Black History Boston
The Black Heritage Trail and beyond — a century-long fight to make the first revolution’s words true. From the oldest Black church building in America to the regiment that marched to war, the people and places of abolitionist Boston.
- Stops
- 7
- Distance
- 0.9 mi
- On foot
- 18 min walking
- From
- African Meeting House → Shaw / 54th Regiment Memorial
- 1
Building / Landmark · 1806African Meeting House
Begin at the oldest Black church building in America (1806), the organizing hall of the movement.
- 8 min walk on2Person · 1753
Phillis Wheatley
The first African American to publish a book of poetry — enslaved in Boston, freed by her words.
- 3 min walk on3Person · 1723
Crispus Attucks
First to fall at the Boston Massacre — remembered as the first casualty of the Revolution.
- 1 min walk on4
Person · 1805William Lloyd Garrison
The printer who made Boston the capital of American abolition.
- 1 min walk on5Historical event · 1831
The Liberator First Published (1831)
‘I will be heard.’ — the newspaper that ran until slavery died.
- 6 min walk on6Historical event · 1863
The 54th Marches Out (1863)
The North’s first Black regiment marched down Beacon Street to war.
- 1 min walk on7
Building / Landmark · 1897Shaw / 54th Regiment Memorial
End at the bronze that fixed that march in time, opposite the State House.