What-To-Do Wednesday - Virtual Visits: The Black Heritage Trail

If you are in an area that is still in the process of opening up and there aren't many (or any) museums and attractions in your area open for visits yet, you can still get your dose of culture. Many museums and other attractions offer a variety of virtual exhibits. This is an especially great time to explore museums and attractions that are outside of your area and maybe even outside of your country that you ordinarily would not be able to get to because of time and/or money constraints. We are doing so as well, and we have been sharing our virtual visits in our weekly What-To-Do Wednesday posts. We we will continue to do so until we can return to our regular Where-To-Go Wednesday posts. 

What: Black Heritage Trail Tour 

Physical Location: Tour starts at The Robert Gould and 54th Regiment Memorial            
                                 (across from the Massachusetts State House which is located
                                 at 24 Beacon Street, Boston, MA)

Explore the history of  the Beacon Hill area of Boston's 19th century free African American community with a virtual Black Heritage Trail Tour.

Here are only a few of the places you will virtually visit on this tour:

The Robert Gould and 54th Regiment Memorial (see above) - This monument to the first black regiment formed following the Emancipation Proclamation was one of sixteen public art works in the area vandalized during the recent protests 

The Phillips School - Originally a school for white children only, the Phillips School became one of the first integrated schools in Boston.

The Lewis and Harriet Hayden House - Lewis Hayden, an escaped slave himself, was a very active and militant abolitionist. He and his wife regularly took in and cared for self-emancipated men and women in their home boarding house.

The African Meeting House - A gathering place for meetings and/or  celebrations of all kinds welcomed many of the leading activists of the time including Frederick Douglass. Prior to integration the first floor of the building was a school for African American children. 

Here are some of the people you will learn about on this tour in addition to Lewis and Harriet Hayden who are mentioned above:

Sergeant William Carney - Due to his efforts to save the American flag from capture by the Confederate army at Fort Wagner despite being wounded in battle, he became the first African American to earn a Congressional Medal of Honor.

Elizabeth Smith - Her father, John J. Smith was an abolitionist and more, and she was one of the first African Americans to teach in a Boston integrated school. 

William Cooper Nell - He was a leader in the fight for equal school rights for all children regardless of race.

To learn more or to take the tour yourself, go to artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/the-black-heritage-trail-%C2%AE/wQJi32eLUZggIg.

Tune in tomorrow for Theater Thursday.

photo credit: Onasill ~ Bill - 71.8M Robert Gould Shaw Memorial ~ Boston Massachetts ~ Historical Memorial ~ My Old Photo via photopin (license)