LANCASTER, PA – LancasterHistory, in partnership with Pocket Books Shop, will welcome New York Times bestselling author Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz to the Thaddeus Stevens & Lydia Hamilton Smith Center for History and Democracy on Thursday, September 10, for the launch of her new book, The Ballad of the Fugitive William Parker.

The event comes just one day before the 175th anniversary of the Christiana Resistance, one of the most consequential acts of resistance to slavery in American history and an episode with deep roots in Lancaster County.

On September 11, 1851, William Parker and a community of freedom seekers and their allies resisted an attempt to capture four men under the federal Fugitive Slave Law at Parker’s home near Christiana, Lancaster County. When the group fought back against Maryland enslaver Edward Gorsuch and his posse, Gorsuch was killed, and several others were wounded. The confrontation and the subsequent federal prosecution of dozens of those involved on charges of treason became a national flashpoint in the decade before the Civil War.

Aptowicz’s The Ballad of the Fugitive William Parker tells the story of the people and communities behind the Resistance and the network of Black and white abolitionists who made their stand possible. The book has already earned significant advance recognition, including selection as a Fall 2026 Editors’ Choice by The New York Times Book Review and inclusion on The Washington Post’s list of “12 Books to Read This Fall.”

For the September 10 program, Aptowicz will be joined in conversation by Darlene Colon, president of the Christiana Historical Society and a direct descendant of Ezekiel Thompson, who participated in the Resistance. Also joining the evening will be Frank Parker IV, the great-great-grandson of William and Eliza Parker, who will travel to Lancaster from the Buxton Settlement in Ontario, Canada—the community where the Parkers ultimately settled after escaping the United States in the aftermath of the Resistance.

“LancasterHistory is honored to welcome Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz, Darlene Colon, and Frank Parker IV for the launch of The Ballad of the Fugitive William Parker,” said Mabel Rosenheck, Director of Education and Exhibitions. "The Christiana Resistance stands as one of the most consequential acts of defiance against slavery in American history, and its story deserves to be told with the depth and care that this book provides. We hope this event inspires our community to reckon more fully with this pivotal chapter of our shared past — and with the ordinary citizens who risked everything to resist injustice."

The Christiana Resistance is also a centerpiece of the new Stevens & Smith Center, which opened in downtown Lancaster in May. Three of the Center’s galleries substantially explore the Resistance and its aftermath, including the Black community that organized against slave catchers in southern Lancaster County; Congressman and attorney Thaddeus Stevens’ role in the legal defense of those charged with treason; and an immersive media experience that brings visitors into the events and difficult choices surrounding September 11, 1851.

The story also has a notable connection to the news magazine, The Atlantic. Founded in 1857 as The Atlantic Monthly, it began as a literary and cultural magazine that published leading writers' commentary on education, the abolition of slavery, and other major political issues of that time. Fifteen years after the Resistance, William Parker—by then living in Canada—published his own two-part account of slavery, escape, resistance, and the events at Christiana in the magazine’s February and March 1866 issues, ensuring that one of the most important surviving accounts of the event came from the man at its center.

Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz is the author of three nonfiction books and eight collections of poetry. Her forthcoming nonfiction book, The Ballad of the Fugitive William Parker, is the extraordinary forgotten story of an event known in its day as “the first shots of the Civil War”—a stylish, propulsive, intimately human tale of farmers, socialites, and self-emancipated folks with little in common who came together to stand against injustice and won.

Her previous nonfiction book, Dr Mutter’s Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine, spent three months on the New York Times bestseller list, and screenplays based on the book have won awards at the Philadelphia Film Festival, Hamptons International Film Festival, the Sloan Foundation, and the Black List. Her first nonfiction book, Words In Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of New York City, was named a “Poetry Book of the Year” by The Washington Post.

Registration & Additional Information
This event will take place at the Stevens & Smith Center at 13 E Vine St in Lancaster. To RSVP for this event, click “Get Tickets” below. Pocket Books Shop will be selling copies of the books at the event. To reserve a copy of the book in advance, please click here. Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz and Colon will both be available to personalize and sign books after the discussion.

About LancasterHistory
LancasterHistory is a community-based, not-for-profit organization established to educate the public on the history of Lancaster County and its place in the history of Pennsylvania and the United States, to advance the missions of regional historical organizations, and to promote the acquisition, preservation, and interpretation of resources representing the history of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania within the broader context of state and national history, including the homes of 15th US President James Buchanan and Congressman Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith.