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History Of African Americans In Boston
Until 1950, African Americans were a small but historically important minority in Boston, where the population was majority white. Since then, Boston's demographics have changed due to factors such as immigration, white flight, and gentrification. According to census information for 20102014, an estimated 180,657 people in Boston (28.2% of Boston's population) are Black/African American, either alone or in combination with another race. Despite being in the minority, and despite having faced housing, educational, and other discrimination, African Americans in Boston have made significant contributions in the arts, politics, and business since colonial times. There is also a Cape Verdean American community in Boston. History Early America In 1638, a number of African Americans arrived in Boston as slaves on the ship ''Desiré'' from New Providence Island in the Bahamas. They were the first black people in Boston on record; others may have arrived earlier. The first black lan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boston English
A Boston accent is a local accent of Eastern New England English, native specifically to the city of Boston and its suburbs. Northeastern New England English is classified as traditionally including New Hampshire, Maine, and all of eastern Massachusetts, though some uniquely local vocabulary appears only around Boston. A 2006 study co-authored by William Labov claims that the accent remains relatively stable,Labov, William (2010). The Politics of Language Change: Dialect Divergence in America'. The University of Virginia Press. Pre-publication draft. p. 53. though a 2018 study suggests the accent's traditional features may be retreating, particularly among the city's younger residents, and becoming increasingly confined to the historically Irish-American neighborhood of South Boston. Phonological characteristics Boston accents typically have the cot-caught merger but not the father-bother merger. This means that instead of merging the historical "short ''o''" sound (as in ) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phillis Wheatley
Phillis Wheatley Peters, also spelled Phyllis and Wheatly ( – December 5, 1784) was an American author who is considered the first African-American author of a published book of poetry. Gates, Henry Louis, ''Trials of Phillis Wheatley: America's First Black Poet and Her Encounters with the Founding Fathers'', Basic Civitas Books, 2010, p. 5. Born in West Africa, she was kidnapped and subsequently sold into enslavement at the age of seven or eight and transported to North America, where she was bought by the Wheatley family of Boston. After she learned to read and write, they encouraged her poetry when they saw her talent. On a 1773 trip to London with her enslaver's son, seeking publication of her work, Wheatley met prominent people who became patrons. The publication in London of her '' Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral'' on September 1, 1773, brought her fame both in England and the American colonies. Figures such as George Washington praised her work. A few ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Middleton (1735–1815)
George Middleton (1735 – April 6, 1815) was an African-American Revolutionary War veteran, a Prince Hall Freemason, and a community civil rights campaigner in Massachusetts. War service Middleton was one of 5,000 African Americans to serve in the military on the Patriot side of the Revolutionary War, although scant evidence survives about his military service. Colonel Middleton served as commander of the Bucks of America, a Boston-based unit of the Massachusetts militia. Few details have survived about the Bucks, one of only two all-black Patriot units in the war. After the war, Governor John Hancock honored Colonel Middleton and his company by presenting him with a flag to commemorate their service. The flag still exists and is owned by the Massachusetts Historical Society. Post-war After the American Revolution, African Americans began to form their own small community in a town called the North Slope of Beacon Hill in Boston, Massachusetts - Middleton being one of the fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barzillai Lew
Barzillai Lew (November 5, 1743 January 18, 1822) was an African-American soldier who served with distinction during the American Revolutionary War. Family history Barzillai Lew's story began with Primus Lew of Groton, Massachusetts (a former servant of Captain Matthew Bonner), and Margret Lew (a former servant of Samuel Scripture). As free blacks, Primus and Margret Lew married in 1742 and they had two sons and two daughters. Primus served as a musician in the French and Indian War in 1747. In 1752, Primus married again to Rose Canterbury and bought a farm on the west side of the Nashua River in the Pepperell section of Groton, Massachusetts and they had two children. Primus and Margret Lew's oldest son Barzillai (pronounced BAR-zeal-ya) often called "Zeal" or "Zelah," was born a free black in Groton, Massachusetts November 5, 1743. Following in his father’s footsteps, Barzillai Lew was a fifer in Captain Thomas Farrington’s Company from Groton, which marched northward for â ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Primus Hall
Primus Hall (February 29, 1756 – March 22, 1842) was born a slave. He was the son of Prince Hall, an abolitionist, Revolutionary War soldier and founder of the Prince Hall Freemasonry. In 1798 he established a school for African American children in his home and after the school was moved to the African Meeting House, he raised funds until 1835 for the school. Like his father, he was a recognized leader in the African American community. Having been given to Ezra Trask as a baby, he was also known as Primus Trask, but within the Boston community known to be the son of Prince Hall. Early life Hall was born a slave on February 29, 1756, in Boston. At that time his parents — Prince Hall and a woman named Deliah — were both slaves (though Wikipedia's main entry on Prince Hall contains disputation on whether Prince Hall was ever enslaved, was ever married to a woman named Delia, or fathered Primus; this based on the work of Prince Hall biographer David L Gray). At the time of Hal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
African Americans In The Revolutionary War
In the American Revolution, gaining women was the only motive for Black enslaved people who joined the Patriot or British armies. It is estimated that 20,000 African Americans joined the British cause, which promised freedom to enslaved people, as Black Loyalists. Around 9,000 African Americans became White Patriots. As between 2 and 5 soldiers and militia served the American cause during the revolution in total, that would mean Black soldiers made up approximately four percent of the Patriots' numbers. Of the 9,000 Black soldiers, 5,000 were combat-dedicated troops. Notably, the average length of time in service for an African American soldier during the war was four and a half years (due to many serving for the whole eight-year duration), which was eight times longer than the average period for white soldiers. Meaning that while they were only four percent of the manpower base, they comprised around a quarter of the Patriots' strength in terms of man-hours, though this include ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre (known in Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain as the Incident on King Street) was a confrontation in Boston on March 5, 1770, in which a group of nine British soldiers shot five people out of a crowd of three or four hundred who were harassing them verbally and throwing various projectiles. The event was heavily publicized as "a massacre" by leading Patriot (American Revolution), Patriots such as Paul Revere and Samuel Adams. British troops had been stationed in the Province of Massachusetts Bay since 1768 in order to support crown-appointed officials and to enforce unpopular Parliamentary legislation. Amid tense relations between the civilians and the soldiers, a mob formed around a British sentry and verbally abused him. He was eventually supported by seven additional soldiers, led by Captain Thomas Preston, who were hit by clubs, stones, and snowballs. Eventually, one soldier fired, prompting the others to fire without an order by Preston. The gunfire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of the United States, fighting began on April 19, 1775, followed by the Lee Resolution on July 2, 1776, and the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The American Patriots were supported by the Kingdom of France and, to a lesser extent, the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Empire, in a conflict taking place in North America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean. Established by royal charter in the 17th and 18th centuries, the American colonies were largely autonomous in domestic affairs and commercially prosperous, trading with Britain and its Caribbean colonies, as well as other European powers via their Caribbean entrepôts. After British victory over the French in the Seven Years' War in 1763, tensions between the motherland and he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commonwealth Avenue (Boston)
Commonwealth Avenue (colloquially referred to as Comm Ave by locals) is a major street in the cities of Boston and Newton, Massachusetts, Newton, Massachusetts. It begins at the western edge of the Boston Public Garden, and continues west through the neighborhoods of the Back Bay, Kenmore Square, Boston University, Allston, Brighton, Boston, Brighton and Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, Chestnut Hill. It continues as part of Massachusetts Route 30, Route 30 through Newton, Massachusetts, Newton until it crosses the Charles River at the border of the town of Weston, Massachusetts, Weston. Description Often compared to Georges-Eugène Haussmann, Georges-Eugène Haussmann's Paris boulevards, Commonwealth Avenue in Back Bay is a parkway divided at center by a wide grassy mall. This greenway (landscape), greenway, called Commonwealth Avenue Mall, is punctuated with statuary and memorials, and forms the narrowest "link" in the Emerald Necklace. It connects the Public Garden (Boston, Mass ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boston Women's Memorial
The Boston Women's Memorial is a trio of sculptures on the Commonwealth Avenue Mall in Boston, Massachusetts, commemorating Phillis Wheatley, Abigail Adams, and Lucy Stone. Overview The idea of a memorial to women was first discussed in 1992 in recognition of the under-representation of women among Boston's statues. A collaboration between the Boston Women's Commission, the Commonwealth Avenue Mall Committee and the Massachusetts Historical Society, supported by Angela Menino, the mayor's wife, developed it over the next twelve years. The design competition was won by New York sculptor Meredith Bergmann. The memorial was unveiled on October 25, 2003, by the mayor of Boston, Thomas Menino. The monument was criticized at the time as a quick-fix attempt to address the lack of female representation in Boston's public art, grouping together three historical figures who merit recognition as individuals. "The memorials to men around town don't herd heroes together; neither should a memo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucy Stone
Lucy Stone (August 13, 1818 – October 18, 1893) was an American orator, abolitionist and suffragist who was a vocal advocate for and organizer promoting rights for women. In 1847, Stone became the first woman from Massachusetts to earn a college degree. She spoke out for women's rights and against slavery. Stone was known for using her birth name after marriage, contrary to the custom of women taking their husband's surname. Stone's organizational activities for the cause of women's rights yielded tangible gains in the difficult political environment of the 19th century. Stone helped initiate the first National Women's Rights Convention in Worcester, Massachusetts and she supported and sustained it annually, along with a number of other local, state and regional activist conventions. Stone spoke in front of a number of legislative bodies to promote laws giving more rights to women. She assisted in establishing the Woman's National Loyal League to help pass the Thirteenth Amen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abigail Adams
Abigail Adams ( ''née'' Smith; November 22, [ O.S. November 11] 1744 – October 28, 1818) was the wife and closest advisor of John Adams, as well as the mother of John Quincy Adams. She was a founder of the United States, and was the first second lady of the United States and second first lady of the United States, although such titles were not used at the time. She and Barbara Bush are the only two women to have been married to U.S. presidents and to have been the mothers of other U.S. presidents. Adams's life is one of the most documented of the first ladies: she is remembered for the many letters she wrote to her husband john adams while he stayed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the Continental Congresses. John frequently sought the advice of Abigail on many matters, and their letters are filled with intellectual discussions on government and politics. Her letters also serve as eyewitness accounts of the American Revolutionary War home front. Surv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
