From the 54th Regiment to the Underground Railroad, Boston has a rich black history from before the Revolutionary War. Learn about black militias in 1776 and the Civil War, abolitionists like Frederick Douglass, and Black Masons who ran escape routes from the South and policed their own streets to protect from slave hunters. Boston's richest neighborhood, then and now, where wealthy black businessmen ran card games with Senators and Governors, recruited for the Republican Party & the Union Army, and later became the first black US Representatives.
First at War, First for Independence!
First to die in the Revolution!
First to end slavery!
First to make black men equal!
First to end segregation in schools!
First Free Black Army Regiment!
The First stop on the #BlackHeritageTrail is the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts & Robert Gould Shaw Memorial @Boston Common near Beacon Hill, Boston's first Black Neighborhood . The 54th Regiment of Massachusetts was an all black militia of the Union Army in Boston.
In 1863, Emancipation Proclamation freed all slaves in America and the 54th Regiment went to war against the South to liberate their brothers & sisters.
Abolitionist Frederick Douglass was a strong advocate and both of his sons enlisted. African Nationalist Major Martin Robertson Delaney, MD advocated for an "Africa for Africans" movement.
Sgt. Major Lewis H. Douglass of the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts. Son of Frederick Douglass, fought for the Union Army to win the Civil War and free all black men.
Under Col. Robert Gould Shaw the 54th Regiment fought several battles in Beaufort & Charleston, SC including Fort Wagner where Col. Shaw was killed in battle.
Sgt. William Harvey Carney from the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts was born a slave in Virginia, he escaped to Boston on the #UndergroundRailroad He was the First black man to receive the Medal of Honor! He saved the American flag from capture at the Battle of Ft. Wagner when Col. Shaw was killed in battle in 1863. Carvey was seriously wounded but carried the American flag back to base and famously stated "Boys, I only did my duty; the old flag never touched the ground!"
He would not receive his Medal of Honor until 1900, but is pictured here wearing it proudly 35 years later.
The 54th continued on into battle in Florida as well, knowing they would be sentenced to death by the Confederacy under Jefferson Davis rule if captured. They are memorialized forever in the 1989 film 'Glory'.
Freedmen in Boston fight for the Union Army to free their Southern brothers from Slavery after the Emancipation Proclamation.
Call to Arms!
2nd stop on #BlackHeritageTrail is George Middleton House (pre-1776) at 5 Pinckney St in Beacon Hill, Boston, valued at $720,000.
Oldest surviving house built by African Americans in the US.
Col. George Middleton was an African-American Revolutionary War veteran who led the Bucks Of America, an all black militia in Boston. He was a Prince Hall Mason, an all black Mason Lodge founded by Boston's Prince Hall.
Prince Hall Masons were responsible for comparing black freedom to the founding fathers own freedom from Britain and were responsible for Massachusetts being the first state to outlaw slavery in 1783.
On display is a Revolutionary Flag given Middleton by Massachusetts Governor & Founding Father John Hancock. He also organized the African Benevolent Society for black widows and orphans in 1808.
3rd Stop on #BlackHeritageTrail is Philips St School off Pinckney St in Jamaica Plains neighborhood of Beacon Hill, Boston. There are at least 20 renovated luxury Condos in this block long block wide former school. Each condo sells for between $1.5M to $3.9M putting the total value of the building between $30 and $80M.
Built in 1824 as a whites only school, it became the first school in the nation to mix white & black children in school in 1855 when Massachusetts desegregated their public schools.
Named after first Mayor of Boston, abolitionist John Philips. Today it functions as an Apartment building.
Seen here in 1851, Massachusetts highest-rated public school would be the first to desegregate.
4th stop on #BlackHeritageTrail is Rep. John J Smith House on Pinckney St in Beacon Hill, Boston. The 3-story Federal-style townhouse, built in 1842, is valued at $2.8M today.
Smith was a free black man from Virginia who moved to Boston in 1840 and opened a barbershop here which became a stop on the #UndergroundRailroad which had a major Free Black community in Boston's North End.
US Representative John J. Smith (Republican). Freedman from VA, ran a barbershop in Beacon Hill, Boston on the #UndergroundRailroad One of first black men to serve as US Representative in the 1870's. Smith was a member of the newly found Republican party and a Black recruiter for the Civil War and would become one of the First Black US Representatives, serving 3 terms.
He lived here til 1893. He & Beacon Hill neighbor Lewis Hayden hid Shadrach Minkins here after breaking him free from the courthouse.
Shadrach Minkins was a VA slave who escaped on the Underground Railroad and ended up in Boston, a free man, until slave hunters tracked him down and locked him up and tried to take him back. John J Smith & Lewis Hayden of Beacon Hill broke him out the courthouse and hid him from the law, while John P. Coburn, the financier, was arrested and later acquitted.
5th Stop on #BlackHeritageTrail in is Charles St Meeting House in Beacon Hill, Boston.
Built in 1807 as a Baptist Church, early converts were baptised in the nearby Charles River (off of Charles St).
It later became the First African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Boston. It was the biggest of Boston's 5 black churches.
The Meeting House was an important site on the #UndergroundRailroad where famous abolitionists like Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman & Sojourner Truth have spoken.
Charles St Meeting House now houses Luxury Condos. The property is privately owned in Beacon Hill, Boston's most expensive neighborhood and is valued at $4.8 Million. At least 12 condos, 1BR starting at $2,000 per month.
6th Stop on the #BlackHeritageTrail is the Lewis & Harriet Hayden House at 66 Philips St in Beacon Hill, Boston, valued at $2.4M. Lewis & Harriet ran the #UndergroundRailroad in Boston out of their home in the West End.
They were both born slaves in Kentucky. Lewis' family were owned by US Sen. Henry Clay. Lewis was inspired to run away after meeting Revolutionary War hero Marquis de Lafayette in KY. Lewis & Harriet eloped and escaped the plantation to Ohio, then fled to Canada by way of Detroit. They founded a black school there, as Detroit was a major hub for freed slaves looking to get to Canada. In 1846, they returned to the US, settling in Beacon Hill, Boston to lead the Abolitionist Movement and host the #UndergroundRailroad
Their boarding house would harbor 75% of blacks who made it to Boston on the #UndergroundRailroad They would also operate a clothing & jewelry store which would become Boston's 2nd largest black-owned business.
After the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made it legal for slave owners to retake their freed slaves in other states, the Haydens began breaking freed slaves out of the local courthouse before they could be returned to slavery,
They famously kept barrels of gunpowder under their front porch so if they were ever raided they would simply drop a match and kill the raiding officers and everyone nearby. This kept them safe from raids by slave catchers, and they aided future Rep. John J, Smith in freeing Shadrach Minkus, an escaped slave from KY, from slave catchers at the Boston courthouse.
They sheltered William & Helen Craft, escaped slaves from Macon, GA, from slave catchers and helped them escape to Great Britain. Helen was 1/4 Black, daughter of slave and master, and passed herself off as a white businessman, and William as her servant, and openly traveled from Savannah to Philadelphia and finally Boston, living openly as escaped slaves until the law change. They would write a memoir entitled "Running a Thousand Miles to Freedom"
In 1853, a 19-year old escaped slave from Richmond, VA Anthony Burns was apprehended in Boston. The Haydens and others united to free him, even paying his ransom to be a freedman, but US President Franklin Pierce wanted to make an example out of Burns to look strong for the South.
Pierce ordered US Marshals to keep him under guard, and a US Marshal was fatally stabbed in an escape attempt, but Burns remained in custody. A large group of Abolitionists remained in Boston and National Guard was called in to end the protests. Martial Law was declared, Burns' situation would fuel abolitionism all across the North.
The Haydens hosted famous Abolitionist Frederick Douglas, and even Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, who met real life freed slaves which inspired her book.
The Haydens even hosted abolitionist John A. Andrew and endorsed him for Governor of MA which he won in 1860.
Rep. Lewis Hayden (1811-1889)
Lewis Hayden was a recruiter for the 54th Regiment of MA and his son served in the Union Navy and was killed in the Civil War. Lewis Hayden, along with John J Smith, was a member of the newly founded Republican Party and would become one of the first Black US Representatives, and also served under Massachusetts Secretary of State.
Lewis was also a Grand Master of the Prince Hall Mason Lodge in Boston, and was responsible for Boston's Crispus Attucks memorial. Attucks was a black man who was the first American killed by the British at the Boston Massacre, an American Hero.
Harriet Bell Hayden (1816-1893) #BlackIsBeautiful
When Harriet Bell Hayden died in 1893, she left her estate to nearby Harvard University to fund a Medical School for black students.
7th Stop on #BlackHeritageTrail is John P. Coburn House (pre-1830) at 2 Philips St in Beacon Hill, Boston. There are 4-units valued between $600,000 and $1M a piece for an average property value of at least $2.4M
John P. Coburn (1811-1873) was an African-American abolitionist who became the wealthiest black man in Boston. Coburn was a contractor, and a tailor with multiple trendy clothing stores marketed to the affluent. He also ran a Gaming House for African American aristocrats which doubled as a safe house for the #UndergroundRailroad He financed the operations by JJ Smith & the Haydens which broke captured slaves like Shadrach Minkus out of confinement. He was arrested in 1951 for conspiring to break Minkus from the courthouse and flee Boston, but was acquitted.
Worked with prominent white abolitionists like John Brown, who raided Harper's Ferry, and William Lloyd Garrison, who ran "The Liberator", an abolitionist newspaper. Treasurer of the New England Free Association, and he publicly advertised his properties as safehouses for escaped slaves on the #UndergroundRailroad.
Coburn organized the Massasoit Guards, an all black militia, to police the North End of Boston, and to watch out for slave catchers.
This property, his 2nd home, was the third-highest valued property in ALL of Boston in 1850. It is on the North Slope of Beacon Hill facing Boston Common and the Charles River, today it is STILL the most expensive neighborhood in Boston.
8th, 9th & 10th Stops on the #BlackHeritageTrail are all on Smith Court off of lower Joy St. in Beacon Hill, Boston. Smith Court is a dead-end drive one block long that houses 7 sites on the National Historic Registry.
This was the heart of the African-American community in Beacon Hill from 1780's-1880's.The 8th Stop is 5 houses collectively referred to as "Smith Court Residences".
3 Smith Court is a 3-story double-lot yellow clapboard house with a common entryway, referred to as the William Cooper Nell House, or the James Scott House. The boarding house was built in 1798 and rented out to African-Americans. Today valued at $2.6M It is directly across the street from the African Meeting House.
WC Nell was a tenant from 1850-1857. He was the first published Black Historian who wrote "Colored Patriots of the American Revolution", worked for "The Liberator"and was a close associate of Frederick Douglass.
James Scott was a tenant from 1839-1865 when he bought the boarding house and lived here til his death in 1888. He ran a clothing shop, but was heavily active in the #UndergroundRailroad and in freeing captured slaves. In 1851, he was arrested with John P Coburn, for their parts in breaking Shadrach Minkus out of the courthouse with future US Representatives John J Smith & Lewis Hayden. They were all acquitted. In 1856, he boarded escaped slave Henry Jackson and his family here.
5 Smith Court is a 3 story red-brick clapboard building built before 1810. It is a 3 story red-brick home valued at $2.1M. Peter Wilcox & Family lived her until they left with Paul Cuffe (1759-1817) to found Sierra Leone. Cuffe, freed slave and son of an Ashanti, would became a Mariner and even a POW during the Revolution, but was responsible for the "Back to Africa" movement by moving displaced Africans in Massachusetts to the new British colony of Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1811. Cuffe would be one of the first African Americans ever invited to the White House, by President James Madison during War of 1812, due to his ties with the British. Wilcox's were one of the last families to travel to Sierra Leone with Cuffe before his death. Cuffe encouraged free blacks not to pay taxes since they couldn't vote. "No Taxation Without Representation"
An African-American waiter named George Washington (1795-1871), who boarded next door at 3 Smith Ct, bought the property in 1849. Washington had 9 children and would became a Deacon at the First Independent African Baptist Church until his death. The property remained in his family til 1917.
7 Smith Court is a $1.7M 2-story light blue clapboard home built in the early 1800's as rental income for a lawyer. In 1822, white merchant Elihu Bates ran an African American boarding house here. African American Joseph Scarlett, who lived across the Street at 2 Smith Court, bought the building for $800 (about $23,000 today) in 1857 and owned it til his death in 1898, renting it out to African Americans. Most residents lived here less than 3 years.
3, 5 & 7 Smith Court surrounded by late 1800's brick walk-ups.
7A Smith Court is a $2.4M 3-story double-lot house made of yellow clapboard, located in Holmes Alley, built in 1799. The only home left on the 8-foot wide Holmes Alley from the 1790's, which was converted to backyards for Smith Ct long ago. This was common practice in African American communities to build houses on backlots and have private pedestrian alleys off of the streets, to avoid slave catchers.
In 1800, mariner Richard Johnson & barber David Bartlett from New Bedford, MA lived here. It would be rental property for the next hundred years. In 1826, David Beal bought the home, and sold it white carpenter Thomas F. Haskell in 1844. Haskell sold it to neighbor Joseph Scarlett of 2 Smith Court & 7 Smith Court in 1858, who owned it for 40 years til his death in 1898.
4 Smith Court is a $2.1M 4-story brick building built around 1885. Typical of a turn of the century apartment building in Boston after mass European immigration. Due to high demand for cheap housing, develops purchased most of the older wooden & stone houses from pre-1880, and built cheap brick 'walk-ups' in their place, capable of housing multiple families. Wealthy African Americans would move out to the suburbs like Roxbury, Dorchester & Jamaica Plain or to the South End of Boston. Beacon Hill and Boston's West End & North End would become a new home to mostly Eastern Europeans including a large Jewish community.
2 Smith Court is a $2.4M 3-story brick building built in 1853, right next to the African Meeting House. Previously from 1803, an African-American tailor named William Henry & family had a boarding house here until selling to Joseph Scarlett in 1852. The next year, Scarlett built the first 2 stories of the current building, the third floor addition in 1884. Within 5 years of buying this house, Scarlett would also own 7 & 7a Smith Court at the end of the street.
Joseph Scarlett was the son of a grocer & chimney-sweep from nearby Cambridge, MA. He would specialize in clothing & rentals and owned 15 different properties in Boston, Jamaica Plain, Cambridge (Harvard) & Charlestown (Bunker Hill) at the time of his death in 1898. He lived on Bunker Hill St across the Charles River in Charlestown, and used all 3 Smith Court properties as rentals. Scarlett left his estate worth $40,000 ($1.2M) to the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church and to the Home for Aged Colored Women on nearby Myrtle Street.
The 9th stop on the #BlackHeritageTrail is the Abiel Smith School at 46 Joy St on the corner of Smith Court in Beacon Hill, Boston. It was built by the City of Boston in 1835 to house the city's first African School. Since the Constitution of 1787, black Bostonians had been fighting tirelessly against discrimination & inequality in public education.
Prince Hall (1735-1807) Freed Slave, Revolutionary War Hero, Founder of Black Mason Lodge
In 1787, Prince Hall, founder of the Black Masons, advocated for black people to refuse to pay taxes so the city could build schools for white children, but not black children. "No taxation without representation."
Primus Avenue, a private court, formerly known as Wilberforce Place. It was named after Primus Hall. Primus was born a slave, but him and his father, Prince Hall, were freed prior to the Revolution and Primus fought in the war while Prince organized the Black Masons. Primus was the founder of the African School and held the first classes in his own home.
In 1798, the African School was founded by 60 families at the home of Prince's son, Primus Hall, at nearby Primus Avenue in Beacon Hill. It moved to the African Meeting Room on Smith Court in 1808. In 1812 a majority of black families pulled their children from the government funded white schools and enrolled in the African School and the government was forced to provide partial funding for the African School ($200 yearly, about $3,800 today). This was not much and the African School remained a poor alternative to the white schools.
In 1815, white businessman Abiel Smith died, and left $4,000 ($76,000 today) to the African School, and they would later build a school in his name at the corner of Joy St & Smith Court in the heart of the black community. The Abiel Smith School opened in 1835 but was still inadequate compared to the cities white schools
Newly built Abiel Smith School on Belknap St (Joy St) at the corner of Smith Court, 1838
William Cooper Nell lived down the street at 3 Smith Court and attended school at Abiel Smith. He would later receive the prestigious Benjamin Franklin Medal for education, but would not be invited to downtown Faneuil Hall in the South End to receive his award with the other white recipients. He convinced the black wait staff to let him help them wait on the white attendees. Nell became a leading advocate for equal education from this night forward swearing "God help me, I will do my best to hasten the day when the color of the skin would be no barrier to equal school rights".
Robert Morris (1823-1882) Massachusetts first African American Lawyer, Second in the US
An African-American printer in Beacon Hill named Benjamin Roberts sued the Boston School Committee with the first black attorney in Massachusetts, Robert Morris. Roberts wanted his daughter Sara to get adequate schooling at the school nearest their home. Republican Senator Charles Sumner testified in their favor. They lost their case, but it was used as precedent under Brown vs BOE and Plessy vs Ferguson. Roberts case was used for "seperate, but equal". Robert Morris would also represent captured slaves Anthony Burns & Shadrach Minkins against the Fugitive Slave Act, when they were broken free from the Court House by the local #UndergroundRailroad Abolitionists.
Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner was an abolitionist who was famously caned publicly in the Senate chamber and nearly beaten to death for speaking badly on slave owners.
In 1855, Massachusetts banned segregation of schools and Beacon Hill's African American residents began schooling at nearby Philips St, the top rated school in Massachusetts, and the Abiel Smith School closed down soon after. It was converted into studio apartments which start at $1,800 monthly today.
The back entrance to Abiel Smith School from Smith Court has been converted to the Education Center for the African American History Museum next door at the African Meeting House and serves as one big complex, open to the public.
The 10th and final stop on the #BlackHeritageTrail is the African Meeting House at 8 Smith Court. The African Meeting House was built at 8 Smith Court in 1806. It is sometimes referred to as the Abolitionist Church, or the Black Faneuil Hall.
Prior to 1805, Africans attended white churches but had separate seating up in the balconies. White baptists set about building the First African Baptist Church here, so they would have their own church.
Haitian American Reverend Thomas Paul from Exeter, NH was the first minister. Paul was a Black Liberation Theologist and Prince Hall Mason. He had previously held black congregation at Faneuil Hall Public Market in the South End. Some white Baptists attended services here, and many Africans still attended the more modest white churches.
The First African Baptist Church became the heart of the African-American community in Beacon Hill. It became the cultural, educational and political center as well as the religious center of Boston's black community. The First African School taught classes on the first floor from 1808-1835 when the Abiel Smith School was built down the street on Smith Court. In 1849, classes resumed here during the protests against segregated schools which would come to an end in 1855 at Philips St School.
In 1832, the New England Anti-Slavery Society was founded here. Frederick Douglass and many other famous abolitionists spoke here. Many community celebrations began here like anniversaries of Haitian Independence (1803), and the end of international slave trade (1807).
In 1863, the African Meeting House was the recruitment office for the 54th Regiment ran by future US Representatives John J Smith & Lewis Hayden.
In 1898, the African Baptists sold the Meeting House to the new Jewish community who renamed it Anshi Libavitz. The Baptists built a new church in the South End of Boston where many Africans had relocated. The Museum of African American History acquired the meeting house in 1972 and has operated it ever since.
Look for the alley between the African Meeting House & Abiel Smith School.
Walk up the 200-year old Residential Walkway.
Come around the corner and enjoy.
Or go out the back exit to the African American History Museum...
...and walk up the steps.
You will find a 200-year old alley only wide enough for fire escapes.
You will find back-doors to some of the buildings that are only about 4 feet high.
A short video of your host Jay Rome from #RomeAroudTheWorld checking out the alley and the small doors behind the African American History Museum on Smith Court
"This is a meeting to best discuss the best method of abolishing slavery, and each speaker is expected to present what he regards as the best way of prosecuting the anti-slavery movement. All methods of proceeding against slavery; politics, religion, peace, war, bible, constitution, disunion, union. Every possible way known in opposition to slavery, is my way."
Frederick Douglass, 12/03/1860 "How can American slavery be abolished?"
"Independent of its history as a church and a school house, this building has won for itself celebrity by the various meetings held within its walls, by the colored citizens, and the friends for promoting the cause of human brotherhood." William Cooper Nell of 3 Smith Court 10/08/1858 20th Anniversary of First Independent Baptist Female Society
"For it is not the color of the skin that makes the man or the woman, but the principle formed in the soul." Maria Stewart 09/21/1833 Stewart's farewell address to Boston
Stewart was an African-American teacher and the first woman to give a public speech in front of a mixed audience. She was an abolitionist who was published in "The Liberator". After leaving Boston, she led Abolitionist movements in New York & Washington, DC. She would later teach at HBCU Howard U. The Episcopal Church honors her every December 17th.
"We have met tonight in this obscure school house, our numbers are few and our influence limited, but mark my prediction: Faneuil Hall shall ere long echo with the principles we have set forth. We shall shake the nation by their mighty power!"
William Lloyd Garrison 01/06/1832 Founding of the New England Anti-Slavery Society
Garrison ran "The Liberator", a nationwide abolitionist newspaper
Also along the #BlackHeritageTrail
David Walker (1765-1830) Author, Abolitionist, Prince Hall Mason, Black Nationalist
81 Joy St, David Walker House- David Walker was a black Newspaper Editor who lived here at the Northern Tip of Beacon Hill's black community, from 1827-1829. Later, sailor & shipping clerk James Stewart and his wife Maria W. Stewart, a black teacher, lived here.
Currently houses 4 apartments, $2500 per month rent.
John Telemachus Hilton (1801-1864) Prince Hall Mason, VP of Anti-Slavery Society
73 Joy St, John T. Hilton House-Built in 1825 for black barber & musician George B. Holmes. One of a cluster of antebellum houses on the East side of Joy St. Later, John T. Hilton, a leader of the Prince Hall Masons lived here. He was active in the African Baptist Church.
Currently a double-lot apartment building with 2Brs averaging $5,000 a month.
71 Joy St, Robert Roberts House- Another surviving antebellum house in the Joy St cluster. Robert Roberts owned the home from 1823-1878. He married into the affluent Easton family and the Rev. Paul family. His son Benjamin would fight for his granddaughter Sara's right to quality education. Roberts was born in Charleston, SC in 1780 and lived til 1860. He was a butler for MA Senator and Governor Christopher Gore. He later published "The House Servants Directory: A Monitor for Private Families" in 1827.
69 Joy St, George Putnam & Robert Johnson House-Another Antebellum African American house in the Joy St cluster, valued at $1.8M.Built in 1826, and black owned til 1904. George Putnam was an abolitionist and equal education advocate. Putnam hosted many meetings in his home, and was involved in discussing the first HBCUs. Robert Johnson was a fugitive slave from Virginia. In the 1830's he became one of the first to settle in Boston on the #UndergroundRailroad rather than continue to Canada. Johnson became a Deacon at Twelfth Baptist Church also known as Fugitive Slaves Church.
67 Joy St, Coffin Pitts House- Last of the 4 Antebellum houses in a cluster on Joy St. Coffin Pitts (1798-1871) was born in VA, but lived here in Boston from 1835 until his death. He was a prominent abolitionist, and a shopkeep who provided work for escaped slaves and hid Anthony Burns in his home before he was apprehended leaving his store.
8 Joy St (Belknap St), James & Maria W. Stewart House- Valued at $2m. Maria Miller was born free in 1803 in Hartford, CT but was an orphan by 5 and an indentured servant to a minister until she was 15. She married a War of 1812 Veteran, James W Stewart in Boston, Active in the African Baptist Church & gave many speeches at the African Meeting Room. They moved into 81 Joy St when David Walker died in 1829. She lived in Boston til 1933 and later died in Washington, DC after a lifetime of education activism.
27 Myrtle St, 2nd Home for Aged Colored Women- From 1860-1944, the Home for Aged Colored Women was here in Beacon Hill. Formerly on 65 Phillips St, next to the Haydens.
5 Phillips St, Henry LW Thwacker House-Double-Unit with 2BRs starting at $2750 per month. Note the smaller door marked 5B, next to the main entrance.
3 Coburn Court, 1st John P. Coburn House- Today 24-28 Phillips St are all that's left of Coburn Court that was an offstreet pedestrian alley directly behind them. 3 Coburn Court was John P Coburn's first home, built in the early 1820's, before he built his 2nd home at Irving & Phillips in 1845, and became the richest black man in Boston. The house was demolished in 2005 due to National Historic Registry only applying to properties viewable from public property. You needed to leave the street, walk down an alley, and turn into a courtyard with a few houses., making it not viewable without trespassing on private property. It was well hidden from view and was only rediscovered in 2002, and was most likely used as a safehouse on the #UndergroundRailroad Beacon Hill is very steep and alot of houses have front and back entryways on different floors. This home was built into the hill, so the basement was above ground in the Coburn Court entrance and lookouts could see anyone coming from the eye-level peephole underneath the door, 5 feet off the ground.
43-47 Phillips St, Twelfth Baptist Church - The Twelfth Baptist Church is on Phillips St between the Haydens & the Coburn House. Founded in 1840 as an offshoot of the First African Baptist Church (African Meeting House) on Smith Court. The Twelfth Baptist Church was founded on Phillips St about 4 blocks away. Known as the 'Fugitive Slaves Church' Early members include Lewis & Harriet Hayden, Anthony Burns, Shadrack Minkins & John Sweat Rock. In 1907, it moved to Roxbury, MA with its congregation and is still there today.
John Sweat Rock (1825-1866) 81-83 Phillips St, John Sweat Rock House
John S Rock was an African-American teacher, doctor, dentist and a lawyer. He was also a Prince Hall Mason and active in Boston's Abolitionist movement. Rock was first African-American to practice law at the Supreme Court level, and one of the first to receive a medical degree. Rock was born free in NJ, and would teach, tutor and study medicine, every day. He moved to Philadelphia as a Dentist's apprentice and earned his degree from American Medical College. In 1853, he moved to the most liberal American city for Africans, Boston. He became well-known as the doctor who would tend to the escaped slaves fresh off the #UndergroundRailroad. He is also known for coining the phrase #BlackIsBeautiful at an 1858 speech at Faneuil Hall, regarding racial inequality. In 1865, when the 13th Amendment passed, he became the first African American to speak to the House of Reps.
Rev. Thomas Paul (1773-1831) born in Exeter, NH was the first minister of the First African Baptist Church, a Prince Hall Mason, an abolitionist, and a Haitian missionary.
36 West Cedar St, Rev. Thomas Paul House - 3-story Gray brick building valued at $4.3M
Governor John Albion Andrew (1818-1867) 110 Charles St, Gov John A. Andrew House
Rep. JA Andrew became Governor of Massachusetts in 1860 and was central to the Abolitionist movement in MA. He lived in Beacon Hill, and was a regular guest of John P. Coburn, Boston's richest African American. He was active in founding the 54th Regiment of MA and encouraging Boston blacks to enlist. He negotiated their pay with President Abraham Lincoln so they could earn the same as white soldiers. In 1865, he founded the Massachusetts State Police. He was a Whig, but was close to former Democrat President Martin Van Buren & the Free Soil Party. In 1854, he chaired a committee that led to the founding of the Republican Party in Massachusetts. His interests were solely anti-slavery. He took over the cause after neighbor Sen. Sumner was nearly caned to death at the Senate.
62 Pinckney St, George & Susan Hillard House-Built in 1835, a 4 story brick walk-up containing at least 4 units, each going for $1.4M. George Hillard was a member of the Whig Party as a Federal Commisioner. The Fugitive Slaves Act meant he had to act on fugitive slave warrants from other states. All while his wife Susan Hillard was hiding escaped slaves in their own home. They hid Ellen Craft here when slave catchers came looking.
Sen. Charles Sumner (MA) (1811-1874) was a lawyer for the Anti-Slavery Association, and leader of the Radical Republicans. He split from Republican President General Ulysses S. Grant over whether Confederates should regain political seats, and was an advocate for the Freedmens Bureau, which provided shelter, medicine & education for displaced slaves. Sumner grew up in Beacon Hill on Irving St, but later moved just a few blocks East of Beacon Hill to Hancock St. His father was a Harvard Law School grad, and worked for Massachusetts House of Reps. Worked with Massachusetts first black lawyer Robert Morris to try the Roberts vs City of Boston case over inadequate education. In 1856, he gave his "Crime Against Kansas" speech at the Senate, which was anti-slavery, calling SC Sen. Andrew Butler a "pimp for slaves" and he was attacked with a cane and left for dead by SC ,Rep. Preston Brooks (D). Brooks beat him over the head with the cane til it broke then continued beating him, while Congress watched in horror, held at gunpoint during the melee. Sumner fought back wildly, ripping the desk out of the floor, blinded by his own blood. He would be left with spinal cord damage, nightmares and head trauma, and what we call today PTSD. Spent his recovery times as an overseas Diplomat, since the Washington gave him anxiety.
20 Hancock St, Charles Sumner House
Seperate from the #BlackHeritageTrail...
There is also the Vilna Shul, Boston's Center for Jewish Culture, at 18 Phillips St. Built by Lithuanian immigrants from Vilna in 1919. It is the oldest existing Jewish synagogue in Boston.
Founded in the West End in 1893 and then moved elsewhere on Beacon Hill in 1906, it found a home here in 1919.
Walking the trail is 1.6M one way and takes about an Hour, walking up and down the hill every other block and stopping for pictures, reading etc. I spent almost 2 hours, i stopped for lunch at Charles St Meeting House and watched most of the neighborhood walk to school to walk their kids home at around 245PM, and checked out the newly remodeled apartments. That's not including say another 45 Minutes inside of the African American History Museum. Start in Boston Common with a nice lunch, go from the Shaw Memorial across the street and up the hill to the next stop. You will pass the Massachusetts State House on the beginning of your tour, or at the end if you come back to Boston Common.
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