**PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A VIRTUAL PROGRAM THAT WILL TAKE PLACE VIA ZOOM. Registrants will receive a link to access the Zoom Webinar via email.** 

Retired Massachusetts Superior Court Justice Dennis Curran is excited to begin his monthly "Great American Unsung Heroes Who Changed The Course Of History" series.

Learn about one of America's forgotten founding fathers -- Dr. Benjamin Rush. Rush was a renowned writer, reformer and medical pioneer who touched virtually every page in the story of our nation’s founding. He was Franklin’s protegee, the editor of Common Sense, and Washington’s Surgeon General. Rush was a fierce progressive advocate – a vocal opponent of slavery and prejudice by race, religion, or gender, and a champion of public education – even as his convictions threatened his name and career, time and again. He was a confidant, and often the physician, of Washington, Adams and Jefferson. As a doctor, Rush became known as the “Father of American Medicine” and the “Father of Psychiatry”, whose brilliant, humane insights and institutional reforms revolutionized the understanding of mental illness in ways that still reverberate.

Dennis J. Curran served as a Massachusetts judge for 16 years, including in the Superior Court from 2006 to 2018. Prior to his time on the bench, Curran worked as an Assistant District Attorney and First Assistant Legal Counsel to the Governor, in addition to work in private practice. A graduate of Boston Latin School, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Virginia School of Law, Curran has taught law at Tufts University, Roger Williams University School of Law, and Brown University. 

Register directly on Zoom HERE. Sponsored by the Friends of the Library.

RECORDING NOTE: This program will be recorded. All registrants will receive the recording via email within 48 hours of the program.

ACCESSIBILITY NOTE: The Tewksbury Public Library does not discriminate on the basis of disability and is committed to providing a reasonable modification to participate in our events, services or documentation. Contact Director Diane Giarrusso at 978-640-4490 or dgiarrusso@tewksbury-ma.gov at least two weeks before an event to arrange for modification, or at any time you need accessible documents.