By Nicole Haley

Last Wednesday evening, Dr. Lois Brown relayed the story of a family of avid educators and abolitionists to a room filled with Bostonians that came to learn more about their roots. The lecture, entitled “The Paul Family of Boston: Faith and Fortitude on Beacon Hill,” was part of a September lecture series held at the historic Old South Meeting House. This year’s series, “Nineteenth Century New England Families: Politics, Entrepreneurship and Reform,” is the fourteenth annual installment of free lectures open to the public and sponsored by the Lowell Institute. Patrick Leehey, a member of the Paul Revere House with the responsibility of booking many of the speakers, said that these lecture series are important because they offer people “more perspective on the present.” Leehey explained that the purpose of this year’s series is to explore what the past was like for families by focusing on family dynamics rather than individuals. Dr. Lois Brown, consultant for the Museum of Afro-American History and associate professor of English at Mt. Holyoke College, explained the far reaching influence of members of the Paul family. Reverend Thomas Paul, the first minister of the African Baptist Church, was one of eight sons born to a soldier named Caesar Paul who was sold into slavery. Caesar wanted more for his sons who were born free and was grateful to live to see each of them go on to live influential and successful lives. Thomas began preaching to the public at the age of 16. By the time Thomas married Catherine Waterhouse and started his family, he had become a well-respected citizen of Boston and had ties with other prominent abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison, publisher of “The Liberator.” Brown described the services given by the reverend as “lively and inspiring” and spoke about at least one service in which he preached to an impressive audience of 1,000 people. Despite, the reverend’s popularity, he was still subjected to the unavoidable degradation of racism when he was habitually brutally ejected from stage coaches. These incidents, Brown said, only strengthened his convictions. Susan Paul, the youngest of Thomas’ three daughters, was destined to follow in her father’s footsteps. At the age of 24, Susan stood up on a stage at an abolitionist meeting to offer her comments about the injustice of slavery and thereafter took a very public role in the abolitionist cause. “The Paul children grew up in a very public life and Thomas and Catherine instilled a commitment to public service in them that seemed to flourish,” Brown said. Susan took the same course of influence as her mother when she became a teacher. Catherine was a teacher and administrator who demanded a worthy education and learning environment for her students. Rather than teach her students in the dark, damp schoolhouse that was provided for African American children, Catherine led the students to her home where she improvised what she deemed a more suitable classroom. At a young age, Susan helped with her mother’s students and eventually she took over the class. Susan taught her students about the injustice of slavery and used their enthusiasm and innocence as a tool in her abolitionist cause when she led the class in song at an anti-slavery meeting. Susan’s lasting influence can be perhaps best noted by her book detailing the life of an especially precocious student named James Jackson. Susan’s Memoirs of James Jackson was the first book to chronicle the experience of a free child educated during slave times. The book was not widely distributed in its time due to censorship of subjects dealing with slavery and Brown recently came upon one of the few copies in existence today and wrote an introduction essay and had it republished. Brown noted that the compelling story predates Frederick Douglass’ biography as well as Harriett Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” James lost his father before the age of two and exhibited unusual interest in learning everything in the Bible by the age of three in hopes of learning the virtues he needed to be someday reunited with his father. In 1830, the neighbors of James Jackson started a petition so that the eager boy could be admitted into school early. James enters into Susan’s class and makes fast progress in learning to read the Bible. When Susan teaches the students about slavery and alerts them to the sad fact that many children their age are not able to attend schools, James takes the news particularly harshly. Brown read one passage from the book that talks about the prayers James recited when he went home from school that first day. “Lord, pity the poor slaves. Let them be free and let them have good teachers,” James was heard to say before bed. Shortly after learning of slavery, James’ health began to decline. He had fits and began having visions. He died at the age of six. According to Brown, Susan’s account of his story suggests that the boy died to “go with his father and be free.” “In the end it is not any physical ailment but rather the social sickness of slavery that undoes him,” Brown said. Like young James, each member of the Paul family died before seeing their visions of true equality realized. Not one of them lived to witness the abolition of slavery but their legacy and contributions to the cause have lived on. Brown emphasized the current significance of this work, claiming that it demonstrates “an important connection between learning and community outreach.” This theme was of particular interest to 22-year-old Jacqueline Woods who recently became a third-grade teacher. Woods attended the lecture with a fellow Suffolk University graduate and both friends agreed that the lecture series was a pleasant educational alternative to the usual nightly outings for people their age. “This kind of thing gives you something different and interesting to do,” Woods said.