By The West End Museum Staff (Bob Potenza)
In 1641, Massachusetts became the first of England’s colonies in North America to legalize slavery. After Massachusetts abolished slavery in 1783, Boston became known as a safe haven for freedom-seeking slaves. However, Southern slave-holding states, fearing the growing opposition to slavery and the successful thwarting of slave catchers, sought more and more legal protection from the federal government. This fight for protections resulted in the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 and later the Compromise of 1850. The latter included a much stronger Fugitive Slave Law that forced every state’s officials to assist in slave catching and threatened individuals who assisted runaway slaves with fines and jail sentences. This new law posed the greatest obstacle yet to Boston’s abolition movement, pitting it against emboldened slave owners and the federal government.
The West End Museum’s new special exhibit, “An Illusion of Freedom: Boston and the Fugitive Slave Laws,” opens to the public on Feb. 27, with a special opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m. This exhibit explores the documentary history of the legalization of slavery in the United States, and the creation of federal laws prioritizing the rights of slaveholders over basic human rights. Focused on the period from the 1830s to 1850s, the exhibit explains how brave Bostonians from the Black community on Beacon Hill and abolitionist organizations defied the Fugitive Slave Laws in order to help escaped enslaved people defend their freedom. Visitors will learn the stories of former enslaved people, such as Anthony Burns, Ellen and William Craft, and Thomas Sims, who fled captivity and found freedom in Boston, only to be pursued by former enslavers and their agents set on returning them to servitude. The exhibit also features rare artifacts, on loan from Revolutionary Spaces, most notably the handcuffs used to bind Anthony Burns after his capture by slave catchers, and a club used by activists from Boston’s Black community during the failed rescue attempt of Burns.
The opening reception for “An Illusion of Freedom” takes place on Thursday, Feb. 27, from 5-7 p.m. at The West End Museum (150 Staniford St,, Suite 7, Boston). Tickets are $10 for the general public, and free for Museum members. They can be purchased through the events tab on The West End Museum website (thewestendmuseum.org), on the Museum’s Eventbrite, or at the door. Snacks and refreshments will be served. The special exhibit will run through the end of May.