“Not Your Founding Father: How a Nonbinary Minister Became America’s Most Radical Revolutionary”

Thursday, February 5th, 2026 The Colony House | Washington Square, Newport Admission $15 – $20 per person | *Student Discounts now available $10 with valid student ID 6pm to 7pm; doors open at 5pm for a complimentary reception Early in the morning of October 9, 1776—in the small farming community of Cumberland, Rhode Island, in a house surrounded by cherry trees—twenty-three-year-old Jemima Wilkinson died, and the Public Universal Friend was born. Old Cherry Wilkinson’s children had already gained a reputation for scandal. Two of his boys had been dismissed from the local Quaker meeting for joining the colonial militia, and one of the girls was expelled for having a baby out of wedlock. Now, here was another Wilkinson child, riding about the countryside, claiming to be a genderless messenger of God. Yet something about the Public Universal Friend set war-ravaged New England ablaze. The young minister seemed to embody the possibilities offered by the new nation, especially the right to total self-determination. To authorities, however, the minister was “the devil in petticoats,” a threat to the men who sought to keep America’s power for themselves. A thrilling celebration of a forgotten early American renegade, Not Your Founding Father reconsiders just how radical the American experiment could have been.

Event Links

Tickets: https://go.evvnt.com/3418372-0

Website: https://go.evvnt.com/3418372-2

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