Stay engaged with the MHS this year!
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“The 29th Regimt on Duty. A Quarrell between the soldiers & Inhabitants—The Bells—Rung—A Great Number Assembled in
Kingstreet A Party of the 29th under the Command of Capt
Preston fird on the People they killed five—wounded Several Others—particularly Mr. Edw Payne in his Right Arm—Capt Preston Bears a good Character—he was taken in the night &
Committed also Seven more of the 29th—the Inhabitants are
greatly enraged and not without Reason.”
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A Verse Occasioned by the Late Horrid Massacre in King-Street
Unlike the quote above, penned by an eventual Loyalist, stating the facts, this poem propagandizes the events of 5 March 1770 in Boston when soldiers fired into a crowd of rioting Bostonians.
The poem was written in 1770 at a time when Bostonians and soldiers encountered news, gossip, judgments, and propaganda about the events in King Street. Purveyors of popular media enlisted the services of illustrators and poets to sway public opinion. Set forth in rhyming couplets, “A Verse Occasioned by the late horrid Massacre in King-Street” quickly announced its point of view. In limping, anapestic lines, the broadside’s versifier established a sense of the facts that likely caused some people to deplore, and others to applaud, his motives.
The following verse is especially offensive as it is still debated whether Captain Preston shouted “fire” with everyone in the crowd goading the soldiers to fire, and the town’s bells ringing, the latter usually a notice to leave your house and bring your fire bucket to help put out a fire. We may never know if Captain Preston also ordered his men to fire, and if so, whether or not they picked his voice out of the crowd.
“Then the people enraged some snow-balls did throw
To the Custom-House where they kept guard as we know,
Then the Captain commanded them to fire away,
And one of the Soldiers obey’d as they say.”
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Making History Gala!
The 2022 Making History Gala is two short months away! The event on Monday, 2 May features a performance from Boston Children’s Chorus (BCC), founded by John Codman Ropes Awardee Hubie Jones.
The Making History Gala theme is “Living Civics,” and your attendance supports educational programs at the MHS, like National History Day.
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Reminder: 7-10 March is Massachusetts Civic Learning Week
The 2nd annual MA Civic Learning Week, organized by the MA Civic Learning Coalition, and held in conjunction with similar celebrations in NY and RI, will take place 7 to 11 March. The week seeks to empower all of us to see ourselves as participants and changemakers in our democracy. Learn more about Massachusetts Civic Learning Week and register for sessions at www.macivicsforall.org/clw2022.
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MHS Resources Featured in Supplement to the 2018 MA History and Social Science Framework
The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education recently launched a new supplement to the 2018 MA History and Social Science Framework. This is a resource toolkit for social studies teachers across the Commonwealth. The supplement features 5 teaching resources from the MHS, drawing on our collections related to colonial maps, 19th-century African American history, and the American Revolution:
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Events in February will be a mix of fully virtual or hybrid, with a choice of in-person or virtual attendance. Please be sure to register in the way you plan to attend.
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Let Me Be Somebody: Fabian Bridges & Quarantine Proposals During the HIV & AIDS Crisis in America
This article examines efforts to quarantine people with AIDS during the mid-1980s. The campaign started after a PBS documentary aired about Fabian Bridges, a Black gay man, in 1986. Bridges lost his job and home after an AIDS diagnosis. As Bridges grew desperate, PBS producers offered him a deal: they would pay him to give interviews claiming to be a sex worker who continued to have unprotected sex. The ensuing public panic led to more than 40 states considering legislation mandating quarantine of gay men. The article analyzes campaigns to defeat proposals in Texas, Georgia, and California.
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The MHS offers both virtual and hybrid programs. For hybrid events, please be sure to register how you will attend. Visit www.masshist.org/events for updates, cancellations, and to register.
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On Tuesday, 8 March, at 5:15 PM, Johnathan Williams, Boston University, presents Targeting Reform: CERCLA, Industri-Plex, and Pollution Remediation in the United States, with comment by Elizabeth Grennan Browning, Indiana University, an Environmental History Seminar. This is an online seminar.
On Thursday, 10 March, at 6:00 PM, Jon Santiago, Physician, Boston Medical Center, and Massachusetts State Representative, 9th Suffolk District; Jasmine Laietmark, Funeral Director at Stanetsky Memorial Chapels; and Emily Donahue, K–12 Educator, present Reflecting on Repercussions of COVID-19: Frontline Workers. This is a hybrid event.
On Tuesday, 15 March, at 5:15 PM, Claudia Roesch, German Historical Institute, presents The Translations of Our Bodies, Ourselves: Comparing Feminist Self-Help Handbooks in the 1970s West Germany and the United States, with comment by Jennifer Nelson, University of Redlands, a History of Women, Gender & Sexuality Seminar. This is an online seminar.
On Wednesday, 16 March, at 6:00 PM, Jan Turnquist, Executive Director of Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House, and Heather Rockwood, MHS, present Film Club: Little Women. This is an online event.
On Wednesday, 30 March, at 6:00 PM, Marylou Sudders, Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services; Dr. Paul Biddinger, Director of the Center for Disaster Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, advisor to Governor Charlie Baker, and leader of the Vaccine Advisory Board; and Dr. Sandra Bliss Nelson, doctor in the Infectious Diseases Division at Massachusetts General Hospital, and lead doctor on Governor Charlie Baker’s school reopening panel, present Reflecting on Repercussions of COVID-19: Policy Makers and Policy Advisors. This is a hybrid event.
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Interested in Viewing Past Programs?
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If you missed a program or would like to revisit the material presented, please visit www.masshist.org/video or our YouTube channel. A selection of past programs is just a click away.
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