“Not Your Founding Father“
How a Nonbinary Minister Became America’s Most Radical Revolutionary” with author Nina Sankovitch
February 5 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
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.
This event is in partnership with:
