News Release

2018 Robert G. Stanton Award Recipient

Date: October 16, 2018

“If you don’t know what happened behind you, you’ve no idea of what is happening around you.”

-James Baldwin (1961)

The 2018 recipient of the Robert G. Stanton Award for Exemplary Support is Lee Blake, President, New Bedford Historical Society.  The award, is named in honor of Stanton, 15^th director and first African American director of the National Park Service, for his steadfast support of the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program. It recognizes individuals who demonstrate an ongoing commitment to engaging with and promoting the program.

As president of the New Bedford Historical, Blake leads an organization that preserves and celebrates the legacy of African Americans, Cape Verdeans and Native Americans in her home town of New Bedford, MA. The Society has worked to preserve and document the history of the freedom seekers who found their way to New Bedford, a hub on the Underground Railroad in the 19th century. The Society has led the efforts to restore and preserve the Nathan and Mary Johnson House, the first home in freedom of Anna and Frederick Douglass, an Underground Railroad site and now a National Historic Landmark due to the efforts to the Society members. The Society promotes local research on the Underground Railroad and has added 5 sites to the Network to Freedom.

Blake began her career as an educator, teaching African American studies in high school. In her 35 years as a teacher and administrator, she has advocated for equal access for people of color to educational opportunities. She worked to develop curriculum projects integrating African American and Women’s Studies into main stream humanities classes. With six National Endowment for the Humanities grants, she has conducted professional development for teachers across the country on the intersection of New Bedford’s history as a maritime port, the Underground Railroad, and African American history.  Sailing to Freedom: New Bedford and the Underground Railroad has provided historical and educational context to approximately 400 teachers across the country who work to infuse the history of the Underground Railroad into their classroom activities.

Blake partners with the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park and a variety of arts and cultural organizations across the city of New Bedford to plan and implement educational and cultural activities that are inclusive and promote the Greater New Bedford community. Her leadership with local organizations has led to public art and history projects to celebrate the 54th MA Regiment, the legacy of Paul Cuffe, and most recently the bicentennial of Frederick Douglass with the awarding of a Bench by the Road to the Society from the Toni Morrison Project. She is currently spearheading a creative place making project that will create a city park and a local historic district that will tell the story of the 19th century Abolition Movement and the role of New Bedford residents in this important social justice movement. The park will be graced by a statue of Frederick Douglass. Recently Blake received the Julie McCarthy Community Spirit Award for her work in Historic Preservation from Preservation Massachusetts.