The exhibit seeks to showcase how meals reveal how power is exchanged between and among different peoples, races, genders, and classes.
A traveling, freestanding photo-panel exhibit entitled “Fire and Freedom: Food and Enslavement in Early America,” will be on display in the Burlington County Library in Westampton through Jan. 27.
The exhibit uses George Washington’s Mount Vernon as a specific example of how meals reveal how power is exchanged between and among different peoples, races, genders, and classes.
The exhibit was developed and produced by the Exhibition Program at the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.
According to library officials, “Fire and Freedom” looks at the Chesapeake region during the early colonial era where European settlers relied upon indentured servants, Native Americans, and African slave labor for life-saving knowledge of farming and food acquisition, and to gain economic prosperity. Those promoting the exhibit argue that through the labor of slaves, like those at Washington’s Mount Vernon, individuals can learn how meals transcend taste and sustenance.
The six-banner “Fire and Freedom” exhibit began touring the United States in November 2016.
For more information, contact nlmtravelingexhibits@nlm.nih.gov or visit www.nlm.nih.gov/fireandfreedom
The Burlington County Library is located at 5 Pioneer Boulevard off Woodlane Road in Westampton.
For more information, call (609) 267–9660 or visit www.bcls.lib.nj.us
