Boston National Historical Park

Aaron Oliver

Abel Ephraim

Adam (Gardner)

Agnes Adams

Alexander Quapish

Alfred Brunson Wallace

Alice Casneau

Alice North Lincoln

The humanitarian efforts of the Women’s Service Club have uplifted Boston for over a century. Piloted by generations of Black women, the Club’s activism paralleled broader efforts to eliminate second-class citizenship in American society.

By winter 1775, colonial troops had fortified virtually the entire area north and south of the Charles River while British forces hunkered down in Boston. Yet there was one area that remained unclaimed and undefended: Dorchester Heights. Although unbeknownst at the time, control of these high points would have an outsized influence in the cause of independence.

Members of the Woman's Era Club, a Boston-based African American women's club, lived the club's motto to "make the world better" by devoting their lives to numerous causes. Members advocated for women's suffrage and education for African American women, aided the less fortunate and oppressed, and fought racism and discrimination against African Americans.

On May 27, 1941, people across the United States tuned in to one of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s "Fireside Chats.” In this address, President Roosevelt warned that the war abroad posed a threat to the country’s ideals, the same ideals colonists fought for during the United States’ War for Independence. His reference to the Battle of Bunker Hill, sparked a young African American boy to travel to Boston to visit the monument built to commemorate the battle.

On July 29, 1895, the First National Conference for Colored Women of America drew delegates from African American women’s clubs across the country to Boston. Presided over by Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, the conference provided Black clubwomen the opportunity to discuss issues relating to race and gender, resulting in the creation of a new national organization.

First published on January 1, 1831, 'The Liberator' quickly became the preeminent abolitionist newspaper in the United States. Edited by the fiery activist William Lloyd Garrison, this weekly Boston-based periodical served as a major platform to attack slavery and its supporters, inspire action, and promote equal rights for all.

First published in 1870, The Woman’s Journal served as the voice of the US women’s suffrage movement for almost 50 years. It covered suffrage work as well as highlighted other news and achievements by women. This "Suffrage Bible" spread its message across the United States and the world, reaching a readership no other suffrage nor women’s rights publication could match at the time.

The 17,000 civilian employees on the Boston Navy Yard's 1941 rolls were not numerous enough for the facility to increase building, converting, and repairing ships to levels demanded by wartime needs. To get the work done, Boston Navy Yard turned to people who normally wouldn't be hired, namely, women. By mid-1943, over 50,000 civilians came to work each day at the shops, offices, piers, and dry docks of the Boston Navy Yard. Between 15 and 20% of these workers were women.