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Upcoming Event: The Annual Fall Program
Enslaved Individuals Buried in Brookline’s Old Burying Ground
A presentation by historian Katherine Hendrick about her research into the enslaved individuals buried in Brookline’s Old Burying Ground
Sunday, November 17, 2024, 2:00 PM
Hendrick is a 2023 graduate of Boston University’s bachelor and masters degree program in archaeology. Her thesis centered on burial grounds used by enslaved and free individuals and highlighted the threats these sites face both legally and physically. Her recent research was funded by The Friends of the Old Burying Ground. Hendrick brings passion and commitment to her scholarship.
Lyon Chapel at the First Parish in Brookline 382 Walnut Street, Brookline The Old Burying Ground, at the corner of Walnut and Chestnut Streets, was founded in 1717. It contains hundreds of grave-stones as well as several tombs - many bearing the names of the white landowners of early Brookline. But there are burials also known to have taken place of enslaved, free Black, and Indigenous individuals that lack any current markers. This omission was noted in 2009 when, mainly through the efforts of the Hidden Brookline Committee, an engraved stone marker was prominently embedded in the exterior wall of the Old Burying Ground. It reads in part: "Buried within the walls of this cemetery lie the remains of Adam..., Kate, Hagar, Venus, Seco, Felix, Boston, Dinah, Charles, and Ben Boston and other slaves of African descent who lived in Brookline and whose names are not known to us." The Friends of the Old Burying Ground is a nonprofit organization of volunteers dedicated to the preservation and restoration of Brookline’s Old Burying Ground. The FOBG partners with Brookline’s Parks and Open Space Division. The Old Burying Ground President Ken Liss Blogs on Brookline Past & Present
Amateur Photography in 19th Century Brookline The May 6, 1882 edition of the Brookline Chronicle included a list of 33 books recently added to the collection at the Brookline Library. There were books of history, fiction, science, and travel.
"Anyone who has undertaken to be his own photographer will... |