#DouglassWeek Updates
#DouglassWeek is in full swing! Check back here for updates from the #DouglassWeek newsletter on the events happening each day!
A note on Registration from #DouglassWeek
Registration encouraged!
As you know, some of our events have limited space, so to ensure that we have a seat for everyone who wants to attend, please register for these events:
For more details and to register, we encouraged you all to check the full program schedule on our website or go to our Eventbrite page HERE:
DAY 5 | Overview | #DouglassWeek 2025
Dear #DouglassWeek friends,
Thank you for being part of Day 4 of #DouglassWeek 2025. The day was filled with reflection, learning and powerful dialogue and we are grateful to all who joined us in person and online to honor the Douglass family’s impact and carry their legacy forward!
We’re nearly at the end of the week! Make sure to join us for the final three days as we close out this historic celebration together. And now, let's look at the DAY 5 porgram and see what's in store for us!#DouglassWeek 2025 | In the Footsteps of Frederick Douglass: A Day in New Bedford
Dear #DouglassWeek friends,
Thank you for being part of Day 4 of #DouglassWeek 2025. The day was filled with reflection, learning and powerful dialogue and we are grateful to all who joined us in person and online to honor the Douglass family’s impact and carry their legacy forward!
We’re nearly at the end of the week! Make sure to join us for the final three days as we close out this historic celebration together. And now, let's look at the DAY 5 porgram and see what's in store for us!#DouglassWeek 2025 | In the Footsteps of Frederick Douglass: A Day in New Bedford
All-day Bus Tour & Site Visits
The highlight of Day 5 is this fantastic full-day bus trip and walking tour to New Bedford, co-hosted by Mass Humanities and the New Bedford Historical Society.
Over the course of the day, attendees will visit key historic sites connected to Frederick Douglass’s life in New Bedford, including the Nathan & Mary Johnson House (Douglass’s first home in the city), Abolition Row, murals, museums and other relevant landmarks
Pick-up location / location in New Bedford:
🚌 IF YOU ARE TAKING THE BUS: The bus will meet us at Saint Ignatius of Loyola Catholic Church at 28 Commonwealth Avenue in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts! It will depart at 9:00 am. Please arrive no later than 8:45 am! Paid parking is available at the Commonwealth Avenue Garage, located nearby at 40 St. Thomas More Road or Beacon Street Garage: at 2601 Beacon Street.
🚗 IF YOU ARRIVE BY CAR: Please meet us outside of the National Park Visitor Center, 33 William Street, New Bedford, MA 02740 at 10:30 am. There will be a trolley waiting!
Program Features & Talks
The tour includes guided experiences and interpretive commentary from local historians and site specialists. A special lunch presentation by historian Tim Walker will be part of the program, offering deeper insight into Douglass’s time in New Bedford and the broader abolitionist community in that era.
Significance & Takeaways
New Bedford holds a central place in Douglass’s life: it was where he lived for several years, earned his first paid wages as a free man, and raised his early family. The visit let participants walk the physical ground of his experiences.
The day’s programming emphasizes place-based history, showing how Douglass’s life intersected with local communities, institutions and geography.
It is our hope that, for many attendees, the tour will offer both a deeper emotional connection to Douglass’s story and a tangible sense of how local history shapes national memory.
#DouglassWeek 2025 | Day 4 Highlights
Let's Have A Look At Day 4 Of #DouglassWeek 2025
On Day 4 of #DouglassWeek 2025, we turn our attention to education, memory and family legacy. The day’s programs invite us to think critically about how history is taught, how we honor the past, and how the Douglass family’s presence in Massachusetts continues to inspire action today.
From a panel on decolonizing the curriculum at the Boston Public Library, to a moving conversation with Douglass descendants and scholars at the Museum of African American History, to the important preservation work of the Slave Dwelling Project, Day 4 offers opportunities to listen, learn and reflect together.
Day 4 invites us to reflect deeply on Frederick Douglass’s legacy in education, family and memory. From reimagining how history is taught, to connecting with living descendants, to honoring the spaces where enslaved people once were forced to live and labor, today’s events highlight the many ways Douglass’s story continues to shape our present.
We’ll begin at the Boston Public Library with Decolonizing the Curriculum: Frederick Douglass and the Future of Education, a dynamic conversation with educators and community leaders about building inclusive and equitable classrooms.
In the evening, the Museum of African American History will host The Douglass Family in Massachusetts, a panel with Douglass descendants and scholars reflecting on the family’s enduring ties to the Commonwealth and their ongoing commitment to education and activism.
And throughout the day, the Slave Dwelling Project will offer a powerful reminder of the importance of preserving spaces of enslavement, inviting us to confront the past so that we can better understand its ongoing impact.
Together, these programs call us to learn, engage, and honor Douglass’s vision for justice in ways that resonate across time.
Please remember that registration is encouraged, thank you!
#DouglassWeek 2025 | Day 3 Highlights
Overview of Day 3 of #DouglassWeek 2025
What an unforgettable evening we shared at the African Meeting House for Harmonies of Freedom! To celebrate the Douglass family with music, poetry and performance in the nation’s oldest surviving Black church was powerful, unique and deeply meaningful. We are so grateful to the Douglass descendants, the extraordinary performers, speakers, scholars and to everyone who filled that historic space with love, energy and community. It was a night we will carry with us through the rest of the week and long after.
As we look to DAY 3, we want to remind you that all our videos of events will be on our YouTube channel soon after #DouglassWeek to be shared as a free resource and to make all the beautiful work and conversations available and accessible to everyone.
Whether you’re joining online or in person, Day 3 promises rich conversations and new ways to connect with Douglass’s enduring legacy, so join us for another incredible day of global insight and local history!
Morning (Online): Join us on our YouTube channel HERE at 11:00 AM Eastern for a thought-provoking Douglass Dialogues pane discussionl: “The Communist and the Revolutionary Liberal in the Second American Revolution — Comparing Karl Marx and Frederick Douglass in Real Time.” Prof August H. Nimtz and Kyle A. Edwards (both University of Minnesota) will be in dialogue with Prof Jack Kaufman-McKivigan (Indiana University Indianapolis), exploring how Marx and Douglass each understood the American Civil War and the revolutionary ideas it ignited.
Midday (Public/Invite-Only): Descendants of Frederick Douglass will spend time with students at the Frederick Douglass Collegiate Academy in Lynn to will share stories and personal reflections about their family’s deep ties to Lynn and Massachusetts. This visit is especially meaningful because Frederick and Anna Murray Douglass raised their family in Lynn from 1841 to 1848, and their son Charles Remond Douglass was born here in 1844. It was also during his years in Lynn that Frederick Douglass wrote and published his groundbreaking first autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, 180 years ago this year.
Evening (In-Person): We will stay in and go to the Lynn Museum & Arts Center for “The Douglass Family’s Impact in Lynn.” This panel discussion will feature Kenneth B. Morris, Jr. (President, Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives, great-great-great grandson of Frederick Douglass and great-great grandson of Booker T. Washington), historian Tom Dalton and moderator Doneeca Thurston-Chavez. Together, they’ll reflect on Douglass’s years in Lynn, his journey to Ireland and the ongoing influence of his work. Register HERE.
#DouglassWeek 2025 | Day 2 Highlights
Happy DAY 2 of #DouglassWeek 2025!
What an incredible start to #DouglassWeek 2025!
Thank you to everyone who joined us today in Boston Hyde Park for a brilliant DAY 1 kick-off event. The energy, community and celebration set the perfect tone for the week ahead. We are so grateful for the brilliant event and the memories we were able to make together. Be sure to check out our social media in the next days for highlights!
Now, we look forward to DAY TWO — a powerful day of conversations, remembrance and performance honoring Frederick Douglass’s legacy in Boston, Massachusetts and Ireland.
Morning (Online): Douglass Dialogues Conversation – “Frederick Douglass: A Life in American History” with scholars Prof Jack Kaufman-McKivigan and Prof Mark Christian. Click HERE!
Midday (Public/Invite-Only): Tour and Remarks at the Massachusetts 54th Regiment/Robert Gould Shaw Memorial - Meet us at 10:30 AM at the memorial and join Douglass family members and state officials. Followed by a reception at the State House (invite-only). Learn more HERE.
Evening (free, but ticketed): "Harmonies of Freedom | Honoring the Frederick Douglass Family in Word & Song" at the African Meeting House, featuring Broadway stars, scholars, artists, and Douglass descendants. Registration encouraged HERE.
We can’t wait to see you — in person and online — as we continue this extraordinary week together!
