Association of Black Citizens of Lexington
Hancock United Church of Christ
1912 Massachusetts Avenue
Lexington, MA 02421
Join Boston Public Quartet & Lexington High School Chamber Orchestra for an uplifting classical afternoon celebrating pioneering composer, pianist & teacher Florence B. Price.
Buy your tickets now!
240th Anniversary of Massachusetts Emancipation Day
Bowman Elementary School
9 Philip Rd, Lexington, MA 02421
ACROSS Lexington Route M Loop
A Family Friendly Trail Walk of 3.3 Miles
8:00 AM – Registration & Storytelling
8:30 AM – Walk starts
Register at qwdhike4freedom2023.racewire.com
Join ABCL’s celebration of the 240th anniversary of the Supreme Judicial Court decision that ended slavery in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1783.
Hear the story of Quock Walker’s life and judicial victories.
This event will run from 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM.
Visitors Center Lawn
1875 Massachusetts Ave
Lexington MA 02420
Join ABCL’s celebration of the 240th anniversary of the Supreme Judicial Court decision that ended slavery in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1783. Learn about the lives of Lexingtonians who were enslaved and emancipated. Hear how Quock Walker’s fortitude and judicial victories inspired his relatives to fight for equal rights in Massachusetts and for the abolition of slavery across the United States of America.
Highlights include colonial children’s games: hoop play, game of graces, and quoits, West African food and dance, colonial arts and crafts, colonial and military reenactors, and more.
This event is open to all and will run from 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM.
Join us at this virtual event co-sponsored with Cary Library. Registration is required. We’ll talk about the history of Juneteenth and the ways in which the holiday has evolved. Nicole will share some of her favorite recipes to honor the Juneteenth holiday and Black celebrations year-round. Download the flyer here.
June 2, 2023 at 12:30 PM – ABCL First Friday Lunch at Via Lago
1845 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington, MA 02420. Join us for lunch on the first Friday of each month
June 7, 2023 Cary Library Virtual Event – Watermelon and Red Birds with Food Writer and Author, Nicole A. Taylor
Registration required at https://carylibrary.assabetinteractive.com/calendar/virtual-watermelon-and-red-birds-with-author-nicole-taylor/
June 8, 2023 at 7:00 PM – ABCL Second Thursday Social at Burtons
43 Middlesex Turnpike Unit 10B, Burlington, MA 01803. Join us on the second Thursday of each month
June 15, 2023 at 7:00 PM – June business meeting
Our guests will be Dr. Julie Hackett – Superintendent of Lexington Public Schools, Barbara Hamilton – METCO Coordinator, and Johnye Cole – Lexington Public Schools Director of Equity and Student Support
July 8, 2023 at 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM – 3rd Annual Quock Walker Day Hike for Freedom
A Family Friendly Trail walk of 3.3 miles
July 8, 2023 at 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM – 3rd Annual Quock Walker Day Community Celebration
This event is open to all and will run from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM
April 22, 2023 at 8:00 PM Cary Lecture Series event at Cary Memorial Hall 1605 Mass Ave in Lexington- Safeguarding the Mental and Behavioral Health of a City – Dr. Kevin Simon
The final event in the 2022-2023 Cary Lecture Series. A compelling topic and best of all it’s free!
May 5, 2023 at 12:30 PM – ABCL First Friday Lunch at Via Lago
1845 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington, MA 02420. Join us for lunch on the first Friday of each month
May 11, 2023 at 7:00 PM – ABCL Second Thursday Social at Burtons Grill
43 Middlesex Turnpike Unit 10B, Burlington, MA 01803. Join us on the second Thursday of each month
May 18, 2023 7:00 – 8:00 PM May business meeting
Canceled
May 21, 2023 at 2:00 – 4:00 PM “My American Story” – cosponsoring with CALex
ABCL is cosponsoring this event with CALex and others. This is the third event and it will be an in-person event on May 21 (Sunday) 2pm-4pm at the Lexington Depot.
May 27, 2023 Discovery Day
We will be representing at the annual Discovery Day. –
June 3, 2023 Black Music Month Benefit Concert – A Tribute to Florence Price
This event has been postponed until the fall of 2023
Click here to purchase tickets on Eventbrite
Association of Black Citizens of Lexington presents the Billy Kilson Quartet. Multiple Grammy award winning drummer, Billy Kilson headlines this celebration of Alan Dawson. Alan was a teacher who mentored and inspired Billy.
In addition to teaching at the Berklee College of Music, Billy tours internationally. He has performed with several famous musicians including Dave Holland, David Sanborn, Herbie Hancock, Ahmad Jamal, Ron Carter, Burt Bacharach, Glady’s Knight, Yo-Yo Ma, Chris Botti and Sting.
The Billy Kilson Jazz Quartet features Bill Pierce on Saxophone, Ron Mahdi on Bass, Russ Hoffman on Piano, and Billy Kilson on Drums. They will perform arrangements written by Alan Dawson and some favorites from Alan’s discography.
The Lexington High School Jazz Combo will open for the Billy Kilson Jazz Quartet. Founded in 1984, the group has performed extensively all over the country and in Europe, including the Monterrey Jazz Festival, the Montreax Jazz Festival, the Jazz Educators Network Conference, and the Charles Mingus Jazz Festival in New York. Honors include top prizes at the Mingus Festival, the UMass Jazz Festival and the UNH Jazz Festival
Don’t miss this spring’s must-attend jazz concert!
Pre-Concert Discussion at 6:30 with Billy Kilson and John Ramsay. John is the former head of percussion at The Berklee College of Music who studied with Alan Dawson, Max Roach, and Art Blakey. John has also written two books, Art Blakey’s Jazz Messages, and The Drummer’s Complete Vocabulary as Taught by Alan Dawson. John teaches in the Lexington home studio where Alan taught Billy and him.
Proceeds support ABCL scholarships.
Background on ABCL Black History Portrait Banner Honoree Alan Dawson
Alan Dawson was a legendary drummer and educator, known for his work with the top artists in jazz as well as for his 18-year association with Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.
Mr. Dawson’s teaching was inspirational. One of Mr. Dawson’s first students was a young Boston drummer named Tony Williams. According to Mr. Williams, “Mr. Dawson didn’t only teach me to play the drums, he taught me how to conduct myself as a musician and as a man.”
Former student and 2021 NEA Jazz Master Terri Lyne Carrington calls Mr. Dawson “one of the greatest drummers and one of the greatest teachers in the world”. Ms. Carrington is the Artistic Director and Founder of the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice
Former student Osami Mizuno, a jazz drummer and educator from Japan, created and named a drum school and record label in honor of his drum instructor Alan Dawson.
Click HERE to purchase tickets
Saturday, January 14, 2023 from 10:30—11:30 AM
Living Room, Cary Memorial Library, 1874 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington, MA, 02420
Find more information at A Storytelling in Honor of the Life and Legacy of the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King, Jr
Join renowned storyteller Valerie Tutson for a program honoring the life and legacy of the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement. This family-friendly program will include songs (can’t do Civil Rights Movement without singing!) and stories of people who walked along side Dr King, who were inspired by and a part of the Movement, as well as a personal story Valerie calls “Carleen and Me and Dr King’s Dream,” which explores a personal story of an interracial friendship in the early days of school/neighborhood integration.
From the event held on January 4, 2023
Watch the recent “Association of Black Citizens of Lexington | Black History Portrait Banners Unveiling” on YouTube
January 15, 2023 at 2 PM MLK Day Concert & Scholarship Fundraiser – The music of the Civil Rights Movement
Follen Community Church, 755 Massachusetts Avenue Lexington, MA 02420
Ticket – $25 general admission, proceeds support ABCL Scholarship Fund
Click here to purchase tickets
Be moved to build a better tomorrow by the songs of the civil rights movement which fueled the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr King was a civil rights icon who spoke at Lexington High School on February 11, 1963.
Narrator – Aniece Ragland Kerr, Lexington resident, native of Anniston, Alabama, and eyewitness to Civil Rights Movement
Music – Brother Dennis and Friends. Dennis L. Slaughter is founding director of the Boston Community Choir and artistic director of the Boston Pops Orchestra Gospel Choir.
Featured Soloist – Nalah Kasongo, LHS Class of 2023
April 2, 2023 Jazz Appreciation Month Benefit Concert – A Tribute to Alan Dawson
June 2023 Black Music Month Benefit Concert – A Tribute to Florence Price
Join the Association of Black Citizens of Lexington on Friday, July 8, 2022, for the 2nd Annual Quock Walker Day aka Massachusetts Emancipation Day Community Celebration.
This virtual event begins at 7 pm.
For more information and to register, Quock Walker Day Community Celebration – Friday, July 8, 2022 – Black Farmers Persevere
To join from a PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone or Android device:
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82831721592?pwd=UllZamVJYy9OdkJQMVhHcEtMcDNGdz09
Passcode: 989224
Quock Walker Day celebrates the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision of July 8, 1783, that found a White enslaver guilty of assault on Quock Walker, a freedom seeking Black man, and agreed with Chief Justice Cushing that the ideas of slavery and perpetual servitude were incompatible with the state constitution.
The Quock Walker trials span from 1781 to 1783. In 1781 Quock Walker, a young man from Barre, MA and of Akan and/or Ewe lineage, filed a civil suit against Nathaniel Jennison for assault and battery. Mr. Walker was found by the jury to be free and was awarded 50 pounds. Following appeals and a criminal case, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court found Jennison guilty of assault and agreed that the ideas of slavery and perpetual servitude were incompatible with the state constitution.
Mr. Walker’s fight through the legal system to safeguard his natural freedom resulted in the end of slavery in Massachusetts.
This year ABCL will celebrate the audacity of Quock Walker, the Black farmer, and explore the role that Black farmers continue to play in addressing racial disparities and providing food and income for their families.
Invited speakers include
Hosted by the Association of Black Citizens of Lexington.