As the nation marks 250 years of freedom with the commemoration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, Rodman Public Library will present the seven-part “Forgotten Founders” lecture series, starting on Saturday, January 31 at 1 p.m. when Sidney Zufall will present “Rebels and Revolutionaries: America’s First Patriots” inside the Rodman Auditorium.

Registration is required to attend all lectures in the series.

Zufall, who has become a popular speaker around the Alliance area, will deliver six of the presentations, starting with the one in January.

“Many of the subjects of the series you may have heard of, but you probably don’t really know much about their story,” said Zufall, who has presented programs about Winston Churchill and Theodore Roosevelt in the past at Rodman Library. “Some of the others have almost been totally lost to history.”

The January 26 program is an overview of the events that sparked the Revolutionary War.

“This is not a story of compromise,” said Zufall. “It is a story of defiance. Ordinary men stood against an empire and declared that liberty comes not from kings, but from God. From James Otis and Patrick Henry to George Washington, this is the birth of American — bold, faith filled, and forged in sacrifice. It is their story. And it is ours.”