What you didn't learn in school

At Logan Airport last week, I read a variety of wall signs, meant for visitors, extolling various “firsts”—achievements in Boston and Massachusetts. What the historical benchmarks didn’t include was that Massachusetts was the first British colony to sanction slavery. That happened in 1641 with the adoption of the Body of Liberties, the rulebook adopted by our Puritan forefathers that, among other things, allowed for the enslavement of persons captured in war or bought in a legitimate sale.

Three-hundred-seventy-nine years later, I still find friends and neighbors who are shocked to know that people were enslaved in our state, yes, even in Stoneham. We never learned about this in school, they say.

There’s a lot we don’t know about our own history, and there are a thousand stories to be told, not only about slaves and their owners, but about those, enslaved and free, who fought to abolish slavery—heroes black and white.

As we are celebrating Black History Month, it’s a good time to find out more about what we didn’t learn in school. To do so, try your hand at the following quiz, eleven multiple-choice questions. OK, I’ve already told you the answer to the first. But keep going to the end, then check the answers.

1. The first British colony in American to officially sanction slavery (1641) was

a. Virginia

b. Rhode Island

c. South Carolina

d. Massachusetts

2. By the time of the American Revolution, approximately how many enslaved persons were there in Massachusetts?

a. 500

b. 1,500

c. 5,000

d. 50,000

3. The first people enslaved in New England by Europeans were

a. Pequot Indians

b. West Africans

c. Irish servants

d. Cherokees

4. Slavery ended in Massachusetts as a result of

a. The Boston Massacre

b. A Massachusetts Court decision

c. Popular vote

d. Act of the Massachusetts Legislature

5. The first New England state to abolish slavery after the Revolutionary War was

a. Massachusetts

b. Connecticut

c. Maine

d. Vermont

6. Which enslaved person was the first to successfully sue for her freedom in Massachusetts courts?

a. Belinda Sutton

b. Elizabeth Freeman

c. Tabitha Green

d. Harriet Tubman

7. What enslaved young woman in Boston became famous for her poetry?

a. Sojourner Truth

b. Molly Richards

c. Ellen Craft

d. Phillis Wheatley

8. William Lloyd Garrison edited what famous abolitionist newspaper in Boston?

a. The Liberator

b. The North Star

c. Voice of Freedom

d. The Boston Advocate

9. Which Stoneham deacon and his wife sheltered fugitive slaves on their way to freedom?

a. Howard Dike

b. Abijah Bryant

c. Darius Stevens

d. Joseph Sprague

10. Who was the first escaped slave arrested in Boston in 1851 under the Fugitive Slave Act?

a. Anthony Burns

b. Henry ‘Box’ Brown

c. William Craft

d. Shadrach Minkins

11. Which of the following African Americans were leaders in the anti-slavery movement in Massachusetts?

a. Prince Hall

b. Frederick Douglas

c. Lewis Hayden

d. David Walker

e. all of the above

Here are the answers: 1-d, 2-c, 3-a, 4-b, 5-d, 6-b, 7-d, 8-a, 9-b, 10-d, 11-e.

How’d you do? If you missed a few, you’re not alone. You may, however, want to find out more about the heroic men and women mentioned above. They are important people in the history of Massachusetts. Our history.

© Ben Jacques