Stay tuned, we are updating. Virgil will be leaving soon…
Go see the Virgil Abloh”Figures of Speech” Exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art icaboston.org on the waterfront. Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech” is the first museum exhibition devoted to the work of the Black genre-bending artist and designer Virgil Abloh (b. 1980, Rockford, IL). Abloh pioneers a practice that cuts across media and connects visual artists, musicians, graphic designers, fashion designers, and architects.
BOSTON HARBOR ISLANDS Day trips and Free TRILLFIT & yoga classes will be offered weekly at Piers Park, Christopher Columbus Park, Carson Beach, and the Charlestown Navy Yard.
Walk the tour of 18th Century Black Boston on Beacon Hill. National Park Rangers are tour guide narrating. view website
The Boston Tea Party Museum store is good for souvenirs. Here’s a virtual viewing link.
Back in Black Boston neighborhood
The Elmer Lewis Playhouse is a Boston African American treasure. It is a performance stage where family friendly concerts take place outdoors in Franklin Park near the Childrens Zoo.
Elma Ina Lewis (September 15, 1921 – January 1, 2004) was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. An alumna of Emerson College, Elma was a prominent American arts educator. Her work with the African American community in the arts, as well as her dedication to social service, resulted in her being one of the first recipients of the MacArther Fellows Grant in 1981. Go to Franklin Park or Google the Franklin Park Coalition.
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Ride a Blue Bike with one or more people. You’ll see them parked all over Boston and Cambridge. You walk up to the Blue Bike racks, check one out with an app and credit card and away you go. A thirty minute ride cost about $2.50. View the Blue Bike Station Map to see how close they are to you.
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Go fishing at the Urban Spots on the link for free. The Charter Boat Trips are found in Google, Originating at a location on Boston Harbor they are running $700 and up per group for 4 hours on a professional Fishing Boat with the pros. But if you get out to Provincetown docks you can go out and fish for less than $100 per person. Everything you need is supplied. Tackle, Rods, Reels, life vests, etc. The boat crew will even clean your fish. You take your catch with you in an ice bucket. Popular places to buy a boat seat for a fishing day in the ocean are Provincetown, Boston Harbor area, Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and other destinations in Maine and New England.
NEWPORT, RI the Mansions and JAZZ
It takes an hour and fifteen minutes to drive to Newport, Rhode Island from Boston. Newport is home to tennis competitions, yacht races, luxurious mansions some designed by Black architects, and the annual live jazz multi-day concert. THE NEWPORT JAZZ FESTIVAL 2021 OPENS JULY 30, 2021 AND WILL RUN UNTIL AUGUST 1ST FROM 11 A.M. TO 6 P.M AT THE SEASIDE FORT ADAMS STATE PARK. Stay tuned for the lineup of international jazz performers to come.
ride into the country to Falmouth, take the Island Queen Ferry boat to Martha’s Vineyard for a day trip – www.islandqueen.com
experience Christian Science Center Plaza tours, church service, bible readings and buy a bible.. Listen to the church bell symphony . – Christian Science
visit the Berkshires: Northern, Southern, Central Berkshires, Annual events and too many sites to list. – www.Berkshires.org
American Liberty Birthplaces guided tour of the famous battlegrounds of Concord and Lexington – Libertyride.us
The BlackBoston.com Events Calendar is here.
Day Trips from Boston to Martha’s Vineyard, Newport Mansions, Plymouth and Kennebunkport Maine. – New England Trips
mystery landmark of Potter Place
What do you know about Richard Potter – America’s first MAGICIAN ?
Potter was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts;.[1] He claimed his father was Sir Charles Henry Frankland, a tax collector for the Port of Boston and that his mother Dinah was a black slave in the household.[2] : | Biography. Since Sir Charles died in England in 1768, others believe the father may have been Henry Cromwell who lived in the household or a minister by the name of George Simpson.[3]
Richard Potter became a well-known magician in the New England area from 1811 to his death in 1834. As a performer he obscured most of his early life and encouraged speculation. WHERE On Route 4 between the Concord and Connecticut Highway 11 is Potter Place. The Amtrak train stop is in the area. Richard and his wife’s gravestones can still be seen at Potter Place.
ArtsBoston | Take Yourself To A New Plac
ArtsBoston is a leading force behind Greater Boston’s arts and cultural sector. In support of our 175 member organizations, we provide vital research and audience .
The Black Heritage Trail of Portsmouth, NH
Every Weekend from May 31 to November 6
BHTNH is excited to be hosting guided tours in Milford, Hancock, Warner, Exeter, and Portsmouth for this 2021 tour season. Experience New Hampshire as never before. Discover the history and cultural roots of the early African communities in Portsmouth, Milford, Hancock, Warner, and Exeter.
Read more here
no loafing in Boston
The Black Heritage Trail at Beacon Hill brings 18th Century Black Boston into the world today. There are 14 stops along steep hills where the first African American homes were built in Boston and still sand today. Start at 1:00 to give you enough time (3hrs) to finish the walk and go to the old African Meeting House, Abiel Smith School and the Museum of African American History at Beacon Hill. LEARN MORE
Freedom Trail Tour, a Boston Common tradition
guided Colonial History tours
- Boston Common
- Massachusetts State House
- Park Street Church
- Granary Burying Ground
- King’s Chapel
- King’s Chapel Burying Ground
- Benjamin Franklin Statue & Boston Latin School
- Old Corner Bookstore
- Old South Meeting House
- Old State House
- Site of Boston Massacre
- Faneuil Hall
- Paul Revere House
- Old North Church
- Copp’s Hill Burying Ground
- Bunker Hill Monument
- USS Constitution
OutSide Boston Scenes
Black Art Gallery tour highlights in Brooklyn NY
New Hampshire ( 45 minutes outside Boston)
RHODE ISLAND
When the Newport Jazz Festival is on in in late summer, you can expect three days of outdoor jazz performances near the ocean from Fort Adams State Park, Newport Rhode Island.
Newport Jazz Festival 2019
CORRINE BAILEY RAE
Micheal Che of SNL. Live highlights from Boston Calling 2019
— Black Boston tweets (@blackboston) May 26, 2019
Barbados Boston
A clip from the visitbarbados.com Welcome to Boston reception on the Seaport with DCI-Platinum Vines at the Benjamin Residence Tower
#Barbados hooks into Boston with Platinum Vines coordinating presence and concierge.
— Black Boston tweets (@blackboston) May 31, 2019
The History of Boston, especially #BLACKBOSTON is infinitely connected. https://t.co/IezTb2zU8q pic.twitter.com/DaArnsSUGG
Festivals
From Boston Calling 2019 coverage
Lil Nas X performs Old “Town Road”
PIZZA
When YELP selected the Top 100 Places to Eat in America in 2019, #3 on the list is Ciao! Pizza and Pasta, Chelsa, MA – the only restaurant in Massachusetts to make the list.
CONCERTS
The BLACK VIOLIN April 7th show at Berklee Performance Center was awesome. We’ll treat you to a segment from the performance here.
Black Violin is lead by classically trained string players Wil B. (viola) and Kev Marcus (violin), and joined onstage by DJ SPS and drummer Nat Stokes. Their most recent album release, Stereotypes, hit #1 on Billboard’s Classical Crossover chart and #4 on Billboard’s R&B Charts.
Food
Black-owned restaurants and night club spots
BRED Sandwiches
Its customers say BRED is the best black-owned take-out sandwich shop in Boston. The shop is located on Dorchester Avenue in Dorchester Lower Mills near Ashmont MBTA station.
MIDA RESTAURANT – The black-owned new kid of the block. Mida Restaurant is the first Black-owned Italian cuisine full liquor bar-restaurant in Boston. Formulated by downtown restaurant investors and the influence of ACCELERATE BOSTON Incubator, MIDA is located in the South End.
Boston’s Wally’s Jazz Cafe / CLUB on Massachusetts Avenue (casual) http://www.wallyscafe.com/index.html
For the New York Coltranish, Sonny Fortune, Grover Washington loving jazz stylists. Wallys attracts Berklee College of Music players who in turn attract masters who come teach them, live, in front of you–the audience.. and there may be a cover charge when it goes down because you will not know they are coming when they come. Wally’s Jazz Cafe is a small space, there is a small number of tables. Live performers mount the stage. It’s not crowded until nightfall. Serving Guinness Beer and drinks.
Slades Bar and Grill, South End / CLUB a great hang out place for all things soul and R&B. Full bar with sports TV, Wednesday Night Black Comedy Explosion, Saturday night parties, club scene.
SAVVOY R&B Lounge on Lincoln Street in downtown Boston where you chill out downtown in style but never leave that soul vibe and food far behind.
Dorchester Fish Market in Codman Square for families is a working class stop offering lunch-sized sandwich meals and as much bulk fresh fish you may ever want to buy. The market was started by a school teacher.
Nu Soul Food Cafe is a restaurant that received rave reviews for Boston soul food.
Coast Cafe in Cambridge’s Cambridgeport area off Memorial Drive near Harvard Business School was the 2018 TravelNoire web site Best Soul Food Restaurant in Massachusetts pick. web site www.coastsoulcafe.com
art
Cooper Gallery http://www.coopergalleryhc.org/about/
features contemporary and historical exhibitions and installations of African and African American art organized by the gallery and will often feature guest curators, faculty, artists, students, and distinguished visiting scholars. It hosts a wide range of dynamic workshops, artist talks, symposia, lectures and performances that engage audiences with diverse art archives and cultural traditions from all over the world.
National Center for Afro-American Artists www.ncaa.org
Roxbury Cultural District
The new ROXBURY CULTURAL DISTRICT is a brand new earned arena for the part of Black Boston named Roxbury, where Dudley Square and Malcolm X have a heart. Go to the site and click links to see businesses, associations and arts and cultural programmers associated with buildup of the Roxbury Cultural District.
Black Market and pop-up shops the community spaces
Black Market on Dudley Square, Roxbury offers its space to makers and vendors offering middle-class and family priced products, crafts, Black-made items in Massachusetts vendors, a cultural scene, a shopping mall with music and entertainment, all the goods, the popcorns, bean pies and more. Its Black Faneuil Hall in the heart of the hood.
THE SOUTH END
Our Back Bay to Black Boston walking Sprinter Tour is a Walk or Ride tour from the vestigages of Back Bay to the colorful rich urban culture of the Roxbury Cultural District and Dudley Nubian Square. It is bicycle and scooter friendly when weather is good. You should really get our tour brochure for this one. Here are some of the highlights
Phyllis Wheatley Stature Park -THE FIRST LADY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE is memorialized in Boston’s South End near the Simon Mall exit street and Charlies Sandwich Shop, a famous watering hole for breakfast and political talk. Her papers are at the Massachusetts History Society. The Harriet Tubman Memorial Par and Monument Park is there is the South End near Charlies. You’ll learn about Roxbury Day Zero. You’ll visit the heart of African American culture and history of Boston and New England.
Museums
National Center for Afro-American Artists www.ncaa.org
The National Center of Afro-American Artists (NCAAA) is a private, not-for-profit institution founded in 1968 by Dr. Elma Lewis who remained its Artistic Director until her passing.
Edmund Barry Gaither serves as NCAA’s Director and Curator of its Museum division. The museum remains the largest independent black cultural arts institution in New England. It has forged an unbroken record of public service in the celebration of the world heritage of black people since 1968. Commitment to excellence in the arts and wholesome cultural development remains its hallmark.
www.maah.org — Museum of African American History, a National Parks Service site on Beacon Hill in Boston has exhibits plus The African American Meeting House. The Abiel Smith School and is on the Black Heritage Trail – an 18-point destination walking tour of famous people, places and things in ancient and modern Black Boston.
Museum of Fine Art www.mfa.org
The Museum of Fine Arts is located on South Huntington Avenue between North Eastern University and the Harvard Medical School Campus. The MFA has African American art and cultural exhibitions and items from ancient Africa.
Massachusetts Historical Society ( slave collections )
https://www.masshist.org/
The National Black Doll Museum of History & Culture – Mansfield, MA
Boston Black Radio and Church
The Basic Black TV series on GBH2-
Basic Black is the longest-running African American issues and affairs program on television. You can view all episodes over the Internet or from its Facebook page. Basic Black is produced in Cambridge at the WGBH Public network studios. URL www.wgbh.org
Black Boston Churches
Would you like to have our directory? Would you like to receive a tour?
Click to request tours or the directory
Radio
Boston Praise Radio and TV is a Black-owned on-air broadcast station owned by the church and founded by Pastor Bruce Wall. The radio station offers Christian content and non-religious material. Its 7AM to 10 AM morning call-in shows are great: Listeners dial in to discuss Black Boston politics, community issues, business issues and more. They are on air 24/7. Programming can be accessed over the Internet, Facebook, Roku TV, a telephone call and more. www.bostonpraiseradio.tv
ZOO and Golf Course Plaza
Zoo – the Franklin Park Children’s Zoo and Golf Course is in Black Boston, Roxbury. The site and complex have White Stadium for Performing Arts and music concerts outdoors, picnic areas in the heart of Black Boston, flower gardens, the Olstead Emerald Necklace, rolling hills and open space, the Franklin Park Golf Course Club House, Children’s Zoo, ponds, walking trails, putting green and more.
Franklin Park is located in Black Boston zip codes near Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, Dorchester, Roxbury and faces the Kennedy Library area via Columbia Road.
