Ellen Garrison: Concord’s Young 19th Century African Activist (Caesar Robbins’ Granddaughter)
In 1835, Concord bicentennial was held, and the night before, the teacher of public school asked all the children who wanted to walk in the procession to stand. “All arose but one colored girl, a good scholar, and belonging to a respectable family. The teacher asked her if she would not like to go. She [...]
Who Was Caesar Robbins and Why Is His House So Special?
This humble house is a link and a witness to some of the most important and real history that we have. It is the only standing house built by an early African resident of Concord. It in, we have been given a unique gift : the opportunity to create a center where we can teach these stories to our youth and the visitors from across the US and the Globe who come to Concord each year.
Cuming, Freeman live on
For the first 150 years of its existence, Concord was a slave town. Its doctors, lawyers, merchants, and ministers relied on slaves to grow their food and tend to their increasingly elaborate wardrobes and domestic furnishings. Slavery allowed these town leaders to pursue professions away from their plows and appear on the colonial stage as gentlemen.
Mary Rice, ‘a little old gentlewoman’
by Polly Attwood
Editor’s note: The following is part of a series from the Drinking Gourd Project, dedicated to preserving the Caesar Robbins house as an educational center for the untold stories of Concord’s early Africans, abolitionists and other civil liberties advocates.
Many residents and visitors to Concord know the story of John Jack, whose grave can [...]
Inside the Bigelow House
by Liz Clayton
Editor’s note: The following commentary is part of a series from the Drinking Gourd Project, dedicated to preserving the Caesar Robbins house as an educational center for the untold stories of Concord’s early Africans, abolitionists and other civil liberties advocates.
Dressed in her hoop skirt, scarf and shawl, Rosa Hallowell set out tea cups [...]
Concord Female Anti-Slavery Society Members
Members included:
Mrs. D. Gerrish, President
Miss Helen Louisa Thoreau, Vice President & Founding Member
Thoreau’s sister
The Thoreau home was a haven for fugitive slaves.
(1812–1849)
Mrs. Tewksbury, Treasurer
Mrs. Mary Brooks, Secretary & Founding Member
“Perfectly fearless” Mary Merrick Brooks, wife of Concord lawyer Nathan Brooks, was the cornerstone of the Concord anti-slavery efforts and she corresponded quite frequently [...]