Submitted by the Bedford Historical Society
Bedford’s Town Historian, Sharon McDonald, will be the Bedford Historical Society’s guest speaker on Sunday, Feb. 24, for a most fascinating topic: “Slavery in Bedford: Did the Underground Railroad Stop Here?” The public is invited to this free program, sponsored by the Bedford Historical Society.
Refreshments will be available starting at 2 pm in the Great Room of Old Town Hall. Ms. McDonald’s talk will begin at 2:30 pm, after brief announcements by society president Don Corey.
A retrospective of Faces of Bedford will be on display before and after the program – Click this link to learn more.
In researching the history of slavery in Bedford, it stunned Ms. McDonald to learn that there were enslaved men, women and children of color living here in Bedford’s early days. Who were they? Did they ultimately escape bondage? Did any of them serve in the War for Independence?
And the most interesting question of all: Was Bedford a link on the nineteenth century Underground Railroad?
Town Historian and author Sharon McDonald is always entertaining and factual. She is President of the Friends of the Job Lane House and serves as volunteer Curator at the Job Lane Farm Museum and a volunteer Archivist for the Bedford Historical Society’s collections.
Ms. McDonald is best known for serving as the Children’s Librarian at the Bedford Free Public Library for 40 years. During her long association with the library, which houses the historic Bedford Flag, she was inspired to research and write her first book, “The Bedford Flag Unfurled,” published in 2000. Ms. McDonald’s second book, “A Meeting House & its People: The Story of the First Parish in Bedford,” was published in 2017. She is also a member of the Historical Society’s Board of Directors.
This program is supported in part by the Bedford Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.
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