The Cambridge African American Heritage Alliance

2012 Calendar

Join us for a lecture at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education

• The CAAHA is co-sponsoring a lecture by Sydney Nathans, author of To Free a Family
  Thursday February 23, 7:00-9:00
  Cambridge Center for Adult Education 56 Brattle Street
  
  To Free a Family: The Journey of Mary Walker tells the remarkable story of Mary Walker, who in August 1848 fled her owner for refuge in the North and spent the next 17 years trying to recover her son and daughter. This story is anchored in two extraordinary collections of letters and diaries, that of her former North Carolina slaveholders and that of the northern family -- Susan and Peter Lesley -- who protected and employed her. The Lesleys purchased the Blacksmith House -- now part of the CCAE -- for her, where she, and then her children and grandchildren, lived from 1870-1912. Sydney Nathans' narrative reveals Mary Walker's remarkable persistence as well as the sustained collaboration of the black and white abolitionists who assisted her.
  
  The Cambridge Center for Adult Education asks for a $10 contribution to attend this lecture. For tickets to the lecture, please visit The Cambridge Center for Adult Education.
  

 

Mission

The mission of the Alliance is to illuminate the unique history and vital contributions of African Americans in Cambridge through the creation and dissemination of an historic trail, educational materials, and programs for residents and visitors.

History

Cambridge, Massachusetts, is home to one of the oldest African American communities in the nation and has long attracted African Americans of national prominence and influence. In 1990, then Vice-Mayor Kenneth Reeves sponsored a City Council resolution asking all the organizations that had been gathering and maintaining African American history to collaborate in the creation of an African American history trail. In response, over twenty representatives from local community organizations came together in early 1991 to form the Cambridge African American History Committee.

With the participation of Cambridge Discovery, then the city's tourist and resident information service, and the Cambridge Historical Commission, the city's preservation agency, the committee initiated an intensive search for materials on individuals and sites relating to the African American experience in Cambridge. The committee oversaw several researchers and curriculum development specialists. The project historian, Reverend Jeffrey Brown, and the staff of the Historical Commission worked together to refine the research and write the texts for twenty historical markers.

The Cambridge African American Heritage Trail Committee, which grew out of the History Committee, meets monthly to carry out its mission. With the assistance of Cambridge Discovery and the Cambridge Historical Commission, the committee has met monthly for the past16 years. In 2006, the committee voted to change the name to the Cambridge African American Heritage Alliance and developed by-laws.

Alliance members are residents of the city and other interested individuals and represent numerous public and private institutions and professions that are supportive of its efforts.

Meetings

Second Tuesday of the month, starting at 3:00 in City Hall

Contact

To join the Cambridge African American Heritage Alliance, get on our mailing list, or ask a question, please contact:

CAAHA@cambridgehistory.org

or

The Cambridge African American Heritage Alliance
P.O. Box 390327
Cambridge, MA 02139

Publications

Heritage Trail guide books are available for $2.00 plus shipping and handling.

To order, click here or stop by the offices of the Cambridge Historical Society or the Cambridge Historical Commission.

We also have a Teachers' Resource Guide. For use by Cambridge Teachers and programs at local schools throughout the year.

 

Web page hosted by The Cambridge Historical Society