Hingham’s Black History

John Fearing of Hingham sells four-year old boy named Prince to Hawkes Fearing, and in 1735, Hawkes Fearing sells Prince, now seven years old, to Benjamin Jones. Eighteenth century records record the sale of adults and children by and to Hingham families.

Pompey Barnes, a free Black man, is reported to own a house, 2 cows, 6 sheep, 8 acres of pasture, 1 acre of tillage, 3 acres of mowing land, and 2 tons of fresh hay. He and his wife and sons were among the several free Black families in 18th century Hingham.

Slavery was abolished by judicial decision in Massachusetts when the Supreme Judicial Court ruled, in a freedom suit brought by Quock Walker, that slavery was inconsistent with the newly adopted Massachusetts state constitution. Two years earlier, Elizabeth Freeman, known as Mumbet, had won her freedom, on the same grounds, from a western Massachusetts jury.

James Tuttle married Rebecca Humphrey in Hingham. Tuttle (ca 1780-1847) was a pillar of the small neighborhood of Tuttleville, which existed at the intersection of High and Ward Streets. His son John Tuttle is credited with leading the effort to build a small church in Tuttleville in the 1870s. Watch Harbor Media's interviews with descendants of the Tuttles.

The event was referred to as the “Great Abolitionist Pic Nic” and took place in Tranquility Grove (known today as Burns Memorial Park on Hersey Street). Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, and other luminaries of the abolition movement traveled to Hingham, where an estimated 10,000 people had gathered in support of the anti-slavery cause.  Douglass gave an address at First Baptist Church before the attendees processed to Tranquility Grove for further speeches and entertainment. Watch Hingham High School graduate Emma Ryan's documentary video about Tranquility Grove

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A group of Tuttleville residents, led by John Tuttle, a son of James and Rebecca Tuttle, petitioned the Town of Hingham for land to build an evangelical chapel at the corner of Ward and High Streets. The chapel, which also functioned as a community center, dance hall and school, was called the Free Christian Mission.  According to Hingham Historical Society records, official membership in 1890 was 80. Read more

On July 8, 1924, the Boston Globe reported a flaming cross on Beal Street in Hingham. According to the article, police believed that members of the Ku Klux Klan had something to do with the incident. From 1927-1927, according to Not All is Changed, the Hingham Journal also reported four "fiery" crosses: one behind Lovell's greenhouse (this is very likely the Beal Street cross reported in the Globe), one at the back of Linscott Road, one in the Damstra meadow, and one atop Otis Hill.

The South Shore Citizens Club is co-founded by Hingham residents Marion “Mother” (Lindsey) Teague and her father, Herbert Lindsey on February 24, 1942 (the organization was incorporated May 12, 1961). Throughout the years, the SSCC planned and executed many different kinds of events, including dances, annual breakfasts and buffets, teas and fundraisers. According to records, they also raised scholarship money for "minority" students on the South Shore. Read more

Born on Nantucket to Cape Verdean parents, David DeLuze moved to Hingham in 1942 to seek employment at the Hingham Shipyard, where he was placed on the waitlist. He found work in New Hampshire until he was finally offered a job at the Shipyard in 1943. Mr. DeLuze worked first as an oiler and then became the Shipyard’s first Black crane operator. Up until World War II, the racially segregated Navy limited Black sailors to the role of mess attendants, but the demands of the war forced the Navy to begin training them for other jobs, often involving dangerous tasks with ammunition. Read more

On May 11, 1944, the USS YF-415, from the Hingham Naval Ammunition Depot, sank 14 miles off Nahant with a crew of 30 men while performing a routine dump of obsolete ammunition. 11 of the 17 crew members who were lost were Black sailors. Today the ship sits 240 feet below sea level. View the video of the October 2004 memorial service.

Hingham hires its first Black police officer, Louis T. Bonitto, son of Shirley (Tuttle) Bonitto and Louis L. Bonitto. Prior to this, Mr. Bonitto was a US Army drill instructor and afterwards, he became one of the South Shore's first Black realtors as well as one of IBM's first Black account executives. Click here to watch Joe Collymore of Harbor Media's 2021 interview with Louis T. Bonitto.

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Mary DeLuze Fernandes, daughter of David DeLuze (first crane operator at the Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard) follows in her father’s trailblazing footsteps as one of the first (possibly the first!) Black women at Proctor and Gamble in Quincy during her summer job.

First bus of 16 Hingham METCO students arrives in Hingham with the help of Mrs. Camilla Roundtree (a Hingham Citizen of the Year recipient in 2003) who goes on to serve as the Hingham METCO Director for 40 years. Roundtree was instrumental as a “mentor, chauffeur, homework helper, supporter and advocate” for METCO students. Read more

Old Ship Church hosts a “Lock-In-On-Race” for fifty-five students, both Black METCO and white Hingham classmates and teachers to discuss racism in America for thirteen hours. In our interview with Eugene Roundtree, who was in attendance, he recounted that this event stimulated on-going dialogue on race in town.

Camilla Roundtree and her son Eugene Roundtree at Toast in Hull. Camilla Roundtree, longtime Hingham resident and first director of Hingham's METCO program, awarded “Citizen of the Year” by Hingham Journal. Read more about Ms. Roundtree's contributions here.

Memorial dedication of the USS YF-145 held at Bare Cove Park. J.B. Mills, Hingham resident and former member of the crew, funded the etched stone to memorialize the crew that died in the tragedy. The USS YF-415 sank after an explosion on May 11, 1944 killing 17 of 30 sailors on board. Mills had volunteered for USS YF-415 duty that day but was instead assigned administrative duty. He knew all the Hingham soldiers who died, all of whom were recorded to have been "Afro-Americans." According to Jim Rose, “Mills always resented the way Blacks were treated as second class citizens in the service. Black sailors were assigned menial jobs like stewards and dangerous duty like loading ammunition.” Read more

Hingham Families of Color is formed as an affinity group by members of the Hingham Unity Council. It is an intercultural, interethnic community group that welcomes Hingham residents who are Black, Brown, Latino/Hispanic, Asian, Arab, and Native American, as well as families with children of color and biracial couples. Read more

The barn at 111 Ward Street that was the official meeting place for members of the South Shore Citizens Club is officially recognized as a historical site by the Town of Hingham thanks to the efforts of seventh generation Tuttle and Hingham resident Joyce Barber. The barn was also used as a place to celebrate family milestones such as the twenty-fifth wedding anniversary of Marion Teague and her husband Bob. Marion founded the South Shore Citizens Club with her father in 1942. Read more