Also on view are two versions of the Civil Rights Bill that Congress passed and President Grant signed into law in 1875. And there is material concerning Dr. John V. DeGrasse, an 1849 graduate of Bowdoin Medical School who set up an office at 17 Poplar Street on Beacon Hill, was in 1854 the first Negro to be admitted to the Massachusetts Medical Society, and later served as an assistant surgeon in the Union army.

One can see some newspaper accounts of the Boston Massacre of March 5, 1770, in which a Negro, Crispus Attucks, was the first to die. "On that night," John Adams wrote, "the foundation of American independence was laid." The Museum has, furthermore, gathered a sizable amount of material relating to the dedication on November 14, 1888, of an imposing monument to Attucks, which may still be seen on the Boston Common.

Book Display

Among the books on display are the autobiography of Sojourner Truth (1797-1883), the first Negro woman anti-slavery lecturer, a volume of verse by Phillis Wheatley, and a memoir of this poetess by B.B. Thatcher. Phillis Wheatley (1753?-1784) was a slave child sold on the Boston docks to a merchant. She became the first Negro woman--and second American woman--to write a book, and her poetry achieved international renown. She was also the first person to apply the phrase "First in Peace" to George Washington, who wrote to her and praised her literary gifts highly. On a visit to London, she was presented by the Lord Mayor with a fine folio edition of Milton's Paradise Lost, which is now owned by Harvard's Houghton Library.

One exhibit case is devoted to publications of the prolific and wide-ranging writer Langston Hughes (1902-1967). Only last April, Hughes gave a program of poetry and reminiscences here as a benefit for the Museum; and, sadly, this proved to be his last public appearance before his untimely death.

Curator Mitchell gives periodic tours and illustrated talks, especially to school children. And he hopes soon to expand the Museum's exhibition space in the Meeting-House. Those who desire to advance the Museum's work may become members for five dollars a year. The Museum also offers for sale a map, "Freedom Trails of Negro History in Boston," as well as postcards.

The Museum is open free to the public each week Tuesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Only a couple of minutes' walk from the Charles subway station, it deserves widespread support.