Association of Black Citizens of Lexington -ABCL

05/20/2026

Memorial Day is a time to reflect on the dedication and sacrifice upon which our nation is built.

Join ABCL in remembering and honoring those who gave everything during the Revolutionary War, including Private Isaac Barbadoes who died in December 1777 while serving in Capt. Edmund Munro’s company in Col. Timothy Bigelow’s regiment, the 15th Massachusetts Regiment.

Isaac and his sister Mary were baptized in Lexington on November 16, 1755. They and their parents Quawk and Kate were enslaved at that time. By July 11, 1756, when their third child, Abel, was baptized, Quawk and Kate had acquired their freedom and taken the surname Barbadoes.

A year later, on May 5, 1757, Quawk died. Kate Barbadoes raised the three children alone.

In April 1777, Isaac Barbadoes enlisted in the Continental Army from Woburn. From the enlistment records, it appears that Isaac was not a Woburn resident but likely a resident of Shrewsbury. He was part of the class of enlistees who were hired from time to time by Woburn to fill its quota or by private individuals to act as substitutes.

When Kate Barbadoes claimed her son's body, she reportedly had to produce Isaac's manumission papers. It was common for emancipated Black residents of colonial Massachusetts to have copies of their manumission papers made so that they could prove and maintain their freedom. Without the papers documenting his 21 years of freedom, it is uncertain what would have happened to the remains of this Black Patriot.

04/21/2026

Explore the often-overlooked role that Black people played in the Battle of Lexington & the Revolutionary War, including enslaved soldiers.

Military Patriot Pompey Fiske - explore the role that Black men and women, like enslaved Lexington resident Pompey Fiske played in the Revolutionary War.

This episode features the inspirational story of Pompey Fiske and his journey from being an enslaved witness of the intense fighting at Fiske Farm on April 19, 1775 to a soldier in the Continental Army.

While enslaved, Pompey Fiske lived in the Ebenezer Fiske House, which is located on the eastern boundary of Minute Man National Historical Park near the intersection of Wood Street and Old Massachusetts Avenue.

Explore what it was like to be a servant for life in Colonial Lexington and to fight for a nascent country while enslaved.

A free event.

Presenters: Dr. Bill Poole, PhD, retired history and science teacher and historian for the Lexington Minute Men and Sean D. Osborne, public historian and producer of the Black Patriots of Lexington YouTube series.

For more information on the Black Patriots of Lexington video series visit www.abclex.org and https://lex250.org/lexington-blackpatriots/

Cohosted by the Association of Black Citizens of Lexington, Lexington History Museums and Tricons 2 Red Tails.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-black-patriots-of-lexington-pompey-fiske-episode-screening-qa-tickets-1986551874132

Explore the often-overlooked role that Black people played in the Battle of Lexington & the Revolutionary War, including enslaved soldiers.

02/22/2026

Professor Zine Magubane and curator Stacey Fraser share the journey of Silas Burdoo, a freeborn Lexington resident who became one of the wealthiest Black veterans of the April 19, 1775, fight.

02/22/2026

Professor Zine Magubane and historical reenactor Emmett Bell-Sykes tell the story of Eli Burdoo, a third-generation freeborn Lexington resident who became an indentured orphan and later a militia combatant on April 19, 1775.

02/16/2026

Revolutionary War reenactor Charles Price shares the remarkable story of Prince Estabrook, a combatant at the Battle of Lexington. Learn how he served three years in the Continental Army and the complex history surrounding his service under his enslaver, Benjamin Estabrook.

02/16/2026

Happy President's Day!

There have been four U.S. presidents were born in Massachusetts:
1. John Adams (2nd, Braintree/Quincy),
2. John Quincy Adams (6th, Braintree/Quincy),
3. John F. Kennedy (35th, Brookline), and
4. George H.W. Bush (41st, Milton)

And there have been four Black Lexington residents who have been college presidents:
1. Dr. Bernard Harleston, PhD – the ninth President and first Black President of
City College of New York
2. Dr. David R. Harris, PhD – the nineteenth President of Union College
3. Dr. Leroy Keith, Jr., PhD – the eighth President of Morehouse College and its
second alumni President
4. Dr. Marvin B. Scott, PhD - President of Saint Paul's College

02/05/2026

ABCL partnered with Tricons 2 Red Tails and LexMedia to produce this series.

See you at the virtual watch party!

Public historian Margaret Micholet and master weaver Michelle Parish explore the often-overlooked role of Black men and women like Cate and Prince Chester in the production of domestic linen — crucial to the boycotts against British goods following the Stamp Act of 1765. Discover how everyday skil...

02/02/2026

Enjoy last month's gospel concert featuring Brother Dennis and Friends and our youth readers Josephine Lawrence and Nicholas Lawrence.

Thanks to the volunteers from Follen Church for recording the concert and thanks to the LexMedia staff for editing and hosting our 4th annual concert.

12/11/2025

Join us for the 4th Annual MLK Day Gospel Concert on Sun January 18, 2026 at 2 pm at Follen Church, 755 Massachusetts Ave
Lexington, MA 02420
Tickets on sale now.

Celebrate Dr. King's April 1965 visit to Boston & be moved to make our country's founding vision a reality - liberty & justice for all.

10/14/2025

It’s Indigenous People’s Day!

The Town of Lexington recognizes Monday, October 13, 2025, as Indigenous Peoples' Day. The official recognition of this day was formalized during the 2024 Annual Town Meeting.

Black people and Indigenous people in Massachusetts have married and raised children together for centuries. Dr. Lorenzo J. Greene wrote in The Negro in Colonial New England that in Gay Head aka Aquinnah an investigation showed that only 9 of 142 Indigenous men reported solely Indigenous heritage; the majority were the sons of Black fathers or mothers. Paul Cuffee, one of ABCL’s Black History Project of Lexington banner honorees, is the son of a formerly enslaved Black father and an Indigenous mother. Cuffee Slocum, likely born on a Friday of Akan parents in West Africa, married Ruth Moses, a Wampanoag from Harwich, on July 7, 1746 in Dartmouth, MA.

The banners of two Afro-Indigenous soldiers are on display in Lexington Center. They are a testimony to the Black-Indigenous households of colonial Middlesex County. Yeoman Caesar Ferrit and his son John Ferrit, who while responding to the Lexington Alarm along with other members of the Natick Militia, become the first Indigenous people known to have fired upon the retreating British Regulars on April 19, 1775. The Ferrit’s fired from a house near the Lexington Green. Caesar Ferrit claimed that he had the "blood of four nations in his veins": Dutch and French from his grandfathers, and Indigenous Caribbean and African from his grandmothers. Naomi Isaac, Caesar’s wife and John’s mother, was likely a formerly enslaved Indigenous woman from Cape Cod.

The other banners on display are of Black veterans from the 18th to the 20th century, a Gold Star mother, two recruiters for the 54th and 55th Massachusetts Infantry, and an advocate for veterans benefits. More information about these banner honorees will be posted in the coming week.

Episode 5 | Caesar and John FerritProfessor Zine Magubane explores the life of yeoman Caesar Ferrit and his son John who whileresponding to the Lexington Ala...