On a day when the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump coincided with Martin Luther King Jr. Day, about 100 people gathered on a cold, blustery Monday, at the Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church on Middle Street for the Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation’s ninth annual event honoring the birthday of the slain civil rights leader.
Speakers struck the theme of storytelling and “reckoning,” what is missing from certain stories when it comes to the history of slavery and free Black people on Cape Ann, and how competing narratives are shaped by history, along with the need to keep stories alive.
After a welcome, the attendees heard recorded segments of King reading his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”
The 2 p.m. event featured Melissa Dimond, president and CEO of the nonprofit Wellspring House, presenting the organization’s work researching the story of a Black family, the Freemans, who called the Wellspring House building on Essex Avenue in West Gloucester home for more than 100 years.
Attendees also heard a presentation by Joe Ruykeyser, project manager of the Cape Ann Slavery and Abolition Trust, on its latest research, which can be found on its website, capeannslavery.org.
The program continued after an intermission with Michea McCaffrey and Dick Prouty leading an interactive discussion on the book, “How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America,” by Clint Smith.
Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation President Charles Nazarian kicked things off in the 1806 Meetinghouse by thanking Heather Atwood, chair of the events committee, and members who worked to put the program together.
“Today as we honor Dr. King, we know many things are happening in our country,” Nazarian said. He noted the church’s history goes back to 1774 and the church’s founding document in 1785 is a good example of the dichotomy in society then as now.
The founding document has the signatures of leading citizens of the day, but there is one that sticks out, that of Gloster Dalton, an African American who was freed by the time he arrived in Gloucester. The upper crust of Gloucester at the time invited him to sign the document, Nazarian said.
He noted that many of the signatories were in the shipping trades, some in the slave trade.
“And so we acknowledge our history here,” Nazarian said. “We believe that knowing your history and acknowledging it is part our learning process so that we can be better people ourselves in our own time and I believe that is the reason why all of you are here today with us.”
The Freemans
Dimond spoke about how Wellspring had known bits of the lore about the Freeman family for some time. The story went that Robin Freeman, a free slave from South Carolina, came to own the house in Massachusetts. Wellspring took a hard look itself around the time George Floyd was murdered in May 2020, and at what it could do to contribute to the discussion of civil rights, Black history, and the culture.
“We decided to begin with what we had right here in our own yard, which was the property that we owned, with the understanding that if we didn’t do the research about our own property then nobody else would certainly.”
So began an extensive research project which had a wealth of records available to it. Researchers were able to establish that Robin Freeman was enslaved in Gloucester by Capt. Charles Byles with his records available at the Cape Ann Museum. Through a partnership with two researchers, they were able to discover the entry in records when Robin Freeman bought his freedom from Byles in 1769.
One generation later, his son, Robert Freeman, was able to buy the property that is now 302 Essex Ave. He became a prominent landowner, owning 100 acres in town. Yet it was not a story that’s well known today.
“How does that happen, someone who can’t even vote is finding a way to be able to find a livelihood and be in land transactions with very significant families,” Dimond said.
The Freeman family remained at 302 Essex Ave. from 1826 to 1931. She noted a grant through Mass. Humanities and the two researchers accelerated the work to uncover the Freeman family’s history.
Two different stories
The Unitarian Universalist Church’s the Rev. Janet Parsons, a member of the Cape Ann Slavery and Abolition Trust, said it seemed like only yesterday that the brand-new website meant to share stories of enslaved people and abolitionists was introduced, but it was five years ago to the day. The website emerged from anti-racism work that was being done at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Rockport, and grew to counter a commonly believed story that there had never been enslaved people living on Cape Ann, but the presences of enslaved people had been widely documented.
In recent weeks, those at the church have been talking a great deal about the importance of stories and storytelling, she said.
“Far too often we try to hide the uncomfortable truths of our past. The truth that while we love to say that all people are created equal, too many are unable to fully embrace that narrative,” Parsons said. She noted that today was not only Martin Luther King Day, but inauguration day.
“And going forward, we can anticipate huge shifts in policy and also in the stories that we tell about our country,” she said.
The election in November demonstrated there are two separate narratives about the country, one about how all deserve to be treated compassionately and equally and the other, an older and persistent one, “that government only needs to value the voices of a very few, especially those with tremendous privilege and wealth.
“And today that story is shifting back to that older story. So it’s more important than ever that we continue to uncover and lift up all the stories and be a voice to all those whose voices have been silenced over the centuries.”
In Rockport earlier Monday, the Social Justice Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Rockport hosted music from Rockport Public School students, speeches and a church service service of readings, prayers and reflection led by the Rev. Susan Moran, with help from the interfaith clergy community.
Ethan Forman may be contacted at 978-675-2714, or at eforman@northofboston.com.