The Thomas Paine Memorial Association (TPMA) is celebrating both the January 29th birthdate of Thomas Paine and Black History Month, with an international event focusing on Paine’s significant anti-slavery efforts.
Black leaders, educators, celebrities, politicians, social influencers, and others duly impressed with Paine’s foresight and warnings of civil unrest to end slavery are scheduled to appear throughout this greatly anticipated event. Guests include comedian Ty Barnett; Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY 16th District); Representative Shontel M. Brown (D-OH 11th District); poet Victor Harris; feminist/activist Dom Jones; emergency room doctor and nontheist activist Wil Jeudy; educator, author and historian Richard Newman; Professor Anthony Pinn; Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD 8th District); Smithsonian Museum Curator Teddy Reeves; and Representative Victoria Spartz (R-IN 5th District).
Also participating will be event planners TPMA president Margaret Downey, and History Professor Christopher Cameron, author of Black Freethinkers: A History of African American Secularism.
Musical performances by Cynthia McDonald, a member of Godless Gospel and leader of Chicago’s Black Nonbelievers chapter, will open and close the event.
Actor Ian Ruskin will recite a letter that Paine wrote to Thomas Jefferson, using the persona of an enslaved person to emphasize the urgency of ending slavery. The 1808 letter, written seven months before Paine’s death, reveals a frustrated and angry abolitionist who had lost patience with those who participated in the debauchery.
Thomas Paine expert Gary Berton, president of the Thomas Paine National Historical Association, will be in attendance to introduce the letter from “A Slave” and answer questions.
“Thomas Paine stood for equality like no other Founder and more people should know his legacy,” says Downey.
“This event will prove that Thomas Paine’s legacy should be honored and recognized. A Thomas Paine monument in Washington, DC is needed to complete the story of the founding of the United States of America,” she continued.
A post-event social hour will allow audience participation. Sculptor Zenos Frudakis will Zoom from his studio in Glenside, Pennsylvania to show his clay statue of Thomas Paine.
Sponsors of the Monday, January 29, 2024 event are the Thomas Paine Memorial Association, Black Nonbelievers, the Secular Coalition for America, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the Center for Inquiry, and the Freethought Society.
Pre-registration for the event, which begins at 4:00 PM PST/7:00 PM EST, is required. You can find the pre-registration link here.
TPMA has been charged by Congress with creating a long-overdue monument to this “forgotten founder” in Washington, DC. A bill sponsored by Representatives Raskin and Spartz was signed into law by President Biden in December 2022. TPMA is in the midst of finding a location and getting final approval for the monument. Raskin and Spartz now serve as the nonprofit group’s honorary co-chairs. Learn more about TPMA here.
For more information, please contact the event coordinators:
Margaret Downey, President
Thomas Paine Memorial Association (A nonprofit educational 501(c)3 organization)
Phone: 610-357-9432
Email: [email protected]
Christopher Cameron, Board Member
Thomas Paine Memorial Association
Phone: 919-360-1848
Email: [email protected]
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