Leavitt House, Greenfield Public Library - African American Historic Places (sitios de interés)
Descripción del sitio
| 402 Main Street | Greenfield, MA 01301 | | ||
About: Present home of the Greenfield Public Library, the Leavitt House was built in 1797 by Asher Benjamin as a home for lawyer Jonathan Leavitt and his wife, Amelia. It soon earned the title of social villa, center for a new and largely Federalist village society. Jonathan, circuit Judge of Common Pleas, was a member of the prominent family which spearheaded the crusade for evangelical social reform in western Massachusetts. Amelia was the daughter of minister Ezra Stiles, the first President of the Connecticut Society for the Promotion of Freedom.Their Main Street household included several African Americans, whose legal status is uncertain. Nevertheless, the Leavitt House, with its multi-racial household and family and social ties, represents a significant part of the grass roots anti-slavery activity in western Massachusetts from the 1830s to the 1850s.
To download a booklet and tour about anti-slavery activity in Greenfield click here.
 Leavitt House, now Greenfield Public Library Photos and text courtesy of Marcia Starkey, chair Greenfield Historical Commission |
| |