In July and August 2024, ten Freedom House Summer Enrichment scholars worked with the Reckonings Project during a six-week program led by Community Liaison Dzidzor Azaglo, Northeastern University History Doctoral Research Assistant Sayyara Huseynli, and Uta Poiger. In the course of the program, the scholars explored the digital and physical archives of Freedom House at the Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections, as well as the Hip Hop Archive at UMass Boston, and talked with Ebony Gill about her Instagram on Boston History @bostonurbanarchive. A special thanks to archivists Molly Brown and Andrew Elder for guiding engaging discussions and helping the scholars find important materials. While learning about the rich history and legacy of Freedom House, the scholars identified physical materials, including photos, brochures, and fliers, for digitization. They then used these materials to create two physical zines with paper, scissors, and glue sticks. One centers on the organization’s historic achievements in its first ten years of serving the community, and the other on Project REACH, a youth development and scholarship program implemented by Freedom House in 1988. Scholars exhibited the zines at the Freedom House Summer Showcase, and we plan to release them as digital exhibits as part of Freedom House’s celebration of its 75 years of serving the community in December. Scholars also learned the content management system Zotero and used it to document historical research on Freedom House and music, which collaborators from Freedom House and Reckonings will turn into YouTube and Spotify playlists. One of the many exciting finds was a ticket to a teen concert that Ella Fitzgerald gave in Boston in 1952.

After documenting Freedom House’s important work in Boston communities, the scholars reflected on Freedom House’s mission and impact. Listen to the Freedom House Summer Enrichment scholars in a video filmed and edited by Reckonings multimedia editor co-op Julia Block.

The collaboration between Freedom House and the Reckonings Project will continue into the next year, with support from a grant for Roxbury-Dorchester Community Stories that Freedom House recently received from Mass Humanities for bringing the joint intergenerational interviewing project and historical research to broader communities, while celebrating Freedom House’s impact in Roxbury, Dorchester, Boston, and beyond. Please keep your eyes out for community events, tours, and exhibits that will be a collaboration between Freedom House, Boston Public Libraries, community historians Colin Knight and Joel Mackall, and the Reckonings Project.

Visit the Freedom House website to learn more and be part of these exciting upcoming events.

On September 27 and 28th, members of Boston communities came together for the dedication of Jazz Square, the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Columbus Avenue. Jazz enthusiasts of different generations gathered to celebrate the rich legacy of the area and the influence of jazz on art and culture in Boston. The celebrations are the result of a collaboration between the Boston Jazz Foundation, Bob Barney and the Claremont Neighborhood Association, Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Jazz Boston, Union Church, and the Reckonings Project, and are partially funded by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture.

Audiences celebrated at several live performances, as well as a ceremony and speaking program led by Reckonings Community Liaison Dzidzor Azaglo. Award-winning jazz drummer, producer, and educator Terri Lyne Carrington presented the inaugural Boston Jazz Luminary Award to Elynor Walcott, the owner of Wally’s Jazz Cafe, for her support of a wide range of performers and the Boston jazz scene. Remarks from Boston City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune, State Representative John Moran, State Senator Liz Miranda, City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson, Bonnie Johnson from WICN, and Seba Molnar and Moriah Phillips from the Boston Jazz Foundation emphasized the Boston jazz community’s complex past. The speakers highlighted the importance of institutions like Wally’s and invited listeners to support and invest in jazz and the arts. You can watch the livestream of the ceremony filmed by the Boston Neighborhood Network here. Throughout these two days, the Reckonings team exhibited historical markers on jazz clubs in Boston and a self-guided Boston Jazz Tour organized by Northeastern students.

These contributions built upon the work that students, staff, faculty, and community members have done as part of the Black Artists of Boston project. Our team encouraged community members to examine their relationship with jazz, starting many insightful discussions. Participants responded to the following prompts: “We celebrate Jazz because…” and “Jazz Square matters because…” You can find their responses on our website and in a recap video filmed and edited by Reckonings multimedia co-op Julia Block. Watch the full video here.

Jazz Square Celebration is testament to the Boston jazz community’s vibrant past, present, and future. The Jazz Square collaborators will host additional events beginning in late April 2025. Look out for announcements on the Boston Jazz Foundation’s website to learn more.

In Summer 2024, four Public History M.A. students, Alicia Prainito, Riley Thompson, Grace Rooney, and Emma Beckman, each worked with a community organization in Boston on research and making historical knowledge accessible. Each received financial support from the Angel David Nieves Memorial Mellon Scholarship, a program that Reckonings launched this year with support from the Mellon Foundation. The scholarship honors our dear colleague, collaborator, and friend Dr. Angel David Nieves who passed away on December 5, 2023.

At the end of the summer, the students reflected on their experiences. Alicia Prainito contributed to the online publication Insurrect! Radical Thinking in Early American Studies as a writer and editor focusing on Caribbean Studies. Summing up her work, she says, “In keeping with Dr. Nieves’s view that history should be ‘messy,’ I was able to let his philosophy guide my writings, as I made my overarching thematic goal to complicate the narrative.”

As a research and program development intern at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Riley Thompson created an educational workshop and a companion study guide based on the controversial 1920s Sacco and Vanzetti case. Through this work, she reflects, “I deepened my passion for historical research, while also discovering a passion for education, which I didn’t know I had.”

Grace Rooney’s role as the Archives and Special Collections Assistant for the Boston Red Sox involved managing their archives and exhibiting Red Sox history in community visits to local senior centers that she coordinated. She says, “What I have learned from my fieldwork experience is the special place of Boston sports in the Boston community, and how social justice can be advanced through this lens.”

Emma Beckman spent the summer working as a research intern for the West End Museum (WEM), a partner of the Reckonings Project. She wrote about the overlooked LGBTQ+ voices in the neighborhood and developed a walking tour based on her research. Grace Clipson, the Education Manager at WEM, praises her contributions:

“Throughout her internship, Emma demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to her project, conducting in-depth research that shed light on the hidden, and previously under-researched, narratives of the LGBTQ+ community in the West End. Emma translated her research into a variety of valuable deliverables for the museum. She wrote a series of insightful articles on key figures and concepts related to LGBTQ+ history in the West End, including on FO Matthiessen, Prescott Townsend, Boston Marriages, and F. Holland Day. These articles were not only well-researched but also interesting for the public, helping to educate and engage our community on this important part of Boston’s history.

One of Emma’s most significant contributions was her capstone project, where she developed and led a walking tour titled “Faces & Places: LGBTQ+ History in the West End.” This tour took participants through the North Slope neighborhood, highlighting its historical importance as a hub for LGBTQ+ people in Boston. Emma’s ability to translate her research into an engaging and informative public event was truly impressive, and the tour was met with enthusiastic praise from attendees. Her work not only illuminated a crucial part of the West End’s history but also brought new voices and stories to the forefront of our museum’s programming.”

Congratulations to the four 2024 Nieves Memorial Scholarship recipients for their impactful work.

Come celebrate Freedom House’s 75 years of service and leadership in the Dorchester and greater Boston communities on December 16th!  More details will be forthcoming on the Freedom House website.

Enjoy this playlist created by Reckonings Research Assistant and Digital Assets Manager Co-op Andres Garcia based on his research on the history of clubs in Jazz Square and the Beantown Jazz Festival. The playlist features music from artists with ties to Jazz Square and the Boston community. You can learn more about these artists here.