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. The Hill was an essential and central part of the antebellum abolitionist movement, where the Black community was instrumental in starting a nationwide push for the end of slavery. Many activists who fought against both local racial discrimination and national slavery inhabited Beacon Hill. The African Baptist Church and African Meeting House, constructed in 1806, was the center of the community and served as venues for community events and antislavery activism. Today, Beacon Hill is home to the Black Heritage Trail and the Boston Museum of African American History.