Dickinson Homestead

The original commentary about Emily Dickinson and the Dickinson Homestead written by London T. has been removed!

Anyone wanting to do the research needed to highlight the contributions of the Dickinson family can contact the moderator at: amherstblackhistory@mail.com

Edward Dickinson "...a bizarre racial episode."

The contributions of the Dickinson family towards black community life, are enormous! Unfortunately, the tendency to attach the name singularly to poet Emily, has deprived the community of some amazing stories. Take for example Edward Dickinson. Edward, father of Emily, in 1840 - 1841, was legal defense for three black men, in what Bruce Laurie, author of Beyond Garrison: Antislavery and Social Reform, referred to as "a bizarre racial episode," involving the abducted young girl - Angeline, away from Southern slavery (Laurie, 91-94).

(Brief story covered in: Communities of color - Railroad Street.)

Oliver Dickinson and the Pew Deeds

Click on picture to read story pasted from "History of the Town of Amherst, MASS. 1731-1896," Compiled and Published by Carpenter & Morehouse 1896, page 228.

But not all stories appear good at the start. Take for instance Oliver Dickinson. Relationship to Edward and Emily unknown.

"Landlord Oliver," as he was fondly called, was the first to suggest movement away from the Meetinghouse concept of parish life, to the establishment of a church. Contributing $2,900 towards the construction of North Church, he made it happen. This appears to be quite a contribution to community and religious life; however, there was the issue of "the Pew Deeds.

Although Oliver received partial compensation for building North Church, he proceeded to sell pew deeds to further compensate himself. Of the two conditions attached to these deeds, one exposes issues of segregation present in the North. The conditions:

The pews were not to be painted nor altered without permission
Deed holders were not allowed "...to sell or lease them to any negro or mulatto, or allow any such person to occupy them, under penalty of forfeiting their rights." (see caption for citation)

Daniel Dickinson...

Such racial segregation did not sit well with some members of North Church. In 1842, thanks to the influence of his nephew, Daniel Dickinson, that portion of the deed regarding Negroes and mulattoes was omitted.

What did remain though, was the church gallery. That space in the church reserved for Negroes, Indians and Mulattoes, it was a reminder of the segregated worship and normalization of racial segregation in communities not just in the South, but the North also! Racially segregated churches often ushered non-whites into the Gallery or Narthex as their place of worship. For many, though in the Gallery, they were still not allowed to sit in it's front row. Perhaps this is why the phrase "Learn your place," has such LARGE and varying historical meaning to black around the world.

Black response to segregation in the church...Richard Allen and the AME Church

To understand better segregation in the church, I recommend reading about Richard Allen and the founding of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1816. A member of St George's Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, Allen's story allows us to see the tenacity of African American worshipers, despite the cage of racist ideologies growing around them, to demand self-determination. Here in Amherst, that struggle to regain not just worship space, but sacred space is covered under Black Church Life.

The following PDF downloaded from Christ Chapel AME Church, in Sterling VA gives details of the split from the M.E.C.. History of the African Methodist Episcopalian Church pdf

Find out more about the African Methodist Episcopal Church

Discovering community ties... Here's an article I found on MassLive back in 2013.

Interested in learning more about slavery in the north? The website "Slavery in the North" is a great place to start: http://slavenorth.com/index.html. If you have other suggestions, please let me know.