This year we recognize Margaret Burnham, Vanessa Calderón-Rosado, Kumble Subbaswamy and Elizabeth Bacon
We are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2023 Governor’s Awards in the Humanities. The foundation will honor four individuals for their commitments to education, civil and human rights, community development and philanthropy on September 28, 2023, at 6:30 p.m., at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.
Presented in partnership with Governor Maura Healey, Mass Humanities will recognize Margaret Burnham, Vanessa Calderón-Rosado, Kumble Subbaswamy and Elizabeth Bacon for their contributions to the humanities and improving public life in Massachusetts.
“Massachusetts is home to a thriving humanities sector that makes our state more enlightened, innovative and inclusive,” said Governor Healey. “I’m proud to present the Governor’s Awards in the Humanities to these four leaders in recognition of the exceptional contributions they have made in education, history, community development, philanthropy, civil rights and more. I’m also grateful to the Mass Humanities Board for their partnership and the incredible work they do to expand opportunities across our state.”
About the awardees:
- Margaret Burnham, of Boston, is an internationally recognized expert on civil and human rights, comparative constitutional rights, and international criminal law. As a Distinguished Professor of Law at Northeastern University, she is the founder and director of the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project at Northeastern and the first African American Judge in Massachusetts. Burnham is being honored for her dedication to exploring history, illuminating truth and confronting injustice in order to protect civil and human rights locally, nationally and internationally. Read full bio here.
- Vanessa Calderón-Rosado, of Boston, is the CEO of Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción, Boston. She has had a long and multifaceted career demonstrating a commitment to the humanities within education, community development, and philanthropy in Boston and across the state. Calderón-Rosado is being honored for her work that actively promotes Latinx culture and builds community through the arts in Boston’s South End and for her contributions to shaping a more equitable philanthropic ecosystem in Massachusetts. Read full bio here.
- Kumble Subbaswamy, of Amherst, is the retiring Chancellor of UMass Amherst and a committed public education advocate. Subbaswamy is being honored for his commitment to education and transformative work at UMass Amherst. His work building a campus culture centered on social responsibility and inclusiveness are essential elements in the humanities. Read full bio here.
- Elizabeth Bacon, of Worcester, is the coordinator of the Clemente Course in the Humanities, Worcester. She has been a long-time leader, on-the-ground coordinator, and advocate in the humanities. Her extensive contributions to the humanities includes her work at This is MYCity! and Worcester’s Blackstone Canal Horse and Wagon Tours. Bacon is being honored for her excellence in using history as a tool for community development and economic empowerment and tirelessly advocating for the humanities in her home city and across the state. Read full bio here.
“Massachusetts is a better place because of the contributions made by this year’s Governor’s Awards honorees,” said Brian Boyles, Executive Director of Mass Humanities. “They continue to break barriers, elevate the voices of their communities, and contribute to our understanding of the Commonwealth and the nation. We thank Governor Healey for partnering with us this year to celebrate these transformational humanists.”
Since 2014, Mass Humanities has hosted the Governor’s Awards to recognize excellence in the humanities. Past awardees include: Callie Crossley, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., J. Hubie Jones, Margaret Marshall, Atul Gawande, Ellen Dunlap, Jessie Little Doe Baird and Sonia Nieto among others.
Mass Humanities collaborates with the Office of the Governor to recognize individuals whose public actions enhance civic life in the Commonwealth through a deep appreciation of the humanities.
Proceeds from sponsorships, ticket sales and direct donations benefit the organizations and programs that Mass Humanities supports each year including Expand Massachusetts Stories, The Clemente Course in the Humanities, Reading Frederick Douglass Together and the Smithsonian Museum on Main Street traveling exhibit.
For more information contact Jill Brevik, Manager of Annual Giving, at Jbrevik@masshumanities.org.
The 2023 Awards Committee: Co-chairs Amy Macdonald and Marita Rivero; Yves Salomon-Fernandez, Nancy Netzer and Imari Paris Jeffries.
HAVERHILL — Whittier’s Birthplace, in partnership with the Buttonwoods Museum, will present “Reading Frederick Douglass Together” on Monday, June 19 (Juneteenth), at 6 p.m. The event will feature a public reading of Douglass’ speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
Each year, Mass Humanities organizes and funds free public events where communities gather together to read and talk about Douglass’ influential address.
After escaping slavery in 1838, the famous abolitionist lived for many years in Massachusetts. The most celebrated orator of his day, Douglass’ denunciations of slavery and forceful examination of the Constitution challenge us to think about the stories we tell and don’t tell, the ideas that they teach or don’t teach, and the gaps between our actions and aspirations. To quote Douglass: “We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the future.”
Parking is available on a designated field. Please wear footwear suitable for walking on grass and dirt. In the event of heavy rain, this event will be virtual.
Members of the community who are interested in reading a section of the address are asked to email info@buttonwoods.org or kaleigh@whittierbirthplace.org.
Copies of the address will be available to all attendees, in English and in Spanish.
Smithsonian’s “Crossroads: Change in Rural America” Arrives at Athol Public Library
The Town of Athol’s past and present-day way of life will take center stage as the Smithsonian Museum on Main Street (MoMS)’s “Crossroads: Change in Rural America” comes to the Athol Public Library from May 14 through June 24, in cooperation with Mass Humanities.
“Crossroads: Change in Rural America” offers small towns like Athol a chance to look at their own path to highlight the changes that have affected their fortunes over the past century. The exhibition will prompt discussions about what happened when America’s rural population became a minority of the country’s population and the ripple effects that occurred.
Throughout the exhibit, the “Crossroads” theme will connect Athol’s land, people, identity, persistence, and change to evaluate the town’s past, present and future.
Mass Humanities will host a reception to celebrate the closing of the MoMS statewide traveling exhibit with the Rural Policy Advisory Commission on Monday, June 12 at 4 p.m. at the Athol Public Library.
Over the past year, the staff at Athol Public Library received extensive training from Mass Humanities and the Smithsonian, along with a $10,000 grant from Mass Humanities to develop public events during the six-week exhibit.
Mass Humanities’ partners for the statewide tour include the National Endowment for the Humanities, Big Y and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.
Launched in 1994, MoMS is a Smithsonian outreach program that engages small-town audiences and brings revitalized attention to underserved rural communities. The program partners with state humanities councils like Mass Humanities to bring traveling exhibitions, educational resources and programming to small towns across America through their local museums, historical societies and other cultural venues. Exhibitions are designed to engage communities and become a catalyst for conversation about life in small-town America.
Organizations located in towns with populations of 12,000 or less were eligible to apply for the MoMS grant. The six sites chosen for MoMS will have the opportunity for a second-year grant to continue the work and programs they developed as part of MoMS.
MoMS kicked off in Massachusetts in September at the Essex Historical Society and Shipbuilding Museum, traveled to the Hull Lifesaving Museum in October, the Rutland Free Public Library in December, and the Great Falls Discover Center at Turners Falls in January before arriving at the Bushnell-Sage Library in Sheffield in March.
Athol Public Library will close out the traveling exhibit’s tour in the state.
For further information, contact Program Officer Jen Atwood at jatwood@masshumanities.org.
By Nick Aresco
The Martin Luther King Jr. Family Services in Springfield held its annual graduation ceremony Friday evening.
The celebration was for students who completed the Clemente course in the humanities. The course offers a transformative educational opportunity for adults facing economic hardship and adverse circumstance to further their education and careers. 22News spoke with a former student about her time taking the course.
Brenda Hill, graduate of the class of 2015-2016 said, “We were all trying to achieve the same thing, we were all learning different things and we were in it together. Especially with a small classroom you really don’t have a choice. It was a once in a lifetime experience for me.”
Gina Ocasion, the academic director of the Clemente course told 22News, “There are lot of people that have always thought to go to college and have never been able to finish or access and Clemente is meant to provide that access point.”
During the course, students receive 110 hours of instruction from humanities professors, complete writing assignments, engage in classroom discussions, and participate in field trips to cultural institutions.
By Dan Medeiros
The Herald News
FALL RIVER — The Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities has tens of thousands in grant dollars to share with local nonprofits that focus on history and education — and while only a few Fall River nonprofits have ever won their awards, representatives from several groups are hoping to change that.
Mass Humanities held a workshop Wednesday at the Heritage State Park visitors center to share details of three different grants they’re offering, with past grant recipients including Dana Barnes of the Greater Fall River Art Association and Deb Britt of the National Black Doll Museum sharing tips on how to apply. Leaders of Fall River nonprofits like the Creative Arts Network, Battleship Cove, the Lafayette Durfee House and others were in the crowd, listening and taking notes.
A search of Mass Humanities’ past grantees shows Fall River area groups haven’t had a lot of luck. The group lists five grants to Fall River groups from 2000 to the present. Meanwhile, New Bedford groups received 58.
Battleship Cove Executive Director Megan Rathbun said that disparity seems to be the case in general when it comes to nonprofit grant money. “I don’t think Fall River’s been really that represented in the state,” Rathbun said, “which it should be, because this is such an important city when you’re looking at the history of the SouthCoast, the history of the state, of the country.”
What does Mass Humanities do?
Mass Humanities is a group dedicated to keeping our state’s history alive, with a focus on creating public events, funding educational groups, sharing stories of diverse traditions and more.
What grants are they offering?
Mass Humanities is offering three different grants:
· Reading Frederick Douglass Together: A project that supports public readings and discussions of the famous abolitionist’s Fourth of July address “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Grants of up to $2,000 are available.
· Expand Massachusetts Stories: A project that supports the collecting and sharing of stories from the state’s past, including oral histories, museum exhibits, short videos and more. Grants of up to $20,000 are available.
· Staffing Recovery: A grant that allows smaller nonprofits to support or hire new staff for up to two years. Grants of up to $40,000 are available.
What can Fall River groups do with these grants?
Rathbun said she is gathering research for next year’s grant cycle. “We have an exhibit that I would like to twin the Frederick Douglass reading with,” she said. “Mass Stories is another one. Our Maritime Museum would be the one to do that.”
Battleship Cove’s operating budget puts it above the range where it could receive a staffing grant, she said, but recognized how vital that could be for many.
“It’s very rare that grants fund operating costs or staff salaries. So that grant is going to be very important for a lot of groups and for a lot of organizations,” she said. “The fact that Mass Humanities has that grant is amazing. It’s going to be really good for a lot of institutions.”
One such group is Fall River’s Lafayette Durfee House, run by David Jennings. He and treasurer Kathy Kroger were on hand. They were greatly interested in the Expanding Massachusetts Stories grant, to put together a presentation on Colonial times and the Battle of Fall River.
More than that, Kroger and Jennings said, the idea of paying for staff is enticing — Jennings has run the Cherry Street museum for decades, unpaid.
“We’re all volunteer,” Kroger said. “I’ve always wanted Dave to have a salary. He works so hard.”
How do people apply for these grants?
Full details on grant requirements and application details are available at Masshumanities.org.
Dan Medeiros can be reached at dmedeiros@heraldnews.com.
New documentary, “If You Cross This Boundary, We All Die,” is the latest example of their work
Years ago, teachers would roll a bulky box television strapped to a metal frame into the classroom, throw a tape in the VCR, dim the lights and begin playing a history documentary that was as old and outdated as the asbestos covering the school’s pipes.
By the end of the film, half the class would be asleep and the other half that did not nod off were doodling in their notebooks.
That was then, and this is now.
In recent years, educators like Self-Evident Education have been on the cutting edge of how students absorb history, especially when it comes to the history of race in the United States.
By using interactive multimedia documentary films that spark in-depth discussions on a given subject matter, Self-Evident Education multimedia has the ability to build immersive worlds for students to enter, through which they can understand the past.
According to Self-Evident Education, “many teachers want to engage with the important histories and legacies of systemic racism, but they don’t have the experience or resources to know how to do it honestly and rigorously, and so they avoid it, which continues to perpetuate a lack of deep understanding of our past.”
Michael Lawrence-Riddell, an award-winning public school educator, conceived this platform in response to the urgent need for our society to honestly and rigorously engage in work to understand the histories and legacies of race and institutional racism.
Their latest documentary, “If You Cross This Boundary, We All Die,” an original film funded in part by a Mass Humanities Expand Massachusetts Stories grant, tells the story of famed abolitionists Ellen and William Craft, who escaped enslavement through Ellen’s passing as the white male owner of William.
Mass Humanities recently sat down with Lawrence-Riddell to talk about Self-Evident Education’s learning model, the recent documentary, and the tools they are providing to reshape education in the Commonwealth.
Mass Humanities: Can you describe Self-Evident Education’s learning model?
Michael Lawrence-Riddell: The model begins with a short documentary film like “If You Cross This Boundary, We All Die.” Then underneath the film, you have all these follow-up resources that educators, students and community organizations can use to dig deeper into the topics that are covered in the film. The films themselves are multimedia and the reason we refer to them as such is because we’re really intentional about having storytelling that is different than traditional documentary films.
MH: What sets these documentary films apart from others?
MLR: We’re really intentional about using a mixture of primary source documents, original footage and animated or illustrated content, along with music and editorial choices that really fit in with the ways young people are used to consuming media these days. We’ve really made some intentional aesthetic choices that I think differentiate our documentary films from anything else that’s out there.
MH: What led you to settle on this model?
MLR: At the very beginning of the project, when it was still just an idea in my mind, one of the first people I sat down with was a colleague of mine, Dr. Eric Soto-Shed. He’s a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. We knew we wanted documentary films to be the center point, so Eric and I sat down and thought, ‘Okay, so each time we tell a story, what are the essential ideas? What are the big ideas that we want all of our stories to interact with? What are the questions we want people to be asking after they see our material?
Those were sort of the linchpins. Those are the parts of the matrix that we use when we decide which stories we think are the right ones to tell and how we want to tell them.
The next thing we did was think about the skills that we want students of history to practice and be able to do and how we can create an architecture of activities that will elicit those kinds of skills from the students who use the materials. Every lesson has a film and then there’s a common set of activities that look at the same kinds of skills, but the content depends on the film.
MH: It seems like a fascinating model for educators and different from those old documentaries we were forced to watch as students years ago.
MLR: After Eric and I thought about the architecture of the curriculum, one of the next steps was talking with my colleague, Bayeté Ross-Smith, about the idea. Each time we talked, he understood more and more about what I was envisioning.
His suggestion was to slow down, follow the course of American history, and rewind to before the American colonies. We started looking at a timeline from 1400 to the present and he wanted me to break that history into 10 separate eras. Then he wanted me to think about three to five stories in each one of those eras. If we put these eras together as a whole, it helps us have a clearer picture of American history and the ways in which race has been created, codified and weaponized throughout that history.
MH: How did you decide to tell the story of William and Ellen Craft?
MLR: The story of William and Ellen Craft has always fascinated me. When I was teaching middle school English, I actually started writing a young adult novelized version of the story because there’s so much in it that I think is so gripping. I think it allows us to interrogate some of these systems of identity throughout American history.
This is a woman who is enslaved and legally classified as a black female, but she looks like a white woman. So she disguises herself as a rich, disabled white man. Just think about all of those masks and identities that she’s putting on in order to gain her freedom. The other set of ideas that it allows us to explore around the history of race in America are our infinite rights. They decided to self-emancipate because they wanted children, and they didn’t want those children to be born into slavery.
The film allows us to investigate the story of William and Ellen Craft and the ways in which abolitionists unite and use violence as a political tool to resist the Fugitive Slave Act. The story also helps us explore and poke holes in the fragility of some of these social concepts. The concept and construct of whiteness are sort of fragile, and William and Ellen Craft are able to exploit that concept to liberate themselves.
MH: Others, like Mary Milburn and Maria Weems, used the same sort of tactic to gain their freedom. How do you connect those stories to the story of William and Ellen Craft?
MLR: One of the follow-up activities that we have in every lesson is called ‘echoes, connections, and projections.’
This asks students or educators engaging with the film to look for stories that we have told that feel sort of like an echo to give it context.
Then the connections are the other things that happen after this moment in history that are connected to it, why this moment feels like a precursor to other things, and how we can examine the ways in which these stories connect.
Echoes can actually give projections, and we ask students to look at how this story influences other moments in history that happened after.
To me, the projection aspect is really the most exciting piece of what educators and communities can do with our content. How do we use that understanding of our past to analyze our present and then project ourselves into a better future? How do we use this history to understand our present so that we can better envision and build a just tomorrow?
I think all of our curriculum, all of our films and all of the follow-up questions that we are asking teachers and students to engage with are sort of undergirded by that general philosophy. The past begets the present and the present creates the future. We’ve got to understand our past and we can understand our present so we can build a better future.
We believe Frederick Douglass’ words belong in public spaces and provide grant support to readings in town squares, community centers, churches, museums, libraries and parks.
Each year, Mass Humanities organizes and funds these free public events where communities gather together to read and talk about Frederick Douglass’ influential address, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?
Organizations interested in hosting an event can propose any format for the reading and discussion that will foster a rich and productive community conversation.
Mass Humanities is proud to support these organizations as they host Reading Frederick Douglass Together events across the Commonwealth in 2023.
Wednesday, April 26
Holyoke
Grantee: Holyoke Community College
Location: In-person at the College Cafeteria, 303 Homestead Ave, Holyoke or remote via Zoom
Time: 11am
Thursday, May 25
Roxbury
Grantee: Madison Park Development Corporation
Location: Hibernian Hall, 171 Dudley St, Boston
Time: 4:30pm
Saturday, June 17
Boston
Grantee: H.E.R.O. Nurturing Center
Location: Boston Nature Center, 500 Walk Hill St, Mattapan
Time: 11am
Fall River
Grantee: Bristol Black Collective
Location: Kennedy Pavilion Park, 145-199 Bradford Ave, Fall River
Time: 1pm
Sunday, June 18
Brookline
Grantee: Brookline For The Culture
Location: Florida Ruffin Ridley School, 345 Harvard St, Brookline
Time: TBD
Gloucester
Grantee: Cape Ann Museum
Location: Gloucester City Hall, 9 Dale Ave, Gloucester
Time: 10am
Juneteenth (Monday, June 19)
Natick
Grantee: Natick Historical Society
Location: Morse Institute Library, 14 East Central St, Natick
Time: 10am
Haverhill
Grantee: Haverhill Historical Society, DBA Buttonwoods Museum
Location: Whittier Birthplace, 305 Whittier Rd, Haverhill
Time: 6pm
Medway
Grantee: Medway Marches Incorporated
Location: Medway Community Farm
Time: 12pm-4pm
Saturday, June 24
Sudbury
Grantee: Athina Education, Inc.
Location: Sudbury First Parish, 327 Concord Rd, Sudbury
Time: 10am
Sunday, June 25
Jamaica Plain
Grantee: Jamaica Plain Historical Society
Location: First Baptist Church, 633 Centre St., Jamaica Plain
Time: 4pm
Newburyport
Grantee: Historical Society of Old Newbury
Location: Brown Square, Newburyport
Time: TBD
Tuesday, June 27
Milton
Grantee: Forbes House Museum
Location: Forbes House Museum, 215 Adams St, Milton
Time: 6:30pm
Wednesday, June 28
Somerville
Grantee: Somerville Museum
Location: Bow Market (tentative), 1 Bow Market Way, Somerville
Time: 5pm
Friday, June 30
Worcester
Grantee: NAACP Worcester
Location: Worcester City Hall, 455 Main St, Worcester
Time: TBD
Saturday, July 1
Beverly
Grantee: Beverly Historical Society Inc.
Location: Hale Farm, 39 Hale St, Beverly
Time: 10am
Marion
Grantee: Marion Art Center, Inc.
Location: Marion Community Center, 465 Mill St, Marion
Time: 1pm
Sunday, July 2
Northampton
Grantee: Historic Northampton,
Location: 46 Bridge St, Northampton
Time: 11:30am
Monday, July 3
Lynn
Grantee: Northshore Juneteenth Association
Location: Frederick Douglas Park, 1-15 Exchange St, Lynn
Time: 11am
Boston
Grantee: Boston Partners
Location: Boston Common in front of the 54th Regiment Statue
Time: 12pm
Tuesday, July 4
North Andover
Grantee: Friends of the 1836 Meeting House
Location: North Andover Town Common
Time: 10:30am
Boston
Grantee: Downtown Boston Partnership, Inc.
Location: The Steps at the corner of Washington & Franklin Streets
Time: 1:30 – 3:30pm
Fall River
Grantee: Bristol Black Collective
Location: Heritage State Park, Davol St, Fall River
Time: TBD
Norwood
Grantee: Old Parish Preservation Volunteers, Inc.
Location: Old Parish Cemetery, 480 Washington St, Norwood
Time: 2pm
Oak Bluffs
Grantee: The Helene Johnson and Dorothy West Foundation For Artists In Need
Location: Inkwell Beach, 83 Seaview Ave, Oak Bluffs
Time: TBD
Plainfield
Grantee: Plainfield Reads
Location: Alden Pavilion (behind Library), 312 Main St, Plainfield
Time: TBD
Springfield
Grantee: MLK Family Services
Location: Court Square, 92-98 Court House Pl, Springfield
Time: 6pm
Wednesday, July 5
East Falmouth
Grantee: Cape Cod Cape Verdean Museum and Cultural Center
Location: 67 Davisville Road, East Falmouth
Time: 4pm
Sunday, July 23
Fall River
Grantee: Creative Arts Network
Location: Heritage State Park, Davol St, Fall River
Time: TBD
Saturday, September 23
Hadley
Grantee: Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum
Location: Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum, 130 River Dr, Hadley
Time: TBD
Two past grantees share why you should
Filling out a grant application can feel daunting. From familiarizing yourself with an organization’s grant process to determining your eligibility to collecting materials—applying for a grant may seem like a steep hill to climb.
At Mass Humanities, our dedicated staff has worked to make the grant process less overwhelming because we understand many organizations we support are small nonprofits, usually do not have a dedicated grant writer on staff and may be applying for a grant for the very first time.
At a recent workshop in Fall River, Dana Barnes of the Greater Fall River Art Association and Debbie Britt of the National Black Doll Museum talked about their experience as Mass Humanities grantees.
The Greater Fall River Art Association received a Reading Frederick Douglass Together grant. The grant offers up to $2,000 to support public readings and discussions in Massachusetts of Frederick Douglass’ famous Fourth of July address, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Readings can take place anywhere, from virtual spaces to community centers to historical societies and town greens.
The National Black Doll Museum received an Expand Massachusetts Stories grant. This grant offers up to $20,000 for projects that collect, interpret and/or share narratives about the Commonwealth, with an emphasis on the voices and experiences that have gone unrecognized or have been excluded from public conversation.
Dana and Debbie provided insight into our grant process and shared how a Mass Humanities grant enriched their organization and community.
Greater Fall River Art Association, Reading Frederick Douglass Together
About the grant
We received a grant last year for Reading Frederick Douglass Together. We did our event on July 4th at the Art Association on Belmont Street.
We started with a local duo, the Corey Sisters, who were phenomenal and started the event singing the Star Spangled Banner from the porch of the Art Association.
People were outside sitting underneath the trees and some people were sitting in the street, so it was kind of a festive atmosphere.
About the event
Everyone read with such passion and really took this (event) to heart. We had multi-cultural, multi-generational readers. We had people that were my age to teenagers in high school.
We welcomed Mike Vieira, from Bishop Connolly High School, to be our lead historian and found out that Frederick Douglas is one of his heroes.
It was really a wonderful event and we found some enthusiastic people for the reading.
One of our reader’s sisters was a poet who read a poem she wrote specifically for this event and people were walking away with tears rolling down their faces because it was so powerful. It was a great way to close the event.
We rented a bus, and since Fall River has multiple stops on the Underground Railroad, we were able to see where the houses are in the city.
About the process
I can tell you, having written many different grants this grant was one of the easiest I ever did.
If you have all of your documentation ahead of time and you know your plan, (a Reading Frederick Douglass Together grant) is one of the most important things that your city or town can do.
We have chosen not to apply this year because we would like to give someone else the opportunity to really experience what Frederick Douglass is all about.
I think, no matter what color your skin is or what your background is, this man was tremendously important to all of us. This particular grant was a great way to cope (with what is going on in America) and our event gave us that opportunity.
National Black Doll Museum, Expand Massachusetts Stories
About the grant
There were two African American women, the Turner Sisters (Marie Celeste and Grace B. Turner), that I knew of that were making what are called “Peddler Dolls”.
These women lived in Boston and were very active in the city’s Black Elite, were active in the Harlem Renaissance, owned property down in Oak Bluffs and I wanted to know why they were creating these particular dolls. I just wanted to know their story.
Doll collectors all over the country were asking about these dolls and they also wanted to know why these women created these dolls and where the dolls were now.
About the project
We found out so much about the history of Black Americans in Boston. We found out so much about Black History in Baltimore. We found out about property down in Oak Bluffs that the family owned.
The Turner Sisters’ brother, which is how we found a lot of the information, was a famous urologist at Washington DC Medical. He went to Boston University and left all his papers so there were all these archives.
We hired some students from Boston Public Schools to help us do some of the research by going to Boston Public Library and finding newspaper articles. They thought it was great to be able to go and do some of this research.
Aside from being famous doll makers, we found that Maria Celeste Turner was the first African American woman to attend MIT. Maria and Grace’s mother owned property down in Oak Bluffs, one of the first African American resorts in the U.S. The sisters were friends with Harlem Renaissance author Dorothy West.
We discovered a lot of information on the history of these two women.
About the process
The best thing to do first is figure out what it is you are thinking about and call Mass Humanities.
When I first saw all the (grant) instructions I said ‘No’, but my staff kept saying, ‘We can do this’.
I knew about the dolls and others (at the museum) were saying they could go and look at the books the Turner Sisters wrote and do other research.
If you call Mass Humanities with your idea, they will tell you yay or nay.
It was scary for me at first because I had no clue if our idea would work.
However, once we received the grant and got started, someone went and found books (on the Turner Sisters), someone went and found magazine articles, someone was really into the Harlem Renaissance, and did that research.
One tip I have is once you start, you never know where your project is going to take you. Just figure out one thing that you want to focus on and go after it. Then just let other people come in, help you with the ideas, and then piece it all together.
Little by little, different people picked up all the pieces and what we have now is a fabulous history of two African American women that were doll artists, doll collectors and important figures in Black History.
Smithsonian’s “Crossroads: Change in Rural America” Arrives at Bushnell-Sage Library
Known for its rich, fertile land and agriculture, Sheffield is a picturesque New England town in the Housatonic River Valley in Western Massachusetts and the oldest town in Berkshire County.
Originally inhabited by the Stockbridge Mahican Indians, settlers purchased the land from Chief Konkapot in 1724.
After some land disputes with neighboring New York, the Town of Sheffield was incorporated in 1733 and remains an important agricultural center in Massachusetts.
Sheffield’s past and present-day way of life will take center stage as the Smithsonian Museum on Main Street (MoMS)–“Crossroads: Change in Rural America” comes to the Bushnell-Sage Library from March 26 through May 6, in cooperation with Mass Humanities.
“It’s been such a rewarding experience for our community to prepare for Crossroads,” said Director of the Bushnell-Sage Library, Deena Caswell. “Those of us on the planning team have deepened the relationship between our various community groups, and having so many local organizations working together is a reminder of the “all hands on deck” attitude needed for success in rural America.”
Caswell added, “I’m excited for the people of Sheffield to recognize themselves and their experiences in this exhibit. Sheffield is “where the Berkshires began” – we have families that have been in town for generations, and have seen many new faces that only multiplied during the pandemic. As one of those recent arrivals, working on the Crossroads project has taught me so much about our history and makes me excited about our future. I also am eager for visitors to enjoy our nature, arts, culture, and community as they come to Sheffield.”
“Crossroads: Change in Rural America” offers small towns a chance to look at their own path to highlight the changes that have affected their fortunes over the past century. The exhibition will prompt discussions about what happened when America’s rural population became a minority of the country’s population and the ripple effects that occurred.
Throughout the exhibit, the “Crossroads” theme will connect Sheffield’s land, people, identity, persistence, and change to evaluate the town’s past, present and future.
“The rural communities of the Berkshires are places with rich histories, brilliant people, and persistent challenges,” said Executive Director of Mass Humanities, Brian Boyles. “We applaud the work of our partners in Sheffield to make this Smithsonian exhibit a catalyst for conversation and renewal.”
Throughout the exhibit, the “Crossroads” theme will connect Sheffield’s land, people, identity, persistence, and change to evaluate the town’s past, present and future.
This unique programming includes:
- Sunday, March 26, 3pm: Opening Reception, Bushnell-Sage Library–Celebrate the opening of the traveling Smithsonian exhibit “Crossroads: Change in Rural America.” Featuring music by the Lucky Five, food by the Marketplace, and festivities by the Miller.
- Friday March 31, 7pm: Growls, Hoots, and Silence at Dewey Memorial Hall–The Wild Animals of Sheffield Dewey Memorial Hall Since the last glacier scraped north leaving tundra behind, wildlife has come and gone many times. What does the future look like? Discussion with slides by Nancy Elle Smith, former Executive Director of Sweet Water Trust and a founder of the Sheffield Land Trust.
- Monday, April 3, 7pm: Ashley Falls: A History Through Stories at the Trinity United Methodist Church–The early history of Ashley Falls, the first European settlement in the Berkshires, is documented by records and deeds, letters and newspapers. This program will do something different. Long-term residents, and some with shorter terms, will narrate stories about the village stretching back to the beginning of the last century. Stories heard from parents and grandparents, changes seen and experienced personally will paint a picture of what village life was like then and how Ashley Falls has changed over the last one hundred and twenty years to become what it is today.
- April 14-28: Juried Art Show: Rural Berkshires: Always Adapting at Dewey Memorial Hall–This juried show reflects Berkshire County’s artists’ innovative energy and abilities. Mediums include oil, acrylic, watercolor, collage, quilting, mixed media, and photography. Join us for an opening reception on Friday, April 14 at 6pm featuring our talented artists, the music of Rees Shad and the Conversations, and food & drinks.
- Saturday, April 15, 2pm: Oral History Collection Day: Recollections of Sheffield’s Black Community in the 20th Century at the Dan Raymond House–The Sheffield Historical Society will conduct an oral history day to record recollections of Sheffield’s Black community and its members from the 1900s. If you have family connections, or were a neighbor, classmate, student, friend or acquaintance of members of the community, the Society invites you to share your memories. The oral histories will be added to the Sheffield Historical Society archives, and you will have the choice to have your recording become part of their current research project on the history of Sheffield’s Black community between 1781-1915.
- Sunday, April 16, 3pm: Pox, Pus, and Creeping Miasma: Disease & Death in 18th & 19th Century New England at Dewey Memorial Hall–Historian Dennis Picard shares a bit about the symptoms, causes, and treatments endured by those in the Berkshires and will show examples of antique medical devices and medicines.
- Thursday, April 20, 7pm: Creating Community in Sheffield: A Community Conversation at Dewey Memorial Hall –The past few years have brought big changes to Sheffield. How can old and new neighbors come together to both preserve our history and prepare for a vibrant future? Join us for a spirited and civil conversation. Registration required.
- Sunday, April 23, 3pm: Revolutionary War Doctors in the Berkshires at Dewey Memorial Hall–The War for Independence was a catalyst for advancement in medicine for both soldiers and civilians. Dr. Brian Burke & Gary Leveille of the Great Barrington Historical Society will highlight some of the capable physicians who served the Berkshires during and just after the war.
- Thursday, April 27, 7pm: Sheffield: Through a Generational Lens at Old Parish Church–A range of local panelists will reflect on socially poignant topics of their generation and how their lives and town have changed. Opportunity for audience participation will follow. Hosted by The First Congregational Church of Sheffield with the conversation moderated by Rev. Jill Graham.
- Sunday, April 30, 3pm: Recollections of 20th Century Healthcare in the Southern Berkshires at Dewey Memorial Hall–The 20th Century saw the establishment of modern medicine in the Southern Berkshires, in particular with the opening of Fairview Hospital in 1912. A panel of healthcare professionals who worked in the region will share their recollections of what it was like to give and receive healthcare in the latter half of the 1900s.
- Saturday, May 6, 2pm: The Natural (and Human) History of Sheffield at Greenagers Barn –Why is Sheffield an ecological treasure? What does the future look like for wild nature, for farms, for ecological integrity? Greetings by Will Conklin, Executive Director of Greenagers; Angela Sirois- Pitel · Western Massachusetts Stewardship Manager at The Nature Conservancy; Kathy Orlando, ED of Land Protection, Sheffield Land Trust; Rene Wendell, Land Steward, The Nature Conservancy. Registration required.
Mass Humanities will host a reception to celebrate the opening of MoMS in Sheffield with the Rural Policy Advisory Commission on Friday, March 31 at 4pm, at the Bushnell-Sage Library.
Over the past year, the staff at Bushnell-Sage Library received extensive training from Mass Humanities and the Smithsonian, along with a $10,000 grant from Mass Humanities to develop public events during the six-week exhibit.
Mass Humanities’ local sponsors and partners for the MoMS Sheffield stop include Fairview Hospital BHS, Dewey Hall, Sheffield Historical Society, Sheffield Land Trust, Housatonic Heritage, and Friends of the Bushnell-Sage Library.
Mass Humanities’ partners for the statewide tour include the National Endowment for the Humanities, Big Y, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.
Launched in 1994, MoMS is a Smithsonian outreach program that engages small-town audiences and brings revitalized attention to underserved rural communities. The program partners with state humanities councils like Mass Humanities to bring traveling exhibitions, educational resources and programming to small towns across America through their local museums, historical societies and other cultural venues. Exhibitions are designed to engage communities and become a catalyst for conversation about life in small-town America.
Organizations located in towns with populations of 12,000 or less were eligible to apply for the MoMS grant. The six sites chosen for MoMS will have the opportunity for a second-year grant to continue the work and programs they developed as part of MoMS.
MoMS kicked off in Massachusetts in September at the Essex Historical Society and Shipbuilding Museum, traveled to the Hull Lifesaving Museum in October, the Rutland Free Public Library in December, and the Great Falls Discover Center at Turners Falls in January before arriving in Sheffield. Athol Public Library (5/14/2023 – 6/24/2023) will follow the stop in Sheffield and close out the traveling exhibit’s tour in the state.
For more information about each activation, including the times and locations, click here.
For further information, contact Program Officer Jen Atwood at jatwood@masshumanities.org.
Mass Humanities is seeking qualified candidates for two fellowship opportunities to conduct and synthesize research on the origins of the shared reading tradition of Frederick Douglass’ influential address, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”, both nationally and in Massachusetts, as well as research the life of Douglass in the Commonwealth.
The research will be used by Mass Humanities to support the forthcoming launch of a website and national resource for Frederick Douglass readings.
Mass Humanities believes Douglass’ words belong in public spaces and has supported readings in town squares, community centers, churches, museums, libraries, and parks.
As a part of our work to advance new ideas about historical texts and connect neighbors in meaningful conversations about what it means to be a free and equitable society, Mass Humanities will create resources for Reading Frederick Douglass Together that will educate participants about the shared reading tradition, embedded in African American public memory.
The Shared Reading Tradition Fellowship
The research conducted by this Reading Frederick Douglass Together Fellow will create an account of the tradition of community readings of Frederick Douglass’s Fourth of July address, and their place within African American public memory traditions both nationally and in the Commonwealth.
Application for this fellowship are open with proposals and interviews to occur on a rolling basis from now through May 12, 2023.
The Frederick Douglass in Massachusetts Fellowship
This Reading Frederick Douglass Together Fellow will synthesize existing research and potentially discover additional information to create a comprehensive account of the historical presence of Frederick Douglass in Massachusetts; places he lived and visited, individuals and organizations that he supported, his work throughout the Commonwealth, and the impact of his time in the state on his work and life.
Drawing these connections will add to and amplify the stories that shape Massachusetts and the United States.
Application for this fellowship are open with proposals and interviews to occur on a rolling basis from now through May 12, 2023.
Each year Mass Humanities supports public readings and discussions in Massachusetts of Frederick Douglass’s famous Fourth of July address, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” through our Reading Frederick Douglass Together grant.
Each community considers the meaning of the speech in the past and its resonances in the present. This shared reading tradition began prior to the establishment of our grant opportunity, but no account of its origin or its relationship to broader African American public memory traditions exists.
Mass Humanities believes in fostering robust civic engagement and champions opportunities for all communities in Massachusetts to reinvigorate our democracy by telling, sharing, and reimagining the diverse stories and ideas of our Commonwealth—together.
The fellowship is made possible with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities under the initiative A More Perfect Union.
Send proposals to jobs@masshumanities.org.
For more information contact Program Officer Latoya Bosworth at lbosworth@masshumanities.org.
Mass Humanities announced a new Staffing Recovery Grants initiative during a celebration at the State House on Feb. 16. The initiative is made possible through a special Cultural Sector Pandemic Recovery Grant from Mass Cultural Council, the state arts agency.
At the celebration inside the State House’s Great Hall, Mass Cultural Council announced a $2.5 million grant to Mass Humanities. Mass Humanities plans to launch its first round of grants by awarding $1.25 million through the Staffing Recovery Grant initiative.
Applications are now open.
On Thursday, April 6, from 12pm – 1PM, Mass Humanities Will Host a Staffing Grants Webinar.
Mass Humanities Executive Director Brian Boyles said the Staffing Recovery Grants would be a two-year funding opportunity for organizations with budgets of $500,000 or less and five or fewer full-time employees. The initiative will deliver funding to non-profit organizations to sustain and expand the hours of current staff, or to hire new staff in order to create, restore or grow humanities programs.
“The humanities help us learn from the past, make sense of the present, and think about how to create a free and equitable society for the future,” said Boyles. “As we rebuild our communities, Mass Humanities continues to believe in local, grassroots organizations that serve residents with limited resources and big dreams. These grants focus operational support for this part of the sector. At this critical time, we are grateful to our partners at Mass Cultural Council and in the legislature for envisioning a recovery where the cultural sector has the resources to inspire a new beginning for the Commonwealth.”
On December 13, 2021, then Governor Charlie Baker signed An Act Relative to Immediate COVID-19 Recovery Needs into law. This multi-billion-dollar pandemic recovery-spending plan invests both federal ARPA and state surplus revenue dollars into key economic sectors to spur activity and growth.
The Act provided $60.1 million to Mass Cultural Council and directed the state arts agency to develop and implement new, one-time grant programs to assist Massachusetts creative and cultural organizations with their pandemic recovery.
“The creative and cultural sector is vast and diverse, and Mass Cultural Council is keen to ensure that our pandemic recovery monies are invested equitably across all communities,” said Michael J. Bobbitt, Executive Director of Mass Cultural Council. “This is why we partnered with Mass Humanities and are relying upon them to distribute $2.5 million to Massachusetts humanities-based organizations, initiatives, and programming. These funds will support the humanities and help the field continue to build back after the pandemic. It’s a major investment and I am excited to see the good work these public monies will propel forward.”
Since the outset of the pandemic, Mass Humanities has awarded more than $4 million in grants to non-profits, including $2 million in funding made possible by the CARES Act and ARPA.
“Massachusetts has come a long way since the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the recovery remains ongoing,” said Former Chair of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development Sen. Edward J. Kennedy. “Today’s historic investment by Mass Cultural Council will assist in that recovery and for cultural organizations to flourish. Congratulations to all grant recipients; your work is taking the cultural sector of the economy live. Thank you once again to our amazing partners at Mass Cultural Council, Mass Humanities and MASSCreative.“
The celebration included riveting performances by the Hamilton-Garrett Brass Band and Linda Marie Póssa.
To learn more about Mass Humanities grant opportunities contact Katherine Stevens, Director of Grants and Programs, at grants@masshumanities.org.
Grants support community storytelling, Douglass events
2022 Expand Massachusetts Stories Grant Recipient, Southeast Asian Coalition
Mass Humanities is pleased to announce two upcoming grant opportunities.
In 2022, the foundation awarded more than $1 million in grants to non-profits, supporting free public events, oral history projects, and community conversations and media partnerships. This year, we seek to increase our impact through the Expanding Massachusetts Stories initiative, and our long-running Reading Frederick Douglass Together program.
“We believe the work of so many Massachusetts residents to reimagine our stories provides a pathway to reinvigorating our democracy at the local, state, and national level,” said Brian Boyles, Executive Director of Mass Humanities. “These vital programs amplify the diverse ideas, stories and conversations that continue to make the Commonwealth a global leader in ideas and the fight for equality.”
Mass Humanities grants opportunities for the 2023 season include:
- Expand Massachusetts Stories (Up to $20,000)–At this pivotal time, Massachusetts needs new voices and fresh narratives to meet our challenges. We support organizations that embrace this historical moment as an opportunity to bring communities together to reimagine stories, revitalize traditions, and ignite new ideas for the future. Expand Massachusetts Stories (EMS) grants support projects that collect, interpret, and share narratives about the commonwealth, emphasizing the voices and experiences that have gone unrecognized or have been excluded from public conversation. As part of the EMS grant program, Mass Humanities will also offer Advancing Equity Track grants to 15 applicants whose projects are led by people from historically excluded communities, and whose organizations meet additional criteria. Advancing Equity Track applications are open with Letter of Inquiries due on Monday, March 20. Applications for the EMS Open Track open Monday, March 20, with applications due on Monday, May 22.
- Reading Frederick Douglass Together (Up to $2,000)–Each year, Mass Humanities organizes and funds free events where communities gather to read and talk about Frederick Douglass’ influential address, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” The most celebrated orator of his day, Douglass’ denunciations of slavery and forceful examination of the Constitution challenge us to think about the stories we tell and do not tell, the ideas that they teach or do not teach, and the gaps between our actions and aspirations. To quote Douglass: “We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the future.” Applications are open now and grants are made on a rolling basis each month.
- Staffing Recovery (Up to $40,000)–These grants will be a two-year funding opportunity for organizations with budgets of $500,000 or less and five or fewer full-time employees. The initiative will deliver funding to non-profit organizations to sustain and expand the hours of current staff, or to hire new staff in order to create, restore or grow humanities programs. Staffing Recovery grant applications are open with applications due Monday, May 1. A webinar for this grant opportunity is scheduled for Thursday, April 6. Click here to register.
Last year Mass Humanities awarded more than $713,000 in grants to 42 organizations across the Commonwealth through the Expand Massachusetts Stories grant program with support from the Barr Foundation. Of the 42 grantees, 62% had people who identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) among their project leadership; 60% of the organizations funded had operating budgets under $500,000; and 48% had operating budgets under $350,000.
More than 25 organizations hosted Reading Frederick Douglass Together events across the state in 2022. Each event features a group of diverse people gathering to read portions of the Douglass’ Fourth of July speech. The readings provide the opportunity for communities to discuss race, democracy, and our responsibilities to the past and how we might find ways to strengthen our future together.
Mass Humanities are made possible in part by a partnership with Mass Cultural Council, the state arts agency, and by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
To learn more about Mass Humanities grant opportunities contact Katherine Stevens, Director of Grants and Programs, at grants@masshumanities.org.