Time and again this Commonwealth has demonstrated that progress begins when people are willing to challenge the status quo.
History
Posted inOpinion
All politics is local — even the Declaration of Independence
“What I found to my surprise,” said Maier, “was this mass of local ‘declarations of independence,’ the greater part of which come from Massachusetts.”
Posted inOpinion
Honoring America’s promise by reading Frederick Douglass
In one of the greatest statements on American history ever written, Douglass demands that the country live up to the promises of 1776.
Posted inHistory
Underappreciated and poorly understood, Evacuation Day commemorates a pivotal moment in American history — and an unsung Boston hero
What is Evacuation Day anyway, and why is it such a big deal that it’s a holiday (in Suffolk County)? That question has long bewildered newcomers to Massachusetts – and more than a few long-term and lifelong denizens as well.
Posted inOpinion
In the face of efforts to erase parts of US history, Massachusetts must take a stand
As the federal government creates gaps in the record, we can support organizations filling the voids with voices from the past and present who speak to the core values of the Declaration of Independence — and its complicated legacy.
Posted inOpinion
Canceling citizenship ceremonies at Faneuil Hall was an affront to its history
This wasn’t just a canceled ceremony; it was the quiet erasure of a tradition that once made American citizenship visible, contested, and public.
Posted inHistory
With historian Pauline Maier
With the publication of American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence last year, MIT professor Pauline Maier established herself not just as one of the nation’s leading scholars in the […]
