MG Harvard Square

The history of Harvard Square and the broader New England region may not be synonymous with slavery like the Antebellum South, however, the colonists of the New World were heavily reliant on slavery in establishing an economically sustainable civilization. The following exhibition of artifacts attempt to shed light on the omnipresence of slavery with regards to Harvard Square. Seal of the Massachusetts Bay Colony  (1629) Repository: Harvard Fine Arts Library http://id.lib.harvard.edu/images/olvwork169773/catalog The original seal for the Massachusetts Bay Colony depicts a Native American peacefully pointing their bow and arrow downwards with a speech bubble that reads, "come over and help us." The text alludes to the European notion that the indigenous people of the area were inferior and in need of European tutelage on multiple fronts such as religion. Ironically, it seems as though it is the colonists that were in need of help from the Indians. Native Americans constituted ...

     Church of St. Augustine the Less in Bristol, England (where Daniel Gookin was christened) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:St_Augustine_the_Less_Church,_Bristol,_BRO_Picbox-4-BCh-17,_1250x1250.jpg Daniel Gookin was born in 1612 either in County Cork, Ireland or in Kent, England. His father was living in Ireland, but Gookin Jr. was christened at the church of St. Augustine the Less in Bristol, England. Gookin attended school in England and spent time in his later childhood at his father’s plantation in Virginia. In 1641, he returned on his second voyage to Virginia with his wife Mary and infant son Samuel before removing to Cambridge in 1648. Upon arriving in Cambridge, Gookin served as Captain of the Trained Band for the next 40 years. In 1952, he was elected as one of the eighteen magistrates who made up the council of Assistants. As an Assistant, Gookin, along with the Governor and Deputy Governor, decided on judicial cases and contributed to the lawmaking of the...

     The Massachusetts state flag reflects the colonial violence brought upon the Native Americans of the region. The transmission of disease, the exploitation of resources, unwelcome guardianship and a myriad of other European impositions disrupted the way of life for the Massachusett people. The most obvious divergence between the Massachusett Tribal Nation flag and the Massachusetts state is the added motif of an arm holding a colonial sword. The placement and angle of the motif in what resembles the backswing motion of a sword strike evoke a looming sense of extortion over the indigenous figure. The imagery characterizes the enforcement of Puritan laws and customs in their pursuit of European hegemony in the New World. The forced assimilation of the Massachusett people became evident in everything from the redesign of the wetus to the attire of Native Americans. The state flag is redolent of the violent and insensitive exertion of authority over the Massachusett homel...