Old Webster Meeting House

Transcription

George Middleton had led the regiment, the Bucks of America in the American Revolution. In 1806, Middleton went to the Old South Meeting House and was asked by the other members of the congregation not to sit on the main floor. They no longer wanted African-Americans participating so visibly in the life of the church. So, Middleton, who lived about a block from this space on the north slope of Beacon Hill, and the other members of the black community in Boston which lived here on the north slope of the hill, organized their own meeting house, and in 1806 they built this building, the African Meeting House, on the north slope of Beacon Hill. And the African Meeting House became a centerpiece, a meeting place for the entire African-American population of Boston. It was a Baptist meeting house but it was open to all. In the basement, Prince Hall and his son Primos opened a school for black children. Meetings on every imaginable subject were held here, and lectures on every imaginable subject. And in 1831 William Lloyd Garrison stood at this podium and in this room organized the New England Anti-slavery Society, and he said that, "The words we speak here will shake the nation. Now we are a few, but Faneuil Hall will soon ring with this clause." Frederick Douglass spoke from this podium and in 1863, the 54th Massachusetts regiment was recruited in this building. So, the African Meeing House becomes a center place, a meeting place for Boston's black community from its inception in 1806. A school in the basement, a meeting house here, lectures, discussions, every issue of the day would be argued within these halls, including the issue of slavery, which is going to transform American society in the nineteenth century. This is the centerpiece of the anti-slavery movement in New England and in North America. Bob: So, Beverly Morgan Welch is the executive director of the Museum of African-American History, and she has welcomed us here today. Beverly, thank you for letting us come in and see the museum and the African Meeting House. Beverly: Always, Bob. Bob: Now what can you tell us about this space? What's your favorite story about the museum? Beverly: What is my favorite story? I suppose one of my favorites is of Frederick Douglass speaking at Tremont Temple, and a group of Boston gentlemen run him out of Tremont Temple. This is a speech that has to do with John Brown, it is a time when abolitionists, black and white, are coming together to talk about the raid on Harpers Ferry and Brown's subsequent hanging, and the care and nurture of his wife, and the struggle for freedom as it moves forward. And they are run out of Tremont Temple and come here to the meeting house to continue the meeting. And the Boston police hold off the crowd, and Douglas is here and he holds forth. Later on there are blacks who talk about this like John Jay Smith, who's on our Black Heritage Trail, and he says, "There is never a time that this meeting house was overrun. People knew better than to try to come in here," and it would have been a very bad scene. And once Douglas does that, they continue the meeting and talk about what is coming, what is inevitable, as in the Civil War. He then gives a speech in another locale about a week later, and talks about free speech and he says a few things that are important, not the least of which is, one, many have told him not to speak about this, because, as a black man let others address it. And he says, "I'm the one who's been denied speech, so I am the one to defend myself." This notion that black people should not speak on issues that involve race is not going to just stand with him, and he's quite eloquent about why. Secondly, he says that, let's be clear, this isn't a bunch of tough guys who did this act, it isn't a bunch of people who are whipped up by a wild politician, these are gentlemen. The same people who hold forth on Independence and the Constitution, and are the ones who are doing it. And finally, he also says that, "Free speech is also denying people the right to listen, and then the discourse that follows from that listening." So, that would be one of my favorite moments of not backing down. People see black people at that time and think that everyone must have been cowed and afraid, and it wasn't just that it was Douglas, it's the whole group of people who are gathered there, it's the people of this church, it's black and white abolitionists, and they will be heard.