Tag: Cambridge Black History Project

Wikipedia Highlights Black Cambridge

Posted on by cambridgehistoricalcommission

The Cambridge Black History Project in collaboration with the Cambridge Public Library invites you to come out and try your hand at editing and creating Wikipedia pages related to Cambridge Black History!

When: Wednesday, February 25th from 5:30pm-8:30pm
Where: Central Square Branch of the Cambridge Public Library (45 Pearl Street).

This event is free but registration is required. Please click HERE for more information and to register for the event. Once at the registration page click the blue “Begin Registration” button.

Barbara Ward Armstrong, a Cantabrigian and innovative artist whose life-sized African-inspired multi-textured fabric sculptures, called “soft sculptures,” redefined 20th century artforms.

All levels of experience are welcome! Join in on the fun and excitement of looking up information on Black Cantabrigians and beyond as we move to create Wikipedia pages that will highlight some local individuals. We will be adding to information on existing pages, creating new pages, finding reliable sources for others to use, and copyediting and formatting pages. The Central Square Branch offers resources from its Archives and Special Collections as well as its Black Voices Collections.

We are looking forward to seeing you on Wednesday, February 25 from 5:30pm – 8:30pm. 

Access information:

  • The library’s accessible entrance is available from Martin Luther King, Jr. Plaza
  • Public transit: the library located 1 block from the Central MBTA Red Line station
  • Street parking (metered) is available near the library.
  • Garage parking (paid) is available in the Green Street Garage.

African American Heritage Trail, Cambridge

Posted on by cambridgehistoricalcommission

The African-American community in Cambridge has a long, rich, and fruitful history. The roots of this community, much like the rest of the United States, are in the institution of slavery, which brought Black people from Africa and the Caribbean to New England soon after the Puritans settled. The small Black population of Cambridge became free in 1783, when the Supreme Court of Massachusetts decided to end legal chattel slavery in the state. This measure, combined with the general movement of southern Black people to the North in the 19th century and the attractive integrated school system, brought many Black families to Cambridge, expanding the African-American community. Over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth century, Cambridge saw a great variety of prominent African-American activists, officials, and leaders. Coming from all over America, these figures have contributed to the growth and empowerment of the Black communities in Cambridge, the United States, and even the entire world.

Cover of African American Heritage Trail, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2000)

We at the Cambridge Historical Commission invite you to explore the inspiring and unique stories of twenty of Cambridge’s most important Black leaders through our informational booklet, African American Heritage Trail, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2000), an accompanying text to our African American History Trail.

Selections from African American Heritage Trail, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2000), featuring entries of Pauline Hopkins and Harriet A. Jacobs.

Here, you’ll meet figures like Maria Louise Baldwin, headmaster of the Agassiz Grammar School in Cambridge and the first African American to hold such a position in the North. You’ll also learn about William Wells Brown, an escaped slave who became the first African American novelist, and Alberta V. Scott, the first African American graduate of Radcliffe College. With the aid of this guide, you can hear about and visit the locations where these abolitionists, authors, educators, and office holders lived, worked, and expanded their lives in Cambridge from 1840 to 1940. The guide contains the complete text of each historical marker, a map with key, and a brief history of African Americans in Cambridge.

Select pages from African American Heritage Trail, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2000) showing locations associated with featured historical figures.

To learn more, and obtain a copy of this publication for just $2, click here, email us at histcomm@cambridgema.gov, or visit our office at 831 Mass Ave in Central Square.