Organization

               SoliDarity-Boston is a non-profit constitutional justice organization based in Boston, Massachusetts. Our goal is to educate the public about The American Freedmen. This includes who this class of people is, their history, and how through civic engagement and politics, we can fight for reparations. We seek out tangible restorative justice for The American Freedmen. We work closely with another NGO named USADOF to achieve our goals.Our organization operates on the principles of solidarity, civic engagement, and community/wealth building. We believe in the power of collective action through civics to bring about social change for the American Freedmen . By raising awareness about the issues that impact The American Freedmen and by organizing events and campaigns, we hope to create a more just and equitable society for all.

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                  The most pivotal point in my life is my childhood. I was born in Dorchester, MA, however,  I grew up in Roxbury (Dudley Square urban community of Boston). I went to school in Needham (Metco Program in the suburbs of Boston, MA),due to the inadequate school system of Boston and spent all my summers down South (Columbia / Barnwell, SC). My grandmother, Essie Mae Jones, was the epitome of the backbone of our family, the true Matriarch. Through the “Great Migration”- Exodus, she brought her family to Boston in the 1940s. She instilled traditional Southern values in our family, such as family loyalty/allegiance, respect, trustworthiness, honor, justice and being a team player. As a direct Descendant of the formally Emancipated Persons - American Freedmen, she thought it was extremely important that I was knowledgeable in our history “You need to know where you're from to figure out where you’re going.” So, I traveled back and forth from the North and South since I was a baby with her. I clearly remember seeing separate “Colored“ water fountains and bathrooms. While in the Deep South we stayed on part of the property where our family was enslaved, then became sharecroppers. We picked crops, pumped well water, fed the pigs, washed clothes in aluminum tin tubs with scrub boards, used out houses and learned to prepare traditional Southern cuisine. Just the mere fact of having to assimilate to 3 different worlds, urban environment, going to school in the suburbs and spending summers down South. All having their own set of discriminatory rules, which always required mastering code switching. 

Due to the 400 plus years of systematic/structural oppression I’ve became aware of throughout my lifetime, including the personal / community narratives, I have continuously advocated for the injustices based on the badges and incidents that created the stain of slavery in the US. There has been a concerted effort of pure erasure of our culture as American Freedmen – Descendants of Emancipated Persons in the US. This created significant loss in culture and socio-economic standing in our communities. I am a staunch advocate for remedial justice. It is my passion to serve my community and to preserve our heritage. I love to read, travel, attend plays, musicals, spoken word, jazz sets, concerts and being on the beach. I’m extremely family oriented, so I tend to spend most of my free time with my two children and my mother. 

                                                                  -Antonia Edwards , Co-Founder of SoliDarity 

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                     The story of us as American Freedmen in Massachusetts is one of resilience, struggle, and perseverance in the face of systemic barriers. From the early colonial period through the Civil Rights Movement, Freedmen in Massachusetts have faced challenges in securing economic stability, political rights, and social equality. In the 1600s, Massachusetts was one of the first colonies to legally recognize slavery, with the first recorded enslaved Africans arriving in 1641. Even after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled slavery unconstitutional in 1783, many American Freedmen residents continued to face economic and social exclusion. With the origination of the Jim Crow Laws, Freedmen were often denied access to skilled labor, land ownership, and fair wages, forcing many into low-paying domestic or labor-intensive jobs. 

During the 19th century, American Freedmen communities in Boston, Springfield, and other cities organized education and civil rights. Leaders such as William C. Nell and Frederick Douglass worked tirelessly to end segregation in Massachusetts schools, which persisted even after slavery was abolished. The fight for equal education was met with resistance, as many white institutions continued to exclude or marginalize Black students. In the early 20th century, American Freedmen in Massachusetts confronted housing discrimination, redlining, and job exclusion, limiting their ability to accumulate generational wealth. Despite these challenges, Freedmen entrepreneurs, educators, and activists created self-sustaining communities, churches, and businesses. “The Great Migration” brought more Freedmen families from the South to Massachusetts, seeking opportunities but often finding racial discrimination in employment and housing. 

By the 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement gained momentum in Massachusetts, with activists advocating for fair housing laws, voting rights, and equal education. The Boston busing crisis of the 1970s highlighted the deep racial divides in the state, as resistance to school desegregation led to violent protests and systemic pushbacks. Even after legal victories, Black families continued to struggle against economic inequality and political disenfranchisement. Due to the 400 plus years of systematic/structural oppression I’ve became aware of throughout my lifetime, including the personal / community narratives, I have continuously advocated for the injustices based on the badges and incidents that created the stain of slavery in the US. There has been a concerted effort of pure erasure of our culture as American Freedmen – Descendants of Emancipated Persons in the US. This created significant loss in culture and socio-economic standing in our communities. I am a staunch advocate for remedial justice. It is my passion to serve my community and to preserve our heritage. 

Today, the Descendants of Freedmen in Massachusetts continue to face challenges in wealth disparity (median wealth $8), access to quality education, and the dismantling of structural/systemic racism and implicit biases. Our fight for reparations, fair housing, and economic justice remains ongoing, as activists and policymakers push for policies that acknowledge and rectify centuries of injustice. We now have a Boston Reparations Taskforce and two State of Massachusetts Reparations legislation bills. The story of the American Freedmen in Massachusetts and across the nation is one of strength, community, and an unyielding pursuit of justice despite centuries of obstacles. It is imperative that the Descendants of Enslaved Persons in the US highly advocate for our heritage. We have all experienced most, if not all, the same systematic/ structural oppression stemming from the “stain of slavery”.

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                        On December 14th 2022, Boston City Council Members voted unanimously on Ordinance of 2022 - Chapter 12 to establish a Boston Reparations Taskforce. Our City of Boston’s Mayor Wu immediately signed the ordinance into permanent law. This Taskforce is charged with reviewing credible research, providing a full report of the harms from the Legacy of Slavery and then making final recommendations on how to repair said harms with quantifications of each. I must add that there is a clear mandate to include the Community in the entire process.

Since establishing the Boston Reparation Taskforce, Taskforce Members have been appointed by the Mayor Wu and Research Consultants selected by the Taskforce. Tufts University is responsible for covering 1619-1940 and Northeastern University covers 1940-2020 in early 2024. We are now coming down to the home stretch with the research almost being completed, deadline of 6/30/25. Both Tufts and Northeastern have presented their findings for a final report in December 2024 and January 2025. However, it is painstakingly obvious that there has been low attendance at the last two meetings and lack of participation in critiquing the reports that have been presented. It is imperative that we have the community of Descendants of formally emancipated enslaved persons - American Freedmen involved in this entire process. The harmed party must stipulate how they’ve been harmed, how they’d like to be repaired and be able to agree on quantifications of harms for this to be considered Full Reparation. Without such input from the harmed party, this will truly be a waste of time, as recommendations on policies to put in place will truly never address the 400 plus years of harms based on the people's lived experiences. This is a one shot deal, as we  may never have this opportunity to have our voices heard on the impact of the Legacy of Slavery in the United States through the lens of American Freedmen and their Descendants to date. I’m calling on Descendants of American Freedmen in City of  Boston to get involved with City of Boston Reparations Taskforce.

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