The Black Heritage Trail and the “Trails to Freedom” Initiative

Introduction

Each year, millions of tourists flock to Boston to follow the Freedom Trail; a brick pathway that runs throughout the city’s most historic neighborhoods, promising its visitors the opportunity to gain a more complete understanding of Boston’s role in the American Revolution all in under 3 miles of walking.. However, the Freedom Trail is not Boston’s only historical “trail”. Winding its way through the north slope of Beacon Hill, the Black Heritage Trail explores sites related to Boston’s rich early Black history and abolitionist movement and details how a small community of African-Americans came together to take on the institution of slavery and eventually prevailed.

Historical Origins

Boston’s Black Heritage Trail was conceived of by Sue Bailey Thurman, a well-known Black civil rights activist and founder of the Museum of African American History in Boston.¹ Inspired by the success of the Freedom Trail (established 1951), she mapped out a walking route through Beacon Hill’s north slope designed to take visitors past the sites most central to the history of the Black community of Boston, and especially their role in the abolitionist movement.² Her 1964 map eventually grew to today’s modern Black Heritage Trail, and was central in promoting the founding of Boston African American National Historic Site in 1980.³ Today, the Black Heritage Trail highlights fourteen sites, ranging from the Robert Gould Shaw/54th Regiment Memorial, recognizing the first official all-black Civil War unit and their commander, to the Lewis and Harriet Hayden House, the home of one of the city’s Black abolitionists and a uniquely well-documented stop on the Underground Railroad.⁴

Often considered the “crown jewels” of the trail are the Abiel Smith School and the African Meeting House. The Smith School, now the home of the exhibit galleries and store for the Museum of African American history, was the first public school in the nation built for African American students.⁵ Built in 1834 and dedicated in 1835, many of Boston’s black youth received their elementary education in this building until the end of school segregation in the city in 1855.⁶ The African Meeting House, now also owned by the Museum of African American history, was built in 1806 and is the oldest black church still standing in the country.⁷ The church’s sanctuary, used for both religious services and for meetings of abolitionist leaders, was fully restored to its 1855 appearance in 2011.⁸ The Smith School and African Meeting House are the only buildings on the Black Heritage Trail open to the public for visitation; the remaining properties are private residences or are otherwise closed to the public.

Finding a Cohesive Narrative

In 1980, the Black Heritage Trail became recognized as the Boston African American National Historic Site, a national historical park separate from, but often associated with, the Boston National Historical Park.

When former President Jimmy Carter signed the bills that created the Boston African American National Historic Site (BOAF), the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, and the center for the study of African American history in Wilberforce, Ohio, he remarked, “If the truth is to set us free, we must study and to understand our own past and how it affects the present and future...I hope the preservation of these sites and the creation of this center will provide all Americans with a new source of knowledge and inspiration at the same time they give Black Americans new insights into their own roots”.⁹

Thus, since its inception, BOAF has been designed to appeal to all Americans and to highlight their shared history of slavery and the abolition movement.

The stories of America’s liberation from colonial rule that most people associate with Boston are familiar, patriotic and celebratory. The history of the abolitionist movement can be celebratory too, but it, of course, requires a discussion of American slavery, resistance to abolition, and racism- topics which are not as easily welcomed by merry vacationers. The trouble with discussing these difficult topics at BOAF are compounded by the park’s proximity to the Boston National Historical Park where visitors spend hours, or days, contemplating the greatness of their country; the stories associated with some of the darkest history of the country are a significant contrast.¹⁰ Boston’sthe attempt to address this issue of contradictory messages has been to try to sensitively connect the two similar, yet fundamentally different, struggles for liberation the city has seen in its history: the struggle for liberation from colonial rule, and the struggle for liberation from slavery.

In 2010, Cassius Cash was appointed superintendent of both the Boston National Historical Park and BOAF. Inspired after learning of fascinating history of the early abolitionist movement in the city, he made it a major focus of his agenda to connect the messages of the two parks and to increase awareness of the abolitionist movement in Boston. One of the first steps in achieving this goal was to complete the restoration of the African Meeting House, the site had been undergoing a restoration since 2005, but lack of funding had stalled the progress and left the building closed to the public.¹¹ Without this important site available for visitation, the Black Heritage Trail, the hallmark of BOAF, was less appealing to visitors. Together, Cash, the NPS, and officials at the Museum of African American History worked to secure a $4 million federal grant that allowed the project to be completed in 2011.¹²

Cash rebranded the Freedom Trail and Black Heritage Trail as “Boston’s Trails to Freedom”.ideologically linking together the parks as each describes a peoples’ fight for and journey to freedom. While each trail is discussed separately, visitors are encouraged to “experience both the Freedom Trail and the Black Heritage Trail on free tours led by National Park Service Rangers, or as self-guided”.¹³ In a further attempt to promote equality between the trails, the Black Heritage Trail’s two public sites, the Abiel Smith School and the African Meeting House, are presented along with the list of Freedom Trail sites on the display.¹⁴

Cash also reworked the starting point of the Black Heritage Trail,traditionally, the ranger-led tours would step off from the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial on Beacon and Park Streets, but by moving the starting point to the Visitor’s Center, Cash hoped to reduce confusion and attract more visitors.¹⁵ Aproposal to re-designate Boston National Historical Park and Boston African American National Historic Site as one park, Freedom National Historical Park, was sidelined when Cash left to become superintendent of Great Smokey Mountains National Park in 2015.¹⁶

One of the problems of equating the colonists struggle against the English government with African-Americans’ struggle against slavery is thatwhile colonists were upset about taxes and government, Black people were fighting for their very lives, for their children, and for autonomy over their own bodies. Though thematically similar, the struggles for liberty were very different, and had very different stakes. However, the connections are important in conveying a cohesive narrative between Boston’s two national parks.

Current Issues

Critics have complained that the Freedom Trail has grown stale, as the Revolutionary narrative can become far too familiar for those who are routinely exposed to it.¹⁷ Beacon Hill Historic District has traditionally been quite protective of the area. And indeed there have been two “battles for the bricks” in the neighborhood’s history.¹⁸Increased signage along the route in recent years has contributed to helping visitors follow the path, but a physically marked trail would certainly aid navigation.¹⁹ Additionally, because many sites along the Black Heritage Trail are private residences and are not open to the public, the trail relies on Rangers’ interpretive tours to give the history life. While this works out well during the summer months when tours run regularly, the tours either run once per day or are not offered at regular intervals for the majority of the year. One obvious remedy to this situation is to increase the number of off-season tours, but due to staffing shortages this is not always possible. Audio tours are available for digital download, but are not well advertised and are only accessible to limited audiences (i.e. those with “smartphones”).²⁰ The accessibility of Beacon Hill is also a major concern for the Black Heritage Trail. The cobbled brick sidewalks are often uneven, and the streets climb slopes so steep that sometimes even the most able-bodied visitors are left winded. While visitors are specifically warned to avoid driving the Black Heritage Trail, options involving Segways or even golf carts could be explored to help those whose mobility issues could prevent them from enjoying the trail.²¹

Conclusion

Important steps have thus far been made to connect the narratives of the Boston National Historical Park and the Boston African American National Historic Site The Black Heritage Trail and the Freedom Trail are presented to visitors as “Boston’s Trails to Freedom” a measure which encourages visitors to conceptualize the abolitionist movement as a fight for freedom in the same way that the colonists efforts to overthrow colonial rule was a fight for freedom. Every site along the Freedom Trail and the Black Heritage Trail must work to reinforce these connections to enslavement in their exhibits and presentations. Once these connections have been made, Boston National Historical Park and the Boston African American National Historic Site should be joined together as one national historical park. Only then will the stories of the abolitionist movement and the Patriot’s fight for independence be understood as parts of the same story; as America’s first and second revolutions.

1 “The Legacy Begins: Howard & Sue Bailey Thurman at Boston University,” The Howard Thurman & Sue Bailey Thurman Collections at Boston University, accessed April 20, 2017, http://hgar-srv3.bu.edu/web/howard-thurman/the-legacy-begins-howard-sue-bailey-thurman-at-boston-university.

2 Ibid.

3 “The Legacy Begins: Howard & Sue Bailey Thurman at Boston University,” The Howard Thurman & Sue Bailey Thurman Collections at Boston University. http://hgar-srv3.bu.edu/web/howard-thurman/the-legacy-begins-howard-sue-bailey-thurman-at-boston-university.

4 See, “Black Heritage Trail,” Museum of African American History: Boston and Nantucket, accessed April 20, 2017, http://old.maah.org/trail.htm, “Site 1: Robert Gould Shaw and 54th Regiment Memorial,” Museum of African American History: Boston and Nantucket, accessed April 20, 2017, http://old.maah.org/site1.htm, and “Site 6: Lewis and Harriet Hayden House,” Museum of African American History: Boston and Nantucket, accessed April 20, 2017, http://old.maah.org/site6.htm.

5 “Site 13: Abiel Smith School,” Museum of African American History: Boston and Nantucket, accessed April 20, 2017, http://old.maah.org/site13.htm.

6 Ibid.

7 “Site 14: African Meeting House,” Museum of African American History: Boston and Nantucket, accessed April 20, 2017, http://old.maah.org/site14.htm.

8 Ibid.

9 “Carter Signs Bills for King and Boston African American Historic Sites,” Jet Magazine, November 6, 1980, 13. Accessed at https://books.google.com/books?id=4EEDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3&source=gbs_toc&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false

10 A similar issue was explored by Carole Blair and Neil Michel on observing visitors reactions, or lack thereof to the Astronaut’s Memorial at Kennedy Space Center. Since these visitors had recently been to Disney World, they were not emotionally prepared to confront feelings of loss, and thus, did not engage with the memorial as researchers had expected, see Carole Blair and Neil Michel, “Commemorating in the Theme Park Zone: Reading the Astronaut’s Memorial,” in At the Intersection: Cultural Studies and Rhetorical Studies, ed. Thomas Rosteck (New York: Guilford Press, 1999).

11 Pamela Reynolds, “A Welcoming Renewal: The African Meeting House on Boston’s Beacon Hill is restored to its former elegance, simplicity, and warmth,” Design New England, January-Feburary 2012. Accessed http://old.maah.org/documents/DESIGNNE_AfricanMeetingHouse2012.pdf: 57.

12 Matchen, “Blazing the Other Freedom Trail,”.

13 Ibid.

14 Matchen, “Blazing the Other Freedom Trail,”.

15 Janelle Nanos, “Power of Ideas: Cassius Cash,” Boston Magazine, November 2014, accessed http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/article/2014/10/28/power-of-ideas-cassius-cash-superintendent-tw

16 See, for example, Brian MacQuarrie, "Freedom Trail is Fading Consultant Says Route Past City's Historic Sites Needs Overhaul to Draw Tourists," Boston Globe (Pre-1997 Fulltext), Jan 30, 1996. http://ezproxy.neu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.neu.edu/docview/290760580?accountid=12826, and Alfred F. Young, "THE TROUBLE WITH THE FREEDOM TRAIL," Boston Globe, Mar 21, 2004. http://ezproxy.neu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.neu.edu/docview/404881525?accountid=12826.

17 Sam Allis, "No Blast from the Past - Boston as a Tourist Destination is More Work than Fun," Boston Globe, Oct 28, 2007.

18 Ibid.

19 See National Register of Historic Places, Beacon Hill Historic District, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, National Register #66000130, 49.

20 See, National Park Service, “General Management Plan,” 27.

21 “Black Heritage Trail,” Museum of African American History: Boston and Nantucket, accessed April 20, 2017, http://old.maah.org/trail.htm.

22 The signage at the Faneuil Hall Visitors Center specifically states “We (the NPS) do not recommend trying to drive either the Freedom Trail or Black Heritage Trail”.

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