Margo Burns
Looking a Witch Judge in the Eye: The Portrait of William Stoughton, Chief Magistrate of the Salem Witchcraft Trials
We are often attracted to artists’ depictions of historical figures, as if being able to “look them in the eye” could help us understand them better. This presentation will focus on a portrait at Harvard of William Stoughton, who signed the death warrants to hang 19 people for witchcraft at Salem in 1692. Burns will examine everything that is presumed to be true about it, and come to some surprising conclusions.
Check previous discussions on topics involving Slavery:
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John Reeves — Soldier of Destiny: Slavery, Secession, and the Redemption of Ulysses S. Grant
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Richard Bell — Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and Their Astonishing Odyssey Home
[Broadcast on September 11, 2025; recorded earlier.]
Margo Burns, AB, MA, (margoburns.com | Wikipedia.org) is the Project Manager and Associate Editor of Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt (salemwitchhunt.org), published in 2009 by the Cambridge University Press, the definitive comprehensive record of legal documents pertaining to the Salem witchcraft trials, organized in chronological order.
