New Bedford Historical Society receives Morrison Society Bench

The following press release was published by the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service on July 3, 2018. It is reproduced in full below.

By Jennette Barnes

Standard Times

NEW BEDFORD - The New Bedford Historical Society has been selected by the Toni Morrison Society to participate in the Bench by the Road Project, which places benches to recognize sites and people important to the history of the African diaspora. Lee Blake, president of the Historical Society said the news was highly anticipated and exciting. “The bench project is reclaiming the history of African-Americans, who really have been left out of the historical record," she said in an interview. The Historical Society’s Nathan and Polly Johnson House will

become the 24th site worldwide to earn the designation from the international literary society of Morrison scholars and supporters. The Johnson House will receive a memorial bench and plaque on Sept. 17, honoring its place in history as the first free home of Frederick Douglass and a stop on the Underground Railroad. The bench will also honor the courage and sacrifice of Mary and Nathan Johnson, African American entrepreneurs, as they protected freedom seekers who arrived at their door. Blake said the bench could help attract tourists who visit the Morrison bench sites, too. At least two others are located in Massachusetts, in Concord and Lincoln.

Morrison, 87, is a Nobel laureate in literature and the author of acclaimed novels that shed light on the African-American experience, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Beloved." She has attended many of the dedication ceremonies for the benches since the project began more than a decade ago. The name “Bench by the Road" comes from her description, in a 1989 interview, of the absence of historical markers commemorating the lives of enslaved Africans. “There is no place you or I can go, to think about or not think about, to summon the presences of, or recollect the absences of slaves... There is no suitable memorial, or plaque, or wreath, or wall, or park, or skyscraper lobby. There’s no 300-foot tower, there’s no small bench by the road. … And because such a place doesn’t exist... the book had to," she said in World magazine in an interview about “Beloved." Previous benches have been placed at numerous U.S. sites, in Paris and in Fort-de-France, Martinique.

Blake said the bench will be situated in the backyard of the Johnson House, in a spot where someone seated on the bench can look up and see all three of the properties owned by the Johnsons near the corner of Spring and Seventh Streets. The home is across the street from the future Abolition Row Park. An accompanying plaque near the bench will recognize the Johnson House as an Underground Railroad landmark owned by black abolitionists who offered refuge for at least seven freedom seekers, including Frederick and Anna Douglass, the Molyneux-Gibson family, and the family of William H. Brown, abolitionist and the first African-American novelist, according to a news release from the Historical Society.

Blake said the group is in the process of selecting a quotation from Douglass to include on the plaque. The bench will be six feet long, made of black steel. The Historical Society applied to the Morrison Society for acceptance into the program and has already raised the $5,000 necessary to acquire the bench, Blake said. She said it is fitting to add the bench during 2018, the bicentennial anniversary of Frederick Douglass’ birth. The ceremony will also celebrate Frederick Douglass Day, the first city-recognized anniversary of the orator’s arrival in New Bedford, slated for Sept. 17, 2018. Morrison Society board members often attend the ceremony, which will be open to the public. Notable board members include renowned scholars Carolyn Denard, Henry Louis Gates Jr., and Johnetta Cole. In addition, all Morrison Society members who live in Massachusetts will be invited, and Douglass descendant Kenneth Morris has indicated he will attend, Blake said.

Morrison Society “Bench by the Road" sites

The first sites were:

2008 - Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina

2009 - Oberlin, Ohio

2009 - Hattiesburg, Mississippi

2010 - the 20th Arrondissement in Paris, France

2011 - Concord, Massachusetts

2011 - Washington, D.C.

2012 - Atlanta, Georgia

2013 - Mitchelville, South Carolina

2013 - Walden Woods, Lincoln, Massachusetts

2013 - Fort-de-France, Martinique