Mass Humanities Application To Host a Douglass Reading in 2025

04:13PM / Thursday, December 19, 2024Print Story | Email Story

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. — Mass Humanities, the Commonwealth's leading funder of humanities programs, has opened the application window for its signature Reading Frederick Douglass Together (RFDT) program.

Applications open on Dec. 16, and the first submission deadline is Jan. 3, 2025.

Going into its 16th year, the RFDT program provides $2,000 grants to local communities to host a public reading of the orator's noted speech, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" Applications are awarded on a rolling basis throughout the year.

In 2024, a total of 60 communities throughout the commonwealth hosted readings. Nonprofits, cultural centers, libraries, towns, and more are free to design a public program that appeals to local residents. In the past, grantees have featured spoken word artists, discussion groups, musical performances, and other activities intended to help communities reflect deeply on the continuing relevance of Douglass' words.

"For 2025, Mass Humanities is encouraging communities to use the speech as the foundation to host deeper, continuous conversations about freedom, acknowledgment, repair, and reconciliation," said Latoya Bosworth, Ph.D., program officer at Mass Humanities. "We are asking ourselves and our host sites: what do we do after we read Frederick Douglass Together? How do we keep the momentum?"

Communities interested in hosting a reading can visit the Reading Frederick Douglass Together grant page on the Mass Humanities website for guidelines and an application, in both English and Spanish. A complete schedule of submission deadlines is available as well.

The most celebrated orator of his day, Douglass' denunciations of slavery and forceful examination of the Constitution challenge us to think about the stories we tell and do not tell, the ideas that they teach or do not teach, and the gaps between our actions and aspirations. To quote Douglass: "We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the future."

For more information, contact Wes DeShano, communications manager, at wdeshano@masshumanities.org or by phone at 413-203-6241, ext. 102.

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Berkshire Law Enforcement Officials Endorse Fenton for Governor's Council

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:11PM / Wednesday, August 12, 2026

Michael Fenton, a Springfield attorney, ran unsuccessfully for the 8th District seat on the council in 2022. He is challenging incumbent Tara Jacobs of North Adams.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Ranking Berkshire law enforcement officials are putting their weight behind a Springfield lawyer for Governor's Council in the September Democratic primary over North Adams incumbent Tara Jacobs.

The Berkshires' District Attorney Timothy Shugrue, Sheriff Thomas Bowler, and Clerk of Courts Lisa Denault-Viale touted Michael Fenton's experience and approach over Jacobs, who bested him and two other attorneys in 2022.

The Governor's Council advises the governor on matters relating to judicial appointments, treasury warrants, pardons and commutations, and a number of other important executive functions. The winner of the primary will represent the 8th District, which covers more than 100 cities and towns including North Adams, Adams, Pittsfield, Greenfield, Northampton and Springfield, as there is no other candidate on the November ballot.

Gathering at Park Square on Wednesday morning, Shugrue said Jacobs does not provide the representation Berkshire County requires and deserves.

"This individual [Fenton] would conduct himself with a great deal of common sense and confidence," Bowler said.

Fenton said there are only 11 Superior Court judges assigned to Western Mass, and that too few of them are from Berkshire County.

"At one time there were four vacancies. That left only seven judges serving the entire 102 cities and towns of the western region. Seven judges serving 102 cities and towns at a time when you add Hampden County, Springfield, Holyoke, and Chicopee in, at a time when there were over 100 pending murder cases. Seven judges for 100 pending murder cases," he said.

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