On a recent Saturday, Boston’s Freedom Trail came alive with rich narratives told by two guides dressed in androgynous 18th-century attire.
They recounted the remarkable story of Jemima Wilkinson, a preacher from Rhode Island who, after suffering a grave illness in 1776, transformed into the genderless evangelist known as the Public Universal Friend.
Across the city, a new tour launched in May at the Old South Meeting House encourages visitors to reflect on the building’s historical seating arrangements, which relegated poor and enslaved individuals to the upper gallery.
The Boston History Company has also taken an innovative step, initiating daily Freedom Trail tours from the Embrace monument at Boston Common, focusing on the lives of Coretta and Martin Luther King Jr., along with the city’s civil rights legacy.
Despite a national political and cultural campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion, the stories shared along Boston’s Freedom Trail have become increasingly diverse.
In March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order requiring federally controlled historic sites to present a so-called “patriotic” history.
This order condemned the emphasis on the United States’ history of slavery and oppression as a “revisionist movement” that aimed to undermine the nation’s foundational principles and historical accomplishments.
However, most sites along the Freedom Trail do not fall under federal control.
The private companies responsible for managing the tours, such as Hub Town Tours – now collaborating with Revolutionary Spaces for a new tour inside the Old South Meeting House – are committed to offering a more intricate and nuanced historical narrative.
Maureen McAleer, Hub Town’s operations director, expressed that telling layered histories is not just exciting but also a patriotic responsibility.
The Public Universal Friend’s story is part of the Rainbow Revolutionaries tour, which is now in its second summer.
This tour highlights the experiences of figures in Boston who identified as LGBTQ+, aiming to acknowledge that queer individuals have existed throughout history.
Catherine Benjamin, who led research for the Rainbow Revolutionaries tour and currently manages programs at the Freedom Trail Foundation, stated, “We want to honor the fact that queer people did exist in the 18th century, absolutely.”
Despite the historical stigma that rendered explicit documentation of same-sex relationships scarce, Benjamin and her team endeavor to bring these narratives into visibility.
Kelly Leonard, the chief operating officer of Boston History Company, noted that her organization seeks to go beyond focusing solely on the histories of wealthy white men.
They strive to incorporate Black history, Indigenous history, and women’s history into their narratives, ensuring attendees from diverse backgrounds can find representation within the stories being shared.
The organization Revolutionary Spaces also offers a tour titled “Slavery & Resistance in Colonial Massachusetts,” which centers on the lives of enslaved people and the narratives of Black advocates for abolition.
Matthew Wilding, senior director of interpretation for the Old South and the Old State House, emphasized the importance of understanding the contributions of Black individuals, women, and other immigrant groups as critical to the foundational histories of America, Massachusetts, and Boston.
This particular tour has seen such demand that additional sessions have been scheduled for the summer.
Despite the enthusiasm among many about addressing America’s complex historical realities, not everyone welcomes the in-depth explorations of difficult topics.
Tour guides have increasingly reported facing objections from visitors, particularly in light of the federal government’s commitment to removing DEI programs.
Leah Sause from Hub Town Tours remarked that such encounters with dissenters were on the rise.
In recent months, multiple discussions have been held on how to handle confrontational guests, who sometimes accuse guides of promoting what they label “woke” history or deviating from their personal educational experiences.
Sause noted that female guides have reported concerns about their safety during these interactions.
While the confrontations have not escalated to violence, there have been instances that left guides feeling unsafe.
In response to the ongoing pushback, multiple tour companies are enhancing training programs for guides to ensure they are prepared for personal safety and effectively managing contentious situations.
As a precaution, the Rainbow Revolutionaries tour now employs two guides instead of one, partially to address these safety concerns.
The dissenters represent a small fraction of the guests served annually by these companies, yet the increased resistance highlights the critical importance of sharing diverse historical narratives.
“We’re here to tell Boston’s history,” stated the Freedom Trail Foundation’s Benjamin.
“Queer history is part of Boston’s history. Black history is a part of Boston’s history. And trans history is also part of Boston history. So we’re going to tell those stories to people so that they don’t get erased.”
Ryan Dunn, visiting the Rainbow Revolutionaries Tour with his partner Jabari Coy-Gooding, shared that he had never encountered queer stories within Boston’s historical narratives prior to this experience.
Coy-Gooding added that such representations serve as a crucial reminder of the value of identity and visibility.
“It’s always important to be visible,” he noted.
“It’s always important to have your voice heard.
It is always important to not suppress your present-day self because that will one day be history.”
image source from：wgbh
