MHA Conference session highlight: "Celebrating Community Revolution/ Domestic Work with Dignity in Massachusetts: The Road to a Bill of Rights"

[Mass History Alliance]

Join Melanie Botvin of The New Bedford Whaling Museum and Mia Michael of Wayne State University for two presentations in one session!

Botvin's presentation titled "Celebrating Community Revolution" will celebrate revolution for our immigrant communities, and discusses the Cape Verdean Contemporary Project. New Bedford and the SouthCoast area of New England are home to one of the largest and longest-standing Cape Verdean communities in the world and in 2025, celebrated the 50th anniversary of Cape Verdean independence from Portugal. To mark this milestone of revolution, the New Bedford Whaling Museum launched the Cape Verdean Contemporary Project.

Michael will discuss domestic work in our state during her presentation "Domestic Work with Dignity in Massachusetts: The Road to a Bill of Rights." Domestic workers perform essential, wide-ranging labor upon which America runs. Yet a fine line exists for this predominantly female workforce between being essential and expendable. In a time of spiraling economic inequality and political gridlock, join us to learn from their struggles and rethink how we characterize labor history.

Join this session at the 2026 MHA conference, "Revolutionizing History: Small but Mighty."

Conference registration is open now. Register today!

https://masshistoryalliance.org/2026-mass-history-alliance-registration/