ArtWeek 2025 - Abolition Row and the Underground Railroad
ArtWeek 2025 - Abolition Row and the Underground Railroad
Inspired by her own family history, Blake spent her life learning and teaching the importance of the Underground Railroad. Massachusetts was a free state and a safe haven for enslaved people seeking freedom. Oral histories, speeches and bank legers fleshed out the past. Boats came and went offering passage in and out of New Bedford, while Blake’s ancestors and others served as conductors, who raised funds for enslaved people’s freedom.
Instructor’s Bio: Loretta “Lee” Blake, an educator, having served as the president of the New Bedford Historical Society has led a life devoted to social justice for women and people of color, preserving and celebrating the legacy of African Americans, Cape Verdeans, and Native Americans in her hometown of New Bedford, MA. She was awarded an honorary doctoral degree from UMass Dartmouth at the school’s 2023 commencement, and as she oversees the Abolition Row Park, a public open-air museum chronicling and celebrating the contributions the city made and pivotally, the roles of Frederick Douglass and the Underground Railroad in the 19th century.
Thursday, May 8
6-7:30 p.m.
FREE
Registration Required