NEWBURYPORT – During the American Revolution, the word freedom had different meanings to the colonists, depending on the color of their skin.
When the first shots were fired by the scrappy colonists 250 years ago to begin the American Revolution, Newburyport was already a thriving maritime community. But among its citizens, white people often characterized themselves as “slaves” of King George and the British Parliament, while black residents yearned to be free of not just the British, but also their American masters.
“I need not point out the absurdity of your exertions for liberty, while you have slaves in your houses,” former slave Caesar Sarter wrote.
Hundreds of thousands of African American colonists, about 20 percent of the entire population, were enslaved. In Newburyport, Black voices spoke up forcefully for their liberty and equality amid the revolutionary fervor and helped turn the tide in Massachusetts against slavery.
This paradox and promise for black Newburyporters during the Revolution will be the subject of a panel discussion as part of the “Newburyport Road to Revolution” program, organized by the Museum of Old Newbury and the Custom House Maritime Museum for the nation’s 250th anniversary.
The panel will gather at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 8 at the Newburyport City Hall auditorium.
Panelists will include Dr. Kabria Baumgartner, Dean’s Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies at Northeastern University; Tricia Peone, Project Director of New England’s Hidden Histories at the Congregational Library & Archives; and Geordie Vining, Newburyport’s Senior Project Manager. Baumgartner and Vining, along with Cyd Raschke are the founders of the Newburyport Black Initiative.
Tickets are available at: https://tinyurl.com/blacknewburyport.
Two days later, there will be a walking tour on the First Parish Burial Ground on state Rte. 1A in Newbury. Beginning at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 10, meet the first families of Newbury and Newburyport, the soldiers, sailors and residents who helped shaped the Revolution.
The tour is funded in part by the Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism.
Want to fire a Revolutionary War-era musket? You can on Thursday, May 22 when there will be a program, entitled Powder and Shot, that will include a musket drill outside the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 66 High St., Newburyport.
The program from 7 to 8:30 p.m. will feature Joel Bohy, a Revolutionary War weapons expert, who will lead an exploration of the muskets, swords and accouterments carried during the earliest days of the American Revolution. Included will be notable items from the Museum of Old Newbury collection.
Bohy is the director of Historic Arms & Militaria at Blackstone Valley Auctions and a frequent appraiser of Arms and Militaria on the PBS-TV series Antiques Roadshow. He is also an active member of the American Society of Arms Collectors, the Company of Military Historians, The Colonial Society of Massachusetts, an instructor for Advanced Metal Detecting for the Archeologist and an advisory board member of American Veterans Archaeological Recovery.
The Road to Revolution will close with a lecture at the Firehouse Center for the Arts at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 18 by historian Alexander Cain on Bunker Hill: Heroes and Cowards. Troops from Newburyport played a significant role – for good and ill. “While some local commanders distinguished themselves, others were disgraced, drawing the ire of General George Washington.
The Battle of Bunker Hill was transformative for Newburyport, testing the mettle of the rebels, and setting the scene for the brutal years ahead. Cain will use never-before-seen records and objects from the Museum of Old Newbury to explain how Newburyport and Essex County residents experienced this bloody encounter and its aftermath. ♦
