Walking the African-American History Trail in Boston

Boston’s population of African Americans have pushed for equal rights and civil liberties since the early days of the colonies (the first casualty of the Boston massacre was a black man, Crispus Attucks) and the city has chronicled some of these citizens’ schools, homes and places of worship with a dedicated walking trail through the Back Bay, Beacon Hill and North End neighborhoods.

The first Africans arrived as slaves to Boston in 1638 and by the end of the American Revolution there were more freed blacks than enslaved in the city. Start the 90-minute guided tour (or do it on your own) across from the Massachusetts State House at the Robert Gould Shaw and 54th Massachusetts Regiment Memorial and end at the nation’s first African Meeting House. The tour brings you past 14 sites likes the George Middleton House; The Phillips School, one of Boston’s first unsegregated schools; the Charles Street Meeting House; and Abiel Smith School, the first school for black children in the country. Many of these buildings are now private homes, but the African Meeting House and the Abiel Smith School are open to the public.