Inside the Nathaniel Felton Sr. House, across the street from the Peabody Historical Society, a white wooden door on the second floor opens to an attic that may hold a little-known piece of local history.
The first-period home, built around 1644, was owned by the Felton family for nearly two centuries. Nathaniel Felton Sr. is remembered for defending his neighbor, John Proctor, during the Salem Witch Trials. But curator Sophia R. Richter believes the house may also be connected to a different, largely untold story — that of Fortune Felton, an enslaved Black man who may have lived in the attic.
Richter said similar homes from the era have confirmed that enslaved people lived in attic spaces, leading her to believe the same could have been true here.
“There are a couple of other houses I know of that have been able to confirm that they lived in the attics,” she said. “So, that’s my guess. He might’ve lived in this one or this other house.”
The theory has not yet been confirmed. Still, Richter and the Peabody Historical Society have conducted extensive research into Black history in Peabody and across the North Shore, including efforts to document Black men who fought in the Revolutionary War.
By looking at census records, military documents, deeds, wills, newspapers, and church records from the late 1700s, they’ve been able to uncover more information about the men of color and the lives they lived after the war.
They now know that of the 16 Black men, at least seven of them were enslaved, and some, like Fortune, continued to live with the Felton family even after abolition.
Meanwhile, others, like Zachariah Bray, went on to own property in Danvers and Salem. A man named Primus Hall-Trask started a soap business in Boston and even ended up supporting his aging former master, Ezra Trask, financially while also advocating for abolition.
Pension records also give a clue as to the veterans’ wives and families, allowing Richter and her peers to look further into Black women’s history as well.
“As a museum, our responsibility is beyond research; it’s dissemination,” Richter said. “How do you get that knowledge out there? We have a lot of different programs and ideas in place to make that possible.”
The Peabody Historical Society looks to continue the conversation well past Black History Month. In fact, in July, it will be opening an exhibit on the American Revolution, which will include stories on the role of Black soldiers, women, and early crafters.
The Historical Society is also looking into programming, field trips, curriculum, and ways it can support teachers as they educate students.
The Danvers Historical Society, Richter says, is also doing research focused on slavery, as has the Marblehead Museum, which also has a self-guided walking tour that features the stories and contributions people of color have made to Marblehead and even an online database of the free and enslaved people of color in the town.
It’s just one of the many ways the region is putting Black history at the forefront of education programming and, through thoughtful conversations, allowing the community to reflect on the past and present-day Black experience.
The Swampscott Historical Commission will highlight local Black history at Swampscott High School’s Black History Month celebration on Feb. 24 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The commission will present a display on Marblehead’s Col. John Glover’s 14th Continent Regiment, a diverse unit composed of Black, Indigenous, Spanish, and Jewish soldiers.
The Peabody Essex museum, which is just 10 minutes from the Fulton period home, celebrated Black authors by spotlighting the book, Everybody in the Red Brick Building by Anne Wynter and Illustrated by Oge Mora, during their PEM Pals reading and will also be hosting a “Music in the Atrium” event every Sunday featuring local and visiting performers, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 pm.
The Lynnfield Public Library is also highlighting books on Black history and even the Black Lives Matter movement.
City leaders are marking Black History Month with celebrations across the region, including in Salem, where City Hall hosted a flag-raising ceremony and a full day of programming. Events included a keynote address at Old Town Hall by poet and author Vick Breedy, followed by a community discussion led by anti-racist educator and organizer Toni Waldron. The celebration also featured live music from Coco Brown and The Invitation, a performance by Joe Bulholland, free food from Ivory Bakery, family-friendly activities, and a Black Pop-Up Market and Resource Fair.
Breedy, who was born in Malden and spent weekends and summers growing up in Lynn, is the author of two self-care journals, a poetry collection, and an album. Her work centers on Black history and identity.
“I center Black people in everything I do,” Breedy told The Daily Item.
She emphasized the importance of preserving and uplifting Black history.
“Black history is very important,” she said. “The deliberate absence of our history suggests that we don’t matter. In any space where I can uplift and emphasize the importance of our existence, I do so. That’s not to diminish anyone else’s contributions.”
Breedy also hosts free self-care group sessions for men and women at the Minority Culture Center on Union Street and hopes to make a film one day.
She was scheduled to speak at the North Shore Juneteenth Black Excellence event on Feb. 10 at Lynn City Hall, but the event was postponed due to the weather. In the meantime, the Black Excellence display remains on view in the foyer. The exhibit highlights Black Americans and members of the African Diaspora from across the North Shore who exemplify excellence.
Among those featured are Lashaunda Hogan, a patrol officer with the Lynn Police Department, and Wangari Fahari, the City of Beverly’s director of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, as well as its ADA coordinator.
Lynn Councilor At Large Nicole McClain founded the North Shore Juneteenth Association in 2016 and has spent the past decade leading the way in celebrating Black culture and bringing together communities. From the Black Excellence display to partnering with Beyond Walls, a non-profit in the city that is reimagining public spaces through art, McClain urges that now, more than ever, it’s especially important to honor Black history and achievement.
“Especially at a time like this. Our federal government is trying to erase a lot of the Black history that has been contributed to our society, by taking down the exhibit in Philadelphia, the book bans, and all of these things are being taken away from our educational system, as far as the contributions of Black Americans. It is very troubling.”
McClain says that the North Shore Juneteenth Association recently solidified a partnership with the Lynn Music Foundation and will also be hosting a family-friendly paint event on Feb. 21 at Old Lyme Italian to celebrate Black History Month.
She has also been adamant on promoting other local events on social media, including the Community Minority Cultural Center’s second annual, free Jazz and Art Black History Month Event on Feb. 21 from 6-9 p.m.
A week later, there will be a Frederick Douglass reading at the Northshore Unitarian Universalist Church in Danvers on Feb. 28 from 2-4 p.m. in partnership with the North Shore Juneteenth Association. The free event will feature Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” speech as well as music by Danvers-based composer Charles Turner and the Cherry Hill Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Marshunda Smith.
The NAACP North Shore Brand is also hosting its third annual Symposium that same day at the Lynn Museum, from 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
As the month continues, leaders like McClain and others emphasize that this is just the beginning. The work is still being done to discover, celebrate, and honor Black History, not just this month, but every single day.
“We’ve been doing this work for a long time as North Shore Juneteenth Association, so I am proud that we’ve been doing it for a while, but I am also feeling that urgency of continuing this work and making sure that in our community on a local level, we are still acknowledging Black History Month,” McClain said. “We are still acknowledging the contributions of local people of color who stand on the shoulders of all these ancestors from the Civil Rights Movement, and before that. It’s just a rich history that we should not discount.”
