WHAT: The Protestant Portuguese Community in Antebellum Illinois By Prof. David J. Langum
WHEN: 5:00 PM, Thursday, March 4, 2010
WHERE: Prince Henry Society Reading Room, Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives – Claire T. Carney Library
ADMISSION: FREE!

This presentation by Prof. David J. Langum highlights a unique and little-known chapter of Portuguese-American history and, to a large degree, is the result of a search for his Portuguese roots.

Based on his book “António de Mattos and the Protestant Portuguese Community in Antebellum Illinois,” the lecture tells the story of the origins, movement, settlement and the community formed by this unusual group of Protestant exiles from Madeira who first arrived in central Illinois in 1849 by way of Trinidad.

David J. Langum, an attorney, legal historian, and professor of law, is a descendant of António de Mattos, who was the first permanent pastor of the Madeiran community in Illinois. He is the author of several books and numerous articles, and the recipient of the J.S. Holliday Award, the James Willard Hurst Prize, and the Caroline Bancroft Prize. Currently, he is a research professor at the Cumberland School of Law, Samford University.

For directions to the UMass Dartmouth campus, see https://www.umassd.edu/vtour/.

Parking Available in Parking Lot 13.

For more information:
Contact: Gloria de Sá, Faculty Director Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives
Phone: 508-910-6888
Email: mdesa@umassd.edu