Black Citizenship & Service Digital Exhibits

The Black Citizenship & Service collection of exhibits attempts to make known what citizenship looked like in pre-twentieth-century Boston for the Black community. Citizenship is implicitly defined in relation to personhood. However, it wasn’t until the 14th Amendment (ratified in 1868) that African Americans were legally defined as equal citizens. W.E.B. Du Bois’ theorization about Black citizenship and his notion of double consciousness speak to the duality of Black subjectivity as both a racial and national subject. This collection of exhibits explores the tenuous and complex relationship between Blackness and citizenship in the United States of America.

This collection also seeks to make visible the significant role Black people played in the fight for freedom, despite not being granted full humanity in the eyes of the law. Several exhibits also challenge the passivity often associated with women and highlight a more nuanced understanding of resistance.

This exhibit explores how patriotism in pre-war and post-war America, touched the lives of Black Bostonians between 1770-1830. Manifestations of Black patriotism changed throughout the course of the Revolutionary era, particularly when it became clear that the battle for American freedom did not encompass Black American freedom.

The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment played a critical role in African American history as the first African American unit to fight for the Union during the Civil War. The legacy left behind by the 54th Regiment is largely associated with Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, though it is also crucial to also remember the other individuals who sacrificed their lives fighting for the freedom of their race.

A series of exhibits that explores the significance of gender and economics in 19th-century Black Boston. In addition to examining the different rhetorical approaches of texts by Chloe Russell and David Walker regarding domesticity and marriage, these exhibits also explore the myriad ways that notions of gender mattered to economic empowerment and resistance against oppression.