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
- Massachusetts Emancipation Day aka Quock Walker Day Proclamation – Jill Hai, Lexington Select Board
- Harvest Poetry – Regie Gibson, Literary Performer
- Using Community Gardens for Subsistence Farming and to Grow Cash Crops – Victorine Nduku, Nurse and Farmer
- Continuing the Tradition of Black Farmers in the Northeast – Earl Ransom, 2nd Generation Dairy Farmer, Strafford Organic Creamery at Rockbottom Farm
Hosted by the Association of Black Citizens of Lexington.