The New Bedford Historical Society seeks to establish a solid base of research and programs that will make the contributions of people of color a part of the life and and history of the region as well as a part of the permanent, public record. In the process, the history of the region in general will become fuller, deeper, and richer for everyone.
Historical Society Participates in Creative Economy Roundtable
The evidence they gave provides an example of why we need multidimensional approaches when evaluating economic development spending. read full story
First Annual Sustainability Workshop for African American Historic Sites
On January 21, 2010, the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Northeast Office, in partnership with the John Nicholas Brown Center at Brown University and The 1772 Foundation, convened representatives from 24 African American sites, from Maine to Delaware, in Providence, Rhode Island for a two-day sustainability workshop. A diversity of places were represented, and the stories embodied in those places are truly, truly inspiring. These places included a former Negro league baseball stadium, Underground Railroad and abolitionist sites, extant cultural landscapes and historic resources from free Black communities, heritage trials, a slave quarter, the first African American meeting houses in the country, and sites representing jazz and vocal legends. Together these places represent the Northeast’s rich African American heritage and help to better our understanding of the Black experience in America. Click Here
City students discover slavery still exists
City middle school students are taking a page from the city’s abolitionist history to combat modern-day slavery.
Wednesday marks the 60th anniversary of the United Nation’s International Day for the Abolition of Slavery. To call attention to modern-day human trafficking and child labor, Roosevelt and Normandin middle schools are holding assemblies Wednesday morning as part of the Abolition Day Project.
Leading up to this day, students at the two middle schools have been learning how to make an argument for change, just as abolitionists did in New Bedford in the years leading up to the Civil War. read full story
Teaching a lesson on slavery
Slavery, often thought to be an ugly fact of the past, was at the forefront Wedneday at Roosevelt and Normandin middle schools.
Students and staff observed United Nations International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, declared 60 years ago to bring awareness to plight of the approximately 27 million people in the world languishing under modern day slavery.
“Slaves range from very young to adults,” read student Brooke Vinagre during Roosevelt’s Abolition Day assembly. “They get sold, auctioned off and are taken away from their families. Shockingly, slavery still exits in many parts of the world including Thailand, Pakistan, India, Albania and even the United States … A slave in America during the Civil War could cost upwards of $600. Today, a child slave can be purchased for as little as $30.” read full story
Tour of Underground Railroad landmarks reveals city’s abolitionist history
New Bedford celebrates Douglass in annual readathon
Before Carney and Douglass, there was Cuffe