayland Public Library website.