HISTORIANS SPEAK WITH NEW INSIGHTS ON NANTUCKET'S CIVIL RIGHTS PAST
BY MARLI GUZZETTA
According to Dr. Frances Karttunen, author of "The Other Islanders," the biggest misconception people have about historic islanders of color is that they didn't leave any records of their lives.

Frances Karttunen (left) and Barbara White (right) will incorporate new research on Nantucket's civil rights history into NHA-sponsored presentations commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Drawing in part on old research and research none have yet to see, Karttunen and teacher-turned-historian Barbara White will conduct presentations for the Nantucket Historical Association on the subject of Nantucketers of color to bookend Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The presentations are part of the NHA's Brown Bag Lunch Series, "Food for Thought."

There are "piles" of literature written by and about Nantucketers of color, according to Karttunen. "Some is admirable, some is despicable, and some is really surprising."

She offered as an example Benajah Boston, Jr., a 19th century relative of Absalom Boston. When he returned to Nantucket after a lifetime at sea - including a stint on a Union Navy boat during the Civil War - he told his life's story to the Inquirer and Mirror. "His story is so gripping; it's as good as anything any Nantucketer ever wrote," said Karttunen, who noted that Banajah was also a poet.

Inspired by an activity once conducted with students at the Whaling Museum, Karttunen will be handing out laminated quotations and writings by and about Nantucketers of color throughout history, from the time of the Wampanoags and European immigrants to Africans who came here enslaved and received freedom and, eventually, school integration. The print artifacts will include writings from people of color, visitors and historians as well as letters to Nantucket newspapers and excerpts from town meetings over the years. Each card will be numbered in chronological order (the activity is dependent on 25 people attending). Participants will read the quotations they received, in character.

Currently anthologizing historically themed columns she has written for Yesterday's Island (tentatively titled "Law and Disorder on Old Nantucket" and due out around Memorial Day), Karttunen has been keeping up on her research. During the Organ Crawl, Karttunen ended up walking behind women discussing the plight of Acadian refugees who got dispersed from Nova Scotia and stayed on Nantucket for a while before settling in Louisiana and becoming the Cajuns. Upon further research of town records from the 17th century, she learned this was because the town of Nantucket drove them out. She read from town minutes, dated August 1766: "Voted that the representatives of the town lay it before the House of Representatives to get the order removing the French from this island to be confirmed."

"Think of what good food and good music we'd have had if we'd have been more hospitable," said Karttunen, who added that the historical anecdotes she has amassed on the French and on others are resonant on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. "The snippets deal with difference and the challenges faced not only by the Wampanoags and African-Americans, but also the poor and the refugees who showed up on these shores. I think Martin Luther King, Jr. was concerned about equality and justice for all people who were different."

Barbara White, who originally did research in the 1970s on Nantucket school segregation, retired three years ago from teaching history at Nantucket public schools in order to revisit the topic. She has focused in recent years on Anna Gardner, a white teacher who taught the students of the segregated African school. In pursuing the details of Gardner's life, White discovered new details on the town-wide dust-up over the issue of desegregation.

"I knew that, at one point in 1843 after the schools had been integrated, a radical school committee had been elected that chose to segregate the school against the town's wishes. … They actually went into the schools and pulled kids out and put them in the African school on the same day," White offered as an example. "There was a lot of crying." But as many of us know, what resulted from the struggle that made it all the way to the State House was the country's first civil rights legislation on education.

White has also discovered new information on Nantucket High School's first principal, Cyrus Peirce. "When I wrote the book in 1978, I didn't know much about his role," she said. "But I found out a lot more about his life, and he was a major player in desegregation. He was definitely a good guy."

Overall, White said, she has unearthed more details of the "drama" surrounding the struggle.

"We're talking about people being hit with eggs, boycotts, petitions and riots. …I don't have to work too hard to make it interesting," White said. "I think most Nantucket kids feel pretty proud of the fact that Nantucketers united and had this plan to get segregation rectified ahead of most places. It was divisive when it happened, but we coped with it. When integration happened, you read the records after that, and it just vanished as a problem. Once we

integrated, we didn't look back." I

On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the museum will also be offering a 40-minute Diversity Tour, highlighting artifacts within the museum that are "critical to understanding the contributions of people of color throughout Nantucket's history." (Call the museum for more details on the tour; time TBA.)
"Perspectives on Difference: Authentic
Voices from Nantucket's Past"
by Frances Karttunen
    When: Thursday, Jan. 11, noon
    Where: NHA Discovery Room,
    13 Broad Street
    Cost: Free (and bring your lunch)
"Perspectives on African American
History on Nantucket"
by Barbara White
    When: Thursday, Jan. 18, noon
    Where: NHA Discovery Room,
    13 Broad Street
    Cost: Free