HIDDEN BROOKLINE
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    • Slavery & Slave Owners
    • Map of Slave Owners' Property 1746
    • The Broad View: Intertwining Native Lives, Colonization and Slavery
    • List of Enslavers & Enslaved
    • What Slave Names Meant
    • Controversy Over a School Name: Devotion & Ridley
    • The Heath Family, the Heath School, and Slavery
    • The 3 Enslaved People Who Saved Thousands
    • 21st c. honors the enslaved
  • Lives of the Enslaved
    • Lives of the Enslaved
    • Enslaved Brookline men escape
    • Underground Railroad
  • Making Freedom
    • Florida Ruffin Ridley, Leader For Equality
    • Overcoming discrimination
    • Justice seekers
    • Restorative justice programs
  • Recommended Reading
  • About Us
    • Tours and Events
  • Home
  • Slavery & Slave Owners
    • Slavery & Slave Owners
    • Map of Slave Owners' Property 1746
    • The Broad View: Intertwining Native Lives, Colonization and Slavery
    • List of Enslavers & Enslaved
    • What Slave Names Meant
    • Controversy Over a School Name: Devotion & Ridley
    • The Heath Family, the Heath School, and Slavery
    • The 3 Enslaved People Who Saved Thousands
    • 21st c. honors the enslaved
  • Lives of the Enslaved
    • Lives of the Enslaved
    • Enslaved Brookline men escape
    • Underground Railroad
  • Making Freedom
    • Florida Ruffin Ridley, Leader For Equality
    • Overcoming discrimination
    • Justice seekers
    • Restorative justice programs
  • Recommended Reading
  • About Us
    • Tours and Events
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uncovering the hidden history of slavery and freedom in brookline

Early colonists forced the Wampanoag off the land. 
Slavery in Brookline became common, ordinary and brutal.
Against steep odds, enslaved people found ways to assert their humanity; a few self-emancipated.
When slavery ended, the struggle for justice continued.
New leaders arose.
Florida Ruffin Ridley was one of them. A school is now named in her honor. 



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Our goal is to build public understanding of the history of slavery and of freedom in Brookline. Established in 2006, the Hidden Brookline Committee brings together people who want to work on existing projects or create new programming.
 
Hidden Brookline serves under the Town’s Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Community Relations. We often partner with other Brookline organizations. Barbara Brown, Ph.D., founded and chairs the Committee and has carried out most of its research.

discover our research:

FLORIDA RUFFIN RIDLEY, LEADER FOR EQUALITY
SLAVERY AND SLAVE OWNERS
RECOMMENDED READING
CONTROVERSY OVER A SCHOOL NAME
THE THREE ENSLAVED PEOPLE WHO SAVED THOUSANDS
NAMES OF ENSLAVERS AND THE ENSLAVED
Try this quick quiz on slavery & freedom in Brookline:

1.     Was Massachusetts the 1st colony to make slavery legal?
2.     Was Edward Devotion an enslaver?
3.     Did the Brookline colonial church condone slavery?
4.     Were enslaved people baptized in Brookline?
5.     Are there enslaved people buried in the Old Burying Ground?
6.     Were Indigenous (Native American) people enslaved here?
7.     Could enslaved people marry?
8.     Were slave owners required to care for elderly slaves who could no longer work?
9.      In the time of slavery, did free African Americans live in Brookline?
10.  Was Brookline home to slave traders?
11.  Were enslaved people experimented on?
12.  Was slavery common in Brookline?
13.  Was the majority of land once in the hands of slave-owning families?
14.  Did colonial church records mention slaves?
15.  Was Brookline part of the Underground Railroad?
16.  Did any famous people stay in Brookline as they escaped from slavery?
17.  Did Abraham Lincoln in 1860  receive a minority of votes in Brookline?
18.  Have eminent African Americans lived in Brookline?
*Answers to Q1-18: the answers to all Qs is yes.
Last updated October 25, 2020