It’s time to Raise History’s Voice!

We’re delighted to kick off our campaign, Raising History’s Voice, to help spread the word about 17th century New England’s history and, specifically, the work we’re doing at the Partnership of Historic Bostons. If you believe in bold, rigorous and honest history, let your voice be heard!

From now until 23 April, post about us on your social media, tell your friends and neighbours, ask your local history society to promote us and #RaisingHistorysVoice.

We’re looking for a burst of enthusiasm - whether that’s donations, new volunteers, or just curiosity. Help us by adding your voice to Raising History’s Voice!

There’s never been a more important time to stand up for the whole picture of New England’s history - and therefore, in large part, of what became the United States. When books are being banned and the administration calls for for “truth and sanity” in history and an end to history that might “disparage” the US, we’re committed to telling the whole story - from genocidal wars to slavery to North America’s first bill of rights and the start of representative government.

Add your voice - keep real history alive!

What’s the other side of the ideal Puritan village?

The death of 21-year-old Simeon, an enslaved man born and raised in the household of the Rev. Israel Loring of Sudbury, was, as the minister recorded in his diary, a source of deep grief to the family. Simeon, Loring wrote, “was greatly beloved and his death has drowned us in tears.” His wife suffered such distress that she took to her bed. Simeon’s funeral was attended by much of Sudbury’s church congregation.

Yet, as Jane Sciacca, author of Enslavement in the Puritan Village, a new and important investigation into slavery in this storied Massachusetts town, points out, emotional attachment did not mean equality. Loring only freed Simeon the month before his death. At a time when slavery was legal in Massachusetts, enslavers enjoyed the same control over them as over their horses or cattle.

This sort of history has been, until recently, largely unknown. You can watch the recording of Jane’s presentation, read an excerpt in our blog, or buy her book at a discount, here. But history like Enslavement in the Puritan Village, which reveals a hidden story based on decades of painstaking research, could now be under threat.

In February, the US Department of Education wrote to American educational institutions, schools and universities advising them of new guidelines against education based on the “false premise that the United States is built upon ‘systemic and structural racism’” and discrimination.

And, as of March 27, a new presidential executive order entitled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” condemns what it calls the effort to “replac[e] objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology…[which] seeks to undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States by casting its founding principles… in a negative light.” The order is principally aimed at the Smithsonian Institute, but it also intends to “restore truth in American history” by ensuring that public monuments, statues, markers and memorials on federal land do not “disparage” the American past or present but “instead focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people.”

What does all this mean? Do we have to convey a “patriotic” history that is, in essence a cheerleader and erases what’s inconvenient about the past - the Pequot War, for instance, or the legalisation of slavery in 1641? It’s not yet clear, but we in the Partnership of Historic Bostons will continue to bring you scholarship from the 17th and 18th century. We know that history which tells the whole story, warts and all, is the only truly honest and accurate history.