LyLena

My exhibit Inconsiderate/InConsideration is a reflection on the ways in which Harvard and its students have considered their role in the slave trade and the feelings of Black people, while simultaneously committing wrong.  The first item that I would use are the daguerreotypes that were discovered in the basement of the Harvard University museum. In this photograph there are, from left to right, “a Congo slave named Renty, who lived on B.F. Taylor’s plantation, ‘Edgehill’; Jack, a slave from the Guinea Coast (ritual scars decorate his cheek); and an unidentified man.”  Source: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/harvard-can-keep-slave-daguerrotypes-1949591 I would also include this relic from the Harvard Debating Club in 1792, who debated whether French slaves in the West Indies should be emancipated. These gentlemen probably thought that their own relationship to slavery was resolved, given that slavery was ended officially in Massachusetts in 1783. But to debate something nec...

Ruth (Hill) Eager was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts on February 4th, 1640. Her parents were Abraham Hill and Sarah (Long) Hill. Both of Ruth’s parents were passengers who came to New England by boat during the Great Puritan Migration, Sarah (Long) having come with her parents and siblings aboard a ship called the “Defense.” Abraham is listed as having gained status as a freeman in 1640, so it's possible that he may have gained his passage to New England as an indentured servant. Abraham and Sarah met in New England, and were married in Cambridge in 1639. Ruth was the first of eight children born. There is some dispute in records as to whether her original last name was Hill or Hills. Ruth married her husband William Eager on October 7th, 1659. While it is believed that his ancestors were from England, his family likely immigrated to Scotland or Ireland prior to arrival in New England. For William, there are no records on his birth or how he came to be in New England. Toget...

In an article on Massachusetts Peace Action, David Detmold wrote an article about the state flag that includes the image below. It is clear from this analysis, just how deeply embedded violence and colonialism are to the culture of Massachusetts, particularly with regard to the attitude toward Native Americans. The piecing together of the "ideal" Native American in the center stuck out to me as particularly heinous. I would memorialize the first occupants of Cambridge with an interactive memorial site. I would take a large section of the Boston Common and outline it with a boundary of inlaid stones. Some of these stones would bear the names of Native Americans known to have lost their lives at the hands of settlers or sickness brought by settlers, but many would be left blank in honor of those whose names aren’t known. There would be a sign inviting those who wish to enter the memorial section to remove their shoes (an ancient symbol of respect, as well as to connect with the...