Join us this June as we celebrate the legendary Marquis de Lafayette and his role in the American Revolution. At just 19, this fearless Frenchman became an American general and helped secure victory at Yorktown—earning him the title “Hero of Yorktown.” A champion of liberty in Europe and the United States, Lafayette was adored by Americans, and when he visited Pittsfield in 1825, thousands lined the streets to cheer him on and show their gratitude. In this lecture series, you will relive the excitement of Lafayette’s heroic journey and his fight against tyranny as a leader of both the American and French Revolutions. Learn about this aristocrat turned democrat who led on the battlefield and also co-drafted with Thomas Jefferson the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. Closely acquainted with the first six US presidents, and beloved by rich and poor alike, this course will examine Lafayette's continuing legacy in France and the United States.

• June 4: Aliki Braine -  Representations of Lafayette in Art
• June 11: Polly Lyman - Influence of Lafayette on US-French Friendship
• June 18: Alan Hoffman and Trudy Hamner  - Lafayette and Human Rights
• June 24: Phil Deely -  Women’s Education and Rights

Aliki Braine - Born in Paris, Aliki Braine studied at The Ruskin School of Fine Art, Oxford, The Slade School of Fine Art, London and The Courtauld Institute where she was awarded a distinction for her masters in 17th century painting. Aliki has been a regular lecturer at the National Gallery in London since 2001 and also teaches at the Wallace Collection, Courtauld Gallery, Christie’s London and The Arts Society. She is an author and Associate Lecturer in the Department of Fine Art Photography for the University of the Arts London. Aliki is also a practicing artist who regularly exhibits her photographic work internationally.

Polly Lyman - Polly Freeman Lyman, a lifelong Francophile, has a BA and an MA in French literature. She has spent her career working and volunteering for French-American cultural and educational organizations and fostering cultural exchange and understanding between the two countries. She has been on the Board of the Massachusetts Lafayette Society since the early 1990s and has also been on the boards of Alliances Francaises in four cities and nationally. When living in Paris, her blog about Americans and French experiences, Polly-Vous Francais? won accolades from the French government and from Newsweek magazine.

Alan Hoffman - Alan R. Hoffman obtained his BA in history from Yale where he studied under Professor Edmund Morgan, before earning a JD at Harvard Law School. He practiced law in Boston for 50 years. An avid reader of early American history, he “discovered” Lafayette in 2002 and spent two years – 2003 to 2005 – translating Auguste Levasseur’s Lafayette in America in 1824 and 1825, the first-hand account of Lafayette’s Farewell Tour of America written by his private secretary. This translation was published in 2006 and is in its third printing. Hoffman has lectured widely on Lafayette – over 200 talks – and has spoken in each of the 24 states (and Washington DC) which Lafayette visited during the Farewell Tour, as well as La Grange, Texas and Lafayette and Denver, Colorado.

In addition to translating Levasseur’s journal, Hoffman has the following publications: “Lafayette: Symbol of Franco-American Friendship” in Symbol in Two Worlds, Diane Windham Shaw, editor (The American Friends of Lafayette, Easton PA, 2013). “The Marquis de Lafayette in Savannah” (sidebar) in Slavery and Freedom in Savannah (University of Georgia Press, Athens, GA, 2014), Leslie M. Harris and Daina Ramey Berry, editors. Various articles in The Gazette of the American Friends of Lafayette including “Lafayette’s Anti-Slavery Lament, Revisited” to be published in May 2022, issue 96.

Trudy Hamner will join him for the discussion. Trusy is co-editor with Carol Gilligan and Nona Lyons of "Making Connections," author of "Wrought With Steadfast Will," a history of Emma Willard School.

Phil Deely grew up in Stockbridge Massachusetts, attended Hobart College for a BA in European History, and, then, continued westward to the University of Chicago for his MA. Phil did additional post degree coursework at Harvard University, the University of Maine, and Exeter College-Oxford University.

Phil began teaching at Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington, MA and lectured at New York University. Subsequently he served as Principal of the Emma Willard School in Troy, NY, Associate Head and Academic Dean at the Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, CT and History department chair at the Foxcroft School in Middleburg, VA. In 1980 he was selected as a Klingenstein Fellow. From 1989-1998, Phil served as an associate director for the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA.

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