The Greek Revival architecture of the American one-room school is a symbolic reflection of our national democratic ideals. More than one hundred and fifty years ago reformers and educators began to claim that the schoolhouse was fundamental to the education of our nation’s young. One of the most prominent school reformers of the nineteenth-century, Henry Bernard, stated that “Every schoolhouse should be a temple, consecrated in prayer to the physical, intellectual, and moral culture of every child in the community and be associated in every heart with the earliest and strongest impression of truth, justice, patriotism and religion.” By the 1820’s, our nation’s emerging prominence as a democratic republic coupled with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution helped to create the conditions which led to the common school movement. In the three decades before the Civil War, Americans looked to Ancient Greece as their inspiration. [Read More]
We are compiling a list of one-room schools in Massachusetts (which included Maine prior to 1820), by adding photos and/or any other relevant information. We began through outreach to both Essex and Middlesex counties but have since expanded our search statewide. Help add to the list of one-room schools by sharing your knowledge. If you know of the existence of any of these one-room schools, please let us know. Feel free to use the list of questions to the right as a guide.
Slave Gravestones in Massachusetts
The History of Slavery in Massachusetts
It would be impossible to understand what life was like for late 18th- and early 19th-century African Americans in Massachusetts without some knowledge of the history of slavery in Massachusetts. Even after slavery officially ended in Massachusetts by the 1780s there were still laws that enforced segregation in Massachusetts, including restrictions on railroad travel, inter-racial marriage and in schools. In 1822 the Massachusetts Legislature commissioned a report to revisit the never enforced 1788 Massachusetts Law restricting Blacks from other states from migrating to Massachusetts. This 1822 report provides an interesting and concise history of slavery in Massachusetts. We’ve digitized and transcribed the report here and highlighted some of the main points here. There is a much more detailed account of slavery in Massachusetts written in 1887 by Beverly’s Robert Rantoul entitled “Negro Slavery in Massachusetts”. We’d also like to offer you a searchable finding aid to the 1754 Massachusetts Slave Census.
For many men and women who lived as slaves, all we know of them are epitaphs inscribed on gravestones. But sometimes, there are records available at local, state and federal institutions that allow us to describe them in a way that allows us to better imagine what their lives were like. Read the story of Salem Poor as an extraordinary example. For a great model on how one might go about doing this for others, see Christine Comiskey’s research on Cuffee Dole.
We began with outreach to Essex and Middlesex counties, but have since expanded our search to the state of Massachusetts (as well as Maine as it was part of Massachusetts before 1820). Help add to the list of slave gravestones by city or town. If you know of slave gravestones in your area, please let us know. We are looking for photos as well as transcribed inscriptions. Feel free to use the list of questions to the right as a guide.
Andover
Beverly
Georgetown
Amesbury
Andover
Beverly
Boxford
Danvers
Essex
Georgetown
Gloucester
Groveland
Hamilton
Haverhill
Ipswich
Lawrence
Lynn
Lynnfield
Manchester by the sea
Marblehead
Merrimac
Methuen
Middleton
Nahant
Newbury
Newburyport
- Fortune Dalton
North Andover
Peabody
Rockport
Rowley
Salem
Salisbury
Saugus
Swampscott
Topsfield
Wenham
West Newbury
Poorhouses and Workhouses in Massachusetts
Help add to this list of Poorhouses and Workhouses by city or town! We have started by adding documents from poorhouses from towns in Essex County and Middlesex County. If you know of any in Massachusetts (including Maine, as Maine was part of Massachusetts until 1820), please let us know. Feel free to use the list of questions to the right as a guide.