Stay engaged with the MHS this year.
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“We rode half a mile further to Sancota head, the highest land on the Island and mused from there as man always muses upon the swelling of the wide surface of the Ocean. The waves roll in upon this beach with everlasting regularity, and without the least attention to man’s wants or his wishes. Sometimes wafting to him the means of his subsistence, sometimes bearing for him immediate destruction.”
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“Jolly Fellowship”: Bicycles and Bicycling Clubs in Turn of the Century Massachusetts
The May Object of the Month is this 1904 photograph, taken by E. I. Whitney of Waltham, Massachusetts, which depicts members of the Waltham Cycle Club and their bicycles at Chestnut Hill Reservoir.
The Reservoir was a favorite destination of local cyclists, renowned for its “smooth roadway, with its broad sweep and gentle declivities [affording] superb facilities for fast and enjoyable riding.”
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Congratulations to history teachers Stephanie McRae, (Brockton High School), and Suzanne Zmijewski Lim, (Winthrop L. Chenery Middle School), for their nominations as the Massachusetts candidates for the Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year Award, given by National History Day (NHD). In honor of their nomination, each teacher receives a prize of $500.
The Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year Award, sponsored by Patricia Behring, recognizes the pivotal role that teachers play in the lives of their students and is presented to one middle school and one high school teacher chosen from a pool of candidates from across the US.
The national winners will be selected by a committee of experienced teachers and historians, and announced on Saturday, 19 June 2021, at the National History Day National Contest Awards Ceremony, to be held virtually due to COVID-19. Nominees’ work must clearly illustrate the development and use of creative teaching methods that engage students in history and help them make exciting discoveries about the past.
We are so proud of Stephanie McRae and Suzanne Zmijewski Lim for their achievement and will eagerly await the announcement of the national winners on 19 June.
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As a center for learning and engagement, we strive to enhance the understanding of our nation’s past and its connection to the present. There are numerous ways in which we do this including our programs, seminars, brown-bags, and workshops. We encourage everyone to attend one of our upcoming events to learn more about a wide range of historical subjects.
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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The First Reconstruction: Black Politics in America from the Revolution to the Civil War
It may be difficult to imagine that a consequential Black electoral politics evolved in the United States before the Civil War, for as of 1860 the overwhelming majority of African Americans remained in bondage. Yet free Black men, many of them previously enslaved, steadily increased their influence in electoral politics over the course of the early American republic. Despite efforts to disenfranchise them, Black men voted across much of the North, sometimes in numbers sufficient to swing elections. Van Gosse offers a sweeping reappraisal of the formative era of American democracy from the Constitution’s ratification through Abraham Lincoln’s election, chronicling the rise of an organized, visible Black politics focused on the quest for citizenship, the vote, and power within the free states.
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Confronting Racial Injustice: The War on Drugs in Massachusetts: The Racial Impact of the School Zone Law and Other Mandatory Minimum Sentences
In the 1980s, Massachusetts embraced the War on Drugs, enacting harsh mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. It took decades to confront the reality that, in addition to being ineffective and costly, mandatory minimums resulted in the pervasive and disproportionate incarceration of Black and Brown people. Panelists will discuss this troubling history, recent reforms, and the prospects for implementing drug policies that are effective, fair, and just.
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Of Thee I Sing: The Contested History of American Patriotism
When we talk about patriotism in America, we tend to mean one form: the version captured in shared celebrations like the national anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance. But as Ben Railton argues, that celebratory patriotism is just one of four distinct forms: celebratory, the communal expression of an idealized America; mythic, the creation of national myths that exclude certain communities; active, acts of service and sacrifice for the nation; and critical, arguments for how the nation has fallen short of its ideals that seek to move us toward that more perfect union. In Of Thee I Sing, Railton defines those four forms of American patriotism, using the four verses of “America the Beautiful” as examples of each type, and traces them across our histories.
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On Wednesday, 9 June, at 6:00 PM, Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Dean, Boston University School of Law; Hon. Leslie Harris (ret.), Suffolk Juvenile Court; and Renée Graham, Columnist, The Boston Globe, present Confronting Racial Injustice: The Charles Stuart Story: White Lies and Black Lives, moderated by Kim McLaurin, Associate Dean, Suffolk University Law School.
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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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