LEXINGTON — On Saturday, the Association of Black Citizens of Lexington will host a community commemoration of Massachusetts Emancipation Day, otherwise known as Quock Walker Day, with a trail walk and opening ceremony as part of a family-friendly festival featuring history, music, culture and activities for adults and children of all ages.
WHEN AND WHERE:
5th Annual Quock Walker Day Hike for Freedom
Saturday, July 5, 8 a.m.
Bowman Elementary School, 9 Philip Road, Lexington
1st Annual Quock Walker Day Storytelling
Saturday, July 5, 9:45 a.m. – 2:15 p.m.
Lexington Visitors Center, 1875 Massachusetts Ave., Lexington
5th Annual Quock Walker Day Community Celebration
Saturday, July 5, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Lexington Visitors Center, 1875 Massachusetts Ave., Lexington
WHO:
Quock Walker Day honors the July 1783 decision of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in which Quock Walker, a freedom-seeking Black man, was found to be the victim of assault and battery by a White enslaver. The court ruled that slavery and perpetual servitude were incompatible with the Massachusetts Constitution.
The case was prosecuted by Robert Treat Paine, the first Attorney General of Massachusetts, and one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence.
The holiday was first observed in Lexington in 2021 and recognized as a statewide holiday in 2023 by Gov. Maura Healey.
WHAT:
The 5th Annual Quock Walker Day Hike for Freedom is a family-friendly hike on the ACROSS Lexington Route M Loop that commemorates Quock Walker’s journey from enslavement to employment in April 1781. Registration and storytelling begin at 8 a.m., with the walk stepping off at 8:30 a.m.
The day will also feature the 1st Annual Quock Walker Day Storytelling at the Lexington Visitors Center, beginning at 9:45 a.m. Storytelling, perhaps the best-known oral tradition of African American culture, exemplifies the desire to express oneself and convey a sense of heritage. Storytellers remain important people in the community; they transform listeners by sharing new perspectives and forgotten customs of the world in which we live.
During the Quock Walker Day Community Celebration at the Lexington Visitors Center, featured storytellers will celebrate the 242nd Anniversary of Massachusetts Emancipation Day and the 250th Anniversary of the Battle of Lexington. They will communicate memories of colonial Massachusetts, along with tales of resilience, ingenuity, emancipation and patriotism from the 18th and 19th centuries.
These storytellers were trained in workshops supported by a grant from the Community Endowment of Lexington.
The Community Celebration event is free and festivities start at 11 a.m. with music and a recitation of the Governor’s Quock Walker Day proclamation. There will be a Farm to Plate Caribbean American Food Truck, a dance workshop, Black heritage scavenger hunts, a hands-on flax processing demonstration, military reenactors and a musical performance by Rhythms of Ghana. Festivities close with a poetry recital at 2 p.m.
The rain location for the Community Celebration is First Parish of Lexington, at 7 Harrington Road.
The event is hosted by the Association of Black Citizens of Lexington and supported by the Lex250 Commission. Weekend events will also honor Black patriots who fought in the battle or contributed to the patriot cause in other ways.
The Association of Black Citizens of Lexington would like to thank its partners and vendors: Church of Our Redeemer, Clarke’s Cakes & Cookies, Fresh Food Generation, First Parish of Lexington, Follen Church, Hancock UCC, LexFarm, Lexington Visitors Center, Rhythms of Ghana, 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment Company A, and the William Diamond Junior Fife and Drum Corps.
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Gov. Maura Healey’s Proclamation for Massachusetts Emancipation Day. (Photo Courtesy Office of the Governor)