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Profs & Pints: Portrait of a Pirate

Profs and Pints presents: Portrait of a Pirate, a look at the legendary life and troubling legacy of the real Captain Morgan, with John Donoghue, an associate professor of history at Loyola University Chicago who researches colonial piracy and teaches a class on the subject.

Captain Henry Morgan ranks as the worlds best-known but most misunderstood pirate.

In today's American popular culture he cuts a striking figure, portrayed as a charming rogue daring us to partake in the brand of rum that bear his name. Known in his own day as Sir Henry Morgan, he certainly downed more than his share of rum in the taverns of Port Royal, Jamaica, the pirate capital of the Caribbean.

The historical Henry Morgan, however, was much more than a legendary drinker. He was the most successful and innovative military leader in British colonial history, and he helped Britain overtake Spain as the dominant imperial power in the Caribbean. He did it by managing to transform a ragged band of buccaneers into the most potent military force in the Caribbean. Based in Jamaica and Tortuga, they laid waste to the port cities of Spanish America and stole a fortune in silver and gold--as well as thousands of slaves who had been serving under Spanish masters. Port Royal soon became one of the richest spots on earth and Jamaica was well on its way to becoming the British Empires most profitable planation colony by the time Morgan died in 1688.

The irony is that the buccaneers, men who became pirates after escaping different forms of forced labor, helped make Jamaica one of--if not the--harshest slave societies in world history. The Captains legendary image of spirited freedom thus stands in tension with a form of piracy deeply intertwined with the history of human bondage. Climb aboard for a fascinating talk about this pivotal figure. The talk marks the debut of Profs and Pints in Chicago at the Cambria Hotel-Chicago Magnificent Mile, part of the national Cambria Hotels brand. (Listed time is for doors. Talk begins 30 minutes later. Tickets are $12 and must be purchased online and in advance.)