Close-up of “Bird’s eye view of Boston” by John Bachmann, showing Park Street Church

Artwork

1850

Call #: G3764.B6A3 1850 .B3

Norman B. Leventhal Map Center Collection at the Boston Public Library

A color image in sepia tones zoomed in on a section of an ink drawing. The drawing is looking down at the city of Boston as if from above. The foreground is of a park with many trees surrounding a church. The top half of the drawing is filled with crowds of buildings, some large and impressive with grecian columns, others appear to be apartment buildings with windows and smokestacks. All of the buildings are tightly clustered together except for the church amongst the trees.

William Lloyd Garrison's first public appearance as an abolitionist was on July 4, 1829 at the Park Street Church, depicted here, center, for the American Colonization Society (ACS). By that September, Garrison changed tack: he publicly apologized for supporting ACS's transportation of African Americans, wrote that ACS members “neither cease from their own oppressive acts, nor act much more honestly than the slave dealers,” and called for immediate (rather than gradual) emancipation and full rights for all Black Americans. These positions were inspired, at least in part, by the reactions of Black Bostonians at a July 14 celebration at the Belknap Street Church to ACS speakers arguing against immediate emancipation.

A color image in sepia tone of the ink drawing "Bird

Bachmann's full illustration, with Park Street Church visible in the center.

John Bachmann’s “Bird’s eye view of Boston” from 1850 looks at the city from the southwest, highlighting Boston Common, the Public Garden, and the city harbor.

Abolitionism

Demonstration

Words

Artwork