At the end of Boston's Black Heritage Trail, on Joy Street on Beacon Hill between Cambridge and Myrtle Streets, on a small side street by the name of Smith Court, one will find the African Meeting House, built in 1806 to house the first African Church of Boston, aka the First Independent Baptist Church, now said to be the oldest extant Black church building in America. (Note 1) . It also housed several schools and is now one of the locations of the Museum of African American History in Boston. It is also known as the Boston African American National Historic Site, part of the National Park Service.
There you will find displays commemorating the founding of the New England Antislavery Society in 1832.
The determined traveler will find, in an alley around the corner of the building, an installment of significant quotes related to the struggle for humanity and equality. These quotes are presented here in chronological order.
"We have met tonight in this obscure school house; our numbers are few ... and our influence limited: But mark my prediction, Fanuel hall shall ere long echo with the principles we have set forth. We shall shake the nation by their mighty power."
William Lloyd Garrison, January 8, 1832
Founding of the New England Antislavery Society
"For it is not the color of the skin that makes the man or the woman but the principle formed in the soul."
Marla Stewart, September 21, 1833
Farewell Address to her friends in Boston
"Independent of its history as a church and a school house, this building has won for itself celebrity by the various meetings held within its walls by the colored citizens and the friends for promoting the cause of human brotherhood."
William C. Nell, October 8, 1838
20th Anniversary of the First Independent Baptist Female Society
"This is a meeting to discuss the best method of abolishing slavery, and each speaker is expected to present what he regards as the best way of prosecuting the anti-slavery movement... All methods of proceeding against slavery, politics, religion, peace, war, Bible, Constitution, disunion, union - every possible way known in opposition to slavery is my way."
Frederick Douglass, December 4, 1860
How Can American Slavery Be Abolished
Notes:
(1) National Park Service Boston African American National Historic Site.
https://www.nps.gov/boaf/learn/historyculture/amh.htm
