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Mary Moore Easter is a Cave Canem Fellow and Emerita professor of dance at Carleton College. Originally from Virginia, Moore Easter re-rooted at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota where she founded and directed the school’s dance program. Moore Easter holds a B.A from Sarah Lawrence and an M.A from Goddard. Inspired by the testimony of Eliza Winston, Moore Easter published “Free Papers,” a dramatic poem sequence that conveys aspects of what is known and what is imagined about Winston’s escape from slavery in 1860. As a Pushcart Prize nominated poet, her work has been widely published in journals such as; Poetry, Seattle Review, Water Stone, Calyx, Pluck!, Persimmon Tree and Fjord’s Review, and in the anthology Blues Vision: African American Writing from Minnesota (2015). She has been honored with a Bush Artist Fellowship, multiple McKnight awards, The Loft Creative Non-Fiction Award and the Ragdale and Anderson Center residencies. Currently as an emerita professor, she continues in her performance and written works, overlapping movement, words and song sourced from African American culture.
Dr. Christopher Lehman is a professor with the Department of Social Sciences at St. Cloud State University where he has taught since 2002 and has been a visiting fellow at Harvard University’s Hutchins Institute for African and African American Research. From 2003 to 2019, Lehman served as a faculty advisor for the Council of African American students and was instrumental in the naming of Ruby Cora Webster Hall on campus recognizing the University’s first African American graduate. Dr. Lehman himself was the first African American to graduate from Oklahoma State University’s Honors College. He then went on to earn his master’s in history and doctorate in African American studies from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. In his book, “It Took Courage,” Lehman uncovers the story of Eliza Winston’s first forty-two years and her long struggle to obtain her freedom. He is also the author of “Slavery’s Reach: Southern Slaveholders in the North Star State.” Examining the mutually beneficial relationships between southern slaveholders and Minnesotans, the book led to a number of honors including the Minnesota Book Award in the Nonfiction category in 2020 as well as the inaugural Ruth Riester Award for Historical contributions to the Humanities by the Minnesota Humanities Center. Through stories like Eliza Winston’s as well as others throughout history, Lehman hopes to start conversations and inspire others to explore their own foundations and backgrounds.
Jason Benjamin is a community scholar who specializes in local history. A longtime Minneapolis Public School teacher, he has taught 1st, 2nd and 5th grades. Currently he teaches 4th grade at the Burroughs Community School in southwest Minneapolis and is part of a team of educators who are working to create a K-5 social studies curriculum. After receiving his undergrad in psychology, Benjamin fell in love with education while teaching English in Oaxaca, Mexico. With a newfound passion, he would go on to receive his post baccalaureate degree in curriculum instruction and teaching license from the University of Minnesota. Benjamin would again find a new path of inspiration after reading William D. Green’s article entitled The Summer Christmas Came to Minnesota, The Case of Eliza Winston, A Slave. Captivated by Eliza Winston’s story and the fact that her story took place in what is now Minneapolis, Benjamin has since been working to find ways to integrate Winston’s story into classroom curriculum. One way he’s been able to do so is through his annual Tour of Minneapolis field trip, stopping along several locations connected to Eliza’s story. Through his tour, Benjamin hopes educators, students and chaperones learn from place and connect history to their own community.
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Jacoby, William H. Servants’ Entrance to Winslow House, St. Anthony. 1860. Photograph. Minnesota Historical Society, Accession number YR1927.6083. https://www.mnhs.org/collection-record?uuid=1135843c-aa69-452d-b422-4864639730bd
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————. “The Summer Christmas Came to Minnesota: The Case of Eliza Winston, a Slave.” Minnesota Journal of Law and Inequality 8, no. 1 (Winter 1990): 151-177. https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1387&context=lawineq
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Lehman, Christopher P. “From the White House to the Lake House: Tracing Eliza Winston’s Enslavement and Her Pursuit of Freedom in Minnesota.” Minnesota History 68, no. 4 (Winter 2023/2024): 300-307.
————. It Took Courage: Eliza Winston’s Quest for Freedom. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2024.
————. Slavery’s Reach: Southern Slaveholders in the North Star State. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2019.