Month: March 2025

Have you ever wanted to share information, create emotional connections, and inspire others?  Storytelling is a fundamental part of being human. And becoming a living history storyteller or reenactor is a great way to share the excitement and energy of the 250th.

If so, register now and get these FREE benefits

• Learn from world-renown storytellers Rochel Coleman and Valerie Tutson how to mine the archives and weave primary sources into an engaging story that brings history to life.
• Explore how to bring the stories of the Black men and women who played important roles in the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. Also, help to build their 18th century community by learning to tell the stories of the men and women, Black, White, and Indigenous Caribbean who were their family members, friends, patrons, and enslavers.
• Learn storytelling techniques and frameworks to identify, craft, and share stories to inspire audiences.
• And learn the business of storytelling and reenacting from professionals with decades of experience.

ABCL’s Black Patriots of Lexington is supported by a Community Endowment of Lexington grant.

Click Here to reserve your spot and to learn more about potential story and reenactor subjects.  Space is Limited.

Hope to see you there,

Join us on April 3, 2024 at Church of Our Redeemer, 6 Meriam Street, Lexington MA 02420, for a reception at 6:30 pm, followed by the program which starts at 7 pm

RSVP

Come commemorate the significant role that Black men and women played in the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775.

Doors open at 6:30 for socializing with appetizers and drinks.

An episode of Black Patriots of Lexington will be screened. ABCL Historian Sean D. Osborne will moderate a panel discussion and Q&A session featuring some of the historians and other subject matter experts featured in the series.

To complement the Black Patriots of Lexington series, 11 portrait banners of the soldiers and civilians whose stories are uncovered have been created and will be unveiled during the evening’s ceremony.

There will also be an opportunity to take pictures with the portrait banners during the reception and after the screening.

BACKGROUND

ABCL’s Black Patriots of Lexington is a multi-pronged project that includes a nine-part series that explores the lives of 5 soldiers who fought in Lexington on April 19, 1775; three Black men who witnessed the battle as Lexington residents and later enlisted in the Continental Army; and two Black women and one Black man who witnessed the first day of war. Of the 8 soldiers, 3 were born into land-owning, tax-paying families and 5 were born into enslavement. All served their nascent country well and 7 of the 8 are known to have died free men.

Black Patriots fought in every major battle, and in most if not all of the lesser actions, of the American Revolution as soldiers in the Continental Army and states’ militia. On the first day of the Revolutionary War, April 19, 1775, approximately 50 Black men responded to the Lexington Alarm and engaged Crown forces during the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Historians have found the names of 35 of those Black Patriots. This series shares the stories of 5 of them.

ABCL’s Black Patriots of Lexington is supported by a Community Endowment of Lexington grant.

9 episodes

• Prince and Cate Chester
• Prince Estabrook
• Eli Burdoo
• Silas Burdoo
• Caesar and John Ferrit
• Venus Roe
• Pompey Fiske
• Adam Tidd
• Pomp Blackman

RSVP

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/unveiling-of-abcls-black-patriots-of-lexington-portrait-banners-tickets-1290570433909?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=wsa&aff=ebdsshwebmobile