Boston Becomes the Antislavery Hub

Between 1831 and 1865, as the population of Boston surged from 60,000 to more than 175,000, the African  American population remained relatively stable—increasing to about 2,400. The Boston abolitionist movement first emerged from this long-settled, free Black population and freedom seekers who settled here. The interracial New England Anti-Slavery Society was founded at the African Meeting House in 1832, and during the first years of its publication, three quarters of the subscribers to The Liberator were Black.

Through the pages of The Liberator, other local antislavery publications, and lecture tours by visiting American and English abolitionists, Boston became a hub of the national and international antislavery movement. The anniversary of emancipation in the British West Indies on 1 August 1834 became one date that was commemorated in Boston in the years that followed.  Antislavery societies also often held rallies or events on the Fourth of July in the 1830s and 1840s.

In addition to The Liberator, the words of abolitionists were printed on broadsides and sung as hymns in churches. While meetings took place around the city, the African Meeting House, which was built on Beacon Hill in 1806, provided a discrimination-free place for meetings and worship.  

This Is The Lord's Doing, Garrison's antislavery banner
Cotton, paint by unknown, Boston, 1843 Wendell Phillips
Portrait, oil on canvas by Charles V. Bond, 1849 Letter from Ellen "Nellie" Custis Lewis to Harrison Gray Otis, 17 October 1831 ...
The Dorchester Anti-Slavery Society's Celebration. July 4th, 1835
Broadside Liberty's Song
Broadside Great Massachusetts Petition
Broadside attributed to the Latimer Committee Hymns, for the Rural Anti-Slavery Celebration, at Dedham, July 4, 1846
Broadside African Meeting House, Boston, Massachusetts
Photograph, circa 1892