Behind the Lines:
Unsung Women of the American Revolution
Sponsored by the Debra Najecki Endowment
In the grand narratives of the American Revolution, the spotlight has long focused on founding fathers, generals, and politicians. But history is finally making room for the women who shaped the Revolution behind the lines.
Behind the Lines: Unsung Women of the American Revolution is a three-day conference, running March 13–15, 2026, that will explore the indispensable yet often overlooked contributions of women during America’s fight for independence. The conference will be held at the historic, 300 year old Portsmouth Friends Church, in Portsmouth, Rhode Island and well also be available virtually. Friday evening will have light appetizers and lunch will be provided on both Saturday and Sunday.
Sponsored by the Debra Najecki Endowment, the event will shine a light on women whose courage, intelligence, and resilience influenced the Revolution in ways both subtle and profound. From writers and political thinkers to spies, nurses, and family stewards, these women upheld homes and communities while pushing the boundaries of what it meant to be a patriot. Their voices—sometimes whispered through letters or boldly expressed in publications—helped shape the ideals and outcomes of the revolutionary era.
REGISTRATION OPENS ON JULY 4th!
The Debra Najecki Endowment
The Debra Najecki Endowment was established by her husband in loving memory of Debra Najecki, who was a dedicated member of the Brigade of the American Revolution from 1987 until her passing in 2017. Debra was deeply passionate about the Brigade and its mission, and she championed the role of women in the organization. An avid lover of horses and a fierce advocate for historical preservation, Debra's spirit of determination and passion for the American Revolution continues through this endowment. The funds will be used to honor her legacy and further her work in promoting the ideals she held so dear.
Presenters
This presentation list may be subject to change -
Dr. Carol Berkin -
Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence
Historian Carol Berkin’s talk highlights the critical role women of all backgrounds played during the American Revolution, including boycotting, spying, and even fighting. She explores how both white and African American women, along with Native Americans, interpreted the revolutionary ideals and chose their loyalties, with many African Americans and Native Americans siding with the British for their promises of liberty. Berkin also examines the harsh experiences of Loyalist women and the struggles they faced during the war. Using primary sources like diaries, letters, and songs, Berkin’s presentation underscores the often-overlooked impact of women on America's fight for independence.
Carol Berkin is an American historian and author specializing in women's role in American colonial history. Carol Berkin is Presidential Professor of History, Emerita, of Baruch College & The Graduate Center, CUNY. She received her B.A. from Barnard College and her PhD from Columbia University where her dissertation received the Bancroft Award in 1972. She has worked as a historical commentator for several television documentaries, most notably PBS's Dolley Madison: America’s First Lady.
Nancy Rubin Stuart
The Muse of the Revolution: The Secret Pen of Mercy Otis Warren and the Founding of a Nation
Nancy Rubin Stuart is an award-winning author and journalist specializing in biographies of notable women throughout history. Her works, such as American Empress: The Life and Times of Marjorie Merriweather Post and Defiant Brides, have been praised for their depth and engaging narratives. Stuart's dedication to uncovering the stories of influential women has established her as a leading voice in historical biography.
In this presentation, Stuart will discuss her book, The Muse of the Revolution: The Secret Pen of Mercy Otis Warren and the Founding of a Nation. She will illuminate the life of Mercy Otis Warren, America's first female playwright and historian of the American Revolution. Stuart will explore how Warren's writings, including satirical plays and the influential History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution, challenged the societal norms of the 18th century and provided a unique perspective on the nation's founding. Through this discussion, Stuart aims to shed light on Warren's significant yet often overlooked contributions to American history.
Dr. Shelia Skemp
First Lady of Letters: Judith Sargent Murray and the Struggle for Women’s Rights
Sheila L. Skemp's First Lady of Letters delves into the life of Judith Sargent Murray, a pioneering advocate for women's rights in early America. The biography explores Murray's influential writings, including her 1790 essay "On the Equality of the Sexes," which challenged prevailing notions of female inferiority and championed women's education and independence. Skemp situates Murray's work within the broader context of the American Revolution, highlighting her role in shaping the discourse on gender equality during a transformative period in the nation's history.
Sheila Skemp is an award-winning historian and professor, currently the Clare Leslie Marquette Professor of American History at the University of Mississippi. With a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa and decades of teaching experience, she is widely recognized for her scholarship on Revolutionary America, gender history, and the complexities of political allegiance during the 18th century.
Eve LaPlante
American Jezebel: The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson,
the Woman Who Defied the Puritans
Anne Hutchinson, a forty-six- year-old midwife who was pregnant with her sixteenth child, stood before forty male judges of the Massachusetts General Court, charged with heresy and sedition. In a time when women could not vote, hold public office, or teach outside the home, the charismatic Hutchinson wielded remarkable political power. Her unconventional ideas had attracted a following of prominent citizens eager for social reform. Hutchinson defended herself brilliantly, but the judges, faced with a perceived threat to public order, banished her for behaving in a manner "not comely for her] sex."
Opening in a colonial courtroom, American Jezebel moves back in time to Hutchinson's childhood in Elizabethan England, exploring intimate details of her marriage and family life. The book narrates her dramatic expulsion from Massachusetts, after which her judges, still threatened by her challenges, promptly built Harvard College to enforce religious and social orthodoxies -- making her midwife to the nation's first college. In exile, she settled Rhode Island (which later merged with Roger Williams's Providence Plantation), becoming the only woman ever to co-found an American colony. American Jezebel illuminates the origins of our modern concepts of religious freedom, equal rights, and free speech, and showcases an extraordinary woman whose achievements are astonishing by the standards of any era.
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David Waldstreicher -
The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet's Journey Through American Slavery and Independence
David Waldstreicher is a distinguished historian specializing in early American history, with a focus on political culture, slavery, and antislavery movements. He serves as a Distinguished Professor of History at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His extensive body of work includes Slavery's Constitution: From Revolution to Ratification and Runaway America: Benjamin Franklin, Slavery, and the American Revolution.
Waldstreicher will discuss his acclaimed biography, The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet's Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence, which offers a comprehensive account of Phillis Wheatley's life and work. Wheatley, the first African American woman to publish a book of poetry, navigated the complexities of slavery and freedom during the Revolutionary era. Waldstreicher will explore how Wheatley's poetry and personal experiences reflect the broader political and social dynamics of the time, shedding light on her role as both a literary figure and a political actor.
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JThe Howe Dynasty: The Untold Story of a Military Family and the Women Behind Britain’s Wars for America
Aware that the distinguished Howe family, both the men and the women, have been known solely for the military exploits of the brothers, Flavell investigated the letters of Caroline Howe, which have been blatantly overlooked since the nineteenth century. Using revelatory documents and this correspondence, The Howe Dynasty provides a groundbreaking reinterpretation of one of England’s most famous military families across four wars. Contemporaries considered the Howes impenetrable and intensely private―or, as Horace Walpole called them, “brave and silent.”
Flavell traces their roots to modest beginnings at Langar Hall in rural Nottinghamshire and highlights the Georgian phenomenon of the politically involved aristocratic woman. When eldest sister Caroline came of age during the reign of King George III, she too used her intimacy with the royal inner circle to promote her brothers, moving smoothly between a straitlaced court and an increasingly scandalous London high life.
A Black Loyalist's Liberty: How Lucy Banbury Took Back Her Freedom
Lucy Banbury, once enslaved to Arthur Middleton's family, made her bid for freedom in 1777. Her story, waiting in the archives of Middleton Place Foundation, was teased out of scant primary sources that traced her freedom-seeking journey from Charleston to Sierra Leone. Part of the group of formerly-enslaved people of African descent who became known as Black Loyalists, Lucy and her husband made their perilous escapes separately, through the fog of the American War for Independence. Ultimately, they were reunited in New York and started a new life in Nova Scotia. This story has been brought to life by former Middleton Place Foundation employee Carin Bloom, and is published in the UVA Press' volume Women Waging War in the American Revolution, edited by Holly Mayer. Lucy's story is singular, but it also represents the stories of countless women, names lost to time, who attempted the same ultimate form of resistance.
Carin is a historian with over two decades of experience researching and interpreting American history - particularly stories of Colonial American and the American Revolution. She has an Honors BA from the University of Delaware, and MAs from both the University of Pennsylvania, and from Temple University. Carin is dedicated to bringing underrepresented narratives to light, and to moving the field of history forward as an inclusive discipline that shares diverse and necessary perspectives.