Revolution in Boston? Eight Propositions for Public History on the Freedom Trail

The author reassesses the public presentation of history on Boston's Freedom Trail, founded in the 1950s, in light of the reinterpretation of the American Revolution which has brought into focus the multi-sided struggle for liberty and equality within America. In eight propositions, he questions whether the many sites of the trail with a minimum of coordination, do justice to the "popular" side of the Revolution. Boston is at risk in dealing with race and gender, he suggests, of fragmenting the Revolution. In avoiding the "dark" side, it can fall into an exclusively celebratory history. To present a more coherent history, the author points to the need for greater collaborative efforts by the sites which make up the trail.

Report From the Field: Not the Same Old Freedom Trail——A View from the Paul Revere House

One of the key public history venues in the country is Boston's Freedom Trail. The Trail is a wonderfully confusing collection of public buildings, churches, museums, and historic markers. The manner in which the sites along Boston's Freedom Trail interpret history is a function of many factors, including the impact of evolving scholarship, how the sites are governed, and audience expectations. Over the years, how the story of the American Revolution is related has changed. The Paul Revere House provides an informative example of one site's response to changing times and heightened expectations.

Pakk Ya Cah in Havid Yard: Seeing Historic Boston on Foot

The home of America's first university, its first public school, and its first public library, the Boston area now hosts more than two hundred thousand students. From 1630, when John Winthrop said Boston should be “a city on a hill,” through the McGuffey readers of the nineteenth century, the city has been a beacon of learning. Its politics have been long and colorful: Massachusetts boasts the oldest continuously used, written Constitution in the world, John Adams's 1780 state constitution; the gerrymander was named after Governor Elbridge Gerry's plan for redrawing North Shore districts; the early years of this century saw fierce Yankee-Irish battles for the State House. Massachusetts produced and remains transfixed by the Kennedys, was the only state to vote for George McGovern, and has another interesting gubernatorial race this year. (Keep an eye peeled for people standing with election signs at busy intersections, a local political tradition.) In short, Boston holds much allure for the political scientist.For the tourist, too, Boston is an appealing destination. It is a compact city and, in the words of the old travel cliché, a city best appreciated on foot (or by public transportation). Most sites of interest in the historic downtown and nearby nineteenth-century neighborhoods are within walking distance of each other. There are restaurants, shops, book-stores, and a certain European vitality of city life—perhaps the result of narrow streets and ample green space. For walkers, the Freedom Trail organizes most of the major Revolution-era sites, and plenty of other spots are marked in the historic core. The same history, though, means Boston's streets were laid out on seventeenth-century cowpaths.