In Newburyport, new sign, fifth in history initiative, honors city’s Black abolitionists

The historic accomplishments of Black abolitionists in Newburyport were recognized recently with the formal unveiling of a new interpretive panel in the Merrimack Valley city.

The “Grant Us Our Liberty” sign, in Brown Square near a statue of the city’s most famous abolitionist, William Lloyd Garrison, was celebrated during a 3 p.m. public ceremony.

The Tuesday event was part of the city’s Human Rights and Anti-Oppression Education Week, which was approved last month by the City Council at the request of a committee honoring Garrison.

The sign is the fifth to be placed around the city by the Newburyport Black History Initiative to recognize the contributions of Black activists who lived there in the 18th and 19th centuries.

“We want to bring history . . . out into the everyday world and everyday public landscape,” said Geordie Vining, a cofounder of the initiative and senior project manager for the city.

The initiative was started last year as part of the city’s response to the global Black Lives Matter movement. “The entire community really wanted to make a difference in the wake of Black Lives Matter,” said Cyd Raschke, also a cofounder.

Speakers at Tuesday’s program included Mayor Sean Reardon; Kabria Baumgartner, a cofounder of the initiative and a Northeastern University history professor; and Andrea Gaut Eigerman, of the Friends of William Lloyd Garrison Committee.

Images and text on the new sign tell a story about Black abolitionists from Newburyport who “made history without making the history books,” Vining said.

Among those recognized is Caesar Sarter, a Newburyport resident who was enslaved for more than 20 years and published an antislavery essay in a local newspaper in 1774.

Andrew Raymond, a resident of Newburyport in the 1800s, is also featured. The sign details the story of Raymond’s activism as president of the Newburyport and Vicinity AntiSlavery Society.

The sign’s placement near the statue of Garrison, founder of the antislavery newspaper The Liberator, is deliberate. It’s almost as if the sign is “in conversation with the statue of Garrison,” Vining said.

The sign resulted from a collaboration with the Friends of William Lloyd Garrison Committee, a Newburyport-based group, said Baumgartner, a member.