Historic Northampton and David Ruggles Center urge city support for slavery research, outreach

Historic Northampton and the volunteer-run David Ruggles Center presented to the Northampton City Community Resources Subcommittee on a Black History Month program that showcased local research into enslavement and called for more city support to expand archival work and public programming.

Elizabeth Sackter, museum educator and program coordinator at Historic Northampton, described the Slavery Research Project (launched in 2019) and a recently opened exhibit, "Slavery and Freedom, 1654 to 1783," that transforms digital research into a visual experience. "We were able to find over 50 individuals that we know to have been enslaved in Northampton," Sackter said, and she pointed the committee to historicnorthampton.org for full biographies and documentation.

Sackter explained the exhibit uses approximately 37 silhouettes to humanize individuals identified in the research and adds a map linking eighteenth-century sites to modern landmarks on Main Street. She detailed outreach strategies that have included school visits (fourth grade through graduate seminars), biweekly public gallery talks, gallery talks with nonprofit partners such as GrowFood and the Hitchcock Center, teacher resource packets built with primary documents from Forbes Library and Hampshire County Probate Court, and scheduled "document study days" where archival materials were shown to the public.

Kevin (David Ruggles Center) traced the Ruggles Center's focus on the nineteenth-century history of Florence and described the center's current capital campaign and exhibit upgrade plans. "With the help of an ARPA grant from the city, we were able to engage Michael Hanke," Kevin said, referring to the exhibits consultant who worked on the Historic Northampton project. He said the center has applied for a Mass Cultural Council grant and will seek matching funds to complete exhibit upgrades and sustain tours, symposia and school partnerships.

Usman Power Green, who has worked with the city reparations process and contributed to Historic Northampton's project, summarized a regional data effort that has compiled roughly 3,000 source records and identified about 1,450 individual records for people of African descent across the Pioneer Valley. "When you look at the information... Northampton stands up high for our efforts to gather data of the lives of Black people," Power Green said, arguing the local institutions are regional leaders but need funding to turn data into accessible tools.

Committee members asked how researchers trace descendants and migration patterns, whether racist violence (including Ku Klux Klan activity) drove departures, and what reparative actions communities have used. Sackter said tracing descendants is difficult because many enslaved people lack recorded surnames and some freed people who acquired land were later forced out; she noted the exhibit team has found descendants in nearby regions but so far "no descendants in Northampton today." Power Green and Kevin pointed to examples such as street-name changes, commemorative markers, and witness-stone projects as among remedies other communities have pursued and emphasized that the city's reparations report contains further recommendations.

Presenters repeatedly invited councilors and city employees to visit the exhibit before it closes (the exhibit will remain on display through December) and asked elected officials to consider funding for expanded archival work, education workshops for teachers, and public programming. The subcommittee took no formal policy or funding action at the meeting; the only formal motion recorded was to adjourn, which passed by roll-call vote.

The meeting moved on to new business and adjourned after the roll-call vote. Committee members were encouraged to read the city reparations report and to coordinate visits to both Historic Northampton and the David Ruggles Center before the exhibit closes.