Events

Saturday, July 4, 7 - 8:15PM

This dramatic presentation, created by Freedom’s Way National Heritage Area, aims to find out how our local towns read and reacted to the Declaration of Independence. Across the colonies, and particularly in Massachusetts, towns debated what freedom meant to them, and grappled with the grievances aired in the official Declaration. What did the words in the final document mean to them? Costumed re-enactors will bring life to the words of the past, with narration by former State Representative Jay Kaufman. Rounding out our evening will be a performance by the Lexington Historical Society Colonial Singers. Some of our favorite tunes from the 18th century were highly political, and many of them were also taken from popular English military music!

We invite you to join us for this all-ages introduction to our founding document and its legacy, and to join us on July 5th as we dive deeper to continue the discussion. Sunday's programming will explore how subsequent generations have viewed the Declaration's principals through a community reading of Frederick Douglass's 1852 speech "What To The Slave Is The 4th Of July?" and moderated discussion of our current relationship with the our unalienable rights.

This event is free!