Current Exhibit Slavery and Freedom in Northampton,
1654 to 1783
For at least 129 years, slavery was part of the fabric of everyday life in Northampton. At least 50 enslaved individuals lived here from the town’s English settlement in 1654 until 1783 when slavery was abolished in Massachusetts.
This exhibit features life-sized silhouettes of men, women, and children who were enslaved. On each silhouette are details about individual lives based upon information gleaned from historic documents. Their histories reveal aspects of enslavement and examples of freedom, and resistance to oppression.
EVENTS
See upcoming exhibits, gallery talks, and all our events.
Explore
Follow a Timeline of Northampton’s past.
Learn about people, places, and historical topics.
Research
See our our collections catalog, check out our reference shelf, or all our research materials.
Featured Project Native Strategies Before, During and After the Revolution
We are delighted to announce that Historic Northampton. The team includes Research Director Dr. Margaret M. Bruchac (Nulhegan Abenaki) and Creative Director/Playwright Jasmine Rochelle Goodspeed (Hassanamisco). Later this year, we will offer lectures, walking tours, and staged readings of two specially created plays – that will draw on the project research.
About Historic Northampton Community-Centered Museum
Our mission is to collect and preserve Northampton’s past and to explore the town’s history, its human-made landscape, and the natural world underlying and surrounding it.
Located on two park-like acres near downtown, we maintain four historic buildings: Parsons House (1719); Shepherd House (1798); Shepherd Barn (1805); and Damon House (1813). We hold 40,000 objects, including a nationally significant historic clothing collection and a local history archive.
We offer 60 programs each year, held on-site, in neighborhoods, cemeteries, and conservation areas, as well as over Zoom. The newly restored Shepherd Barn is a performance venue where we hold plays, concerts, and dances.