‘Born In Cambridge’ authors plan a walking tour this month of Cambridgeport and its innovations
In their new book, “Born in Cambridge: 400 Years of Ideas and Innovators,” Karen Weintraub and Michael Kuchta argue that “the story of Cambridge reflects the story of America … Major events and trends that affected the nation left fingerprints here, too.” How the city and its residents react to those forces, though, makes for a compelling story of invention, reinvention and adaptation spanning four centuries.
Read MoreHigh school foundations date back to 1800s; Parents’ moral panics go back almost as far
This article tackles the history behind Cambridge high schools and how the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School came to be where it is today.
Read MoreEliodora ‘Josefina’ Yanguas Perez opened Harvard Square’s first European-style café
Today there are at least 20 cafés in Cambridge where patrons can enjoy espresso drinks. In 1959, there was exactly one. That was the year Spanish immigrant Josefina Yanguas opened Café Pamplona on Bow Street.
Read MoreThe Foundry and Squirrel Brand Apartments share something: examples of adaptive reuse
Adaptive reuse – revitalizing an existing, often imperfect, structure for new purposes – exists in many forms, but is often good environmentally. From refurbishing building materials to “cultural recycling” of entire structures, it means avoiding complete demolition.
Read MoreBeing an ally to Indigenous people isn’t difficult, from calling legislators to learning town names
Tuesday is the 28th annual International Day of the World’s Indigenous People. It commemorates the first meeting held by the U.N. Working Group on Indigenous Populations of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. Each year on this day, governments and organizations come together to participate in educational seminars and meet to discuss the prominent social issues Indigenous peoples experience worldwide.
Read MoreIn identifying ways to improve neighborhoods, one lesson is: Students must get out and explore
Rising seniors in the Cambridge Harvard Summer Academy were hard at work assuming the role of activists this summer in their English class. Students were tasked to identify, investigate, analyze and evaluate a single problem or issue they identify in their neighborhood. From there, they developed a small, feasible solution that they submitted through the Cambridge participatory budget submission portal, which was open through Sunday.
Read MoreYouth-led social justice movements lead the way in Cambridge around issues of race and climate
The goal for my History Cambridge fellowship, starting in February, was to connect the history of the city with issues affecting its teenage and young-adult residents, raising awareness and promoting action. As my fellowship comes to a close, I’ve learned a lot from teens around Cambridge that has changed my perspective and added to my understanding of various topics and experiences.
Read MoreIndigenous scholars put up with missionaries, Harvard’s Indian College and ‘praying towns’
The history of Indigenous people in the place we call Cambridge is vastly untold and underrepresented, yet important to understand to comprehend the roots and depth of the cultural genocide that Native Americans faced over centuries within Massachusetts and the United States as a whole. Indigenous scholars, who were instructed under Colonial education systems, have similarly received very little recognition despite their impact. They disrupted the colonists’ “conviction of Colonial dominance” over the Native people. They used their learned and observed skills and the Colonialist teachings thrust upon them to their advantage to benefit themselves and their communities. James Printer and John Sassamon are among the many examples of Indigenous people – often apprenticed to Christian missionaries – who used assimilation to their advantage to reclaim their humanity and rights.
Read MoreHistory Cambridge plans a celebration Saturday for its ‘Forgotten Souls of Tory Row’ installation
History Cambridge put out a call in February to artists to create a temporary installation on the lawn of our headquarters, the Hooper-Lee-Nichols House, 159 Brattle St., West Cambridge. With support from Cambridge Arts and the Mass Cultural Council, this project’s goal was to honor the enslaved people who lived and worked on Brattle Street. Many of the area’s wealthy homeowners made their wealth through enslaved labor in Jamaica and enslaved people at their homes and estates in Cambridge. Joseph and Rebecca Lee, owners of the Hooper-Lee-Nichols House, were complicit in this economy. We know of at least five individuals – Cesar, Prince, Caesar, Mark Lee (or Lewis) and a woman whose name we do not know – who were enslaved by the owners of the house. Although we have no direct surviving evidence that an enslaved person ever lived there, we know other white Tory Row families enslaved people at their Brattle Street mansions. History Cambridge strives to use its headquarters in a way that recovers and shares the stories of the enslaved people of this land and acknowledges that chattel slavery was a Northern as well as a Southern system.
Read MoreA century ago, the Fourth of July was a chance to meld old and new traditions
In the early 20th century, the Fourth of July offered concerts, lectures, parades and sporting events to residents of Cambridge and many cities around the country. Whether celebrating in their own neighborhoods with luncheons hosted by local civic or religious groups, playing in or watching a pickup baseball game or track race, or watching the fireworks from the banks of the Charles, Cantabrigians had plenty of options for marking the nation’s birthday. But during the decade between 1910 and 1920, events around the world and across the nation made their way into the city’s Independence Day celebrations, demonstrating how the meaning of the holiday had grown and changed. The holiday is still evolving a century later.
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