Thursday, February 16, 2012 11:00 AM – Thursday, December 31, 2015 5:00 PM
Underground Railroad Exhibit: Confronting Our Legacy – Slavery and Anti-Slavery in the North

A renovated and expanded exhibition about slavery, abolition, and the Underground Railroad including hands-on interactives and audio elements. Tuesday-Friday, 11 AM to 5 PM Saturday and Sunday, 12 Noon to 5 PM Closed Mondays and major holidays

• Jackson Homestead and Museum, 527 Washington Street
• Newton, Middlesex County, MA (Metrowest Boston)
• contact: (617) 796-1450
• web: www.historicnewton.org/
• cost: $6 for general admission, $5 for a discounted ticket (Newton residents, seniors, children 6-12 years, AAA members, students with ID), and free for children 5 and under and Historic Newton members

When Edward Jackson died in 1681, he held “two man servants”—yet his great-great-great-grandson William Jackson helped enslaved people flee bondage by offering them sanctuary as part of the clandestine network of safe houses and escape routes now known as the Underground Railroad. This exhibition, which opened in February 2012, explores the sometimes forgotten institution of slavery in the North during colonial times and the work of Newton abolitionists, including the divisions among them. It examines Nathaniel Allen’s West Newton English and Classical School, opened in 1854, which, unique in its time, accepted students from both sexes and all races, and Newton’s Myrtle Baptist Church, founded by a members of Newton’s African American community. The Jacksons of the Jackson Homestead exemplified the changing attitudes of some northerners toward slavery.