Margot Minardi
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195379372
- eISBN:
- 9780199869152
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195379372.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
This chapter examines how black Bay Staters in the 1850s strove to claim “manhood” and “citizenship” by representing themselves and their ancestors as agents in history. This endeavor was especially ...
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This chapter examines how black Bay Staters in the 1850s strove to claim “manhood” and “citizenship” by representing themselves and their ancestors as agents in history. This endeavor was especially pressing after 1850, when the Fugitive Slave Act made African Americans vulnerable to slave catchers, even on the professedly free ground of the North. In this context, Crispus Attucks, who had largely been forgotten in early national commemorations of the Revolutionary War, assumed his place as black America's finest example of patriotism and heroism. The leading figure in the effort to recover the agency of Attucks and other black patriots was William Cooper Nell, an abolitionist, integrationist, and historian who published The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution in 1855. This chapter interprets the revival of interest in black Revolutionary heroism in the context of the struggle for African American civil rights in Massachusetts, with particular attention to the effort to allow black men to serve in the militia.Less
This chapter examines how black Bay Staters in the 1850s strove to claim “manhood” and “citizenship” by representing themselves and their ancestors as agents in history. This endeavor was especially pressing after 1850, when the Fugitive Slave Act made African Americans vulnerable to slave catchers, even on the professedly free ground of the North. In this context, Crispus Attucks, who had largely been forgotten in early national commemorations of the Revolutionary War, assumed his place as black America's finest example of patriotism and heroism. The leading figure in the effort to recover the agency of Attucks and other black patriots was William Cooper Nell, an abolitionist, integrationist, and historian who published The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution in 1855. This chapter interprets the revival of interest in black Revolutionary heroism in the context of the struggle for African American civil rights in Massachusetts, with particular attention to the effort to allow black men to serve in the militia.
Margot Minardi
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195379372
- eISBN:
- 9780199869152
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195379372.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
The epilogue follows the commemoration of Crispus Attucks, Phillis Wheatley, and other Revolutionary‐era blacks through the Civil War and beyond. It also considers how William Cooper Nell's call for ...
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The epilogue follows the commemoration of Crispus Attucks, Phillis Wheatley, and other Revolutionary‐era blacks through the Civil War and beyond. It also considers how William Cooper Nell's call for black citizenship was — and was not — fulfilled in the formation of the Fifty‐fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in 1863. Drawing on the famous monument to the Fifty‐fourth and other post‐Civil War memorials in Boston, the epilogue assesses the ongoing significance of commemorative spaces and activities in Massachusetts.Less
The epilogue follows the commemoration of Crispus Attucks, Phillis Wheatley, and other Revolutionary‐era blacks through the Civil War and beyond. It also considers how William Cooper Nell's call for black citizenship was — and was not — fulfilled in the formation of the Fifty‐fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in 1863. Drawing on the famous monument to the Fifty‐fourth and other post‐Civil War memorials in Boston, the epilogue assesses the ongoing significance of commemorative spaces and activities in Massachusetts.
Kristin Waters
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- May 2022
- ISBN:
- 9781496836748
- eISBN:
- 9781496836731
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496836748.003.0014
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gender Studies
Maria Miller settles in Boston in time to witness the admiring open expressions of revolutionary ideals: Bunker Hill Day and the Fourth of July—the 1826 Jubilee of Freedom.
Maria Miller settles in Boston in time to witness the admiring open expressions of revolutionary ideals: Bunker Hill Day and the Fourth of July—the 1826 Jubilee of Freedom.
Richard Archer
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190676643
- eISBN:
- 9780190676674
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190676643.003.0012
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century, Political History
People of African descent in Boston continued to struggle for school integration in their city, despite stiff opposition from many in the white community. Their task was made more difficult because ...
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People of African descent in Boston continued to struggle for school integration in their city, despite stiff opposition from many in the white community. Their task was made more difficult because of splits within their own ranks. A majority of black Bostonians wanted to end segregation in all the city schools, but a vocal minority advocated keeping the black public schools while integrating the rest. Nonetheless, in 1855 the state legislature passed a law integrating all of the commonwealth's schools. Inadvertently, the bullying tactics of the South made the difference. The Fugitive Slave Law combined with the Kansas-Nebraska Act convinced many New Englanders that there was a Slave Power subverting their values and even their way of life. The Bay State's success inspired African Americans in southern New England to work for integration, particularly in Providence, Rhode Island.Less
People of African descent in Boston continued to struggle for school integration in their city, despite stiff opposition from many in the white community. Their task was made more difficult because of splits within their own ranks. A majority of black Bostonians wanted to end segregation in all the city schools, but a vocal minority advocated keeping the black public schools while integrating the rest. Nonetheless, in 1855 the state legislature passed a law integrating all of the commonwealth's schools. Inadvertently, the bullying tactics of the South made the difference. The Fugitive Slave Law combined with the Kansas-Nebraska Act convinced many New Englanders that there was a Slave Power subverting their values and even their way of life. The Bay State's success inspired African Americans in southern New England to work for integration, particularly in Providence, Rhode Island.
Richard Archer
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190676643
- eISBN:
- 9780190676674
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190676643.003.0014
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century, Political History
This epilogue examines the breakdown (but not the disappearance) of the struggle for equal rights after the Civil War. Reform-minded New Englanders dispersed in various directions. Some focused on ...
More
This epilogue examines the breakdown (but not the disappearance) of the struggle for equal rights after the Civil War. Reform-minded New Englanders dispersed in various directions. Some focused on the newly liberated freedmen to the south and on reconstructing that region. Others concentrated on such causes as women's rights, temperance, and labor. No one denied that forms of racism persisted in New England, but many shared Garrison's belief that the basic work for equal rights had been accomplished or soon would be and welcomed the opportunity to invest in their own lives. And some of the black leaders died far too soon. The book concludes with a brief examination of why New England was in advance of the rest of the nation in providing equal rights but far from an equal society.Less
This epilogue examines the breakdown (but not the disappearance) of the struggle for equal rights after the Civil War. Reform-minded New Englanders dispersed in various directions. Some focused on the newly liberated freedmen to the south and on reconstructing that region. Others concentrated on such causes as women's rights, temperance, and labor. No one denied that forms of racism persisted in New England, but many shared Garrison's belief that the basic work for equal rights had been accomplished or soon would be and welcomed the opportunity to invest in their own lives. And some of the black leaders died far too soon. The book concludes with a brief examination of why New England was in advance of the rest of the nation in providing equal rights but far from an equal society.
Richard Archer
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190676643
- eISBN:
- 9780190676674
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190676643.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century, Political History
Reform in all its various coats became somewhat more respectable, but most of all, African Americans were learning how to work the system and were taking the lead in fighting for equal rights. Black ...
More
Reform in all its various coats became somewhat more respectable, but most of all, African Americans were learning how to work the system and were taking the lead in fighting for equal rights. Black Rhode Islanders gained voting rights. Boston's African American community with significant white support kept George Latimer from being reenslaved and in the process prompted the creation of personal liberty laws in every New England state but Maine. By the mid-1840s all of New England north of Rhode Island and Connecticut, with the single exception of Boston, had integrated schools. Black communities with white allies and increasingly sympathetic towns and cities prevailed. That would not have happened in a white supremacist society. New England certainly had its white supremacists, but their number was small. White supremacists were racists, but racists were not necessarily white supremacists.Less
Reform in all its various coats became somewhat more respectable, but most of all, African Americans were learning how to work the system and were taking the lead in fighting for equal rights. Black Rhode Islanders gained voting rights. Boston's African American community with significant white support kept George Latimer from being reenslaved and in the process prompted the creation of personal liberty laws in every New England state but Maine. By the mid-1840s all of New England north of Rhode Island and Connecticut, with the single exception of Boston, had integrated schools. Black communities with white allies and increasingly sympathetic towns and cities prevailed. That would not have happened in a white supremacist society. New England certainly had its white supremacists, but their number was small. White supremacists were racists, but racists were not necessarily white supremacists.
