Slavery, Freedom, and Activism at 105 Brattle Street: Elementary Teacher Resource

Grade Level:
Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
Subject:
Social Studies

How to Use This Resource

In conjunction with a groundbreaking new study, Black History at the Vassall Estate, this evolving Teacher Resource provides elementary school teachers with key primary source documents, background, and conversation prompts to support classroom learning about slavery and freedom in greater Cambridge.

The Longfellow house, the city of Cambridge, and this nation have been indelibly shaped by slavery, and by the struggles of enslaved people and their descendants for freedom and civil rights. The experiences of Anthony and Cuba Vassall and their children, enslaved on Brattle Street prior to the American Revolution, help illuminate the history of slavery, freedom, and Black activism in Massachusetts. Their son Darby Vassall, whose life spanned the American Revolution to the American Civil War, is a central figure of this resource packet.

Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters is grateful to the living descendants of Anthony and Cuba Vassall who are stewards of their ancestors’ legacies, and to the study’s authors: Caitlin DeAngelis, Carla Martin, Rayshauna Gray, Aabid Allibhai, and Eshe Sherley.

For more in-depth information, see Black History at the Vassall Estate: Special History Study (2025).

This packet contains:

  • Historical information on slavery, family separation, freedom, and activism, written for a 3rd-5th grade audience
  • Mini-biography of Darby Vassall
  • Suggested conversation prompts
  • Suggested reading
  • Connections to other local museums and historical figures
  • Key Vocabulary
Materials:
  • Primary Sources
  • Activity worksheets related to Darby Vassall’s life and community.

Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for History and Social Science Alignment

3rd Grade
[3.T5] The Puritans, the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Native Peoples, and Africans
Supporting Question: How did the interactions of Native Peoples, Europeans, and enslaved and free Africans shape the development of Massachusetts?

5th Grade
[5.T1] Early colonization and growth of colonies
Supporting Question: To what extent was North America a land of opportunity, and for whom?

[5.T5] Slavery, the legacy of the Civil War, and the struggle for civil rights for all
Supporting Question: What ideas and events of the 19th century led to the expansion of civil rights in the 20th and 21st centuries?
 

History

Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site is one of more than 400 units of the National Park Service. The house was built in 1759, and those who lived in it have shaped our nation. It was a site of enslavement and community activism before the American Revolution, George Washington’s first long-term military headquarters during the Revolution, and later the place where Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote some of the most popular poems of the 1800s.

Several of this house’s earliest residents, like Darby Vassall and his family, survived slavery and fought for freedom. This section contains background information for elementary educators, including suggested framing for discussing the history of slavery and freedom with students.

What was slavery?

In the United States, slavery was a system in which white enslavers treated non-white people like property in order to make money and gain power. It was based on false and harmful beliefs that white people were better than others, especially Black people.

Enslavers forced the people they enslaved to work without pay, often used violence, and could split up their families at any time. Enslaved people wanted freedom and resisted their enslavers.

Slavery was once legal in all of the Britian’s North American colonies. In Massachusetts, both Black and Indigenous people were enslaved. This was legal until 1783, just after the American Revolution. Nationwide, the question of slavery remained until the Civil War. Slavery was legal in some states until 1863.

Who was enslaved at 105 Brattle Street?

From 1759-1774, John Vassall enslaved at least ten people at this house: Cuba, Dinah, Malcolm, William, James (a teenager), infants Darby and Cyrus, a “baby boy,” and likely two others whose names were not recorded. During that time, there were between 55 and 110 enslaved people in Cambridge.

Like many enslaved people, Cuba and her family shared a last name – Vassall – with the family who enslaved them. This was a common, but complicated, practice. Some formerly enslaved people, like Belinda Sutton, chose a new last name to assert their freedom. Others, like Cuba Vassall, seized their freedom while keeping the name shared by many of their own family members.

Family Separation and reunion

Enslavers often took children away from their parents. Their enslavers gave Cuba Vassall’s daughter Flora and son Darby away to other enslavers when they were very young.

Some enslaved parents were never able to find their children – but Cuba Vassall and her husband Anthony did. They managed to purchase Flora’s freedom in 1772, and retrieved Darby several years later following his enslaver’s death. They reunited their family in freedom.

Freedom

As the Revolutionary War approached, John Vassall (a Loyalist) fled this house and the people he had enslaved seized their freedom.

Anthony and Cuba Vassall and their children lived in freedom in a small building on John Vassall’s former land from 1774-1781. (Including during the nine month when George Washington used it as the headquarters of the Continental Army.) They farmed their own food on this land. They raised at least five children together – James, Flora, Darby, Cyrus, and Nancy – who Anthony referred to as his “little flock." They likely raised others too, including Nancy’s daughter Catherine.

After many decades of advovcacy by members of the free and enslaved Black community, Massachusetts legally ended slavery around 1783. But formerly enslaved people still faced discrimination and uncertainty – from school segregation to Fugitive Slave Laws that put people at risk of being kidnapped into slavery elsewhere.

Activism

Anthony and Cuba Vassall and their children helped their community of Black families in Cambridge and Boston. They wanted to have access to the same liberties that George Washington and the Continental Army were fighting for, but they were excluded because of the color of their skin.

According to an account written 100 years later, 6-year-old Darby Vassall met George Washington – himself an enslaver – at this house in the summer of 1775. George told Darby to go into the house to work. Standing up for his freedom, Darby asked how much George would pay him. George was surprised that Darby expected to be paid, and said no. So Darby refused to work. It would have taken great courage for Darby Vassall to stand up to George Washington.

In 1780, Darby’s family was still living in freedom on the land of their former enslaver. There was no law or document ensuring their freedom, but his parents Anthony and Cuba Vassall fought for their family’s rights. They unsuccessfully petitioned the Massachusetts legislature to own the land they lived on. Several months later, they petitioned again, pointing out the unfairness of their decades in slavery. While they didn't get to stay on their land, the legislature gave Anthony a yearly payment from the state’s sale of the former Vassall estate.

Darby and his siblings continued this activism. They fought for the abolition of slavery, civil rights, and equal education. (See Black History at the Vassall Estate, chapter 5). Cyrus Vassall taught Black students in a school located at Boston's African Meeting House. Darby and Cyrus were founding members of the African Society, an organization that supported and advocated for Black people in Boston. Darby Vassall was also active in the New England Anti-Slavery Society. In the final year of his life, he signed his name to a petition to protect Black residents from the Fugitive Slave Law.

In 1825, Darby Vassall was the vice president of an event celebrating the anniversary of Haitian independence, during which he gave the following toast: “Freedom—May the freedom of Hayti be a glorious harbinger of the time when the color of a man shall no longer be a pretext for depriving him of his liberty.”

Darby Vassall (1769-1861)

Darby Vassall was an activist who fought for education, civil rights, and the end of slavery (abolition).

When Darby Vassall was born in 1769, he, his mother Cuba, and his older brother James, were enslaved here at 105 Brattle Street by John Vassall. His father Anthony was enslaved across the street, and his 2-year-old sister Flora had been taken from her parents and enslaved in Billerica, MA.

When Darby was an infant, John him took him away from his mother, “giving” him to another family in Woburn, MA who enslaved him. In 1774, John and his family fled the oncoming American Revolution. Not long after, Darby’s new enslaver died and he returned to his own family. Darby’s family started living together as free people, farming for themselves.

As an adult, Darby Vassall moved to Boston with his brother Cyrus. He petitioned for Black students’ education, participated in community support, was active in the New England Anti-Slavery Society, and protested the Fugitive Slave Act. Today, there is a school in Cambridge named after him.

Conversation Prompts

  • How do you think Darby and Flora Vassall might have felt when they reunited with their family?
  • How do you think Darby Vassall might have felt when he stood up to George Washington?
  • What words do you recognize in these historical petitions? (See "Primary Sources")
  • Share or reflect on a time you stood up for something important to you or your family.
  • What does “fairness” mean to you? What does “justice” mean to you?
  • What’s a positive change you’d like to help make in your own school or community?
  • How do you think Darby Vassall would have liked to be remembered?

Suggested Resources

Key Resources

 DeAngelis C, Martin CD, Gray R, Allibhai A, Sherley E. 2025. Black History at the Vassall Estate: Special History Study. National Park Service. – Comprehensive new study examining the lives and historical context of Darby Vassall, his family, and community.

“Who are my ancestors?” The Descendants of Cuba Vassall (U.S. National Park Service) – In this 6-minute film, a family rediscovers the stories of their enslaved ancestors as they explore and reflect at three sites in Boston.

Further Reading

Books

Hardesty, Jared Ross. Black Lives, Native Lands, White Worlds: A History of Slavery in New England. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2019.

Maycock, Susan E. and Charles Sullivan. Building Old Cambridge: Architecture and Development. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2016.

Whiting, Gloria McCahon. Belonging: An Intimate History of Slavery and Family in Early New England. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2024.

Online Publications

Teaching Hard History: Grades K-5 | Learning for Justice – A framework for teaching the history of slavery to elementary students, with extensive resources.

Bell, J.L. “George Washington’s Headquarters and Home, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site Historic Resource Study.” National Park Service, February 29, 2012.

Digital Resources

Early History of 105 Brattle Street - Longfellow House Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site

Washington's Cambridge Headquarters - Longfellow House Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site

The Fugitive Slave Laws and Boston (U.S. National Park Service)

Early Black Cambridge Resource Hub - History Cambridge

Lee, Elon Cook. “Repair Work: Centering Black Humanity at Historic Sites” (video presentation)

HERE LIES DARBY VASSALL – Recent public art project exploring historical memory at Darby Vassall’s final resting place, Christ Church Cambridge.

We Claim/Reclaim Space – We Claim/Reclaim Space examines the lives, work, and legacies of early Black and abolitionist communities as they established and recorded their history, memory, and activism.

Uncovering the Past – Online exhibit by King’s Chapel Boston, featuring church records on Darby Vassall, and his sister Flora (Vassall) Maranday.

Connections: Related Places and People

Places

Museum of African American History (Boston, Nantucket)

Boston African American National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service) (Boston)

The Royall House and Slave Quarters (Medford)

People

Belinda Sutton and Her Petitions – The Royall House and Slave Quarters

Primus Hall: A Revolutionary Life of Service (U.S. National Park Service)

Jonas W. Clark (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

William Cooper Nell (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

Vocabulary

Abolition: The movement to end slavery.

Civil Rights: Rights (such as freedom and equal treatment) guaranteed to citizens of a country.
 
Discrimination: Unequal or unfair treatment based on a person's identity.

Legislature: Group of elected officials who create laws.

Loyalist: A person who supported the British side during the American Revolution. Loyalists did not support American Independence.

Petition: A written request to a powerful group of people, such as a legislature.

Materials

Petitions and other key primary source documents referenced in this resource packet.

Download Primary Sources

In 1811, Darby Vassall and his friends sent a petition to the state government. Taking the time to read old handwriting gives us important clues about people in the past. How many words can you recognize?

Download Activity Worksheet: Historical Handwriting Detective

Last updated: September 25, 2025