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The Martha’s Vineyard Juneteenth Jubilee insert is published by the Vineyard Gazette Media Group, P.O. Box 66, Edgartown, MA 02539, vineyardgazette. com, and is distributed free on Martha’s Vineyard. Copyright 2023. No portion of this publication may be reprinted without the express written permission of the publisher. Every effort has been made to confirm the accuracy of the information in this publication, and the data is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed. For advertising and editorial inquiries, contact publisher@mvgazette.com.
Martha’s Vineyard is proud to welcome the freedom schooner Amistad as the Island celebrates Juneteenth Jubilee 2023 with the theme Free as the Wind. The public is invited to tour the ship and participate in the many other events and activities planned for the three-day weekend.
The newest federal holiday, Juneteenth – short for June Nineteenth -- marks the day in 1865 when slavery effectively ended in the United States. Black Americans have long marked the occasion with festivities including picnics, music, games and lectures that celebrate freedom, joy and justice for all.
This year, Juneteenth Jubilee on Martha’s Vineyard will include ample opportunities for both fun and education. Food tastings, panel discussions, musical events and more are listed on pages 14-15 of this program guide.
The theme, Free as the Wind, highlights a particular role played by Martha’s Vineyard and other coastal communities in the years leading up to Emancipation.
While most enslaved Africans arrived in America aboard ships, less well known is the significant role of the seagoing vessels in facilitating escapes. The best known example may be the case of the Amistad, which became famous after a group of enslaved Africans led a successful revolt against their captors in 1839 and ultimately won their freedom in the U.S. Supreme Court.
A replica of the historic ship will drop anchor on Martha’s Vineyard for the weekend. Organized by the Vineyard Gazette Media Group, and sponsored by Vineyard Wind, the Amistad’s arrival on Friday, June 16 will kick off the packed, three-day holiday weekend.
The Vineyard Gazette Media Group is grateful to the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber of Commerce, Cape Cod Five, the HistoryMakers, and Toyota for sponsoring the weekend events, and to Vineyard Wind, for bringing the Amistad to the Island. We would also like to thank the Massachusetts Cultural Council for its support.
Funded, in part, by the Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism.
In 1839, a group of enslaved Mende from the African country now known as Sierra Leone revolted at sea and won control of the Spanish ship La Amistad from their captors. Imprisoned by U.S. authorities while the ship was anchored off Long Island, the men eventually won their freedom in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld their right to resist illegal capture.
A century and a half later, a replica of the famous ship was painstakingly re-created at Mystic Seaport to serve as a seagoing educational vessel, raising important issues of racial and social justice and reminding a new generation of hard-fought freedoms.
Now owned by the nonprofit group Discovering Amistad, the freedom schooner makes her home port in New Haven, Conn., offering on-deck and in-class programming for students about the rebellion and its modern day impact.
Thanks to the sponsorship of Vineyard Wind, the Amistad will drop anchor on Martha’s Vineyard for Juneteenth Jubilee weekend.
The public is welcome for free tours of the ship at Tisbury Wharf in Vineyard Haven on a first-come, first-served basis between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Gross Registered Tonnage: 90 tons
Sail Area: 5200 square feet (843 square meters)
Number of Sails (max.): 8
Top Speed Under Sail: 12-14 knots
Engine: CAT 3304 x2
Engine Power: 135
Top Speed Under Power: 10 knots
Fuel Tanks: 600 gallons
Water Tanks: 400gallons
Range: 700 N.M. under power
Number of Bunks: 21
Maximum Number of Passengers: 40 max (days sails)
Generator: Northern Lights
Launched: March 25, 2000.
Rig: Topsail Schooner
Operator: Discovering Amistad, Inc.
Home Port: New Haven, CT
Flag: US
Call Letters: WCZ 9672
Length Over All: 129’ (39.4m)
Length Over Rail: 85’ (26m)
Length On Deck: 81’ (24.7m)
Length At Waterline: 78’ (23.8m)
Beam: 23’ (7.0lm)
Height of Masts: 100’ (30.5m)
Draft: 10.6’ (3.3m)
“I crossed the waters to come here and I am willing to cross them to return.”
Venture Smith (c. 1729 – 1805), born Broteer Furro in West Africa around 1729, was kidnapped at age six and sold into slavery in Rhode Island. Smith did not, to our knowledge, travel to Martha’s Vineyard. But his story is a useful reminder as we celebrate Juneteenth on the Island that although New England abolished slavery earlier than the rest of the country and contributed some 30,000 Union lives in the Civil War that ended it, the legacy of slavery is not just a part of our national DNA, but very much a part of our local history. The first Vineyarder to die in the American Revolution, it is worth remembering, was Sharper Michael, born a slave in the home of Zacheus Mayhew of Chilmark.
Smith’s statement “I crossed the waters to come here and I am willing to cross them to return,” appears in A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa. It is especially relevant as we celebrate Juneteenth this year by welcoming the iconic schooner Amistad to Martha’s Vineyard.
The role of ships and the sea in the origins of African slavery in the Americas is obvious, as new captives had to be transported across the Atlantic. Recently, historians have been looking more closely at the role of the sea in the resistance to slavery. In Sailing to Freedom –Maritime Dimensions of the Underground Railroad, edited by Dr. Timothy Walker and published in 2022, we learn that in a sample of more than 100 slave narratives written between the founding of our country and the end of the Civil War in 1865, more than 70 percent discuss the use of waterways and vessels as means of escape.
The putative “owners” of escaped slaves knew this as well as anyone. In the book Escaping Bondage: A Documentary History of Runaway Slaves in Eighteenth-Century New England, 1700–1789, historian Antonio Bly details runaway slave advertisements in some 400 newspapers in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Rhode Island placed by over 5,000 owners of 3,600 runaways (3,200 in Massachusetts alone). The vast majority of them mention the possibility of escape by water. A typical one from the New England Weekly Journal on June 6 of 1732 reads:
“Ran-away from Mr. Nathan Cheever a Negro Man Servant named Portsmouth. Note, said Negro has been used to go in a Boat, and ‘tis tho’t will endeavor to get off to Sea; therefore all Masters of Vessels and others are forbid entertaining him, as they will answer it in the Law. He plays upon a Violin & is suppos’d to have one with him. Three Pounds Reward.”
Thanks to the Island’s leading place in the global whaling industry, Martha’s Vineyard was in a position to play a role in more than a few escapes. There are 16 documented cases (thus far) of fugitive or former slaves passing through the Island between 1728 and 1858. These include John Saunders, who brought Methodism to the Island in 1787, and Josiah Henson, who supposedly inspired the title character in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and who spoke at the Tabernacle in Oak Bluffs in 1858. There were doubtless many other freedom seekers who passed through the Island who deliberately avoided attracting attention, especially after the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision in 1857 allowed southern bounty hunters to recover escaped slaves in the free states.
An even larger number of fugitives no doubt encountered Vineyarders at sea, in route to other ports. The difficult and dangerous occupation of whaling provided unheralded opportunity for black men – and a likely escape from slavery by water. One event was led by mixed race (Black and Wampanoag) Captain Thomas Wainer whose uncle, Paul Cuffe was the first whale captain of color. In 1799 a Maryland slave owner took out a newspaper advertisement offering a forty-dollar bounty for the recapture of an enslaved man and his pregnant wife the owner alleged Wainer had helped escape to Westport. He described the fugitive as;
“a Negro man named Harry, about 23 years old—thick and well set—of a dark complexion, with thick lips and full eyes. . . Harry has a notable scar on or near the outside of one of his ankles, occasioned by a burn, also is marked on or near the calf of one of his legs by the bite of a dog.”
The scarce but small details in the ad – that Harry had been bitten by a dog at some point and noting his scars – remind us that the past was inhabited by real people living real lives.
One who we know more about is John Thompson, who escaped enslavement from Maryland. Pursued by slave hunters he fled to New Bedford, and signed on to the whaling bark Milwood, captained by Aaron Luce, of West Tisbury. While the ship voyaged for two years the two men developed an unlikely friendship, which is detailed in the current (May/June 2023) issue of Martha’s Vineyard Magazine.
Maritime escapes from enslavement from and to New England require more research to shed light on this important and under-reported aspect of our history and to celebrate those who successfully sailed to freedom, those who tried and failed and those who helped in myriad ways.
Skip Finley is the author of Whaling Captains of Color: America’s First Meritocracy.
Ray Ewing
1723 The HMS Greyhound captured a pirate ship with “six blacks and an Indian,” one of whom was Tom Mumfort from Martha’s Vineyard.
1728 Enslaved “negro” Jethro stole a canoe in Kingston, RI to escape to Martha’s Vineyard.
1742 Sharper Michael, the Negro slave of Zacheus Mayhew born in 1742 is believed to have been the first Vineyarder killed by the British in the Revolutionary War.
1743 The slave Esther, being transported from Boston to North Carolina aboard the sloop Endeavor escaped when the ship was docked in Edgartown Harbor overnight — with her feet bound to a crowbar and her hands tied behind her back. One of the sites on the Martha’s Vineyard African American Heritage Trail, Esther’s story has received federal recognition from the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.
CA. 1750 Rebecca, born in Guinea in West Africa, was taken from her home as the property of Cornelius Bassett of Chilmark. Rebecca had two sons, Pero and Cato, and a daughter, Nancy – she and Pero were sold to Joseph Allen of Tisbury when Bassetts died in 1779 when Nancy was 7 and Pero was 18.
1781 The Speedwell of Martha’s Vineyard was captured with a crew of ten, seven of which were described as “black hands.” Many, if not all, of these likely had indigenous ancestry since, by 1790, so many of the black hands had inter-married that three quarters of this population was mixed, but still were persons of color.
1787 Former slave John Saunders brought Methodism to Martha’s Vineyard in 1787 – with his half white wife Priscilla – when they were brought to the Island from Virginia by Captain Thomas Luce hidden beneath corn Luce was transporting. A plaque dedicated to Saunders is on the Martha’s Vineyard African American Heritage Trail at the Pecoy Point Preserve where he preached to the ‘coloured’ and original people.
1790 A historical Oak Bluffs character, ‘John Harry Monus John Peter Tobirus Peter Toskirus Peter Tubal Cain’ – Old Harry for short – deserted a ship in Vineyard Sound in 1790, escaped slavery and became a servant of Ichabod Norton, one of the wealthiest men on the island.
1805 The Falmouth Historical Society has a story of a female runaway slave, helped by a group of women around 1805: “With his ship moored at the town wharf, a slaveowner took his female slave to be registered at the Falmouth Post Office. When he left the girl at the office to take care of other business, several women asked the girl if she wanted to stay in Falmouth. She agreed and was hidden among barrels in the basement of the building. When the businessman returned, the slave was nowhere to be found. His ship was set to leave and he did so without her.” The girl was taken into a Black family
in Falmouth, and eventually married Joseph Ray, a boatman responsible for carrying the mail from Falmouth to Martha’s Vineyard.
1830 Josiah Henson was an author, abolitionist, and minister born into slavery in Maryland. His escape in 1830 was assisted by a ship captain who agreed to transport the Henson family to Buffalo, New York where they crossed the river into Canada and where Henson founded a settlement and school for other fugitive slaves. Henson’s autobiography details the cruel treatment he and his family experienced. Henson, who is believed to have inspired the title character of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, visited Martha’s Vineyard and spoke at the Tabernacle in the Campgrounds in 1858.
1842 Captain Aaron Luce of Martha’s Vineyard commanded the bark Milwood, which sailed from New Bedford. When barely out of sight of the Vineyard, Luce was alerted that John Thompson, a Black man hired to serve as the steward, was seasick. Thompson told Luce; “I am a fugitive slave from Maryland, and have a family in Philadelphia,” he explained, but slave hunters were roaming that city. “Fearing to remain there any longer, I thought I would go a whaling voyage, as being the place where I stood least chance of being arrested by slave hunters.” Thompson probably earned over $8,000 in today’s terms, the salary for a man enslaved two years earlier – a slave who escaped more than twenty years prior to the end of the Civil War.
1849 John Presbury Norton of Lambert’s Cove petitioned the Massachusetts General Court to be allowed to import slaves to work his farm. The shocked court had the petition withdrawn.
1854 The indigenous people, sensitive to the plight of slaves helped them escape. One story involved “Edgar Jones,” (AKA Randall Burton/ Edinbur Randall/John Mason) who escaped from a South Carolina, plantation. Hidden by crewmen on a ship carrying lumber, when it reached here, the captain discovered Jones and shared the news with the sheriff. Warned by the crew, Jones left and hid out for almost a week. At Gay Head (Aquinnah) Beulah Salisbury Vanderhoop and others from Gay Head helped him escape. In 1854 The Gazette reported: “Randall Burton, a fugitive from enslavement, escaped from a ship in Holmes Hole and was rescued by ‘two women’, who took him to a swamp in Gay Head.
1854 The Vineyard Gazette reported that the bark Franklin arrived at Holmes Harbor on September 12th with a slave who had hidden in the hold. Described as 25-30 years old, that night he took a boat ashore to escape from the ship headed for Maine.
1855 On May 11, 1855, the Vineyard Gazette reported that two or three fugitive slaves arrived in Edgartown, aided by a member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Chappaquiddick described as a “colored resident” who helped them to New Bedford.
1858 Fugitive slave Philip Smith stowed away on the William Purrington from North Carolina, bound for Boston. Discovered after a few days, Smith was put into the hold with sickening odors of the turpentine being transported. Due to bad weather the ship docked at Holmes Hole on Martha’s Vineyard where Smith was confined. Later, on the way to Boston the ship ran aground and he made his escape. Smith was discovered and lauded by William Lloyd Garrison, publisher of The Liberator, who shared the story which likely helped him escape to Canada.
Free as the Wind
MARTHA’S VINEYARD | JUNE 16-19, 2023
The Vineyard Gazette Media Group is grateful for the many individuals and organizations involved in the planning and presentation of Juneteenth Jubilee 2023, Free as the Wind.
Special thanks to the following:
Cape Cod 5
Discovering Amistad
Edgartown Board of Trade
F.U.E.L.
Friends of the Edgartown Library
Hoverfly Media
Inkwell Haven
Knock Knock Productions
Martha’s Vineyard Chamber of Commerce
Martha’s Vineyard Museum
Massachusetts Cultural Council
Massachusetts Office of Tourism and Travel
MV African American Heritage Trail
MV Film Society
vineyardgazette.com
NAACP – Martha’s Vineyard Branch
Nat Benjamin
Oak Bluffs Association
Oak Bluffs Library
Ralph Packer
Sail MV
The Edgartown Yacht Club
The HistoryMakers
The National Sailing Museum
Toyota
Union Chapel
Union Chapel Education and Cultural Institute
Vineyard Vines
Vineyard Wind
SHOWING OF STEVEN SPIELBERG’S AMISTAD | 3:00 pm
MV Film Center, Vineyard Haven
Released in 1997, Amistad is a historical drama film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the events in 1839 aboard the Spanish slave ship. Starring Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins and Matthew McConaughey. Tickets: $12.00.
Sponsored by The HistoryMakers and Toyota
JUNETEENTH JUBILEE FESTIVAL CULTURAL SCREENINGS | 5:00 pm
Union Chapel, Oak Bluffs
Special screening of the first episode of the 1619 Project docu-series based on Pulitzer Prize winner Nikole Hannah-Jones’ landmark 1619 Project. This will be followed by a screening of Jubilee, Juneteenth & The Thirteenth featuring Hill Harper, a documentary that portrays the influential but often overlooked role that African Americans in Boston and Massachusetts played in the abolition of slavery.
Presented by the Inkwell Haven Foundation and Union Chapel Education & Cultural Institute
FREE TOURS OF THE SCHOONER AMISTAD | 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Tisbury Wharf, Vineyard Haven
The schooner Amistad, a replica of the historic ship that became famous after a group of enslaved Africans led a successful revolt and won their freedom in the U.S. Supreme Court, will be available for tours. Free and open to all.
Organized by the Vineyard Gazette Media Group and sponsored by Vineyard Wind
PANEL DISCUSSION: SAILING TO FREEDOM – 10:00 am
Martha’s Vineyard Museum
Historians discuss emerging research on maritime escapes to freedom. Featuring author/historian Dr. Timothy Walker; Dr. Lee Blake, president of the New Bedford Historical Society; Bow Van Riper, research librarian, MV Museum; and Paula MannAgnew, executive director of Discovering Amistad. Shelley Stewart, a Martha’s Vineyard Museum board member, will moderate.
Tickets: $50 @ vineyardgazette.com/juneteenth
Presented by the Vineyard Gazette Media Group and sponsored by Cape Cod Five
JUNETEENTH AT HARBORFEST | 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Oak Bluffs Harbor
The Oak Bluffs library celebrates Juneteenth at Harborfest with children’s librarian Michelle Lynch. Look for the library tent featuring Juneteenth craft and magnetic poetry. Check out books right from the tent, including selections from the adult African-American collection and children’s books focused on Juneteenth and celebrating Black heritage. Free and open to all. Sponsored by the Oak Bluffs Library; Harborfest sponsored by the Oak Bluffs Association
FESTIVE JUNETEENTH PICNIC | 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Lawn of the Edgartown Public Library
Family-friendly event with Chef Look cooking on the grill, serving up a family-style lunch accompanied by live music from Andrew Sue Wing, a Boston-based singer/songwriter and guitarist specializing in R&B. Free and open to all.
Sponsored by Friends of the Edgartown Free Public Library.
JUNETEENTH JUBILEE CULTURAL FESTIVAL | 12:30 pm – 7:00 pm
Trinity Park Tabernacle, Oak Bluffs
The Juneteenth Jubilee Festival kicks off at 12:30 p.m with the Juneteenth flag-raising ceremony and leads into a full day of cultural celebration. Includes a fireside chat with Pulitzer Prize winner, Nikole Hannah Jones, performances by Grammy Awardwinning jazz pianist Christian Sands; founder of Rock Noire, musician/vocalist Grace Gibson; harpist Tulani, local performers Sean and Siren; The Legendary Chris Washington and more. Free and open to all.
Presented by Inkwell Haven Foundation in partnership with Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting Association
SCREENING OF SPIKE LEE’S THE ORIGINAL KINGS OF COMEDY | 7:15 pm
The Strand, Oak Bluffs
Special Juneteeth celebration screening of Spike Lee’s stand-up comedy film featuring Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer and Bernie Mac. Free to the public and open to all.
Presented by the Martha’s Vineyard Comedy Festival
JUNETEENTH JUBILEE CULTURAL FESTIVAL AFTER-PARTY | 9:00 pm
Flavors MV, 11 Circuit Ave., Oak Bluffs
Let loose after a full day of intellectual and cultural entertainment at the Juneteenth Jubilee Festival After-Party at MV Flavors. DJ music with The Legendary Chris Washington and dancing!
Presented by Inkwell Haven Foundation
FREE TOURS OF THE SCHOONER AMISTAD | 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Tisbury Wharf, Vineyard Haven
The schooner Amistad, a replica of the historic ship that became famous after a group of enslaved Africans led a successful revolt and won their freedom in the U.S. Supreme Court, will be available for tours. Free and open to all.
Organized by the Vineyard Gazette Media Group and sponsored by Vineyard Wind
SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE WITH REV. MICHAEL ERIC DYSON | 10:00 am
Union Chapel, Oak Bluffs
The Rev. Dr. Michael Eric Dyson – academic, social justice activist and author – will preside at a special Sunday service in honor of Juneteenth with pianist, Dr. Geoffrey Hicks. Free and open to the public.
2ND ANNUAL TASTE OF JUNETEENTH | 6:00 PM - 9:00 am
Portuguese-American Club, Oak Bluffs
A food sampling showcase of local BIPOC chefs, featuring soulfully inspired dishes that reflect the Black cultural experience, fused with diverse cultures and traditions.
Sponsored by the MV Chapter of the NAACP
JUNETEENTH GOSPEL BRUNCH | 10:00 am
Edgartown Yacht Club
The 2nd annual Juneteenth Gospel Brunch will feature a gospel performance by Athene Wilson. Private tours of the Amistad will be available after brunch.
Tickets: $125 @ vineyardgazette.com/Juneteenth
Presented by the Vineyard Gazette Media Group. The HistoryMakers and Toyota
JUNETEENTH POTLUCK | 5:30 pm
Oak Bluffs Public Library
Bring a dish using a recipe from the cookbook Watermelon and Red Birds by Nicole A. Taylor, and come together for a meal and discussion. The cookbook will be at the circulation desk -- choose your recipe in advance and we’ll make a copy of it for you.
This calendar represents a list of events that were scheduled at the time this program guide went to press. For an up-to-date list of all events and for more information, visit vineyardgazette.com/Juneteenth.
The chef-driven menu highlights seasonal ingredients in simple, handcrafted dishes served straight from our kitchen.
A family-owned and operated business serving breakfast and lunch since 2002.
Open inside, outside, in Brick Cellar Bar, and to go, 6 nights a week. Closed Mondays.
SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023 | 6-9PM
