Author Talk - The Divided North with Carol Gardner

York Public Library and the York Diversity Forum are partnering to bring you two programs this month in acknowledgement of Juneteenth. Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, is a holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved people in Texas on June 19, 1865. It's celebrated annually on June 19th and marks the end of slavery in the United States.  On Tuesday, June 10 at 6:30 PM, Carol Gardner will talk about her new book "The Divided North: Black and White Families in the Age of Slavery". On Thursday, June 17, Peter D. Brown will speak about his book "I AM JAYVYN". 

Join Carol Gardner for a discussion on her latest book, The Divided North: Black & White Families in the Age of Slavery. The book follows two northern families throughout the turbulent 19th century. The Rubys and Gordons were neighbors in Portland, Maine. Yet they were worlds apart, separated by family culture and race: the Rubys were Black and the Gordons were White. The Rubys were prominent antislavery activists and operatives on the Underground Railroad. The Gordons were well-to-do ship masters: among them, the most notorious American slave captain of the century, Nathaniel Gordon III. Their lives—as activists, traders, slave captains, prospectors, and politicians—took them to New York, California, Texas, Louisiana, Africa, Haiti, and Brazil. Their experiences offer a surprising portrait of life in the “Free North” when slavery enthralled the nation.

About the presenter: Carol Gardner has more than 30 years’ experience as a writer, journalist and communicator. She is the author of two narrative histories: The Involuntary American: A Scottish Prisoner’s Journey to the New World (2019), and The Divided North: Black & White Families in the Age of Slavery (2025). She earned a Ph.D. in English from The Johns Hopkins University, taught at Johns Hopkins, Wake Forest, and Florida State Universities, and has published both fiction and nonfiction pieces in a wide variety of books and periodicals, including The World of Baseball series, BluePlanet Quarterly, Northwest Review, Baltimore Review, Potomac Review, The Women’s Review of Books, Portland Press Herald, and The Washington Post. She is a past winner of a Maryland Individual Artists Award. She lives in Alna, Maine. 

The York Diversity Forum's mission is to be a visible, peaceful, active voice and resource that promotes understanding, acceptance and respect for people of all races, cultures, religions, sexual orientations, ages and abilities.

They realize their mission by presenting programs that foster understanding of diverse populations and also respond to specific instances of prejudice and discrimination in York.

Since its inception in 2003, the Diversity Forum has presented a variety of programs including;  A Jewish  Literature Series, The Immigrant Experience in Maine,  Native American History and Culture in Maine,  Autism Awareness,  Bridging Cultures: Muslim Journeys and Annual Martin Luther King Day programs.