CHESTERTOWN, MD—The annual Guy F. Goodfellow Memorial Lecture in history will focus on the 1676 revolt that brash Virginia newcomer Nathaniel Bacon organized against Governor William Berkeley and its long-term effects on the Colonies. James Rice, a professor of history at SUNY Plattsburgh, will speak Tuesday, April 2, at 6:00 p.m. in Litrenta Lecture Hall, Toll Science Center, on the Washington College campus, 300 Washington Avenue. A book signing will follow the event, which is free and open to the public.

Rice’s talk is based on his book Tales from a Revolution: Bacon’s Rebellion and the Transformation of Early America (Oxford University Press, 2012). The uprising became a power struggle between two stubborn leaders—the young, wealthy troublemaker Bacon, whose father had sent him from England to gain some maturity, and Governor Berkeley, a 70-year-old soldier, scholar and playwright.

Publisher’s Weekly wrote that Rice’s book “energetically brings to life a large cast of characters—Indian leaders, British officials, colonial governors, wealthy planters …” And Library Journal added that “Rice convincingly argues that this critical event in American history helped to create the Old South and the convergence of slavery, westward expansion, and issues of race.”

The Guy F. Goodfellow Memorial Lecture Series was established in 1989 to honor the memory of a history professor who taught at Washington College for three decades. Each year the series brings a distinguished historian to campus to lecture and spend time with students in emulation of Dr. Goodfellow’s vibrant teaching style.