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Patriots Weekend: Concord250 Events & More!

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April 13, Saturday 

A Fight for Freedom: Patriots of Color Walking Tour 

10AM

 In this 90 minute walking tour we will examine the known history and stories of these Patriots of Color who fought for freedom locally both during the American Revolution and beyond. Minuteman National Park, Robbins House and Concord Visitors Center staff will lead this tour examining the incredible stories of individuals who risked everything during their struggle for liberty, equality, and freedom for all.
Tour meets at the North Bridge Lower Lot.  All ages are welcome.
This walking tour  is  co-sponsored by Minuteman National Park, The Robbins House,  and The Concord Visitors Center as a Concord250 Event
Donations in support of Black History Month in Concord may be made to The Robbins House here:  https://robbinshouse.org/donate/
Learn More about Patriots of Color :

From Pasadena to Concord: Telling The Whole Story

2:00—3:30 PM

 

For 129 years, Black educator and activist Ellen Garrison lay unsung and forgotten in an unmarked grave in Altadena, California’s Mountain View Cemetery.

Ellen Garrison, native daughter of Concord, was the granddaughter of a freedman who fought in the Revolutionary War and spent years traveling alone through the South to teach formerly enslaved people how to read and write, protected only by a paper “passport” to show she was a free person.

The residents of Altadena knew little of this hidden history, but they were willing to learn, listen, and honor this heroine in their midst. Veronica Jones, Vice Chair of the Town Council, decided to act. Ms. Jones has a deep passion for uncovering hidden histories. Through her work with the Altadena Historical Society, she spearheaded the placement of headstones on the graves of Ellen Garrison, her husband, and her sister. Additionally, two scholarships are awarded to local Altadena students in memory of Ellen Garrison. Thanks to the Altadena Historical Society and Veronica Jones, Ellen Garrison is celebrated every year on Juneteenth, honoring the hidden histories of Altadena.

This process her community has gone through creates lasting change and deeper inclusion for all segments of her community. Veronica will share their journey and lessons learned and discuss how this work can impact us all, no matter where we live.

Veronica Jones is a retired life-long resident of Altadena, California with vast experience in community development. She has worked extensively on public safety, infrastructure improvements, community-police relations, economic development, diversity and inclusion, and re-establishing relationships with local, state, and federal government. She is highly regarded in her community as a change agent, promoting integrity and economic growth.

 

Please visit The Robbins House and the Altadena Historical Society to learn more.

This event is co-sponsored by Robbins House, Concord250, and The Concord Free Public Library’s William Munroe Special Collections.

LINK

 

Concord Band performs its annual Spring Pops

51 Walden presents the Concord Band performing its annual Spring Pops concert as a fundraiser for 51 Walden building renovations. The concert will be held on Saturday April 13, 2024, at 7:00 pm on the music stage of the 51 Walden Performing Arts Center in Concord.

The program will feature a guest artist, Ukrainian soprano Olga Lisovska, singing opera and popular solos including The Kyiv Waltz and George Gershwin’s Somebody Loves Me.

 

SUNDAY, APRIL 14

3:00- 5:00pm

Ellen Garrison Day in Concord 

 

 

Come join us and celebrate and afternoon of words, music, art and song as we Stand up for Ellen on the anniversary of her birth at the Concord Armory!

 

MONDAY, APRIL 15, PATRIOTS’ DAY

Patriots’ Day Pancake Breakfast at First Parish

 

8:30-11:00 Patriots Day Parade and North Bridge Ceremony

https://concordma.gov/1159/Patriots-Day-Parade

 

 

Patriots Day at the Wright Tavern

 

 

 

Patriots’ Day at the Concord Museum

Enjoy free admission to the Museum and visit the immersive April 19, 1775 gallery to see the “One if by land, two if by sea” lantern hung in the North Church to signal Paul Revere on his midnight ride. During your visit, participate in drop-in activities to learn about life and craft in the colonies. Sponsored by the Highland Street Foundation.

Witness the brave Acton Minutemen company in an encampment outside the Museum as they drill with muskets to prepare for battle, cook over a firepit, and demonstrate colonial
spinning and sewing. Supported by the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati.

Beware of a Red Coat from the British Army roaming the galleries looking for Provincial rebels. Talk with him about the experiences of the Red Coats on April 19, 1775. Supported by
the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati.

 

Check out the line up of events at Minute Man National Historical Park

Photo: Amanda Pollock, Minuteman National Historical Park

 

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17

 6 to 7:30 pm Concord, There Is More To Our Story 

 

 

FRIDAY & SUNDAY,  APRIL 19 & 21

A Fight for Freedom: Patriots of Color Walking Tour 

10am

 In this 90 minute walking tour we will examine the known history and stories of these Patriots of Color who fought for freedom locally both during the American Revolution and beyond. Minuteman National Park, Robbins House and Concord Visitors Center staff will lead this tour examining the incredible stories of individuals who risked everything during their struggle for liberty, equality, and freedom for all.
Tour meets at the North Bridge Lower Lot
All ages are welcome.
This walking tour  is  co-sponsored by Minuteman National Park, The Robbins House,  and The Concord Visitors Center as a Concord250 Event
Donations in support of Black History Month in Concord may be made to The Robbins House here:  https://robbinshouse.org/donate/
Learn More about Patriots of Color :

 

 

Concord Celebrates Women’s History Month!

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Flipping the Script: The Women of the Manse

These are the stories of the women of the Old Manse – vital, complex, and essential – who lived in the Old Manse from the time of the Revolutionary War through 1939. In this tour, we flip the script and explore the history of the Old Manse not from the perspective of a few famous men, but from the perspective of the many women who lived there and whose stories, often forgotten, shaped history and still resonate today.

Tour groups are set with a limited capacity and we recommend booking in advance to secure your spot.

Saturdays and Sundays at The Old Manse

 

 

 

Tender Sensibilities: Concord & Women’s History

Join historian Richard Smith and Nikki Turpin , President of the Robbins House, as they lead a lecture / discussion highlighting and celebrating a selection of women reformers from Concord history, including Ellen Garrison, Abba May Alcott and Helen Thoreau.

March 24, 12-1:30pm

Co-sponsored by the Friends of Walden Pond and Concord 250 Executive Committee.

Concord250.org

 

 

Women of the Great Field: The Robbins and Garrison Women and their Neighbors

March 26, 6-7:30pm

Join us for a Women’s History discussion with The Robbins House on the history of the women residents of the Great Field, a predominantly African American and indigenous area of Concord in the 19th century. Hear some of the stories and accomplishments of women like Lydia Bay, Fatima Robbins, Susan Garrison and others who lived and worked on the periphery of the town in the 1800s. This event is generously cosponsored by The Robbins House: Concord’s African American History and The Concord Free Public Library

Concord250.org

 

 

 

 

Concord Free Public Library

Author Talks with the Concord Women Writers: Short Stories

Each week this month the library is showcasing authors from Concord. These Women Writers share their work and experience as women creators. Read about the March 20th event with  essayist and short story writer Emily Rubin and short story and creative nonfiction writer Tracy Winn. 

 

Author Talks with the Concord Women Writers: Poetry and Children’s Writing

 

March 27, multimedia poet Ros Zimmermann, and systems thinker and children’s writer Linda Booth Sweeney will be the featured authors.

 

CONCORD250 APRIL EVENTS

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VISIT CONCORD250

Come join us and celebrate an afternoon of words, music, art and song as we Stand up for Ellen on the anniversary of her birth and Concord!

Sunday, April 14, 3-5pm at The Armory

Photography EdwardFeatherPhotography

Visit Concord250.org

CONCORD250 MARCH EVENTS

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VISIT CONCORD250

Community Forum –

Fight for Freedom Public Art Project in Monument Square

Public Art Graphic Artists NEFA

Three semi-finalists have been selected to present their proposals for a temporary work to be installed on Monument Square in the fall of 2024.  The works explore ideas to creatively interpret the ways in which people have struggled for the fight for freedom through time in Concord, Massachusetts. Taking inspiration from the 250th anniversary of the start of the American Revolution in 2025, the town seeks artists to consider the ways in which two 19th century Concord residents – Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862) and Ellen Garrison (1823 – 1892) – continued this fight for independence through the abolitionist cause. Through a visually compelling artwork, we hope to more deeply investigate a pivotal time in Concord’s past to bring overlooked stories to the fore and to more actively grapple with our generation’s work to provide liberty and justice for all.

On March 6, 2023 at 6:30 PM, in person and on Zoom, the public is given the opportunity to meet the artists, view presentations and models of the work, and provide feedback that will inform the final projects presented by:

  • Silvana Mizrahi
  • Liz Helfer
  • Krystle Colleen Brown

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

In person:
Hearing Room
Town House
22 Monument Square

Zoom :
bit.ly/3OQ9JrZ

This project is presented by the Town of Concord as part of “Making It Public,” a program of the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) with Forecast and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC). This program seeks to support more diverse, inclusive, and equitable public artmaking across Massachusetts.

 

 

 

Friends of Minute Man National Park Winter Lecture Series: “Radical Spirits: The Material Culture of Drinking at Minute Man National Historical Park” with Nikki Walsh

March 24 @ 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm

FREE

Join us for the Friends of Minute Man Winter Lecture Series. Punch bowls, and tankards, and bottles, oh my! Minute Man National Historical Park’s museum curator Nikki Walsh will present a lecture about the material culture related to drinking in the park’s collections. This lecture will focus on 18th-century drinking culture and include aspects of drink in earlier and later periods of history.

Nikki Walsh is the curator of Minute Man National Historical Park. Nikki has worked for the National Park Service since 2009 and has worked with over 45 parks as a Museum Specialist in the Northeast Region. Her area of expertise is material culture and decorative arts of 18th-century New England. She received a B.S. in Public History and Geology from Salem State University and an M.A. in Historical Archaeology from Boston University. She has been at Minute Man since 2018 and first fell in love with the park on a school field trip in 5th grade.

Registration is not required for this in-person event. The lecture will take place in the Goodwin Forum room of the Concord Free Public Main Library at 129 Main Street, Concord, MA. Please visit the library webpage for parking and accessibility information. For more information, please visit our website at https://friendsofminuteman.org/events/#Walsh-lecture.

The Winter Lecture Series is co-sponsored by Friends of Minute Man, Minute Man National Historical Park, and the Concord Free Public Library. This program is supported in part by a grant from the Concord Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Image: Green Dragon Tavern, Boston, MA. c.1898. Courtesy of the Boston Public Library. Drinking vessel from the Minute Man National Historical Park archives.

Women of the Great Field: The Robbins and Garrison Women and their Neighbors

March 26 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm

Goodwin Forum Main Library
129 Main Street, Concord, MA, 01742
Women of the Great Field: The Robbins and Garrison Women and their Neighbors
Join us for a Women’s History discussion with The Robbins House on the history of the women residents of the Great Field, a predominantly African American and indigenous area of Concord in the 19th century. Hear some of the stories and accomplishments of women like Lydia Bay, Fatima Robbins, Susan Garrison and others who lived and worked on the periphery of the town in the 1800s. This event is generously cosponsored by The Robbins House: Concord’s African American History and The Concord Free Public Library

https://concordlibrary.assabetinteractive.com/calendar/women-of-the-great-field-the-robbins-and-garrison-women-and-their-neighbors/

CONCORD250 EVENTS

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Concord250 Events

A Fight for Freedom: Patriots of Color Walking Tour FEB 22 1pm

Concord250 in collaboration with Minuteman National Park , The Robbins House  and the Concord Visitors Center launches this new walking tour .

 

In celebration of Black History Month this  inaugural tour will be free to the public and all ages are welcome.

 

https://visitconcord.org/visit/walking-tours/

 

A Fight for Freedom: Patriots of Color Walking Tour FEB 22 1pm

 

Between twenty and forty colonists who fought along the Battle Road on April 19, 1775, were of African descent or Indigenous . Although excluded from required militia service prior to the war, these individuals of color were the first of many to take up arms between 1775 and 1783.

By the end of the conflict, an estimated 5,500 African and Indigenous  men served on the colonial side.  Unfortunately, systemic racism and historical bias have erased or buried many records of Black and Indigenous people who played a prominent role in the founding of the United States.

In this 90 minute walking tour we will examine the known history and stories of these Patriots of Color who fought for freedom locally both during the American Revolution and beyond. Minuteman National Park , Robbins House  and Concord Visitors Center staff will lead this tour examining the the incredible stories of the individuals who risked everything during their struggle for liberty, equality, and freedom for all.

 

In celebration of Black History Month  the tour is being offered free of charge .

 

Tour meets at the North Bridge Lower Lot at 1pm on THU Feb 22.  All ages are welcome 

 

This walking tour  is  co sponsored by  Minuteman National Park, The Robbins House,  and The Concord Visitors Center as a Concord250 Event

 

Donations in support of Black History Month in Concord maye be made to The Robbins House here:  https://robbinshouse.org/donate/

 

Learn More about Patriots of Color HERE

 

https://robbinshouse.org/wp-content/uploads/PatriotsofColor-web.pdf

 

https://www.nps.gov/mima/patriotsofcolor.htm

 

 

“Enemies to their Country?” Concord Town Meeting, January 10, 1774

Wednesday, January 10, 2024
6 PM- 7 PM
Goodwin Forum Main Library

READ MORE

250 years ago, in the wake of the now famous Dec 16, 1773 “Boston Tea Party,” the people of Concord took steps that would lead them down a dangerous path toward rebellion. On January 10, 1774, Concord took up an article in town meeting to write a response to a letter from the Boston Committee of Correspondence that warned about the evils of the new Tea Act and the need to resist “in a most zealous and determined manner…” In the same meeting, those in attendance also considered an article “not to consume any tea in our respective families – and if agreed to – then to see if the town will adjudge those who will afterwards sell or use any tea in their families as enemies to their country…” 
What did they mean by using the word “enemies”?

What would such a measure do to their community?

Join Minute Man NPS Rangers as they unpack this significant moment on the evening of the event 250 years ago . They will lead an interactive discussion about responses to dissent and disagreement at times of political crisis and explore the nature of protest in American History.

Co-Sponsored By Town of Concord 250 Events, Minute Man National Historical Park, the Friends of Minute Man National Park, and The Concord Free Public Library.

Registration is recommended but not required. This event is appropriate for ages 12 and up.

Beyond 1775: Concord and the Massachusetts National Guard

 

 

Special pre-Veteran’s Day tour, Nov. 9, 2023, 10 a.m. – a chance to be taken into the special collection of the Concord Armory to see rare artifacts and how materials are preserved.

Be one of the first to explore Concord’s 1915 armory and learn about the near 400-year history of the Massachusetts Army National Guard, the oldest component of the United States Armed Forces. Hear stories of remarkable service and view the objects that witnessed war. The tour will also offer participants a special glimpse into the Massachusetts National Guard Museum while it prepares to open to the public. Concord may be famous for April 19, 1775, but its service to the Commonwealth and Nation continue to this very day.  

Tour meets at 91 Everett Street Concord 

 This tour is provided in partnership with the Massachusetts National Guard Museum. 

Endorsed by Concord 250 Committee

concord 250 logo

 

Concord and the Vietnam War

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2023

2:00—4:00 PM

Goodwin Forum, Main Library, 129 Main Street, Concord, MA, 01742

Concord and the Vietnam War

Concord and the Vietnam War: Vietnam Veterans Recount the Protest They Staged at the Old North Bridge in 1971 and How it Led to One of the Largest Mass Arrests in Massachusetts History 

On the opening night of Memorial Day Weekend in 1971, men wearing fatigues began to gather at the Old North Bridge in Concord to protest the ongoing war which they had just returned home from fighting. Their plan was to camp overnight and then march all the way to Boston Common. Photographs of them crossing the bridge were splashed across the region’s newspapers. For the liberal press, these were the new Minute Men.

On a panel moderated by Elise Lemire, author of Black Walden and Battle Green, Vietnam, three Massachusetts Vietnam veterans recall why they chose to stage their protests against the Vietnam War at New England’s most storied battlefields, their decision on the second day of the march to emulate Thoreau by occupying the Lexington Battle Green without permission, and their reception in Concord when they were tried in Middlesex Court for civil disobedience.  This panel with Vietnam veterans Bestor Cram, Christopher Gregory, and Lenny Rotman, will explore the role of memorialized battlefields, the principles of civil disobedience, and the role protest can play in healing moral injuries.

Ellen Garrison Day – Friday, April 14, 2023

The Concord Select Board declared April 14, 2023, “Ellen Garrison Day” to honor the contributions of Concord resident Ellen Garrison.  Ellen was born on April 14, 1823 in Concord, the granddaughter of Patriot of Color, Ceasar Robbins.  Ellen lived a life dedicated to the struggle for civil rights until her passing in an anti-slavery community in Pasadena, California, where she is buried alongside other anti-slavery activists.

Learn about Ellen and her life of activism by clicking on the proclamation and join to community for a celebration in her honor on Friday, April 14, 2023.

“Stand up for Ellen” Friday, April 14, 2023 at 6 p.m.

12 Monument Square, Concord, MA, followed by a reception at the Town House, 22 Monument Square.  If you can’t be there in person, the event will be live streamed at https://www.youtube.com/live/vlSBkbSZ-7c?feature=share

  • Music
  • Living History
  • Arts and performance
  • Dedication, celebration, and cake
  • Free, open and suitable to all ages!

This is the FIRST Official Event of the Concord 250 Celebration!

For the first time in 200 years, on April 14, 2023, Concord will publicly honor and celebrate the birth of one of its most inspirational daughters, Ellen Garrison and showcase the 1841 visit of Frederick Douglass to Concord!

Presented by Robbins House and is the first event of Concord 250 celebration. Free and suitable for all ages. Located at Holy Family Church and Concord Town House.

Thanks to the kind offer of collaboration and support of people all over Concord, this event will create an opportunity for a celebration of the legacy and importance of the African American story as central the story of the town. This event allows for public visibility and exposure to help more members of the community learn about and honor a history that may be new to them, but is essential for them and their understanding of Concord’s role in securing freedom for all people.

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