BOSTON
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EXHIBITS
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MUSEUM STORE
| The Museum of African American History is dedicated to preserving,
conserving and accurately interpreting the contributions of African
Americans in New England from the colonial period through the
19th century. |
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Freedom Rising Exhibit
On View Through December 2013
The Museum of African American History commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment, the first black soldiers from the north to serve in the American Civil War, through Freedom Rising in 2013. A new exhibition and yearlong programming, including lectures, concerts, Teacher Summer Institutes and children’s events in celebration of the roles of Boston’s black and white abolitionists in these monumental historic events.
This exhibit and related events, all under the Freedom Rising banner, will highlight and deepen the discussion of this amazing abolitionist, military and political history. The Museum’s efforts are part of a larger initiative featuring an international conference organized with Harvard University’s W.E.B. DuBois Institute, the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, the Houghton Library, the Radcliffe Institute, and the National Park Service, Boston African American National Historic Site.
On December 31, 2012 the Handel and Haydn Society performed a special First Night concert in the Meeting House on the eve of the Sesquicentennial of President Abraham Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation. The Museum also won sponsorship through the Lowell Lecture Series for six lectures, each featuring noted scholars, leading historians, or outstanding orators. The lectures, which began in January and continue through June, are free and open to the public and the Freedom Rising festivities continue throughout the year. <more>
Freedom Rising Exhibit Highlights
Freedom Rising commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and the first black troops from the north in the Civil War. Come see two newly acquired sculptures just added to our collection and other rare items. Join us for Freedom Rising events throughout the year <more>.
CREDITS: Home page cartes-de-visite: 54th Massachusetts Regiment Sergeant Major John H. Wilson (23); Co. G.; married, painter from Cincinnati, Ohio. Joined 14 April 1863; wounded 18 July 1863 Ft. Wagner. Museum of African American History. Events page cartes-de-visite: Henry A. Monroe (1845-1913), 54th Massachusetts Regiment Drummer Boy; Company C: (18); single from New Bedford. Joined 25 Feb 1863; discharged 20 Aug. 1865. Museum of African American History.
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Now through the end of February, 2013
 The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
and Signs of Freedom
This new installation celebrates the life and legacy of Dr. King and other heroes of the Civil Rights Movement. Poignant scenes captured by Memphis photographer Ernest Withers include protest signs from the Civil Rights era and powerful broadsides from the Abolitionist Movement recall incredible campaigns for human liberty. These visible signs are reminders of organized peaceful resistance, including sit-ins, freedom rides, strikes, boycotts, marches and other actions to acquire citizenship rights.
Signs of Freedom is a prelude to Freedom Rising, a yearlong exhibit and programming commemorating the Sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation and of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment, the first black soldiers from the north to serve in the Civil War.
Dr. King asserted that two documents are essential to the nation, American identity and this democracy. The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, provided the foundation for freedom from Great Britain and national ideals.
The Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863, declared all persons enslaved in states in rebellion free.
CREDITS: Photo: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rev. Ralph Abernathy (Montgomery, Alabama, 1956) ride on one of the first desegregated buses after the Montgomery Bus Boycott. ©Ernest C. Withers Family Trust, courtesy of Decaneas Archive, Boston, Massachusetts. Broadside: Courtesy of Boston Public Library.
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"The Color of Baseball in Boston," tells little-known stories about players of color and teams who distinguished themselves from the 1800s through the mid 1900s. The exhibit celebrates Boston’s long and proud tradition of amateur and semi-professional blackball. In the years following the American Civil War, baseball grew in popularity in Boston and around the nation. During the 19th and early 20th century, blacks and whites played baseball together on the same teams, while there also were teams comprised soley of men of color.
EXHIBIT HIGHLIGHTS:
Among the treasures featured in the exhibit are Will "Cannonball" Jackman‘s uniform, recently conserved; newspaper articles and cartoons; a base signed by Red Sox players for Jackie Robinson Day 2006; baseball cards and antique baseball equipment; as well as rare images of players and teams, including Ernest Withers' photographs of the Negro League Memphis Red Sox.
ABOUT CANNONBALL: 
When Will "Cannonball" Jackman rose to prominence in the 1920s, major league teams were banned fromcontracting with players of color, but Boston baseball fans regarded him as the region's greatest pitcher and top attraction. Pitching for more than 30 years for teams like the Boston Monarchs, Boston’s Philadelphia Giants, and the Boston Colored Giants, Jackman recalls pitching more than 1,200 games and played his last game at the age of 56. On July 14, 1971, dignitaries, including Mayor Kevin White and former Boston Celtics’ star “Satch” Sanders, joined fans and friends for the City of Boston's tribute to Cannonball. He played a celebratory game at Carter Field in the South End.
"The Color of Baseball in Boston" is a new exhibition that sheds light on early American sports history and commemorates the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park.
Don't miss this unique collection of photographs and equipment of the day, including the uniform of
Will "Cannonball" Jackman, referred to as the:
"Best Ballplayer You Have Never Heard Of."
Will "Cannonball" Jackman at bat and uniform Photo: 1971 Courtesy of the Cannonball Foundation,
West Newton Colored Giants Photo: 1936 Courtesy of Historic Newton
Click here for a preview of things to come.
View exhibit related events.
Admissions / Directions
Museum entrance fees apply.
Accessible for all.
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Portraits of Purpose:
A Tribute to Leadership
Boston 1980-2012
By
Don West
46 Joy Street, Beacon Hill, Boston
Open Thru April 15, 2012 |
Beverly Morgan-Welch
Ruth Batson
Colin Powell
Gail Snowden
Marita Rivero
Nelson Mandela |
Don West
During the 18th and 19th centuries, Boston was a leader among Northern communities of color. Black Bostonians traveled and interacted with leaders nationally and internationally. They were entrepreneurs, educators, artists, authors, activists, elected officials, and patriots. This tradition continues. Leaders and citizens in Boston’s communities of color have continued to lead and form institutions that have proved critical to the fabric of this city. Their activism, community involvement, and commitment have led to a better Boston and a better world.
A selection of these dedicated citizens is represented in Don West’s Portraits of Purpose, a collection of life-sized photographs. Portraits of Purpose gives us an understanding of the many people of Boston and beyond who have acted their conscience… and made a difference. Their history will not be forgotten.
Don West, noted Boston photographer, has been photographically recording the events and the people in Boston for over 35 years. He began his career as a freelance and news photographer, making a conscious choice to capture affirmative images of people of color in all facets of community life. In the 1980s he worked for United Press International and Boston’s black weekly paper, the Bay State Banner. West has since gone on a host of assignments with major newspapers and magazines such as the Boston Globe, New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Ebony, People and Black Enterprise.
His passion as a photographer has been to capture the unique spirit of people at work, with their families, and in struggle for what they believe. His editorial and documentary assignments have taken him throughout the United States, Latin America, Africa, China, Europe, and the Middle East.
His proudest moments in Boston were serving as the photographer for Nelson Mandela when he first visited Boston after release from prison in South Africa (1990), and as an official photographer for Mel King’s historic “Rainbow Coalition” mayoral campaign in Boston (1983).
Don says, “The camera was a way to discover my own identity.”
For more information,
please contact
Chandra Harrington at
617-725-0022 ext. 212
Or by email at
charrington@maah.org
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Immediate Past Exhibit
Treasures from the Collections
of the Museum of African American History |
Treasures from the Collections is an enlightening glimpse into the collections of the Museum of African American History and fascinating early African American domestic, cultural and activist life in New England. The Museum has gathered over 3,500 items in its diverse collections. First and foremost are its historic sites including National Historic Landmarks, but there are many more objects hidden in the Museum’s storage facilities. Treasures from the Collections provides an exciting and rare opportunity to view some of the most interesting art, documents and material culture collected over more than 40 years. This exhibition presents primary source documents including an 1834 city record of funding for Boston’s “African Schoolhouse” and an 1848 bill of sale for an enslaved boy named Tom; formal photographic portraits by Hamilton Sutton Smith; works by African American women sculptors, Edmonia Lewis, Meta Warrick Fuller and Elizabeth Catlett; hand-crafted and porcelain black dolls; and marvelous art from Allan Crite’s vibrant painting of Smith Court on Beacon Hill to Henry Ossawa Tanner’s etching of a gateway in Morocco.
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For more information,
please contact
Chandra Harrington at
617-725-0022 ext. 212
Or by email at
charrington@maah.org
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Featured Past Exhibit
The Life and Times of
Congressman Robert Smalls |
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Congressman Robert Smalls |
46 Joy Street
Beacon Hill, Boston
In a courageous and well planned action during the Civil War, Robert Smalls and three other enslaved men along with their families escaped captivity. They commandeered a Confederate ship, the Planter, in Charleston Harbor! Posing as the ship's captain and crew, they passed Confederate checkpoints by giving the correct signals and sailed to the safety of the Union forces blockading Fort Sumter. Smalls went on to serve in both houses of the South Carolina Legislature and five terms in the United States Congress.
For more information, please contact
Chandra Harrington at
617-725-0022 ext. 212
Or by email at
charrington@maah.org
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Featured Past Exhibit
From Iowa to the White House:
Historic Photographs of
President Barack Obama
President Barack Obama
These historic photographs shed light upon the process by which President Barack Obama achieved this nation's highest office. The exhibition not only celebrates the historic election of the first black President of the United States, it also honors the organizational prowess, business and political acumen, and cohesion and courage of the early community of black Bostonians whose efforts helped to make this achievement possible.
Read the photographer's perspective on these historic photographs.
For more information,
please contact
Chandra Harrington at
617-725-0022 ext. 212
Or by email at
charrington@maah.org
See Profiles in Color interview with
Derrick Z. Jackson
View Program @
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Featured Past Exhibit
The Smithsonian in Boston.
Sarah Vaughan
Josef Breitenbach(1896-1984)
1950 National Portrait Gallery
Smithsonian Institution
For the first time ever, the Smithsonian Institution comes to the Museum of African American History. Stay tuned for this powerful traveling exhibit of portraits featuring 69
images of African American leaders over 150 years.
The theme was inspired by the words of Henry Highland Garnet, abolitionist, editor and clergyman. In 1843, Garnet addressed the National Convention of Colored Citizens.
“…Rather die freemen than live to be slaves…Let your motto be Resistance!
Resistance! RESISTANCE”…What kind of resistance you…make you must decide by the circumstances that surround you…”
Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits, organized by the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the National Portrait Gallery, in collaboration with the International Center of Photography and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service.
The exhibition, national tour, and catalogue were made possible by a generous grant from our lead sponsor, MetLife Foundation. Additional support was provided by The Council of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
 
Exhibition Credits
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