As Concord’s Town Meeting approaches, The Drinking Gourd Project wants to remind voters to vote Yes on Articles 35 & 36. The Drinking Gourd Project is dedicated to shedding light on Concord’s “untold revolutions.” The Town’s role in the American Revolution and in the literary and philosophical `revolution’ of Transcendentalism has long been celebrated. Less well known are the struggles and contributions of Concord’s African residents and the leading role that Concord citizens – particularly the women of Concord – played in the abolition of slavery. The Drinking Gourd Project currently is leading an effort to restore the Caesar Robbins house, built in 1780 by a freed African man and Revolutionary War patriot, to be used as an education center focused on Concord’s African and Abolitionist history. This humble house is a link and a witness to some of the most important and real history that we have. It is the only standing house built by an early African resident of Concord. It in, we have been given a unique gift: the opportunity to create a center where we can teach these stories to our youth and the visitors from across the US and the Globe who come to Concord each year.
You can help this effort by coming to Town Meeting and voting yes on Article 35 for CPC funding and Article 36 to lease land next to the North Bridge parking lot as the new location of the Robbins House Education Center.
About the Drinking Gourd Project
The Drinking Gourd Project is a newly formed Concord-based Non Profit focused on raising awareness of Concord’s African and Abolitionist history from the 17th through the 19th Centuries. We are a sub-committee of the Concord Human Rights Council. Our mission is to shine light on this history and make it even more accessible to residents and visitors in a way that will add a new layer to our understanding of our past and a deeper appreciation for the complexity of Concord and its role in creating a diverse America.
Through the wonderful generosity of the Boyntons we have recently acquired the Caesar Robbin House and now look forward to the ability to preserve, restore and adapt the house into a civil liberties Educational Center, to be integrated into the National Park Service programs and located near the Old North Bridge, completing the monuments in a monumental location. We need your support to help the town achieve this mission.