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The Museum of African American History is dedicated to preserving, conserving and accurately interpreting the contributions of African Americans in New England from the colonial period through the 19th century.

As secretary of the local women’s anti-slavery society, Anna Gardner, was instrumental in convening the island’s first Anti-Slavery Convention in 1841 (see Site 3). Her Quaker abolitionist family lived here. In 1822, her parents Oliver and Hannah Gardner sheltered escaped slave Arthur Cooper (see Site 7) and his pregnant wife.

Anna taught at the African School (see Site 9) from 1836 until 1840 and was a teacher of Eunice Ross (1823-1895) (see Site 7). Anna went South in 1863 to teach black youngsters in Union-occupied North Carolina. During Reconstruction, she taught in Virginia schools established by the Freedman’s Bureau. She later became a leader in the national women’s suffrage movement.

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