Boston Historical Events: A list of history-related events going on in Boston between Monday September 2, and Sunday September 8, 2013.
Boston by Foot
Monday, September 2, 10am-2pm, Walking Tour, Boston Common at Corner of Charles & Beacon Streets, $10 Members/$20 Non-members
Join Boston by Foot for their annual “Big Foot Labor Day” walking tour. This year’s 4-hour tour will cover Boston’s “Champions of Liberty.” Since 1630, many average Bostonians have stood up for liberty. The courage, determination, and sacrifice of these citizens has paved the path for the free American society we live in today. Some of these “Champions of Liberty” took a leading role in forming the United States Constitution, others in solidifying their rights under it. Your knowledgeable guides will help you to examine the circumstances that forced these heroes of social justice into the spotlight and to discover how these citizens’ molded the times they lived in. Tour will depart on time from the Boston Common on the corner of Charles & Beacon Streets. Tickets can be purchased in advance or from your guide.
Historic New England
Saturday, September 7, 11am-1pm, Walking Tour, Otis House, $6 members/$12 non-members, Tickets Required
Join Historic New England for a walking tour of Beacon Hill. Your knowledgeable guide will take you beyond the neighborhood’s charming brick sidewalks and gardens. On this tour you will learn about Beacon Hill’s development during the Federal era and the stories behind the fortunes, ambitions, and struggles of the neighborhood’s early residents, not all of whom had a lot of money. The program will start with a tour of the Otis House.
Massachusetts Historical Society
Wednesday, September 4, 12-1pm, Brown Bag Lunch Talk, Free
Bring your lunch to the MHS where Noam Maggor (Vanderbilt University) will discuss “Brahmin Capitalism: Bankers, Populists, and the Making of the Modern American Economy.” Maggor’s project charts the business and politics of Boston’s late nineteenth-century transformation from an anchor of an industrial region into the second largest banking center in North America. Maggor wants to know how a “vanguard of financiers” created a wide-ranging network of capital flows that funded railroads, mines, agriculture, and industry across the continent and how this capital flow redefined the urban politics of Boston.
Old South Meeting House. Courtesy of BPL Photostream
Old South Meeting House
Wednesday, September 4, 6:30-7:30pm, Paul Revere Memorial Association Lecture, Free
The Paul Revere Memorial Association Fall Lecture Series (A War of Divisions: The Impact and Aftermath of the American Civil War) begins with “Freedom Rising: The Emancipation Proclamation, the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, & Boston’s Black Community,” a lecture by Beverly Morgan-Welch, Executive Director of the Museum of African American History, Boston and Nantucket. On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The order freed all persons enslaved in Confederate-held territories. Several months later, the 54th Massachusetts regiment marched to South Carolina to take part in the campaign against Confederate forces. The 54th Massachusetts stood as the first black regiment in the Union Army from the North. Morgan-Welch will discuss the profound effect that Boston’s Black Community had on these events and the work of the Museum of African American History, Boston and Nantucket to commemorate the sesquicentennial anniversary of the Civil War.
Paul Revere House
Saturday, September 7, 1pm, 1:45pm, & 2:30pm, Revolutionary Women, Included with Admission
Professional storyteller Joan Gatturna will portray Rachel Revere, second wife of Paul Revere. Revere will describe the struggles that women in Revolutionary Boston faced to hold their home and family together during a period of war, blockades, and shortages of goods and food.
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