| June events worth consideration. The Wilson exhibit at the MFA is fabulous!
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SLAVE LEGACY HISTORY COALITION
A JOURNEY IN AMERICAN HISTORY
"A PLATFORM CONNECTING THE SPOKES ON THE WHEEL OF HISTORY OF ENSLAVED PEOPLE AND DESCENDANTS"
The Slave Legacy History Coalition is a consortium of individuals, organizations, and institutions engaged in the preservation of the history of enslaved people in the Cambridge, Boston communities and beyond. The Slave Legacy History Coalition was established in the fall of 2021 by the Lloyd Family descendants of Tony, Cuba, and Darby, whose enslaver Issac Royall Jr. endowed the first law professorships at Harvard University, which eventually became Harvard Law School. The Slave Legacy History Coalition was established to build a pathway forward for other families who are descendants of slaves and also the general public to help connect to the vast repositories of information on slave legacy history in the Boston and Cambridge communities and beyond. The mission of the Slave Legacy
History Coalition is to provide easier access to information and resources on the legacy of slavery before and after emancipation for the families of slave descendants and the general public. Copyright 2022 -2024 Lloyd Family Trust
The presentations represent the view of the speakers and not necessarily that of the Slave Legacy History Coalition.
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Wednesday, June 11, 2025 | 10:30-11:30 AM EST
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Gloria McCahon Whiting
Belonging: An Intimate History of
Slavery and Family in Early New England
Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84763385655?pwd=cUU3dVlUa24vdHJHdTYxUHR1U2VCdz09
Meeting ID: 847 6338 5655 Passcode: 294088
New England has long been seen as a cradle of liberty in American history, but it was also a cradle of slavery. From the earliest years of colonization, New Englanders bought, traded, and sold people—most of whom were African. Belonging tells New England’s early history from the perspective of these people: the people who belonged to others. It pays particular attention to the contours of their intimate lives. Bondage created family problems for the enslaved: spouses rarely were able to live in the same household; fathers and their offspring routinely were separated by inheritance practices; children could be removed from their mothers at their master’s whim; and people of color had only partial control of their movements through the region, which made more difficult the task of maintaining distant relationships. Belonging asks how these circumstances influenced the kin ties of bound people. In what ways did belonging to owners in early New England prevent the enslaved from belonging to one another?
Belonging does more than lay bare the obstacles to family stability for bound New Englanders; it also explores how people of color responded to these limitations. The book charts Afro-New Englanders’ persistent demands for intimacy throughout the century and a half stretching from New England’s founding to the American Revolution. And it shows how claims that black people put on white people through the decades—for civil marriage, access to spouses, proximity to children, release from bondage—in turn, influenced the region’s law, religion, society, and politics. Ultimately, the book argues that the actions taken by bound Africans to fortify their families played an important role in bringing about the sudden and poorly-understood collapse of slavery in Massachusetts.
Author Bio
Gloria Whiting is E. Gordon Fox Assistant Professor of History at UW-Madison, where she has received numerous teaching awards for her courses on slavery, biography, the American Revolution, colonial North America, and the Atlantic World. She earned her Ph.D. at Harvard University and her B.A. at Rice University. Her work has been published in the Journal of American History, the Journal of the Early Republic, the Journal of Social History, and Common-place. She is currently completing a book titled Belonging: An Intimate History of Family and Slavery in Early New England, which is under contract with the University of Pennsylvania Press.
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Boston Pops Presents: Gospel Night with Tamela & David Mann
Saturday, June 7
7:30 PM at Boston Symphony Hall
Set your soul free with Grammy winner Tamela Mann, award-winning actor and comedian David Mann, conductor Charles Floyd, and the Boston Pops Gospel Choir.
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Suing Slavery: Freedom Suits in 18th Century Essex County
Thursday, June 12
7:00-8:30 PM, Online
Twenty-one enslaved people in 18th century Essex county, Massachusetts, sued for their freedom and won. Starting as suits on the basis of a free parent, soon these freedom suits posed questions to white citizen juries: who had rights, the enslaved or the enslaver? Jeanne Pickering explores these lawsuits and how they both helped to end Massachusetts slavery and expanded the American definition of freedom.
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Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea
by Marcus Rediker
Monday, June 16
6:00-7:00 PM
As many as 100,000 people emancipated themselves from bondage in the United States through what we have come to call the “Underground Railroad.” But the metaphor is misleading – very few escaped either underground or by railroad. Long hidden from history were the thousands who escaped by sea, assisted by sailors, dockworkers, and market women as they sailed as stowaways from Southern to Northern ports where slavery had been abolished. In a deeply researched and grippingly told work of history, Marcus Rediker, a leading scholar of maritime history, shares the stories of these brave men and women who used the docks and ships as avenues to freedom.
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Juneteenth Gathering
Sunday, June 22
12:30-3:00 PM
105 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Gather for Juneteenth to honor those who endured slavery and seized freedom on Brattle Street 250 years ago, their descendants, and the long history of Black freedom activism in Cambridge and beyond.
This free, all-ages event is marking its fourth year in 2025! Denise Washington (#Pop-Up Poetry Series), a descendant of Darby Vassall, has curated the Juneteenth Gathering at Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters NHS each year. Join us for the Juneteenth Gathering, A Denise Plays Hard Event, featuring speeches, poetry, music, historical displays, family activities, and refreshments. All are welcome!
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We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance
Tuesday, June 24
6:00 - 7:00 PM
Hybrid event at the Massachusetts Historical Society
In her book We Refuse, historian Kellie Carter Jackson examines the breadth of Black responses to white oppression, particularly those pioneered by Black women. Force—from work stoppages and property destruction to armed revolt—has played a pivotal part in securing freedom and justice for Black people since the days of the American and Haitian Revolutions. In conversation with Kanisorn Wongsrichanalai, Carter Jackson will discuss force alongside other vital tactics that have shaped the Black struggle, from the restorative power of finding joy in the face of suffering to the quiet strength of simply walking away.
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Witnessing Humanity: The Art of John Wilson now on view through June 22 at the MFA
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Born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, John Wilson (1922–2015) is one of Boston’s most esteemed artists. His work, made over the span of 60 years, continues to resonate with the persistent realities of disenfranchisement, racial prejudice, and social injustice.
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A Special Thank You to our Donors!
The Slave Legacy History Coalition thanks everyone who has donated to the SLHC.
Thank you also to the individuals and organizations who lend their time and expertise toward our cause.
Your support is greatly appreciated and make what we do possible!
The SLHC is supported by History Cambridge, our fiscal sponsor. The Cambridge Historical Society is a 501C3 tax-exempt organization doing business as History Cambridge; tax identification number is 04-6032737.
*To give a gift by mail, please make out checks to “History Cambridge” 159 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA with “SLHC” in the memo line.
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If you would like to share any events or announcements to be included in our next newsletter, please reach out at [email protected]
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