SEPTEMBER EVENTS for “THE ANNE HUTCHINSON YEAR”
New events list every month through December
SATURDAY, Sept 10-“WHERE DID ANNE HUTCHINSON LIVE?”-Talk by Dr. Eugene Boesch
St. Paul’s Landmark Church, Mt. Vernon. See exhibition information below. 914-667-4116 Free
September 10 & 11: Stop by the HRRP and “Anne Hutchinson Year” table at the City Island Fair
IN SORROW AND IN MEMORIAL - 10th Anniversary of 9/11
SUNDAY, September 18-2nd Annual HRRP Cleanup of the Thomas Pell Wildlife Sanctuary - 9am
Commemorating the river’s namesake by celebrating “The Anne Hutchinson Year” - Hutchinson River Restoration Project:
718-885-9653, Hutchinsonriverrestorationproject.org
"mailto:HutchinsonRRP@aol.com, facebook.com/HutchinsonRRP"Hutchinson RRP@aol.com, facebook.com/HutchinsonRRP Free
SUNDAY, September 25-Visit “The Anne Hutchinson Year” table at the Native American Festival, Pelham Bay Park
Noon - 4pm --- Enter at Bruckner Boulevard. & Wilkinson Avenue --- 718-430-1890 for festival details; 718-885-3423 for table info Free
Learn more about her and the local Natives - Get free maps, a biography, other information; volunteer to help the “AHY”
TUESDAY, September 27-“WRITING YOUR LEGACY”-a PSS Senior Program, Pat Grondahl, Director
12:30-2:30pm at Grace Church, 104 City Island Avenue---On-going Writing Workshop led by City Island Writer Gail Hitt
No experience needed! All levels welcome! Call 718-885-0727 to confirm. FREE
NOT TO BE MISSED:
The Bronx County Historical Society celebrates “The Anne Hutchinson Year” with this exhibition, until October 2: “ANNE HUTCHINSON: A WOMAN AHEAD OF HER TIME”
Valentine-Varian House Museum, 3266 Bainbridge Avenue, Bronx Saturdays 10am - 4pm -- Sundays 1pm - 5pm Call Angel Hernandez for entry fee: 718-881-8900, x107
" A Clash of Cultures” continues at St. Paul’s Historic Landmark Church, Mt. Vernon
Call David Osborn, Director - 914-667-4116 Free
CHECK EVENTS LIST EVERY MONTH THROUGH DECEMBER – Please call if you need a list!
ALL INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE, SO PLEASE BE SURE TO CHECK BEFOREHAND
PEOPLE HAVE SUGGESTED THESE WONDERFUL IDEAS;
Blessing of the Hutchinson River, Music Festival in Hawkins Street Park, Anne Hutchinson Garden on City Island, a flower named in her honor, Anne Hutchinson Doll, Barbecue in Hawkins Street Park, more walking tours of where she may have lived, more activities in Lower Westchester, local houses of worship join for discussion of religious freedom, tolerance--and there’s more! Can’t be done without VOLUNTEERS! YOUR HELP CAN MAKE THEM HAPPEN! Please CALL Toby Z. Liederman, Coordinator: 718-885-3423
The Anne Hutchinson Year is supported by contributions from you, by donations from:
Assembly Member Michael Benedetto and Bistro SK, by support-in-kind from Senator Joseph Crowley; The Bronx County Historical Society; Pelham Bay Park, with continuing
back-up from Marianne Anderson, Administrator; Bronx Arts Ensemble, Bill Scribner, Director; Huntington Free Library & on-going help from The Bronx History Forum through Bill Twomey, President, Tom Vasti, Vice President and Tom Casey, Treasurer.
Additional acknowledgment to Hutchinson River Restoration Project’s work toward making the Hutchinson River clean & accessible, and educating the public about our beautiful river and its namesake. “The Anne Hutchinson Year” is gratified to be contributing toward these goals.
Anne Marbury Hutchinson (1591-1643)
Anne was born in Elizabethan England in 1591. From her mother, Bridget Dryden, she learned the skills she would use all her life, midwifery, healing and herbalism. From her minister father, Francis Marbury, she received a solid theological education as well as an understanding of the meaning of religious dissent.
In 1612, she and William Hutchinson, a prosperous merchant from their Alford hometown, married. Throughout their marriage, he continually supported her religious and community activities. She managed their household, including the care of over a dozen children, and continued her interest in theology and the church. She studied scripture and followed the sermons of John Cotton, a Protestant minister and early Puritan leader. In 1634, the family followed him to the Puritan colony in Boston, Massachusetts.
While in Boston, in addition to household duties, Anne cared for her sick and child- bearing neighbors. When she was criticized for not attending a local women’s teaching group, she started one in her own home, which grew in size to as many as 80 members, including men. Concerns about fair business practices and religious intolerance were sometimes discussed. In time, her neighbor, Governor John Winthrop, called her meetings “a thing not tolerable nor comely in the sight of God, nor fitting for your sex.”
Her views and her popularity were too much of a threat to the colony’s leaders. Charged as a heretic, 46 years old and pregnant, she was brought before the Massachusetts General Court in November, 1637. For 2 days she defended herself skillfully, matching biblical references and wits with Winthrop and other accusers. Winthrop cited her in his diary as “an American Jezebel who had gone a-whoring from God.” She might have been freed for lack of just cause and conflicting testimony, except that she insisted she was the recipient of direct revelations from God. The civil court ordered her banished, after which she was excommunicated by the church at a second trial.
Hutchinson, along with some of her family and followers, traveled to the religiously tolerant colony of Rhode Island, where they founded a settlement in present-day Portsmouth. After William’s death in 1642, Anne and a party of 16 moved again, settling in the northeast section of present-day Bronx/Lower Westchester, where the parkway and river that bear her name are located.
Her death was the result of Dutch land takeovers and conflicting land claims under Governor Kieft and the local Siwanoys. Because of his brutality to the Natives, she--who practiced racial tolerance and refused to keep firearms--and all but one daughter were murdered in a retaliatory attack in August, 1643.
She has made her place in herstory, standing for religious freedom, religious tolerance, separation of religion and government, the right to dissent, freedom of assembly, free speech, women’s rights, and for the courage to stand up for her beliefs, even when personal consequences were drastic. Indeed, many consider her America’s first feminist.
Adapted from papers by Sharon Mills, Eleanor Rae and Toby Z. Liederman
To become involved, and for more information about “The Anne Hutchinson Year”, contact
Toby Z. Liederman, Coordinator, 718-885-3423 tobyznl@yahoo.com