Sunday, July 21, 2013

An extraordinary woman Anne Hutchinson

Today I went to a dedication ceremony at an idyllic woodland site  --Founder's Brook in Postsmouth, RI.
Marking the 375th annniversary of the founding of a new colonial community by a woman. And what a woman-- a mid wife and a free thinker, Anne insisted that women could read and preach the   Bible.  Anne had already been found guilty of  heresy and  expelled from the Bay Colony.   Folnowing the heroic example of Roger Williams, Anne and her husband and many children moved to Portsmouth.
The event today marked the first  prominent   memorial to her and was  the occasion for the dedication of three  stone benches inscribed with her words. The event was organized  by the Friends of Anne Hutchinson and  wuth the help  and support of  Foss Media, an organization devoted to helping to bring history alive and dedicated  to the idea of  freedom. Using the slogan of the Woonsocket Patriot, an abolitionist newspaper published from Woonsocket with the  rousing slogan--We Chronicle Freedom.