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Royall House & Slave Quarters

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15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
781-396-9032 http://www.royallhouse.org/

May 2018

Royall House Tours Opening Day

Saturday, May 19, 2018 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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$5 – $10

The Royall House & Slave Quarters opens its guided tour season today. The site will be open on weekends (Saturdays and Sundays) from May 19 through October 28. Tours are on the hour at 1, 2, and 3 p.m. Please note there will be no tours on Sunday, September 23, due to the Royall House Association's annual Giving Voice event. Admission for guided tours of the mansion is $10 for adults; $8 for seniors; $5 for students; $2 for EBT or…

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An American Quilt: Unfolding a Story of Family and Slavery

Wednesday, May 23, 2018 @ 7:30 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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$10

The Royall House & Slave Quarters welcomes Rachel May for a talk about her new book,  “An American Quilt: Unfolding a Story of Family and Slavery,” which is due out on May 1, 2018. May’s book explores the far reach of slavery, from New England to the Caribbean, the role it played in the growth of mercantile America, and the bonds between the agrarian south and the industrial north in the antebellum era — all through the discovery of a…

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September 2018

Giving Voice Workshop: Understanding and Teaching American Slavery

Sunday, September 23, 2018 @ 11:00 am - 1:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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$20

As part of Giving Voice, the annual benefit event for the Royall House & Slave Quarters, historian Hasan Kwame Jeffries will join Dr. Bethany Jay, associate professor of history at Salem State University, to lead a hands-on workshop on teaching American slavery for classroom teachers. This two-hour workshop preceding Giving Voice will include classroom-ready resources linked to the new Massachusetts social studies frameworks, and ample opportunity for Q&A. A box lunch will be provided, and participating teachers are encouraged to stay…

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Giving Voice: Royall House Annual Benefit

Sunday, September 23, 2018 @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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$40 – $50

Giving Voice, the annual benefit event for the Royall House & Slave Quarters, will feature a talk by historian Hasan Kwame Jeffries about his work with "Teaching Hard History: American Slavery," an educational initiative of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Tolerance Project. Jeffries, associate professor of history at Ohio State University and author of "Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama's Black Belt," chairs the advisory committee for the Teaching Tolerance project and hosts the "Teaching Hard History" podcast.…

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October 2018

Royall House Tours Closing Day

Sunday, October 28, 2018 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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$5 – $10

The Royall House & Slave Quarters concludes its 2018 guided tour season today. Tours are offered on the hour at 1, 2, and 3 p.m. (Tours also are offered on Saturday, October 27, at the same times.) Admission for guided tours of the mansion is $10 for adults; $8 for seniors; $5 for students; $2 for EBT or WIC cardholders; and free for children age 12 and under. Admission to the Slave Quarters, which also houses the archaeological exhibit, gift…

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November 2018

Readings from The Slave Narrative of Willie Mae

Saturday, November 3, 2018 @ 1:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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Free

The Royall House & Slave Quarters welcomes interdisciplinary artist Ifé Franklin, who will read from her powerful new book "The Slave Narrative of Willie Mae." Franklin wrote the book in the voice of her great-grandmother, Willie Mae McCain, who was born in Virginia on the threshold of emancipation. The narrative brings to life Willie Mae’s journey from enslavement to freedom. Her reading will include time for an audience Q&A, and copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing.…

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Hands-on Slave Cabin Project Workshop

Saturday, November 3, 2018 @ 2:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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$10 – $15

The Royall House & Slave Quarters presents interdisciplinary artist Ifé Franklin leading a two-hour hands-on Slave Cabin workshop for 20 participants. Franklin will guide participants in using materials such as fabric, shells, raffia, and beads to creatively interpret miniature cabin-like structures of their own design to take home with them. Using the artist’s Indigo Project for inspiration, these small creations are reminiscent of slave cabins, designed to honor the ancestral spirits of Africans enslaved throughout colonial America. Franklin describes them as “wishes…

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How Brooks Brothers Once Clothed Slaves

Wednesday, November 28, 2018 @ 7:30 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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$10

Like many northern commercial institutions, Brooks Brothers — celebrating its bicentennial this year — benefited from the institution of slavery. The storied clothier’s livery department provided garments for coachmen, footmen, and chauffeurs in wealthy American households, including those in the antebellum South. In an illustrated talk, Jonathan Michael Square, a writer and historian specializing in the fashion and visual culture of the African Diaspora, will explore this intriguing connection. Dr. Square is currently a lecturer on history and literature at…

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December 2018

Royall House Holiday Shopping Day

Saturday, December 8, 2018 @ 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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The Royall House & Slave Quarters holds its annual Holiday Shopping Day. Shop for handcrafted items including organic soaps, tumbled shard brooches, hand-dipped beeswax candles, and eighteenth-century games, toys, and crafts. Museum cards, bookmarks, magnets, and mugs make perfect gifts. An assortment of fiction and nonfiction for adults and children—with several titles autographed by their authors—will appeal to history lovers of any age. All proceeds support the work of the Royall House & Slave Quarters.  

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January 2019

Film and Discussion: Passage at St. Augustine

Wednesday, January 16, 2019 @ 7:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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$10

The award-winning "Passage at St. Augustine" documents an event in a southern town that divided the community along racial lines, generating national and international news, and ultimately effecting change. The hour-long film is about the bloodiest campaign of the Civil Rights Movement that unwittingly leveraged the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, outlawing Jim Crow segregation from coast to coast. After the screening, filmmaker Clennon L. King will engage the audience in a discussion of the history,…

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March 2019

Force and Freedom: Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence

Wednesday, March 20, 2019 @ 7:30 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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$10

The Royall House and Slave Quarters welcomes historian Kellie Carter Jackson for a talk on her forthcoming book, "Force and Freedom." From its origins in the 1750s, the white-led American abolitionist movement adhered to principles of "moral suasion" and nonviolent resistance as both religious tenet and political strategy. But by the 1850s, the population of enslaved Americans had increased exponentially, and such legislative efforts as the Fugitive Slave Act and the Supreme Court's 1857 ruling in the Dred Scott case…

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May 2019

Royall House Tours Opening Day

Saturday, May 18, 2019 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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$5 – $10

The Royall House & Slave Quarters opens its guided tour season today. The site will be open on weekends (Saturdays and Sundays) from May 18 through October 27. Tours are on the hour at 1, 2, and 3 p.m. Admission for guided tours of the mansion is $10 for adults; $8 for seniors; $5 for students; $2 for EBT or WIC cardholders; and free for children age 12 and under. Admission to the Slave Quarters, which also houses the archaeological exhibit,…

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June 2019

Royall House Community Open House

Saturday, June 8, 2019 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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Free

The Royall House & Slave Quarters' Community Open House is a drop-in event that provides an opportunity for neighbors to view the building interiors, hear a bit of the site's history, and — the organization hopes — be sufficiently interested to return for a full guided tour. This year’s Community Open House is scheduled right after the 10:30 a.m. Medford Slavery Memorial dedication ceremony at the Salem Street Burying Ground in nearby Medford Square. Free admission. Light refreshments will be provided.…

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Royall House Members’ Up to the Attic Open House

Sunday, June 9, 2019 @ 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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The Royall House & Slave Quarters is offering an expanded open house for members, to be held in conjunction with the organization's annual meeting. To thank members for their support, this drop-in event will be an opportunity to see more of the Royall mansion, including the third-floor storage areas that are usually off-limits to visitors. All current members are encouraged to attend the open house. Please email Director@RoyallHouse.org with questions about your membership status. Nonmembers may join or renew on the Royall…

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July 2019

Unsilenced from the Inside: Recovering Histories of Slavery from a Florida Prison

Wednesday, July 10, 2019 @ 7:30 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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Free – $10

The Royall House & Slave Quarters presents the public program "Unsilenced from the Inside: Recovering Histories of Slavery from a Florida Prison." Since 2018, several men incarcerated at Tomoka Correctional Institution in Daytona Beach have collected, transcribed, and analyzed archival documents regarding the history of enslavement on a former plantation located 30 miles from the prison. These incarcerated researchers have built an archive that testifies to the lives of enslaved men and women on the nearby Spring Garden Plantation, now…

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September 2019

Giving Voice: Royall House Annual Benefit

Sunday, September 15, 2019 @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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$25 – $50

Giving Voice, the annual benefit event for the Royall House & Slave Quarters, will feature a talk by renowned historian Tiya Miles, award-winning author of the book "The Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom in the City of the Straits." View the museum interiors, enjoy refreshments on the lawn, and hear remarks by Miles, a professor of history at Harvard University and author of five books of history and one novel. Miles was the co-winner of the prestigious…

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October 2019

Black Lives, Native Lands, White Worlds: Slavery in New England

Thursday, October 17, 2019 @ 7:30 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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The Royall House & Slave Quarters welcomes historian Jared Ross Hardesty to speak about his forthcoming book, "Black Lives, Native Lands, White Worlds: A History of Slavery in New England." Shortly after the first Europeans arrived in 17th-century New England, they began to import Africans and capture the area’s indigenous peoples as slaves. By the eve of the American Revolution, enslaved people comprised only about 4 percent of the population, but slavery had become instrumental to the region’s economy and…

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Royall House Tours Closing Day

Sunday, October 27, 2019 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
+ Google Map
$5 – $10

The Royall House & Slave Quarters concludes its 2019 guided tour season today. Tours are offered on the hour at 1, 2, and 3 p.m. (Tours also are offered on Saturday, October 26, at the same times.) Admission for guided tours of the mansion is $10 for adults; $8 for seniors; $5 for students; $2 for EBT or WIC cardholders; and free for children age 12 and under. Admission to the Slave Quarters, which also houses the archaeological exhibit, gift…

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November 2019

Searching for Black Confederates: The Civil War’s Persistent Myth

Monday, November 4, 2019 @ 7:30 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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$10

The Royall House & Slave Quarters welcomes historian Kevin M. Levin to speak about his forthcoming book, "Searching for Black Confederates: The Civil War's Most Persistent Myth." More than 150 years after the end of the Civil War, scores of websites, articles, and organizations repeat claims that anywhere between 500 and 100,000 free and enslaved African Americans fought willingly as soldiers in the Confederate army. But as Levin argues in his carefully researched book, such claims would have shocked anyone…

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Royall House Fall Clean-up Day

Saturday, November 9, 2019 @ 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
+ Google Map

Autumn's glorious color is well underway, which means it's time for the annual fall clean-up on the grounds of the Royall House & Slave Quarters. Volunteers are asked to bring work gloves and a rake, if you have them, and the RHSQ will provide LOTS of leaves! Help for an hour, or spend the morning to help get the job done. Students, be sure to bring your school's community service documentation form to be signed. For more information, please contact…

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Black Radical: The Life and Times of William Monroe Trotter

Wednesday, November 20, 2019 @ 7:30 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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$10

The Royall House & Slave Quarters welcomes Tufts University historian Kerri Greenidge to speak about her forthcoming book, "Black Radical: The Life and Times of William Monroe Trotter." This long-overdue biography reestablishes William Monroe Trotter’s essential place next to Douglass, Du Bois, and King in the pantheon of American civil rights heroes. William Monroe Trotter (1872-1934), though still virtually unknown to the wider public, was an unlikely American hero. With the stylistic verve of a newspaperman and the unwavering fearlessness of…

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December 2019

Royall House Holiday Shopping Day

Saturday, December 7, 2019 @ 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
+ Google Map

The Royall House & Slave Quarters holds its annual Holiday Shopping Day. Shop for handcrafted items including organic soaps, tumbled shard brooches, hand-dipped beeswax candles, and eighteenth-century games, toys, and crafts. Museum cards, bookmarks, magnets, and mugs make perfect gifts. An assortment of fiction and nonfiction for adults and children—with several titles autographed by their authors—will appeal to history lovers of any age. All proceeds support the work of the Royall House & Slave Quarters.  

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January 2020

Slavery’s Descendants: Shared Legacies of Race & Reconciliation

Wednesday, January 15, 2020 @ 7:30 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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$10

Co-editor Dionne Ford and contributor Catherine Sasanov will discuss "Slavery's Descendants: Shared Legacies of Race & Reconciliation," a collection by writers from a variety of backgrounds — all members of Coming to the Table, a national racial reconciliation organization — recounting their stories of dealing with America’s racial past through their experiences and their family histories. Copies of "Slavery's Descendants" will be available for purchase and signing. Admission is free for Royall House & Slave Quarters members, free for 2…

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March 2020

Canceled: Author Talk – Mark Peterson

Wednesday, March 18, 2020 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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$10

Due to precautions regarding the coronavirus, the Royall House & Slave Quarters has canceled its talk by Yale history professor Mark Peterson about his new book, "The City-State of Boston: The Rise and Fall of an Atlantic Power, 1630-1865."

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April 2020

Postponed: The Last & Living Words of Mark

Wednesday, April 15, 2020 @ 7:30 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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$10

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Royall House & Slave Quarters has canceled all tours and programs through April, including this talk by the poet and independent scholar Catherine Sasanov on "The Last & Living Words of Mark: Following the Clues to the Enslaved Man’s Life, Afterlife, and Community."  

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July 2020

Virtual Concert: Balla Kouyaté

Friday, July 10, 2020 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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Free

The Royall House & Slave Quarters invites you to a family-friendly evening of music and conversation with acclaimed Medford musician Balla Kouyaté on Facebook Live. Balla will play traditional West African music on the balafon in the only remaining freestanding slave quarters in New England, where the majority of those enslaved were of West African descent. Played with mallets, this centuries-old traditional instrument — considered the antecedent of the xylophone — is made of wooden slats and rows of calabash…

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November 2020

Royall House Fall Clean-up Day

Saturday, November 14, 2020 @ 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
+ Google Map

Autumn's glorious color is well underway, which means it's time for the annual fall clean-up on the grounds of the Royall House & Slave Quarters. Volunteers are asked to bring work gloves and a rake, if you have them, and the RHSQ will provide LOTS of leaves! Help for an hour, or spend the morning to help get the job done. Please wear a mask and note that social distancing will be observed. For more information, please email programs@royallhouse.org. Another cleanup…

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Royall House Fall Clean-up Day

Sunday, November 22, 2020 @ 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
+ Google Map

Autumn's glorious color is well underway, which means it's time for the annual fall clean-up on the grounds of the Royall House & Slave Quarters. Volunteers are asked to bring work gloves and a rake, if you have them, and the RHSQ will provide LOTS of leaves! Help for an hour, or spend the morning to help get the job done. Please wear a mask and note that social distancing will be observed. For more information, please email programs@royallhouse.org.  

Find out more »

May 2021

Royall House Spring Clean-up Day

Sunday, May 16, 2021 @ 10:00 am
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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It's time for the annual spring clean-up on the grounds of the Royall House & Slave Quarters. Tasks will include general raking, sprucing up of flower beds, etc. Volunteers are asked to bring work gloves, if possible, and a mask (social distancing will be practiced). For more information, please email programs@royallhouse.org.  

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July 2021

Royall House & Slave Quarters Members-Only Tours

Saturday, July 10, 2021 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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Today, the Royall House & Slave Quarters is reopening for guided museum tours for the first time since it closed its doors in March 2020. To show gratitude for members' unwavering support, the RHSQ has designated July "Members Only" Month. If you're not currently a museum member, you can join online at royallhouse.org/join, or you can sign up to become a member on-site before a timed tour. Guided tours will start on the hour at 1, 2 and 3 p.m.…

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August 2021

Royall House & Slave Quarters Tours

Saturday, August 7, 2021 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
+ Google Map

Today, the Royall House & Slave Quarters is reopening to the public for guided museum tours for the first time since it closed its doors in March 2020. Guided tours will start on the hour at 1, 2 and 3 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday. Capacity will be limited to 12 people per tour and attendance is on a first come, first served basis. Masks are required to be worn while inside the museum, regardless of vaccination status. Admission is free…

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October 2021

Royall House Tours Closing Day

Sunday, October 24, 2021 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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$2 – $10

The Royall House & Slave Quarters concludes its 2021 guided tour season today. Tours are offered on the hour at 1, 2, and 3 p.m. Capacity is limited to 12 people per tour and attendance is on a first come, first served basis. Mask policy: The city of Medford requires that face-coverings be worn by all individuals ages 5 and older while at indoor public facilities within our community. All visitors, including those who are vaccinated, are asked to please…

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November 2021

Royall House Fall Clean-up Day

Saturday, November 6, 2021 @ 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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It's time for the Big Fall Clean-up at the Royall House & Slave Quarters! Volunteers are invited gather on Saturday, November 6, and Sunday, November 7, from 10 a.m. to noon to help get the grounds ready for winter. Jobs include raking, bagging and spreading leaves on flower beds, and picking up black walnuts. Organizers also plan to clean out the utility shed on the grounds, in hopes that a new one will be built this winter by students at…

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Royall House Fall Clean-up Day

Sunday, November 7, 2021 @ 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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It's Day 2 of the Big Fall Clean-up at the Royall House & Slave Quarters! Volunteers are invited gather from 10 a.m. to noon to help get the grounds ready for winter. Jobs include raking, bagging and spreading leaves on flower beds, and picking up black walnuts. Organizers also plan to clean out the utility shed on the grounds, in hopes that a new one will be built this winter by students at the Medford Vocational-Technical High School. Please bring…

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December 2021

Royall House Holiday Shopping Day

Saturday, December 4, 2021 @ 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
+ Google Map

The Royall House & Slave Quarters is pleased to be resuming its popular Holiday Shopping Day. Stop by the museum to shop for handcrafted items like tumbled shard brooches and 18th-century games, toys, and crafts. Museum bookmarks, magnets, mugs, and water bottles make great gifts. The shop also is again carrying reenactor Tammy Denease’s “Hidden Women” soaps, lovely shea butter and olive oil bar soaps with labels featuring historical characters she portrays, including Belinda Sutton and Elizabeth “Mumbet” Freeman. An…

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April 2022

Royall House Spring Clean-up Day

Saturday, April 23, 2022 @ 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
+ Google Map

It's time for the annual spring clean-up on the grounds of the Royall House & Slave Quarters. Tasks will include general raking, weed pulling, and sprucing up of the property. Volunteers are asked to bring rakes, gloves, clippers and other gardening implements if you have them; if not, there will be some on hand. For more information, please email programs@royallhouse.org. Rain date: Sunday, April 24.  

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June 2022

Royall House Tours Opening Day

Saturday, June 11, 2022 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
+ Google Map
$2 – $10

The Royall House & Slave Quarters reopens today for its first full tour season since 2019. From today through Sunday, October 16, the museum will be open for guided tours at 1, 2 and 3 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday. Please note that capacity will be limited to 12 people per tour and attendance is on a first come, first served basis. Also, to ensure the safety of guides and guests, all visitors are asked to please wear masks inside…

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October 2022

Royall House Tours Closing Day

Sunday, October 16, 2022 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
+ Google Map
$2 – $10

The Royall House & Slave Quarters concludes its 2022 guided tour season today. Tours are offered on the hour at 1, 2, and 3 p.m. Capacity is limited to 12 people per tour and attendance is on a first come, first served basis. Also, to ensure the safety of guides and guests, all visitors are asked to please wear masks inside the museum's buildings, including on the guided tour. Admission for guided tours of the mansion is $10 for adults;…

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November 2022

Royall House Fall Clean-up Day

Sunday, November 13, 2022 @ 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
+ Google Map

The Royall House & Slave Quarters invites volunteers to lend a hand at its annual Fall Garden Clean-Up. Grab your rakes (or use one provided) and join friends and neighbors for this fun work morning. It will be followed by a get-together to celebrate all the fabulous volunteers who helped make this season a success. Please let the RHSQ staff know if you will be attending with an email to  programs@royallhouse.org.  

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December 2022

Royall House Holiday Shopping Day

Saturday, December 3, 2022 @ 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
+ Google Map

The Royall House & Slave Quarters presents its popular Holiday Shopping Day, in the museum gift shop inside the Slave Quarters building. Among the products for sale will be handcrafted items like tumbled shard brooches and 18th-century games, toys and crafts; reenactor Tammy Denease's "Hidden Women" soaps, lovely bar soaps with labels featuring Belinda Sutton; raw local honey generously donated by a friendly beekeeper; hand-dipped beeswax candles; an assortment of fiction and nonfiction books for adults and children, with several…

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February 2023

Remembering Belinda Sutton: Resistance, Activism, and Reparations

Saturday, February 25, 2023 @ 1:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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Free

In honor of this Black History Month's theme of Black Resistance, the Royall House & Slave Quarters is hosting a reading and discussion of Belinda Sutton's 1783 pension petition. In her 1783 petition to the Massachusetts General Court, Sutton recounted her life story and claimed a pension from the estate of Isaac Royall Jr. Her public assertion of her rights has given her a place in history and public memory. The program will include poetry by Medford poet laureate Terry…

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April 2023

Teaching White Supremacy: A Conversation with Donald Yacovone

Thursday, April 13, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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Free

The Royall House and Slave Quarters presents an evening with historian Donald Yacovone, author of "Teaching White Supremacy: America's Democratic Ordeal and the Forging of Our National Identity." In the book, Yacovone shows the clear evidence of white supremacy's deep-seated roots in our nation's educational system through an in-depth examination of America's wide assortment of texts, from primary readers to college textbooks, from popular histories to the most influential academic scholarship. Sifting through a wealth of materials from the colonial…

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Royall House Spring Clean-up Day

Saturday, April 22, 2023 @ 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
+ Google Map

It's time to prepare the Royall House & Slave Quarters grounds for the museum's 2023 season. Spring clean-up tasks will include general raking, weed pulling, and sprucing up of the property. Volunteers are asked to bring a rake if you have on; if not, there will be some on hand. For more information, please email event coordinator Maureen Curley. Rain date: Sunday, April 23.  

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May 2023

CACHE Annual Meeting

Tuesday, May 16, 2023 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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Free

CACHE, the Coalition for Arts, Culture and a Healthy Economy in Medford, is holding its the 12th annual meeting, at the Royall House & Slave Quarters. This friendly gathering of CACHE members and friends will feature a lively and informative presentation by the Royall House & Slave Quarters by board member Gracelaw Simmons. Members will also have an opportunity to give a brief update on what they're up to this year, and CACHE's Directors and Officers for the coming year will…

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June 2023

Royall House Tours Opening Day

Saturday, June 3, 2023 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
+ Google Map
$2 – $10

The Royall House & Slave Quarters reopens today for its 2023 tour season. The museum will offer guided tours at 1, 2 and 3 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday through October 15. No reservations are required. Admission for guided tours of the mansion is $10 for adults; $8 for seniors; $5 for students; $2 for EBT or WIC cardholders; and free for children age 12 and under, Tufts University students, Blue Star Families, and Massachusetts Teachers Association members or retirees.…

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July 2023

Reading Frederick Douglass Together

Tuesday, July 4, 2023 @ 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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Free

The Royall House and Slave Quarters is hosting its first-ever Reading Frederick Douglass Together program on the museum grounds. Community members are invited to gather on the lawn in front of the historic Slave Quarters building to read/listen to Douglass's "What, To The Slave, is the Fourth of July?" to honor the long history of Black activism, critique, and abolition. The program will begin with a libation ceremony to honor the people who were enslaved on the plantation. Scholar/activist David…

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October 2023

Royall House Tours Closing Day

Sunday, October 15, 2023 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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$2 – $10

The Royall House & Slave Quarters concludes its 2023 guided tour season today. Tours are offered at 1, 2 and 3 p.m. No reservations are required. Admission for guided tours of the mansion is $10 for adults; $8 for seniors; $5 for students; $2 for EBT or WIC cardholders; and free for children age 12 and under, Tufts University students, Blue Star Families, and Massachusetts Teachers Association members or retirees. Admission to the Slave Quarters, which also houses the archaeological…

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Acorns & Octavia with Kaitlin Smith

Sunday, October 22, 2023 @ 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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Free

Did you know that you can eat acorns, and that they're incredibly nutritious? Did you know that Octavia Butler wanted us to eat acorns, too? At the Royall House & Slave Quarters workshop "Acorns & Octavia," you will learn more about the fun, fascinating and filling (!) world of acorn harvesting, processing and consumption. Workshop leader Kaitlin Smith will also teach you about the Afrofuturist thought and writing of science fiction author Octavia Butler, who wanted us to know how…

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November 2023

Black Walnut Tie-Dye Workshop

Saturday, November 4, 2023 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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Free

The Royall House & Slave Quarters invites teens and adults to a Black Walnut Tie-Dye Workshop with textile artist Stephen Hamilton, who will lead the instruction using abundant black walnuts growing on the museum grounds to explore African tie-dye techniques. As a Black American trained in traditional West African artforms, Hamilton treats the acts of weaving and dyeing as ritualized acts of reclamation. He uses traditional techniques and materials native to West Africa to reclaim ancestral knowledge dissociated from Africans…

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Royall House Fall Clean-up & Volunteer Reception

Saturday, November 11, 2023 @ 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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The Royall House & Slave Quarters invites volunteers to lend a hand at its annual Fall Garden Clean-Up. Grab your rakes (or use one provided) and join friends and neighbors for this fun work morning. The grounds looked great this year because of all the rain, but now it's time to rake up those leaves and pick up millions of black walnuts! After the clean-up, a celebration will be held in the Slave Quarters to thank everyone who has volunteered…

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Mystic Project JustFlix Screening

Thursday, November 16, 2023 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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Free

The Mystic Project invites you to the second public screening of works from its JustFlix program, in which youth participants from the Medford Housing Authority learn the art of modern storytelling by creating digital videos on cell phones, telling their stories of social justice, community justice, and beyond. The films, to be shown from 6:15 to 7 p.m., reflect on the interplay between the participant's experiences, their ideas of justice, and the strengths of their community. The second part of…

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February 2024

The Souls of Womenfolk: A Conversation with Alexis Wells-Oghoghomeh

Thursday, February 8 @ 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Royall House & Slave Quarters, 15 George St.
Medford, MA 02155
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Free

The Royall House & Slave Quarters invites you to a special Black History Month book talk with historian and author Alexis Wells- Oghoghomeh. Her 2021 book "The Souls of Womenfolk: The Religious Cultures of Enslaved Women in the Lower South" traces a bold history of the interior lives of bondwomen as they carved out an existence for themselves and their families amid the horrors of American slavery. With particular attention to maternity, sex, and other gendered aspects of women's lives,…

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