At 2 p.m.. Saturday April 4, the Jefferson County Historical Society will hold its Spring Meeting in the community meeting room in the basement of the Old Charles Town Library, at the corner of Samuel & Washington Streets in Charles Town (please use Samuel Street entrance).

Following a brief business meeting, Ms. Hannah Geffert, Research Assistant Professor in Political Science at Shepherd University, will present the keynote lecture, "The Raid on Harpers Ferry and the 19th Century Civil Rights Movement."  During the past 23 years at Shepherd, Ms. Geffert has published several articles and taught and developed many courses on American history and politics, with special emphasis on the status of the working poor in America, the African-American Community in Jefferson County, and America’s history of race, gender and politics from 1492 to the present.  Between 1991 and 2000 she was the director of the Shepherd Oral History Project.  Her publications include “Regional Black Involvement in John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry,” in Prophets of Protest.  (ed. McCarthy and Stauffer, 2006), and  “The Local Black Community’s Response to the John Brown Raid” in Terrible Swift Sword: The Legend of John Brown. (ed. Finkelman and Russo, 2005).  Ms. Geffert=E 2s presentation is in keeping with a four-state effort to commemorate the 2009 sesquicentennial anniversary of abolitionist John Brown’s raid on the arsenal at Harpers Ferry.

The public is encouraged to attend and there is no charge for admission.  However, for those wishing to reap the benefits of membership (two program meetings, one summer picnic, quarterly newsletters, and a copy of the annual magazine), membership forms will be available for those wishing to pay the nominal annual fee of $15 or purchase a lifetime membership, and these may also be purchased on the Society’s web site at http://jeffersonhistoricalwv.org.