I recently visited the Royall House and Slave Quarters in Medford, MA, an important site on enslavement in the north during the Revolutionary War period. In addition to the well-done tour, I was impress with the evolution of the site from one focused on the family and house to one emphasizing the role and significance of the enslaved who made it all possible. You can read about that in this article. As is true for so many families and institutions in the north and overseas, wealth was gained through Caribbean sugar plantations. Slowly this complicity is becoming more known — institutions are grappling with how to deal with the fact that they exist because of enslavement. I highly recommend exploring their website as it is rich with resources such as documentation of those enslaved by the Royalls, the important story of Belinda Sutton and her petitions, and Parallel Lives, Common Landscape: Artifacts from the Royall House & Slave Quarters. I plan to use this alongside the Whitney Plantation in my teaching of enslavement this coming year.
educating alice 