West End Museum’s exhibition reception set for Feb. 27
The West End Museum,150 Staniford St., Suite 7, will offer a reception for its upcoming exhibit, ‘An Illusion of Freedom: Boston and the Fugitive Slave Laws,’ on Thursday, Feb. 27, from 5 to 7 p.m.
The upcoming exhibit explores the evolution of the Fugitive Slave laws, and how Bostonians bravely defied them in order to protect others’ natural right to freedom.
For tickets and more information, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/an-illusion-of-freedom-boston-and-the-fugitive-slave-laws-reception-tickets.
Nichols House Museum offers Women’s History Month programming
The Nichols House Museum will offer a virtual program, ‘Rose Standish Nichols and Garner Ranney’ on Saturday, March 1, at 10:30 a.m.
The correspondence between Rose Nichols and her friend Garner Ranney offers a fascinating window into her later years, as well as into life in the United States as the Cold War was becoming a reality. In this free, virtual program scholar Anne-Laure François will discuss her on-going research into their correspondence, which lasted more than a decade, generating some 3,300 letters, now in the collection of the Schlesinger Library at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute.
On Saturday, March 8, the museum at 55 Mt. Vernon St. will offer International Women’s Day Tours from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Celebrate International Women’s Day by discovering the fascinating women of 55 Mount Vernon St., including the Nichols Sisters, domestic staff, and local artists.
Tours are by donation, and reservation are required.
Additionally, the museum will offer ‘Honest, Neat, and Capable: Staff Stories from 55 Mt Vernon St.’ on Wednesday, March 12, at 5:30 p.m.
Examine the Nichols House from the domestic staff’s perspective. On this tour, we’ll share specific biographies of employees, fitting their time in service into their broader life story. Guests will also explore a few areas of the building not usually on view.
Admission is $15 each for Nichols House Museum member, and $20 each general admission.
The museum will also offer ‘Meeting Marian: A Life in Service, Served Well’ on Tuesday, March 18, at 6 p.m. at Grogan & Company, 20 Charles St.
Marian Clarke Nichols waged a lifelong battle against government corruption. Toni Armstrong, the Nichols House Museum’s 2024 Linsdell Fellow, will share her research on Marian, including Marian’s efforts to reform local government, her commitments to the Beacon Hill neighborhood, and her lifelong interest in art and education.
Admission is free, but registration is required for this event.
For more information and to register for programming, visit nicholshousemuseum.org
Women’s History author talk set for March 5 at the Athenaeum
The Boston Athenaeum, located at 10½ Beacon St., offers Celebrating Women’s History with the LWCS and Kellie Carter Jackson on Wednesday, March 5, from 6 to 8 p.m.
The League of Women for Community Service (LWCS) of the South End, one of the oldest continuing Black women’s service organizations in the United States, hosts an author talk by Kellie Carter Jackson, the Michael and Denise Kellen 68’ Associate Professor and Chair in the Department of Africana Studies at Wellesley College and author of ‘We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance.’
Black resistance to white supremacy is often reduced to a simple binary, between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolence and Malcolm X’s “by any means necessary.”
In ‘We Refuse,’ historian Carter Jackson urges us to move past this false choice, offering an unflinching examination of the breadth of Black responses to white oppression, particularly those pioneered by Black women. Carter Jackson’s scholarly research shares a natural connection with the rich legacy of LWCS – revolution, resilience, flight, protection, and especially joy! During the event, you will also learn about the LWCS, including an effort to restore its historic headquarters at 558 Massachusetts Ave.
This event is open to the public, and admission is free for all. For more information and the registration link, visit: https://events.bostonathenaeum.org.
Free lessons in American Mahjong offered at West End Branch Library
The Friends of the West End Library will be offering lessons in American Mahjong to new and experienced players at no cost.
The group meets on Wednesdays at 1:30 p.m., on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month in the Community Room of the West End Branch Library, 151 Cambridge St.
To sign up or for more information, email Audrey Tedeman ([email protected]) or Julia Forbes ([email protected]).
‘Let the Children Sing’ rescheduled for Sunday, March 9, at MAAH
The multi-faceted program honoring William Cooper Nell, pioneering African American abolitionist, journalist, and civil rights advocate, has been rescheduled for March 9 at 3 p.m. at the African Meeting House on Beacon Hill’s Joy Street.
Presented by the Beacon Hill Civic Association and The Museum of African American History, the program features cello students from CityStrings United and vocalists from the Eastern Mass Youth Ensemble, as well as the talents of storyteller and educator Regie Gibson. For more information, contact the BHCA. Tickets are $15 for adults and $7 for children on Eventbrite or crescendoproductions.com
Prescott House upcoming event and tours
The William Hickling Prescott House at 55 Beacon St. is hosting a public event, ‘Bundle Up! 100 Years of Outerwear,’ on Friday March 21, from 6 to 7 p.m.
This hour will be filled with costume collection highlights that would be used to keep warm from the 1820s through the 1920s from the costume collection at the Prescott House.
Tickets range from $8-$18, and can be purchased at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bundle-up-tickets.
Also, the Prescott House will be offering First Friday Tours from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the first Friday of the month starting in March. Tickets can be purchased on site, and no reservations are needed.
Visit https://nscdama.org/properties/william-hickling-prescott-house/ for more information.