Boston African American National Historic Site United States

Legendary

A historic area dedicated to preserving the history and culture of the African American community.

Photo by Tony Fischer

In 1638, a ship named the Desire sailed into Boston Harbor carrying enslaved Africans, the first documented arrival of its kind in Massachusetts. Almost 150 years later, Boston's Black community would help lead the entire nation's fight to end slavery for good.

The Desire had actually been sent out to trade Native American prisoners captured during the Pequot War for enslaved Africans in the Caribbean. That single voyage helped launch nearly a century and a half of slave trading connected to Boston's ports.

Everything changed in 1783. Massachusetts effectively abolished slavery that year, becoming the first state in the country to do so, largely thanks to legal challenges brought by formerly enslaved people like Elizabeth Freeman and Quock Walker, who used the ideals of the American Revolution to argue for their own freedom.

By the early 1800s, Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood had become home to one of the largest free Black communities in the country. Families settled on the north slope of the hill, building churches, schools, and businesses, and turning the neighborhood into a center of activism against slavery nationwide.

The community became deeply involved in the Underground Railroad, hiding and helping people escape slavery in the South. The African Meeting House, built in 1806, served as the spiritual and political heart of the neighborhood for decades.

During the Civil War, Boston's Black community helped recruit and support the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the first official Black regiment raised in the North. On July 18, 1863, the regiment led a courageous assault on Fort Wagner in South Carolina. Many soldiers, including their commander, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, were killed in the attack, but the regiment's bravery helped change public opinion about Black soldiers across the country.

Walk the Black Heritage Trail, which winds through Beacon Hill past homes, schools, and meeting places from this remarkable era. Visit the African Meeting House and the Abiel Smith School, the first schoolhouse in the nation built specifically to educate Black students. 

See the Robert Gould Shaw and 54th Massachusetts Regiment Memorial, standing across from the Massachusetts State House.