“Partially enjoying the fruits of liberty”
– John T. Hilton, an early leader in Boston’s black community, describing the status of African- Americans in Massachusetts
”During the nineteenth century Boston became a center of the abolitionist movement although there remained widespread resistance to the prospect of equal rights for black citizens.
Why Massachusetts?
While life was difficult for African-Americans here it was often worse in other states, north and south. In Massachusetts a literate and literary elite included a small but dedicated group of abolitionists. Many citizens saw the inconsistency between celebrating the ideals of the Revolution and the continuing institution of slavery. For African-Americans, meeting and organizing, writing and publishing, were officially tolerated in Massachusetts, though not without risk.
The African . . .
The African Meeting House on Beacon Hill was a place of worship as well as community organizing. In 1832 William Lloyd Garrison and eleven others signed the American Anti-Slavery constitution in its vestry. Today it is the site of the Museum of African-American History.
- Massachusetts Historical Commission
The African Meeting House
The African Meeting House on Beacon Hill was a place of worship as well as community organizing. In 1832 William Lloyd Garrison and eleven others signed the American Anti-Slavery constitution in its vestry. Today it is the site of the Museum of African-American History.
- Massachusetts Historical Commission
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
Abolition in Black and White
History textbooks have long recognized some abolitionists: William Lloyd Garrison, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and usually Frederick Douglass. Douglass often appears to be an anomaly, a forceful and eloquent black man holding his own on the national stage. Today, historians look further. Abolition was not simply a gift from benevolent activists outside the black community. It was also the work of capable organizers within, people who made history without making the history books. Some of their names appear on these petitions.
“Bobalition” Posters
Most in Massachusetts were not abolitionists. On July 14, black Bostonians celebrated the 1808 abolition of the Atlantic slave trade with marches and banquets. On at least one occasion the festivities were violently attacked. “Bobalition” posters mocked the event and the African-American dialect. (“Abolition” is pronounced “Bobalition” in this racist satire.)
- Library of Congress
- Massachusetts Archives