Black heritage trip
Claire/ Shen Mengjie
July 11, 2010
It is an extremely hot Friday that we started the black heritage trip. This trip is for exploring African American in Boston that lived in ninetieth century. At that time African American in Boston lived in the west of the city, which is the north sloop Beacon Hill, where we started our trip. Their ancestors are African who were be send to Boston as slaveries. Well, after America revolution the African’s status changed a lot and the architectures that we saw in the trip are the places that are significance to those African American.
In the trip we do presentation in each place. My topic is George Middleton House. The original owners of the house are George Middleton and Louis Glapion who are liveryman and hairdresser. George was veteran in America revolution called “colonel” and led “chuck of American” that company is all African American people. His house looks beautiful and in front of windows planted some plant.
Another place interested me is The Philips School that is a typical ninetieth century schoolhouses. This is a special school that not every one can attend in this school, only for white children can had the permission to join the school. And African American child who lived nearby the school can not attend the school before the legislative abolished segregates schools. And then Philips school became to a one of the first interracial school in Boston.
A visit to the John Coburn House
ReplyDeleteOn July 9th, I visited the John Coburn House with my group mates. This house is a famous scenery spot on the Black Heritage Trail.
Located at 2 Philips Street on Beacon Hill in Boston, the house looks very common and even unattractive when I was first standing in front of John Coburn House, because there is no much difference between John Coburn house and its surrounding houses. However, the John Coburn House and its first owner have an important role and unusual history in African American abolitionist movement.
John P. Coburn was born in Boston in about 1811.He was a clothes dealer and community activist. He was one of Boston’s wealthiest 19th century African Americans. His primary business was a Brattle Street clothes shop. In 1845 Coburn was the treasurer of the New England Freedom Association. This group was founded by Boston African American leaders in 1842 as a fugitive slave assistance group.
Later in the 1850s, Coburn was co-founder and captain of the Massasoit Guards, a black military company. They named themselves after a Native American who had been especially kind and loyal to colonists of Massachusetts. As evidenced by the attitudes of African American soldiers in the American Revolution and the Civil War, military service was considered an opportunity to demonstrate one’s manhood and to claim the rights of American citizenship.
This house was the second owned by Coburn on Beacon Hill and it was designed for him by the famous architect Asher Benjamin between 1943 and 1844. Coburn, his wife Emmeline, and their adopted son Wendell lived there until John Coburn died in 1873.
I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to know this house and its owner and understand some early African American abolitionist movements by this trip.