Bet was born into slavery on a farm in Claverack, New York. At 7, she was given as a wedding present to her master’s daughter, Hannah Ashley, and moved with them to Sheffield, Massachusetts. She was a courageous, bright, and illiterate woman who often got into conflicts with Hannah and, as a result, sometimes suffered harsh treatment. Ashley’s home was a gathering place for political discussions, especially during the ratification of the Massachusetts Constitution. Bet overheard part of it: “All men are born free and equal,” and decided to get the help of the abolitionist lawyer Theodore Sedgwick and sue for her freedom in court. She won her case Brom and Bett v. Ashley in August 1781 and became the first African-American woman to be set free under the Massachusetts state constitution. Her case laid the foundation for Massachusetts to abolish slavery in 1783. She changed her name to Elizabeth Freeman (aka MUMBET), worked as a domestic and governess at the Sedgwicks, and as a healer, midwife, and nurse in the community. After she retired in her 60s, she moved next to her daughter and grandchildren in her own house on Cherry Hill in Stockbridge. To commemorate the 241st Anniversary of Freeman’s historic court case, an 8-foot-tall statue was dedicated in her honor on August 21, 2022, on Sheffield Green, facing the historic Sedgwick House. The unveiling ceremony was part of a weekend of events that included the production of “Meet Elizabeth Freeman,” a play by Teresa Miller, and the Walk to Freedom, which is an annual tradition where participants walk the route Freeman walked from the Ashley House to the office of Theodore Sedgwick on the Sheffield Green to hire him as the lawyer to take her freedom case to court. Brian Hanlon created the statue. It is one of his 400 bronze sculptures. Among his sculptures that commemorate real women are: Fannie Lou Hamer, 2nd Lt Carol Ann Drazba statue, the 1999 Women’s World Cup Tribute at The Rose Bowl, the Dorothy Day statue, and Harriet Tubman Statue at the Equal Rights Heritage Center. Read more...

Emily Dickinson Museum is located in her family’s original homestead; it celebrates and commemorates her legacy. Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (1830-1886) was born on this homestead and lived there most of her life. She started writing poetry at 11, but it was only in her late 20s that she developed her signature writing style, characterized by ignoring the rules of syntax and grammar and using capitalization and punctuation in unconventional ways. Following her mother’s illness, which required Dickinson to take on all the household responsibilities, she increasingly secluded herself from outside contact, communicating with her family and friends by notes and letters. Within the safety and comfort of her home, she was the most productive, and between 1858 to 1865, she wrote about 800 poems, assembling them in booklets, today known as her fascicles. Over time, her solitude worsened, and she went out of her home only to attend the garden and to visit her brother and his family in Evergreens, the house next door. By 1885, Dickinson’s mental and physical health had declined, and she died the following year at 55. During her lifetime, she published a few poems, most of which were published after her death by her sister, Lavinia. Since its first publication in 1890, Dickinson’s first collection was never out of print. Her poems received critical acclaim, and Dickinson became recognized as one of the most prominent and influential American poets. After Dickinson’s death, her sister lived in the homestead, and later, it was inherited by their brother’s daughter before it got sold. In 1963, the homestead was designated a National Historic Landmark, and two years later, the Trustees of Amherst College bought and opened it to the public as a house museum. Today, the Emily Dickinson Museum comprises the two houses of the Dickinson family – the homestead, where she lived, and Evergreens, her brother’s home. Visitors are welcome to explore the historic rooms and learn about Dickinson’s life and complicated personality through the museum’s collection, which contains over 800 artifacts, including family photographs, original 19th-century furniture, artworks, dinnerware, and textile. The museum hosts various events, such as poetry readings, Garden Days, the annual Poetry Walk, the Tell It Slant Poetry Festival, and the Phosphorescence Poetry Reading Series. Close by, there are more sites to visit, including the Amherst Historical Society and Museum, the Museums10, the Amherst College Museum of Natural History, and the Yiddish Book Center. Read more...

On November 5th, 2022, Abigail Adams finally got her rightful place in Quincy. In a special ceremony, her statue was dedicated in the Hancock Adams Common, where the sculptures of her husband, the 2nd US President John Adams, and her son, the 6th US President John Quincy Adams, stand. Even the sun came out for the celebrations; Quincy’s mayor, Thomas Koch, and the city’s female elected officials unveiled the statue together. The sculptor Sergey Eylanbekov, who sculptured the statue of John Adams and John Hancock in the Common, also created her statue depicting her holding a quill pen in one hand and a letter in the other. She stands next to a table with an inkwell. Her gaze is toward the statue of her husband and the direction of their Peacefield home on Adams Street. It is the third statue of Abigail in Massachusetts. The first was erected in 1997; it was a statue of her with her son, John Quincy Adams, as he was a kid; Since 2018, it has been in storage. Her second statue has been standing since 2003 in Boston, part of the Boston Women’s Memorial, alongside Lucy Stone, the founder of the Woman’s Journal, and Phillis Wheatley, the enslaved poet. Abigail Adams (1744-1818) was a Massachusetts native and lived there most of her life. As a child, she was homeschooled and enriched her knowledge in the family’s library. At almost 20, she married a country lawyer John Adams, and they had six children. She became his close advisor, supported him as he expanded his law practice, joined his diplomatic missions in Europe, and was his right hand as he became a founding father of the United States and the 2nd US president. She was a politically active first lady, sometimes referred to as “Mrs. President.” Upon losing the re-election, they returned to Peacefield, their home in Quincy. During their marriage, John frequently traveled before and during the presidency, and they corresponded with more than 1,100 letters; these letters demonstrated her talent for writing, opinionated spirit, intellectual advice, and the significant role she had as a founding mother of the United States. Read more...

On the grounds of Tewksbury Town Hall stands a memorial dedicated to Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller; it captures the moment when Sullivan taught Keller her first word, Water, spelling it on her palm. Mico Kaufman created it in 1985 and titled it Water; a copy was dedicated on June 28th, 1992, and stands a short distance from the home Sullivan was born in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts. Anne Sullivan (1866-1936) contracted trachoma, a bacterial eye disease that left her partially blind when she was five. Three years later, her mother passed away, her father abandoned them, and she and her younger brother were sent to an almshouse in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, today part of Tewksbury Hospital. At 14, she started attending the Perkins School for the Blind in Boston. At 20, she graduated and became a teacher to the seven years old Helen Keller; it changed Keller’s life. Until Sullivan arrived at her home in Tuscumbia, Alabama, Keller, who became deaf and blind at 19 months due to an unknown illness, could communicate only with a sign language she created. Sullivan developed a unique learning strategy in which she spelled a word into Keller’s palm while letting her fill the item. For example, she spelled the word Doll and gave her a doll to hold in her other hand. Her method enabled Keller to learn 575 words, the Braille system, and math within six months, improving her life significantly. After a year, they went to the Perkins School for the Blind, where Keller began her formal education and Sullivan continued to instruct her; the two became companions and collaborators for the rest of their lives. Keller grew up to become the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree, an author, and a lecturer. She devoted her life to advocating social causes, especially women’s rights, and improving the conditions of disabled people worldwide. Keller passed away in 1968. Her ashes were buried next to Anne Sullivan at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. Read more...

At the public library at her native Falmouth stands a life-size bronze statue of Katharine Lee Bates, a poet, author, and professor of English literature. It was created by Lloyd Lillie and inaugurated in 1986. It depicts Bates as she gazes from the summit of Pikes Peak, looking over the Rockies and Great Plains. Katharine Lee Bates (1859-1929) was born in Falmouth, Massachusetts, and lived there until age 11. After attending Wellesley College, she taught high school English for a few years. In 1889, at 30, Bates published her first novel, Rose and Thorn, for which she was awarded a prize by the Congregational Sunday School and Publishing Society. The prize money allowed her to travel to England and study for an MA degree from Oxford University. Upon returning to the US, Bates was appointed a full professor of English Literature at Wellesley, teaching there for 40 years. At Wellesley, she shared a living with her friend and companion, Katharine Coman, in an arrangement called Boston Marriage. Some scholars believe they had a romantic relationship. She continued to write and publish dozens of poems, essays, travel books, and children’s stories. In addition to her career, she was a noted speaker and activist, promoting social rights for women, people of color, and immigrants. In the summer of 1893, while teaching at the Colorado Summer School at Colorado College, she went on a trip to Pikes Peak. The view she saw inspired her to write the lyrics of her most famous poem, America the Beautiful. The Congregationalist journal published the poem with the title America on July 4th, 1895. Through the years, it underwent several revisions till it reached its final form in 1912. More than 70 melodies were composed to match the lyrics, and in 1910, it paired with the hymn Samuel A. Ward’s “Materna” (1882). This combination made it one of the most popular patriotic songs in the US. She passed away in Wellesley, Massachusetts, on March 28th, 1929, and lies in Oak Grove Cemetery at Falmouth. Read more...

The Sophia Smith Collection of Women’s History collects, preserves and shares one of the largest collections of items related to US women’s history from the colonial era till these days, with over 10,000 feet of material. The collection is rich and covers many fields of life, from culture to politics and social movements. Among the items in the collections are letters, diaries, scrapbooks, photographs, newspapers, manuscripts, audio and video interviews, and much more. In 1942 Margaret Storrs Grierson (1900-1997), the Smith college archivist, got the mandate to start collecting historical women’s items and became the executive secretary of the library and the first director of the Sophia Smith Collection. Traveling all over the country and abroad for this mission, she started with collecting items related to the US suffrage movement and continued with material related to other fields and social movements like reproductive rights, reproductive justice, and the women’s liberation movement. The Sophia Smith Collection’s mission is to enable researchers access to information so they would “tell the full, complicated story of these social and political movements.” The Sophia Smith Collection resides at the Smith College. The college was founded in 1871 by Sophia Smith and opened in 1875 as a women’s college. Starting with 14 students and 6 faculty members, by the 21st century, it had almost 3000 students and 41 academic departments and programs. Among Smith College famous graduates are: The author of Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell, class of ’22 The famous chef and TV star Julia Child, class of 1934 The poet Sylvia Plath, class of 1955 The equal rights activist, feminist, and founder of Ms. magazine, Gloria Steinem, class of 1956 The Sophia Smith Collection of Women’s History is open to the public, and admission is free. Read more...

A statue of the young Rachel Carson, documenting a moment captured in a photo in 1951 by Edwin Gray near Sam Cahoon’s fish market dock in Woods Hole. Back then, she was at the beginning of her career, studying and working as a researcher at the Marine Biological Laboratory’s (MBL) and the Fisheries laboratories (now National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). Rachel Carson (1907-1964) was a pioneer Marine Biologist, writer, and conservationist. Her books sparked the environmental movement in the US and abroad and created awareness of the impact people’s actions have on the environment. The idea to commemorate Carson in a statue came to Eric Turkington when he learned that the famous Carson was strongly connected to Woods Hole. Together with Susan Shephard, they founded the Rachel Carson Statue Committee, which raised the commission to fund the statue. Among the contributors were: Woods Hole Community Association; the Upper Cape Business and Professional Women’s Club; the Silent Spring Institute; the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition as well as individuals who wished to honor Carson as well as to inspire everyone how important it is to save our environment. The local Cape cod artist, David Lewis, was chosen to create the statue based on the photograph, and on July 14th, 2013, it was dedicated. Carson is depicted sitting on a bench gazing at the water, taking notes. Several benches near her invite the visitors to join her. Her words are inscribed on the stepping stones on the grounds- “I had my first prolonged contact with the sea at Woods Hole. I never tired of watching the tidal currents pouring through the hole – that wonderful place of whirlpools and eddies and swiftly racing water.” Read more...

This memorial honors the extraordinary life and legacy of the social justice work of Kip Tiernan. Tiernan was a social activist who devoted her life to improving the lives of the poor, homeless and less fortunate people. In 1974, she founded Rosie’s Place, the first women homeless shelter in the US, and till her death in 2011, she founded and supported many organizations in Boston. Among these are the Greater Boston Food Bank, Emergency Shelter Commission, Aid to Incarcerated Mothers, Finex House, Food for Free, My Sister’s Place, Transition House, and the Greater Boston Union of the Homeless. The memorial stands since October 6th, 2018, near Tiernan’s former office at Old South Church. Funded by private donations and created by the duo Carla Ceruzzi and Ryan Murphy of Ceruzzi and Murphy Projects. It consists of three metal arches with inscribed quotes from “Urban Meditations,” which Tiernan co-authored with her advocacy partner Fran Froehlich. It is one of a few memorials in Boston honoring women. Read more...

On display at the Student Life and Performance Center’s Blumenthal Family Library is a bust of the civil rights leader and a former student of the New England Conservatory, Coretta Scott King. King devoted her life to advocate for equal rights to all women and men kind to peace, justice, and none violence. She was the wife of Martin Luther King Jr. for 15 years till he was assassinated in 1968. Upon his unexpected and terrible death, she continued to lead the civil rights movement, raising their four children and working on commemorating her husband’s legacy. King’s second passion was music, and she graduated from the New England Conservatory in 1954 with a music education degree. She gave up her dream to become a classical singer but used to sing on the movement’s rallies. In 1971 she received an honorary doctorate of music from NEC. The NEC chose to commemorate King’s legacy and contribution to the world with this bronze bust, called “Continuation of a Dream.” It was unveiled on April 24th, 2018, and designed by the artist MacLean Tiffany. It is one of Tiffany’s “Bronze Sculptures of the Human Spirit” series, on display in several institutions across the US. Read more...

Abigail Adams and John Quincy statue is a monument honoring Abigail Adams, a founding mother, second first lady, adviser of the second president John Adams, and the mother of the sixth president John Quincy Adams, depicted in this monument as a child. Abigail Adams (1744-1818) grew up in a progressive family; even though she did not receive a formal education, her mother homeschooled her and her sisters, and she promoted her education in the family’s library. At 18, she became the wife, partner, and advisor of John Adams, a country lawyer who became one of the founding fathers of the United States; they raised their six children in Braintree, Quincy, and Boston. After diplomatic missions in Paris and London in 1788, they settled in their home in Quincy, Peacefield, which nowadays is a museum in the Adams National Historical Park. In 1797, John became the second President of the United States, and she was the first lady. She was politically active and the closest advisor of the President. Upon losing the re-election campaign, the family retired to Peacefield in Quincy in 1800.   The bronze statue was dedicated in 1997 and created by Lloyd Lillie, who sculptured many prominent American figures, and the 20-figure sculpture that represented the first women’s rights convention in 1848 for the visitor center at the Women’s Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls. It depicts Abigail with her hand on her son’s shoulder while the president-to-be holds a book, and both look forward, symbolizing the future. The statue stood near the United First Parish Church, also known as the Church of Presidents, the family’s burial place. Following the renovations at Hancock Meetinghouse, the sculpture was moved to storage and in 2022 reinstalled in Merrymount Park. A new statue of Adams was installed in November 2022 in the Hancock Adams Common in Quincy close to the statues of her husband and son. Click here to read more about it. Other points of interest in Quincy include the Quincy Historical Society & Museum, the Dorothy Quincy Homestead, the Wollaston Beach, the longest beach on Boston Harbor, and many more.   Read more...