African American Patriots walking tour highlights Boston’s Black history

The Freedom Trail Foundation recently announced the return of their African American Patriots tour for the month of February. It will run every weekend in February.

The 90-minute walking tour will begin in the Boston Common with historic icon guides like Crispus Attucks and Phillis Wheatley as well as other 18th-century-inspired tour personages leading the way. Along with the added whimsy of the tour being led by a historical figure, the 2.5-mile trail features 16 historic sites that speak to the depth of Boston’s Black history.

“I think Boston and Massachusetts are really unique places in the way that they highlight African American history. Our organization is really known for focusing on the time around the American Revolution, and there are a lot of Bostonians, Black Bostonians, who lived and were active during the American Revolution,” said Catherine Benjamin, the foundation’s program manager. “So, we talk about Phillis Wheatley and how during that time her book of poetry was published, with one of our guides portraying Phillis Wheatley.”

The African American Patriots tour highlights Black individuals who championed equality and civil rights throughout the commonwealth, illuminating the points of Black history that aren’t traditionally taught in mainstream history curriculums.

“Another of our guides portrays Crispus Attucks, who is most well known for being the first person killed during the Boston Massacre. His movements started around him being the first martyr of the American Revolution in many people’s eyes. So, Crispus Attucks is a big figure in Boston’s history,” Benjamin said.

Actors portraying historical Black figures serve as tour guides on the African American Patriots tour. PHOTO: COURTESY FREEDOM TRAIL FOUNDATION

In addition to Attucks, others who are featured on the tour include Prince Hall and George Middleton. Hall, a former enslaved man, was an early abolitionist who founded Black Freemasonry in the United States. Hall lobbied for free and enslaved Black men to serve in the American colonial forces during the Revolution. Middleton was one of the African American soldiers who served on the Patriot side of the war. The house he built on Pinckney Street in Beacon Hill still stands and is one of the highlights of the tour.

The tour also enlightens participants about the role that the North, specifically Massachusetts, played in the transatlantic slave trade and domestic slavery. Many people are led to believe that the North was exclusively free for people of color during the Revolutionary War. However, that is a common misconception.

“There’s misconceptions around the institution of slavery in Boston as it existed and a lot of people who maybe traveling from other areas or have different access to education about American history might come to this area thinking that slavery wasn’t as prevalent in the North or it wasn’t really happening here,” said Benjamin, “and so something that we want to try to emphasize on these tours is breaking apart those misconceptions and bringing to light the fact that this actually was going on. Slavery was still very much a part of the timeline in Boston. Even though we’re amongst the earlier states to abolish slavery, the economic and social impact of it is still felt.”

Although Massachusetts, in 1783, was the second state to abolish slavery (following Pennsylvania’s decision in 1780), the commonwealth still participated in the slave trade. The  first ship of enslaved Africans arrived in Boston 1638 and by 1641, Massachusetts was among the first English colonies to legalize slavery.

The abolition of slavery in the North does not negate the history of Boston and the role that the city played in the institution of slavery. However, Boston’s involvement in slavery and the Revolutionary War is why the African American Patriots  is informative and different.

Although the African American Patriots tour is only offered in February, the Freedom Trail has a myriad of other tours available throughout the year. The foundation’s traditional Walk Into History tours are offered seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. all year, and if requested, each tour can be modified to place specific emphasis on Black history. 

The Freedom Trail Foundation also offers, upon request, the Revolutionary Women tour, the Historic Pub Crawl Private Tour, the Walk into History Reverse Tour, the North End Tour, the Historic Holiday Stroll, the Rainbow Revolutionaries Tour and the Lantern Tour.

As February, Black History Month, marks the return of the African American Patriots tour, the Freedom Trail Foundation looks forward to highlighting the rich Black history that originated in Boston by bringing Boston’s Black history to life.

“We are hoping that we’ll have great attendance for this tour. We’d encourage folks who are interested in booking the African American Patriots tour at other times of the year to reach out to us. If we see or hear from people that there is more demand for it as a more frequent tour, we’d love to try to meet that demand,” Benjamin said.