Last updated: August 20, 2024
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Suffrage in Black and White
The National Parks of Boston and Plays in Place are excited to announce the production of the first play in the Suffrage in Black and White series
A Light Under the Dome
August 12 - 15, 2024
Senate Chamber of the Massachusetts State House
Performances at 3pm and 6:30pm
Tickets are Free
At the Massachusetts State House, on February 21, 1838, exiled Southerner Angelina Grimké becomes the first American woman to address a legislative body. Her powerful speech about abolition also firmly asserts the full citizenship of American women. Four other women abolitionists–Maria Weston Chapman, Lydia Maria Child, Susan Paul, and Julia Williams–are all there to support and guide her through this pressure-packed moment, and they have their own moments of intense struggle to share. To be staged in the Massachusetts State Senate Chamber, under the dome where Angelina gave her original speech.
Performances on Monday, 8/12 at 6:30pm and Thursday, 8/15 at 6:30pm will include ASL interpretation.
Meet the Women
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Angelina Grimké WeldAngelina Grimké's work as a lifelong activist defied gender standards of her time. (played by Amanda Collins)
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Maria Weston ChapmanA devoted abolitionist, Maria Weston Chapman participated in several anti-slavery organizations. (played by Marge Dunn)
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Susan PaulEducator Susan Paul instilled in her students a commitment to social justice, action, and change. (played by Thomika Bridwell)
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Julia Williams GarnetAn antislavery activist and educator, Julia Williams Garnet participated in the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society. (played by Regine Vital)
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Lydia Maria ChildEmploying the skill of her pen, Lydia Maria Child advocated for the rights of others. (played by Bridgette Hayes)
Historical Context
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Boston: A Suffrage "Hub"Learn how Boston served as a hub of the women's suffrage movement.
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Women's Suffrage at the MA State HouseThe Massachusetts State House served as a pivotal battleground during the decades-long fight for women's suffrage.
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Boston Female Anti-Slavery SocietyOver the course of their existence, the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society championed the cause of abolition through a variety of methods.
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Women of Beacon Hill Audio TourExplore and listen to the stories of the inspiring women who lived and made a difference in the Beacon Hill community.
Suggested Reading
Baumgartner, Kabria. In Pursuit of Knowledge: Black Women and Educational Activism in Antebellum America. United Kingdom: NYU Press, 2019.
Berenson, Barbara. Massachusetts in the Woman Suffrage Movement. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2018.
The Boston Mob of "gentlemen of Property and Standing.": Proceedings of the Anti-slavery Meeting Held in Stacy Hall, Boston, on the Twentieth Anniversary of the Mob of October 21, 1835. Phonographic Report by J. M. W. Yerrinton. United States: R.F. Wallcut, 1855.
Chambers, Lee V. The Weston Sisters: An American Abolitionist Family. University of North Carolina Press, 2014.
Child, Lydia Maria, Wendell Phillips, and John G. Whittier. Letters of Lydia Maria Child. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1882.
Courage and Conscience: Black & White Abolitionists in Boston. Edited by Donald M. Jacobs. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1993.
Cutler, Josh. The Boston Gentlemen’s Mob: Maria Chapman and the Abolition Riot of 1835. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2021.
Greenidge, Kerri. The Grimkés: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family. Liveright Publishing, 2023.
Hansen, Debra Gold. Strained Sisterhood: Gender and Class in the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society. University of Massachusetts Press, 1993.
Horton, James Oliver and Horton, Lois E. Black Bostonians: Family Life and Community Struggle in the Antebellum North. United Kingdom: Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc., 1979.
Kantrowitz, Stephen. More Than Freedom: Fighting for Black Citizenship in a White Republic, 1829-1889. Penguin Publishing Group, 2013.
Lerner, Gerda. The Grimké Sisters from South Carolina. University of North Carolina Press, 1971.
Letters of Theodore Dwight Weld, Angelina Grimké Weld, and Sarah Grimké, 1822-1844. Edited by Gilbert Barnes and Dwight L. Dumond (Gloucester, MA: American Historical Association, 1934).
Moland, Lydia. Lydia Maria Child, A Radical American Life. University of Chicago Press, 2022.
Paul, Susan. Memoir of James Jackson, The Attentive and Obedient Scholar, Who Died in Boston, October 31, 1833, Aged Six Years and Eleven Months, by his teacher, Miss Susan Paul. Edited by Lois Brown. Harvard University Press, 2000.
The Abolitionist Sisterhood, Women’s Political Culture in Antebellum America. Edited by Jean Fagan Yellin and John C. Van Horne. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1994.
Yee, Shirley. Black Women Abolitionists (1828-1860). University of Tennessee Press, 1992.
About Suffrage in Black and White
Suffrage in Black and White is a series of three plays centered in historic spaces that explore the intersection of race and citizenship throughout the abolition and suffrage movements in Boston. This project has been a multi-year collaboration between National Parks of Boston and Massachusetts-based theatre company Plays in Place. Through an iterative process, NPS public historians and local artists shared their skills and expertise to activate historical spaces through creative storytelling, bringing to life the stories of Boston and Boston women.
These plays will feature three pivotal moments: Angelina Grimké's 1838 speech at the Massachusetts State Senate Chamber (A Light Under the Dome), the 1895 First National Conference of Colored Women held in Boston (A New Era), and the 1915 suffrage victory rally held in Faneuil Hall directly following the failed suffrage referendum of that year (Nothing But Victory!). Learn more about the plays and playwrights.
This series explores how Boston women challenged and expanded revolutionary-era understandings of voice and citizenship during the abolition and women’s suffrage movements. As we approach the 250th anniversary of the founding of this country, we invite the public to follow in the footsteps of these women and respond to questions first posed during the revolutionary era: How are our voices heard? What does it mean to be a citizen in a democratic republic? What are our responsibilities as citizens to create a more just and equitable future?
Park & Contractor Information
The National Parks of Boston is a collection of three National Park Service sites – Boston National Historical Park, Boston African American National Historic Site, and Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park. Established by individual legislation and for designated purposes, the three units have come together under a unified organizational umbrella to collaborate in ways that celebrate our cultural heritage, reconnect people to history and nature, and provide outdoor recreation opportunities on land and on the water. For more information, visit: www.nps.gov/bost, www.nps.gov/boaf, and www.bostonharborislands.org.
Photo for Boston National Historical Park (Credit: NPS Photo/Matthew Dwyer)
Photo for Boston African American National Historic Site (Credit: Matt Teuten)
Photo for Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park (Credit: NPS Photo)
Founded in 2017, Plays in Place is a theater company that creates dynamic new site-specific plays in partnership with museums, historic spaces, and other institutions. We have extensive experience bringing historic stories and sites to life in ways that deeply engage audiences. Plays in Place is currently developing, producing and consulting on projects with eight different organizations in four states, employing a diverse group of dozens of theatrical artists. Past and current partners and projects include Mount Auburn Cemetery (The America Plays, The Nature Plays, Moonlight Abolitionists), Revolutionary Spaces—Boston’s Old State House & Old South Meeting House (Cato & Dolly, I Am This Place, Scipio’s Balcony, Imagining The Age of Phillis), Roosevelt-Campobello International Park (Beloved Island: Windows on Campobello), the National Park Service (Suffrage in Black & White), Old North Illuminated (Revolution’s Edge), MassBike (The Kittie Knox Plays), Historic Northampton (Pulling at the Roots), and the Preservation Society of Newport County.