Noon to 4PM: Radical History Tour, at the Granary Burial Ground in Downtown Boston and all along the Freedom Trail
5 PM: People’s Assembly, at Boston Common Bandstand. All are invited!
Join Occupy Boston on the Radical History Tour all along the Freedom Trail!
Starting at 12 noon, Occupy Boston’s Health Justice Working Group will be talking with visitors at the Granary Burial Ground about some of the radical and revolutionary ideas of colonial times. These ideas both connect to and at times diverge from the radical ideas of the Occupy movement today. We’re calling it “Zombie Smallpox Children and the Original Occupation of Boston 1775-1776.”
Did you know that for 9 months in 1775 and 1776 George Washington was unable to “occupy” Boston because of a smallpox epidemic? The epidemic was caused by the British, who literally unleashed smallpox “zombies” to infect the American rebel forces and foster desertion. And did you know that it was Onesemus, a slave of Cotton Mather, who taught a skeptical Boston medical community about how to inoculate against small pox (‘the distemper’)? Colonial medical history is filled with intrigue…. Come find out what it’s all about on the Radical History Tour.
At 5 pm there will be a People’s Assembly (in lieu of a General Assembly) at the Boston Common Bandstand. The People’s Assembly will include a speak-out and a teach-in on topics that link Revolutionary times to the Occupy movement today.
We hope to see you there!