Search Results


Sumner Attacked in U.S. Senate

May 22, 1856
May 22, 1856

Sumner Attacked in U.S. Senate

On this day in 1856, Preston Brooks, a congressman from South Carolina, viciously attacked Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner on the floor of the United States Senate. Three days earlier, in a passionate anti-slavery speech, Sumner...

Writer Margaret Fuller Born

May 23, 1810
May 23, 1810

Writer Margaret Fuller Born

On this day in 1810, Margaret Fuller was born in Cambridge. Teacher, author, critic, philosopher, journalist, she is remembered today as a woman with a formidable intellect and a willingness to take risks. One of...

Alcott Family Arrives at Fruitlands

June 1, 1843
June 1, 1843

Alcott Family Arrives at Fruitlands

On this day in 1843, a group of three adults and five children made its way from Concord to the town of Harvard. Their destination was an old and dilapidated farmhouse in a beautiful but...

Ellen Swallow Marries Robert Richards

June 4, 1875
June 4, 1875

Ellen Swallow Marries Robert Richards

On this day in 1875, Ellen Swallow married M.I.T. Professor Robert Hallowell Richards. Three days later, they set off on a wedding trip to Nova Scotia — accompanied by Robert Richards's class in mining engineering....

Paper Publishes First Installment of Uncle Tom's Cabin

June 5, 1851
June 5, 1851

Paper Publishes First Installment of Uncle Tom's Cabin

On this day in 1851 an abolitionist newspaper published the first installment of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. The following March, a Boston publisher issued the work in book form. It sold 50,000 copies...

Legislature Allows Establishment of Mount Auburn Cemetery

June 23, 1831
June 23, 1831

Legislature Allows Establishment of Mount Auburn Cemetery

On this day in 1831, the legislature granted the Massachusetts Horticultural Society permission to purchase land for use as an experimental garden and a rural cemetery. Located on the border of Cambridge and Watertown, the...

David Walker Found Dead

June 28, 1830
June 28, 1830

David Walker Found Dead

On this day in 1830, David Walker, a prominent and outspoken black man, was found dead in his Boston home. The year before he had written David Walker's Appeal To the Coloured Citizens of the...

Transcendentalists Publish The Dial

June 30, 1840
June 30, 1840

Transcendentalists Publish The Dial

On this day in 1840 the first issue of the Transcendentalist magazine "The Dial" was published in Boston. The moving force behind this "journal in a new spirit" was Ralph Waldo Emerson, the man who...

Strike Ends in Hopedale

July 5, 1913
July 5, 1913

Strike Ends in Hopedale

On this day in 1913, a 13-week strike at the Draper Corporation in Hopedale ended in failure, and the workers returned to their jobs. This was a time of labor unrest throughout the country, but...

Dr. Harriot K. Hunt Visits the Shakers

July 7, 1848
July 7, 1848

Dr. Harriot K. Hunt Visits the Shakers

On this day in 1848, Dr. Harriot K. Hunt of Boston, one of the nation's first female physicians, made a visit to the Shaker community in Harvard. She found much to her liking. There were...

Mass Moments is a project of Mass Humanities, whose mission is to support programs that use history, literature, philosophy, and the other humanities disciplines to enhance and improve civic life throughout the Commonwealth.

Please consider helping us towards our goals with a donation today.

Interested in sponsoring Mass Moments?

Please add 9 and 5.