Anti-Racism

Ongoing Actions

We are taking steps to face our past, to grow and change as an organization, and to do responsible, thoughtful, and inclusive work in the community.

  • The staff and board have committed to an ongoing process of anti-racism training, discussion, and reflection on our own privilege to help us better understand-and take corrective action on-how each of us contributes to white supremacy.
  • We are working to democratize the way we present history by recognizing that every person in Cambridge is a steward of Cambridge history. We strive to fill gaps in the historical record by listening to silenced voices.
  • We are broadening and diversifying our community and participants.
  • We’re focused on increasing diversity of staff, board, and volunteers.
  • We are examining our own history and the role our historical collections play in perpetuating white supremacy. We see it as our absolute responsibility to represent history more holistically.

Tory Row Anti-Racism Coalition (TRAC)

Learn more about our anti-racism work in collaboration with our Brattle Street neighbors

Completed Actions

Spring/Summer 2024

  • Staff participated in week-long Faith and Land-Based Upstander Academy with Upstander Project
  • Tabled at Longfellow House’s annual Juneteenth celebration
  • Cosponsored programming at St. Augustine’s/Black History in Action for Cambridgeport
  • Continued administrative support for and participated in monthly meetings with the Slave Legacy History Coalition
  • Continued fiscal sponsorship for the Cambridge Black History Project
  • Completed Phase 2 of Indigenous Voices Project

Fall 2023/Winter 2024

  • Began work on Phase 2 of Indigenous Voices Project, working with scholar Sage Carbone and consultant Luba Falk Feigenberg to survey teachers on knowledge of and resources need to teach Indigenous history (funded by the Cambridge Community Foundation).
  • Continued administrative support for and participated in monthly meetings with the Slave Legacy History Coalition
  • Continued fiscal sponsorship for the Cambridge Black History Project

Spring/Summer 2023

  • Completed Phase 1 of Indigenous Voices project with scholars Sage Carbone and Dr. David Lowry
  • Gave tour of Brattle Street focusing on history of enslaved people to local middle school students
  • In partnership with Black History in Action for Cambridgeport, co-sponsored the the Inaugural Marcus and Amy Garvey Lecture: Cambridgeport: Who, What, Where, and When” by Paula Paris
  • Co-sponsored and participated in Juneteenth celebrations with Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters and First Church Cambridge.
  • Exhibited blue bottle trees from our 2022-2023 Forgotten Souls installation at the Hooper-Lee-Nichols House (permanently), and at Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters and First Church Cambridge (temporarily).
  • Staff completed the annual MASS Action readiness assessment

Fall 2022/Winter 2023

Spring/Summer 2022

Winter 2022

Fall 2021

  • Staff and board meet to discuss This Land is Their Land by David J. Silverman
  • Participate in the newly-formed Slave Legacy History Coalition (SLHC)
  • Submit grant proposal for Tory Row’s Hidden Black History Project

Summer 2021

Spring 2021

Winter 2021

Fall 2020

  • Posted Brief History of the Hooper-Lee-Nichols House and Enslaved People research to our website
  • Governing Council approved Juneteenth as an annual paid holiday
  • Black Lives Matter sign permanently on front lawn
  • Land acknowledgment added to website footer and shared at beginning of all events
  • Staff and Council meet to discuss Ijeoma Oluo’s So You Want to Talk About Race
  • Staff and Council participate in implicit bias testing
  • Anti-racism work added as standing agenda item for all Council meetings
  • Anti-racism resource list created and shared between staff and Council

Summer 2020

Our Anti-Racism Statement

A few weeks ago, we released an initial statement regarding the recent uprisings that have followed the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others whose lives were cut short by police brutality. We acknowledged that systemic racism exists, and voiced our belief that Black Lives Matter. That statement should have come earlier. We recognize that by staying silent for so long, we were failing to uphold our mission to shape a better future for Cambridge. Today, we are promising to do better. And we want you to hold us to that.

Over the next year, we will strengthen our commitment to our Task Force on CHS History, which was established in 2019 with the goal of examining the ties between our organization and slavery. We will expand the task force’s mission to highlight the ways that white privilege has shaped our organization. When the research phase of this task force’s work has concluded, we will conduct a thorough analysis to determine how we can productively reconcile with these ties.

Our ties to slavery are still unclear, but our relationship to systemic racism is evident. The Cambridge Historical Society was founded in West Cambridge in 1905 by affluent white people, with white people in mind. For many years now, we have pledged to serve all of Cambridge. But to accomplish that, we must hold ourselves accountable for change. Without acknowledging our past and recognizing the ways it affects our present, we remain complicit with earlier systems and have little hope of moving forward.

In recent years, we have made an effort to elevate voices of Black Cantabrigians and other people of color. Today, that effort turns into a promise. We will continue offering a platform for Black Cantabrigians and other people of color to share their experiences at our programs. It is undeniable that these individuals and their voices are critical to any and all conversations about Cambridge.

The Cambridge Historical Society has benefited greatly from the contributions of people of color, but our board and staff have remained almost exclusively white over the years. We recognize the importance of changing the makeup of our board to better reflect the city that we serve. But while inviting people in is important, that action will be fruitless if we do not first commit ourselves to making our organization more welcoming and inclusive. With that in mind, we must commit ourselves to education and critical reflection.

In August 2020, we will begin a yearlong conversation on systemic racism within the Cambridge Historical Society. We will conduct an assessment that identifies our strengths and weaknesses and highlights opportunities to shift the culture within our organization. Our board and staff members will commit to reading and listening assignments, which will be followed up with virtual and/or in-person conversations. Our board and staff will also participate in implicit bias testing.

We are also committed to supporting broader anti-racist efforts in Cambridge. We will amplify initiatives that explore Cambridge history through an anti-racist lens, lending our platform to support these external efforts. If you would like to contribute ideas to fuel this work, please reach out. We look forward to being called in, learning more, and assisting as we are able.

In August 2021, we will evaluate our progress as we plan for the following year. At that same time, we will restructure our nomination committee’s policies and procedures to ensure that our process is inclusive with the aim of fostering the development of a board that better represents the city of Cambridge. We recognize that in order to be effective, anti-racism work requires a sustained commitment. By planning one year at a time, we will allow for critical evaluation and careful consideration on how best to approach the work. Evaluations, task force reports, and other documentation related to our anti-racism work will be available on our website. We seek to maintain transparency throughout this process and offer our community the tools and information necessary to hold us accountable.

There is no doubt that anti-racism work can be difficult and uncomfortable. But we recognize that committing to this work is key to supporting Cambridge and carrying out our mission. While the work ahead will challenge us, we are embracing this opportunity for education and critical reflection.

This statement was approved by the CHS Board in June 2020.