WHEELING, W.Va. – The Ohio Valley Civil War Roundtable and West Virginia Independence Hall (WVIH) in Wheeling will host historian Jon-Erik Gilot, who will present a lecture on the life of Dangerfield Newby, a former slave and resident of Bridgeport, Ohio. The program will take place at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 16, at WVIH. The lecture is free and open to the public. 

The presentation will highlight Gilot’s most recent work, John Brown’s Raid, a collaboration with Kevin Pawlak. The narrative follows Newby from his childhood in Virginia to his life in Ohio; his death at Harpers Ferry; his legacy in popular culture; and how the Newby family continued Dangerfield’s fight for freedom after his death.

Gilot has worked in the field of public history for more than 15 years and is active in numerous historical organizations. A contributing historian at Emerging Civil War since 2018, he has been published in books, journals and magazines.

Gilot earned a degree in history from Bethany College and Master of Library and Information Science from Kent State University. Today he serves as curator of the Captain Thomas Espy Grand Army of The Republic Post in Carnegie, Pa., and works as an archivist and records manager in Wheeling.

For more information about WVIH, contact Debbie Jones, site manager, at (304) 238-1300 or Deborah.J.Jones@wv.gov.

West Virginia Independence Hall has been on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) since 1970. It was originally built as a federal custom house in 1859, served as the home of the pro-Union state conventions of Virginia during the spring and summer of 1861 and as the capitol of loyal Virginia from June 1861 to June 1863. It also was the site of the first constitutional convention for West Virginia.

Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1988, the museum is maintained and operated by the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History, with the cooperation and assistance of the West Virginia Independence Hall Foundation. The museum is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, except major holidays. The museum is located on the corner of 16th and Market Streets in Wheeling.