by Rob Morrison The CCHRC is pleased to announce that The Robbins House is this year’s recipient of the Council’s Climate for Freedom Award. The award is presented by the CCHRC to a local organization that works to foster a climate of freedom in its work and mission. The award was last given in 2016 to The Nature Connection. Past recipients include Gaining Ground, Communities for Restorative Justice, Open Table, PFLAG, and others.
Maria Madison, co-Founder and co-President of the Robbins House, will be the featured speaker at Human Rights Tea, held on December 8 at 3 PM at The Fenn School in Concord. “We are certainly honored and humbled by this award. The Robbins House is the result of true community engagement and support from our members,” says Madison.
The Robbins House is a Concord-based nonprofit organization focused on raising awareness of Concord’s African, African American and antislavery history from the 17th through the 19th centuries. According to co-president Rob Munro, the primary mission of the Robbins House is to reveal the little-known African American history of Concord through the narratives of the people who lived in the house. With an increasingly national and international reach, The Robbins House aims to tell the story of African American history from 1619 to 1820 and to connect that struggle with today’s modern social justice movements. Visitors are encouraged to add their stories to the ongoing narrative, for The Robbins House works “to inspire conversation, expand understanding and contribute to a better society.”
In 1995, the CCHRC created its bi-annual Climate For Freedom Award to be given to an organization in Concord or Carlisle to recognize that group’s special achievement in advancing human rights at the local level. To meet the criteria for the award, the organization must have made an outstanding contribution in at least one of the following areas: advocacy to protect the rights of a specially disadvantaged group or victims of a human rights crime; reaching out and including a minority group in its programs; promoting cross-cultural understanding; or, promoting understanding and accord between parties in conflict.