HISTORIC NORTHAMPTON
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    • Exhibiit Slavery and Freedom in Northampton 1654 to 1783
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EVENTS CALENDAR
In Partnership with State Representative Lindsay Sabadosa, Mass Humanities, and Community Partners
Reading Frederick Douglass Together 2025
​
A Public Reading of Frederick Douglass's 1852 Fourth of July Address
On the Grounds of Historic Northampton, 46 Bridge Street, Northampton, MA
Saturday, July 5, 2025 at 11 am
Rain date: Sunday, July 6, 2025 at 11 am
Reading Frederick Douglass Together poster
Reading Frederick Douglass Together 2025
#RFDT25
Reading Frederick Douglass Together brings people together to read aloud Frederick Douglass’s speech, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?

Copies of Douglass’s speech will be distributed to all in attendance.  The public can take turns reading passages from it in succession. Come to listen or come to read a passage.  

Dr. Ousmane Power-Greene will give the opening and closing remarks for the 2025 Northampton event.  Power-Greene is chair of the Northampton Reparations Study Commission and a professor of history at Clark University.

The event is free and open to the public.  200 chairs will be available.  Feel free to bring your own chair.

Douglass first delivered the speech in 1852, in Corinthian Hall, Rochester, New York to the Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society. The themes addressed in the speech still resonate with Americans more than 150 years after they were written.  Now more than ever, the speech forces us to reckon with the legacy of slavery and the promises of democracy.

​

Frederick Douglass had strong ties to the Northampton Association of Education and Industry in Florence and spoke in downtown Northampton in the 1840s about slavery and the abolitionist movement.
Reading Frederick Douglass Together is a statewide initiative coordinated by Mass Humanities.  Now in its 15th year, the program will take place in communities across Massachusetts.  The Northampton event is presented in partnership with State Representative Lindsay Sabadosa and community sponsors.  Historic Northampton received a Reading Frederick Douglass Together grant from Mass Humanities with funding made possible by the Mass Cultural Council.
Learn More
Illuminating Truth: A Special Presentation on Parsons House
An Outdoor Slideshow by Whitney Designworks
At Historic Northampton outside 58 Bridge Street
Thursday, July 3, 2025 at 8:30 pm to 10 pm
Saturday, July 5, 2025 at 8:30 pm to 10 pm
Picture
Illuminating Truth: A Special Presentation on Parsons House
Graphic silhouettes and historic documents from the new exhibit Slavery and Freedom in Northampton, 1654 to 1783 will be projected onto the 1719 Parsons family house at 58 Bridge Street in Northampton in an outdoor slideshow by Whitney Designworks of Northampton.

For at least 129 years, slavery was part of the fabric of everyday life in Northampton. At least 50 enslaved individuals lived here from the town’s English settlement in 1654 until 1783 when slavery was abolished in Massachusetts. The outdoor slideshow features graphic silhouettes of men, women, and children who were enslaved here.​​

Mass Cultural Council
​Card to Culture

EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare cardholders receive free or reduced admission
​to Historic Northampton's events, public talks, and programs.
Historic Northampton is proud to participate in Mass Cultural Council's Card to Culture program in collaboration with the Department of Transitional Assistance, the Department of Public Health's WIC Nutrition Program, the Massachusetts Health Connector, and hundreds of organizations by making cultural programming accessible to those for whom cost is a participation barrier. 
To access this benefit, EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare cardholders can select the CARD TO CULTURE option on the event registration page.  Some exclusions apply.
Learn More about Card to Culture
Graphic with text Card to Culture provides EBT, WIC & ConnectorCare cardholders with free or discounted admission to 400+ arts & cultural organizations across the state!
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HISTORIC
​NORTHAMPTON
46 Bridge Street
Northampton
​Massachusetts 01060
[email protected]
​413-584-6011
Current Exhibit:
​Slavery and Freedom in Northampton, 1654 to 1783


Exhibit Hours
July and August Hours:

Wednesday - Sunday
11 am to 5 pm
© COPYRIGHT 2015-2024. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • About
    • About Historic Northampton
    • What's On View
    • Hours and Directions
    • Volunteer
    • Board-Staff
    • Legal/Financial
  • PROGRAMS
    • Slavery and Freedom in Northampton 1654 to 1783 Exhibit
    • Upcoming Programs
    • Past Events at Historic Northampton >
      • Past Programs 2025
      • Past Programs 2024
      • Mill River Flood 150 Commemoration >
        • Mill River Flood 150 Commemoration Events
        • Mill River Flood Introduction
        • Mill River Flood Lives Lost
        • Mill River Flood Commemoration Markers >
          • \\\\\\\\Williamsburg Mill River Flood Markers
          • Skinnerville Mill River Flood Markers
          • Haydenville Mill River Flood Markers
          • Leeds Mill River Markers
          • Florence Mill River Markers
          • Northampton Mill River Markers
        • Mill River Flood Who Was Responsible
        • Mill River Flood Guided Walks to the Dam Ruins
        • Mill River Flood Memorial Tree Project
      • Past Programs 2023
      • Past Programs 2022
      • Past Programs 2021
      • Past Programs 2020
      • Past Programs 2019
    • MCC Card to Culture at Historic Northampton
    • Help I am not receiving email announcements
  • Explore
    • Collections & Research
    • History at Home >
      • Videos
      • Interactive Witch Trial
      • Paper Dolls
      • Hidden Histories
      • Scavenger Hunts
      • Coloring Pages
      • Brain Teasers
      • Peg Doll Hunts
      • Jonathan Edwards Prayer Requests
    • Properties >
      • Parsons House
      • Damon House
      • Shepherd House
      • Shepherd Barn 2020
      • The Bridge Street School Sprouts
    • Educational Websites
    • Historic Highlights
    • COVID-19 Stories >
      • Vaccination Photos
      • Submit Your COVID Story
      • Children React
      • Family and Neighborhood Fun
      • It's a New World
      • Hope and Togetherness
      • Images
      • How Illness Feels
      • Brings Forth Memory
      • Blessings and the New Busy
      • Fear and Worry
  • Indigenous Native History
    • Native Histories in Nonotuck
    • Nonotuck Histories Essay by Margaret M. Bruchac
    • Recovering Nonotuck Histories Photo Essay
    • Profiles of Native People
    • Extended Biographies of Native People
    • Nonotuck to Northampton Maps
    • Native LIves Bibliography
  • History of Slavery
    • Exhibiit Slavery and Freedom in Northampton 1654 to 1783
    • About the Slavery Research Project
    • Black Enslaved People
    • Free Black People
    • Native Enslaved People
    • Enslavers of People
    • Relationship Map >
      • Relationship Map Family Groups
      • Relationship Map Enslavement
      • Relationship Map Indenture
      • Relationship Map Legal
      • Relationship Map Commerce
      • Relationship Map Foster or Guardian
      • Relationship Map Social Connections
    • Timeline of Slavery in Northampton
  • DONATE
    • Donate to the Spring Appeal
    • WAYS TO GIVE >
      • Monthly Donation
      • IRA Giving
      • Stock Giving
    • Join the Email List
    • Donate to the Collection