UMass Dartmouth to celebrate student project uncovering local Revolutionary War history

November 17 event recognizes student scholars whose research highlights the overlooked contributions of Black and Indigenous patriots

UMass Dartmouth will celebrate three student scholars whose original research on overlooked Revolutionary War patriots will be published in a new book at a special event on Tuesday, November 17, 2026, at 11:30 a.m. in the Frederick Douglass Unity House.

Sponsored by the Office of Civil Rights and the Division of Student Affairs, the event will recognize Cassy L. De Pina and Janie Vicente Correia of New Bedford and Nora Mohamed of Newton for their contributions to The Voices of Our Forgotten Patriots, a collection highlighting the lives and legacies of African, Afro-Indigenous, Indigenous, and Wampanoag patriots.

The students participated in the project through a partnership between UMass Dartmouth and the New England Region of the Society of the First African Families of English America (SOFAFEA), supported by a $20,000 Mass Humanities grant.

Using historical records, including military rolls, pension files, and family documents, each student researched a Revolutionary-era patriot whose contributions have often been overlooked:

• Cassy De Pina researched James Easton, who helped construct fortifications at Dorchester Heights and later established a vocational school.
• Janie Vicente Correia explored the life of Lemuel Haynes, a Revolutionary War minuteman who became the first African American ordained as a minister in a mainstream Protestant church.
• Nora Mohamed examined Toby Talbot of Bridgewater, an enslaved African who successfully pursued his freedom through the courts and fought for his daughter's freedom.

Their research will appear in The Voices of Our Forgotten Patriots, edited by Lena Reddick, a UMass Dartmouth Student Affairs staff member, historian, author, and SOFAFEA New England District Vice President. The book includes an introduction by David A. Gomes, UMass Dartmouth's Chief Civil Rights Officer, who helped select the student scholars.

"These patriots served a nation that did not yet see them as free," said Reddick. "Our students went into the archives and brought their names back into the light. This book gives the patriots a voice and makes our students the scholars who carry it forward."

Reddick led the project, with guidance from Ric Murphy, President Emeritus, SOFAFEA, and the UMass Dartmouth Office of Civil Rights.

"As we reflect upon America 250, the Massachusetts Revolutionary story cannot be fully understood without recognizing the men, women and children who risked their lives for the ideals of liberty and equality while often being denied those same rights," said Murphy. "Their service reminds us that the struggle to align America's ideals with its actions began at the nation's founding and continues to resonate today."

The book will make its national debut at SOFAFEA's conference at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture on April 23–24, 2027, featuring student presentations and book signings.

The project is funded by Mass Humanities, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities that receives support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.