Jean Brett Lecture: Huzzah! Drinking with John Hancock during the American Revolution (Members and Guests Only)

Jean Brett Lecture Series, Brooke Barbier author of King Hancock presents “Huzzah! Drinking with John Hancock during the Revolution” followed by cocktails including a feature drink and hearty appetizers, book sale & signing.

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When John Hancock needed to win people over, he didn’t talk about resisting taxes or policy improvements; instead, he served alcohol. He offered rum punch and wine at his home and paid for lavish meals in taverns to bring people together. Guests included lower class men, French officers, and Black women and men. By throwing parties, Hancock gained social and political power among myriad groups, which repeatedly paid dividends. He was consistently elected to political office and when he smuggled madeira into Boston, one of the most memorable and violent mobs during colonial resistance defended him. In this forty-minute talk, Brooke Barbier will present lively and evocative stories and images that illuminate the critical and complex role that alcohol and taverns played in the social, political, and cultural fabric of the American Revolution and how John Hancock used them to his advantage.

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Brooke Barbier is a public historian with a doctorate in American history from Boston College. She is the author of two books: King Hancock: The Radical Influence of a Moderate Founding Father, which the Wall Street Journal called “engaging” and “highly readable,” and Boston in the American Revolution: A Town versus an Empire. She founded and operates Ye Olde Tavern Tours, a popular guided outing along Boston’s renowned Freedom Trail.