Places & Maps

This collection of exhibits center space and place in early Black Boston through various categories of mapping including (1) static maps (2) interactive maps and (3) people & places. This collection aims to bring attention to the places, people, and movements that are rarely mentioned in most narrative histories of early Boston but have nonetheless immeasurably impacted the city's formation. 

Static Maps

This sub-heading of exhibits looks at maps of early Black Boston and gives historical context for major spaces in the 18th and 19th centuries. These static maps engage with movement, origins, use, and impact then and now in the contemporary moment. 

Beacon Hill was home to the largest Black  community in Boston before the Civil War. Black Bostonians began to settle on the north slope of Beacon HIll in the late eighteenth century and the population rose population rose to over 1,000 people.

Boston’s South End has a rich history of Black entrepreneurship. In the late nineteenth century, the Black population grew significantly because large groups of Southern Black African American migrants and West Indians (from Jamaica and Barbados) moved to the South End.

In the 19th century, the town of Roxbury was a rural village a few miles south of the city of Boston. The areas currently known as Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury, parts of Back Bay, and Mission Hill used to be a part of Roxbury.

Interactive Maps

This sub-heading of exhibits looks at maps that speak to the entanglement between space, movement, people, and the contemporary moment today. These exhibits speak to the formation of early Black Boston, the resilience/resistance of the Black community, and how these sites continue to exist today. 

The Black Heritage Trail and the "Trails to Freedom" initiative are both related to the preservation and promotion of African-American history and heritage in the United States.

Established in 1659, Copps Hill Burying Ground is one of the oldest burial grounds in Boston. It served as the final resting place for a diverse group of individuals, including prominent citizens, ordinary settlers, and people from various backgrounds and walks of life.

A quantitative analysis of the employment opportunities available for the black population in Boston during the 1800s. Numerically estimates the racial subjagation that the blacks were subjected to during this period.

Often referred to as the "Cradle of Liberty,"Faneuil Hall hosted numerous abolitionist meetings and anti-slavery speeches during the 19th century. It was also a site for civil rights activism.

The African Meeting House is an important symbol of African American history and the struggle for civil rights. It served as a center for educational, spiritual, and abolitionist activities.

Associated Exhibits

This sub-heading of exhibits looks at place in relation to people, giving us the space to visualize and locate how Black people engaged with space in early Boston. These interactive maps seek to draw connections between people, places, communities, and movements. 

Phillis Wheatley is considered the first African-American to publish a book of poetry. This mapping project follows her through her early life, her enslavement, and her death.

This exhibit is coming soon!