Reading of Frederick Douglass’ Speech at High Rock Tower
Lynn has close ties to its Abolitionist past. The Highlands neighborhood boasts the High Rock Park, donated to the city by John Hutchinson of the famed Hutchinson Family Singers.
Our annual July 3rd event features the reading of a Frederick Douglass’ speech from 1852. Douglass lived in Lynn in 1841 when he wrote his first autobiography. When forced to run from slave-catchers, he toured Europe with James Buffum, later Mayor of Lynn and developer of the Highlands.
Our event includes free pony rides, ethnic food, troubadours, dance performances and reading of The Declaration of the Independence by a colonial re-enactor – all before we read Frederick Douglass’ words. His wonderful ideas empower us.
“Reading Frederick Douglass” programming was created by Mass Humanities in collaboration with Community Change, Inc. of Boston and the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School.