Virtual Author Talk: Skip Finley’s Whaling Captains of Color, America’s First Meritocracy

Join us online to learn about the fascinating history of whaling captains of color with author, Skip Finley. In his fascinating book Whaling Captains of Color, America’s First Meritocracy, Mr. Finley covers such topics as Ambergris and rats, while intertwining the individual stories of more than fifty whaling masters of color, their adventures, successes, and struggles.
Whaling was the first American industry to exhibit any diversity, and the proportion of men of color was high. A man got to be captain not because he was white or well connected, but because he knew how to kill a whale. Along the way he would also learn navigation and how to read and write. Whaling presented a tantalizing alternative to mainland life. Working with archival records at whaling museums, in libraries, from private archives and studying hundreds of books and thesis, Finley portrays the exciting era of whaling.
$10 BCHS members, $15 non-members
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This event is sponsored by Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts Cultural Council.