Stay engaged with the MHS this year.
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“My time is now all leisure, like an instantaneous flat calm in the midst of a Hurricane—I cannot yet settle my mind to a regular course of future employment—”
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The Hurricane of 1938: View of a House that floated to the Bourne Bridge from Gray Gables, Bourne, MA
The days leading up to Wednesday, September 21 had been stormy, with flooding rains in many parts of New England. Forecasters had been tracking the development of a tropical storm since the beginning of the month, but believing that it would move out to sea, issued no warnings. Rather than going moving out over the ocean, however, the New England Hurricane of 1938—or the Great New England Hurricane (giving hurricanes female and now female and male names did not begin until 1953)—made landfall as a Category 3 storm in Suffolk County, Long Island, about the time of an astronomical high tide. From there, the storm raged northward at approximately 50 miles per hour, leaving a 90 mile wide path of destruction from Long Island to Quebec, following the Connecticut River and the spine of the Green Mountains. To the west of the storm center, the majority of the damage was caused by rain, to the east, wind. Coastal areas from Connecticut to Cape Cod faced gigantic tidal surges. At Blue Hill Observatory, 100 miles east of the storm, wind speeds reached 121 miles per hour, with gusts of 189 miles per hour.
This photograph depicts the home of Elizabeth Lane of Bourne, Massachusetts. During the height of the 1938 hurricane, the waters of Buzzard’s Bay rose rapidly, ripping the house off its foundation and carrying it two miles down the Cape Cod Canal where it came ashore at the foot of the Bourne Bridge. The photograph was taken by an unidentified photographer and is part of the Parker Hurricane Collection.
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MHS’s online programs are held on the video conference platform Zoom. Registrants will receive an e-mail with a link to join the program.
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Force and Freedom: Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence
In Force and Freedom, Kellie Carter Jackson provides the first historical analysis exclusively focused on the tactical use of violence among antebellum Black activists. Through rousing public speeches, the burgeoning Black press, and the formation of militia groups, Black abolitionist leaders mobilized their communities, compelled national action, and drew international attention. Drawing on the precedent and pathos of the American and Haitian Revolutions, African American abolitionists used violence as a political language and a means of provoking social change. Through tactical violence, Black abolitionist leaders accomplished what white nonviolent abolitionists could not: creating the conditions that necessitated the Civil War. Force and Freedom takes readers beyond the honorable politics of moral suasion and the romanticism of the Underground Railroad, and into an exploration of the agonizing decisions, strategies, and actions of the black abolitionists who, though lacking an official political voice, were nevertheless responsible for instigating monumental social and political change.
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Borderland: The Life and Times of Blanche Ames Ames
Blanche Ames Ames (1878–1969) was an artist, an activist, a builder, an inventor, a birth control maverick, and a leader of the women’s suffrage movement in Massachusetts. She was a woman of privilege who was not afraid to shock polite society. Her name doesn't appear in most American history books—this, too, is part of her story. Borderland: The Life & Times of Blanche Ames Ames is a 55-minute documentary that chronicles the life of a woman who was born in the 19th century, worked to change the 20th century, and whose wisdom still resonates in the 21st century. A screening of the film will be followed by audience discussion with consulting historian Barbara F. Berenson.
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Interested in Viewing Past Programs? |
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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Share Your COVID-19 Experience(s) |
The MHS invites you to contribute your COVID-19 experience(s) to our collection. Record your experiences on a daily, weekly, or intermittent basis. You can contribute your thoughts and images online. Visit our COVID-19 web display to learn more and to share your thoughts. Or you can keep a journal and donate it to the MHS. Contact collections@masshist.org for more information.
Thank you to everyone who has shared so far. If you have not yet done so or would like to contribute again, please visit www.masshist.org/projects/covid/index.php. You can also read what others have shared.
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Our Members are the heart of the MHS community and an integral part of the MHS story. Become a Member to help make possible the Society’s mission to promote the study of American history. Receive benefits including invitations to enhanced Member-only events; free or discounted admission to special programs; and access to publications such as our calendar of events, newsletter, and Annual Report.
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