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Revolutionary Spaces

**Revolutionary Spaces ** connects people to the history and continuing practice of democracy through the intertwined stories of two of the nation’s most iconic sites—Boston’s Old South Meeting House and Old State House. We foster a free and open exchange of ideas, explore history, create gathering places, and preserve and steward historic buildings.

https://www.bostonhistory.org

Interracial But Not Integrated: Colonial Churches

Wed, Jun 5, 2019

A special History Matters co-presented by the Congregational Library & Archives and Old South Meeting House. By attendance at services, being baptized, and taking the Lord's Supper, numerous Native Americans and mostly-enslaved African Americans participated in a substantial number of New England churches between the 1730s and 1790s, including the Old South Meeting House and other Boston churches. They did so despite segregated seating arrangements and prohibitions against voting and holding church leadership positions. Professor Richard Boles shares his research into the religious lives of the African Americans and Native Americans who affiliated with eighteenth-century New England churches.

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Technology, Privacy and Surveillance: Who is Watching the Watchers?

Thu, May 23, 2019

Technology can be used by the government to take away civil liberties, but it can also be used in the service of civil liberties. This program discusses policy and legal approaches to monitoring government use of surveillance, and advocates for citizens using technology to monitor government.

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Democracy is Hard, Voting Shouldn't Be

Tue, Jun 11, 2019

This program explores laws and policies implemented to limit voting throughout history, and dives into the current issues of voter fraud, voter disenfranchisement and district red-lining.This program is part of the series co-presented by Old South Meeting House and the ACLU of Massachusetts, The Constitution is for You: A Series of Conversations. Image: [Pexels.com](http://https://www.pexels.com/photo/i-voted-sticker-spool-on-white-surface-1550336/)

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The Great Molasses Flood Revisited: Immigrants in an Industrial Accident

Thu, Mar 14, 2019

The Great Molasses Flood of Boston is revisited in Part two of this series on the event that shaped Boston's North End. Speakers Stephen Puleo, Marylinn Johnson, Jim Vrabel, and moderator Peter Drummey, discuss the fallout of the event and its lasting effects on the Italian community in the North End of Boston at the time. Image Source: [Lecture Page](https://www.masshist.org/calendar/event?event=2768 "Lecture Page")

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The Great Molasses Flood: Misremembered Molasses

Thu, Jan 31, 2019

The Great Molasses Flood of 1919, when remembered, is often interpreted in a dismissive, comical manner. How does this case compare with other incidences of historical events that are interpreted or "curated" at the expense of accuracy and respect for human experience? How can we bring complexity back to events that have long been relegated to the realm of local folklore? Stephen Puleo, Allison Lange, Gavin Kleespies, and moderator Rev. Stephen T. Ayres discuss the question of misunderstood history by looking at the Great Molasses Flood, the fight for women's suffrage and Leif Erickson. Image: Public Domain

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The Great Molasses Flood Revisited: Labor and the Molasses Flood

Thu, Feb 28, 2019

One hundred years ago, a North End community was devastated by the rupture of a molasses tank that caused damage to the neighborhood and claimed twenty-one lives. Debate over the fallout of the flood remain in the folklore of Boston to this day. Questions on the matter pertaining to the role of big business taking responsibility for the flood damage and how reactions were handled by all involved still resonate. Stephen Puleo, author of the book Dark Tide, and a panel with first-hand knowledge of labor issues then and now, discuss these lingering questions and relate them to what's happening in Boston's service industry now. Image: Old South Meeting House

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Benjamin Franklin, The Writer

Fri, Jan 11, 2019

Scientist, inventor, diplomat, statesman, philanthropist - Benjamin Franklin’s long list of contributions to American history demonstrates the brilliance and public spirit that made him an enduring legend. Franklin also made his mark as a writer of poems and essays, even as a teenage printer-in-training, when he lived on Milk Street and attended church in the 1669 wooden meeting house on this site. Franklin scholar Robert Martello helps us peek over the shoulder of this literary founding father, born January 6, 1706 and baptized at Old South Meeting House. Experience the political controversies, pen names, wisdom, and humor that shaped not only Franklin’s career, but the identity of the young republic. Part of the Series Bibliophile Birthdays: Celebrating the Authors of Old South Meeting House Image: [Wikicommons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin#/media/File:Benjamin_Franklin_1767.jpg "Wikicommons")

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A Visit with Louisa May Alcott

Thu, Nov 29, 2018

Enjoy this living history experience to mark the 186th birthday of author Louisa May Alcott. Jan Turnquist, performer and director of Orchard House (the Alcott family's historic home in Concord, MA), brings to life Alcott's life in stories - from her unconventional upbringing in poverty, to the family love that inspired her to write the American classic _Little Women_. As an added feature, Jan shares stories from her own experience working as a research consultant and an extra on the forthcoming (2019) [Columbia Pictures version of Little Women](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3281548/ "IMDB Little Women 2019"), starring Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Timothée Chalamet, Laura Dern, Bob Odenkirk, Chris Cooper, and Meryl Streep. This event has been made possible with funding from the Lowell Institute.

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Frederick Douglass Prophet of Freedom

Mon, Oct 15, 2018

In this remarkable new biography of great American orator and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, historian David Blight has drawn on new information from both a private collection and recently discovered issues of Douglass newspapers. The first major biography of Douglass in a quarter century tells the fascinating story of Douglass's two marriages, his complex extended family, and his fierce support of the Republican party and black civil and political rights. An eloquent man and a thinker steeped in Biblical story and theology, Douglass became the most famed and widely traveled American orator of his time. [Old South Meeting House](https://osmhoct15-18.brownpapertickets.com/ "Old South Meeting House")

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Boston: then (1618) and now (2018)

Mon, Sep 10, 2018

It’s a coastal town with a South End, a Fens, a Boston College, and even a place called Cheers – as you might have guessed, it’s called Boston…but it’s 3,000 miles away from the one in Massachusetts! The Partnership of Historic Bostons was formed to recognize the unique relationship between Boston and its English namesake city. Join visiting dignitaries from Boston, England, for a panel discussion about our “parent” town and its challenges through the years. We’ll begin 400 years ago with the Great Migration of 1618-1640 and continue through to the intricacies of the upcoming Brexit. Image: From speaker's presentation

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