residents and volunteers who build community engagement in honor of the spirit of Frederick Douglass The Garden Our Frederick Douglass Neighborhood Garden is a space of inspiration in Downtown Brockton. Thank you to all who have helped and donated . Read More Events Reading Douglass 7.11.26 Frederick Douglass Bust Installed Annual Meeting 2025 Membership Our members embrace the Frederick Douglass Mission and work for unity and peace; educating on Frederick Douglass' life and teachings; in our corner of the world. Frederick Douglass Neighborhood Assocciation is a 501c3 registered non-profit. Learn more here We are Brockton residents and volunteers who honor the legacy of Frederick Douglass in our neighborhood through community engagement and the arts. /our story Our vision Events To view a brief slideshow that tells the story of the Frederick Douglass Neighborhood Association, click HERE.

Brockton as a member of the Douglass Bicentennial Community. As part of the world-wide commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frederick Douglass in 1818, the FDNA hosted a number of events, starting with "An Evening with Frederick Douglass" on April 12th. Our travelling exhibit (see details below) was shared with a number of institutions in the city, including the post office, city hall, local schools and the public library. In July, through the generosity of HarborOneBank, the area around our Liberty Tree was cleaned up and a new retaining wall installed. In August of 2018 Dr. Gary Hylander, local professor and historian, led a discussion at the library. His focus was on the time Douglass spent in New England. In October representatives of FDNA travelled to Lynn, Masachusetts for a day that included a tour of the graves of abolitionists in Lynn who were associates of Mr. Douglass, followed by a lively program of spoken word and song at the Washington Street Baptist Church. Our final event of the year was hosted by the Brockton Assembly of God Church and featured local history teacher and scholar Willie A. Wilson Jr who spoke on "Douglass: The Man, The Myth, The Legacy" and his relevance in today's troubled times. Our Douglass Bicentennial Exhibit (see information below) has been traveling Brockton and has been on view at City Hall, the Gilmore School, the Main Post Office, and at the Brockton Public Library where it was part of a July 24, 2018 unveiling and event to celebrate the Library's Immigration Dialogue Series Program. Video of Douglass Exhibit at City Hall Released as part of the Douglass Bicentennial Community Celebration For immediate release February 28, 2018 Contact FDNA - Lynn Smith, 774.381.8050 or madeline-smith@hotmail.com BROCKTON, MA ….. The Frederick Douglass Neighborhood Association (FDNA) has released a video highlighting its exhibit on Frederick Douglass that has been on view to the public during the month of February in the historic Brockton City Hall. City Hall historian Bob Martin and local teacher and historical society member Willie A. Wilson, Jr. provided the commentary for the exhibit, and the priceless Civil War paintings that surrounded in in the Grand Corridor of City Hall. Mr. Martin and Mrs. Wilson were joined for the taping by the President of the Frederick Douglass Neighborhood Association, Lynn Smith. The exhibit is one of several events planned through the City to honor Frederick Douglass, born in 1818, during this nationwide bicentennial celebration. FDNA has joined the Douglass Bicentennial Community. The United States Congress established a commission to plan and carry out programs across the United States to honor Frederick Douglass, one of the most transformative figures in United States history. Escaping from slavery in 1838, he was a writer, orator, and tireless fighter for equal rights and the end of slavery. During the time of the Civil War, Brockton was known as North Bridgewater. City Hall was built from 1892 to 1894. Douglass lived in New Bedford from 1838 to 1842, the year he moved to Lynn, Massachusetts. During this time frame he toured for the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society and gave many speeches in the eastern counties of Massachusetts. It is believed that he visited Brockton (North Bridgewater) during this period of his life. He spoke at a location not far from our Liberty Tree, on Frederick Douglass Avenue, renamed in his honor in 2014. The video was produced by Brockton Community Access and was filmed by Jay Miller. One of the most impactful moments in the filming was Mr. Martin’s description of “The Spirit of 1861”, a painting depicting a runaway slave escaping north, but facing a cruel pursuit by slave hunters with dogs. “I think that this painting, above all, sets the stage for the current Douglass exhibit,” said Mr. Martin. “The painting almost did not make it into the collection, but it is now an important reminder of the struggle echoed in the exhibit.” Mr. Wilson during his comments highlighted the painting of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment and its connection to the relationship that Douglass had with President Abraham Lincoln. The President asked Mr. Douglass to encourage black men to join the 54th – but among other issues, Mr. Douglass had grave concerns over the unequal pay scale between white soldiers and black. To view the video, visit Brockton Community Access at The Brockton Channels on YouTube and click this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUhnp4VYBEE The Douglass Exhibit will travel to the Main Post Office in Brockton on Commercial Street for display during the month of March. Then in August it will move to the Main Branch of the Brockton Public Library. Visitors there will also be able to see the round table made from the 1763 sycamore tree that once stood as a visual cue to Brockton’s stop on the Underground Railroad. Not far from that site is where Mr. Douglass, and many other abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison and Lucretia Mott, spoke out against slavery.

WE ARE EXCITED TO REPORT THAT WE HAVE BEEN HONORED WITH AN AWARD OF A $10,000 GRANT FROM MASS HUMANITIES!!!! The Frederick Douglass Neighborhood Association has a dream – and a plan - to enhance the community garden so it becomes a place of hope, a place of reflection, a place of peace, an oasis in a challenged section of the city. Most importantly, it should be a place for folks to learn how to connect heroes like Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr. to the tapestry of cultures that live in Brockton today – Haitians and Toussaint L’Ouverture; Cape Verdeans and Amilcar Cabral; women and Susan B. Anthony; the Irish and Daniel O’Connell. In the early days of 2015 we worked diligently on a grant proposal and submitted it to Mass Humanities. As the spring started to melt this year's record snowfall, and warm the garden's ground, we were informed that we have been awarded $10,000!!! MassHumanities conducts and supports programs that use history, literature, philosophy, and the other humanities disciplines to enhance and improve civic life in Massachusetts. The 2015 MassHumanities thematic focus is on exploring how Americans participate in creating the basic social and economic relationships that shape our society – and the challenges to this process past and present. There are two major components of our "Stride Toward Freedom" Project - first, a community conversation about civil rights and justice and our role as citizens, and then art and signage in the Garden that reflects that conversation. This will be held on September 20, 2015, from 2 pm to 4:30 pm, at the War Memorial Building on West Elm Street in Brockton. Using the title of Dr. King’s 1958 book about the Montgomery bus boycott, “Stride Toward Freedom” our goal is to create a garden pathway so that visitors to the garden can walk the path of Douglass and King and learn from interpretive panels designed by different ethnic groups in our community. The meaning of freedom, equality, nonviolent civil disobedience, the transformative nature of education are all themes of the panels. Highlighting civil rights activists from other cultures, the ultimate goal of the garden’s pathway of footsteps is to inspire residents to learn more about the history and diversity of their city, how our freedom fighter icons are connected, and to encourage them to be actively engaged participants in our civic process. The Frederick Douglass Association is thankful to have the support and partnership of Mayor Bill Carpenter and the City of Brockton as we work on this exciting project. In addition, we are honored that Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School students, under the dedicated supervision of carpentry teacher Roy Blanchard, are already engaged in the building of the signs, and will assist in the installation. We could not accomplish this without the generosity of the owners of the land that hosts our garden, Mr. Robert Howard and Mr. Jimmie Thomas, members of Messiah Baptist Church. Donations have been received from the Just Checking In Foundation, and the Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation. Our scholars are Willie Wilson of the Brockton Historical Society and currently a teacher at Cardinal Spellman High School, Dr. Joao Rosa, professor at Bridgewater State University and Executive Director of the Pedro Pires Institute for Cape Verdean Studies; Charlot Lucien, founder and co-director of the Haitian Artists Assembly of Massachusetts; and Lee Farrow, Adjunct Professor and Community Scholar at Stonehill College. We look forward to working with our scholars, their students, our members, volunteers from the BAWIB WAVE program, Helping2Unite Brockton Clean-Up crew, and most importantly our friends and neighbors to make this program a success. The pathway will lead the visitor through the existing planting beds to the murals. Each will have a special QR code on it, so that visitors can go to a website and read the narrative in their own native language. We will also explore the use of a 1-800 call in number posted on the signs that will offer verbal descriptions of the panels to those who are visually impaired. One goal is that plants used in the garden will be reflective of those in the garden Mr. Douglass maintained at his home, Cedar Hill. The choice of building and hardscape materials must also keep the challenge of high durability and low maintenance in mind. The end result of our “Stride Toward Freedom” project will not only be a garden of information, reflection and quiet respite in the middle of a bustling and diverse city, but also a place where citizens can find common ground and be inspired to participate in the re-creation of a city that will be beloved by all. More about Mass Humanities: Massachusetts Foundation for Humanities and Public Policy, now simply known as Mass Humanities, was established in 1974 as the state-based affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). It is an independent programming and grant-making organization that receives support from the NEH and the Massachusetts Cultural Council as well as private sources. Visit www.masshumanities.org or contact Rose Sackey Milligan, Program Officer, at rsackey-milligan@masshumanities.org or at (413) 584-8440 ext. 101 / Stride Toward Freedom Project

Through the generosity of donations from Good Samaritan Medical Center of Brockton, and the South of Boston Gardeners with George Stanchfield our pergola over the relaxin' patio was completed in August of 2016 sketch It starts with a sketch Vision And we give the carpenter a photo. Kenny in the shade Kenny gets to work The "crew" With his helper from the Boys and Girls Club in progress The frame takes shape Canvas The canvas goes on for shade Looks perfect The dream comes true Relax The perfect place to relax

/2014 Touched by violence Empty chairs and shocking headlines FDNA members met in the beginning of 2014. Our first event on the Avenue in the garden was a commemoration of those in our city who had been touched by violence. Empty chairs with newspaper headlines for each event bore witness. Brockton High School students in the Summer of Work and Learning Program learn about Frederick Douglass, and then volunteer in the garden for two weeks weeding and rearranging the flower beds. Mr. Willie A. Wilson is our teacher. Class is held at the Brockton Public Library. To generate community spirit, we create our own "Pop-Up" Outdoor Cafe at a local restaurant. They provide the food, we provide the tables, chairs and umbrellas. About 20 FDNA members enjoyed traditional Jamaican food at the Paradise Caribbean Cafe - jerk chicken, oxtail, steamed cabbage and delicious rice and beans -- with warm cookies for dessert! The Brockton Area Workforce WAVE program learns about Frederick Douglass and the Liberty Tree. For their summer volunteer program, they clean the area around the Liberty Tree site, research and design a new historical marker, and install the signage at the site. Helping2Unite Brockton keeps the garden weeded and watered; Stonehill College sends a dozen volunteers who paint the chain link fence and build our 'quilt star' patio; individual volunteers pick up trash, cut the grass, and relax with an early morning cup of coffee. In August of 2014, FDNA hosted a "Neighborhood Stroll". Three downtown churches opened their doors for displays -- quilts at Central United Methodist, jazz at Messiah Baptist, and history at Assembly of God. Guests strolled the neighborhood and visited the churches at their leisure. Then all assembled at the Frederick Douglass Garden for speeches, poetry, music, the North Star Awards ceremony, and hot fudge sundaes. Over 150 people came to meet, mingle, and build community. For the holiday season, FDNA volunteers staffed a "Gateway to History" stop on the annual Parade Day Treasure Hunt. Children came to our stop and met Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, and learned about Edward Bennett's stables, which was a stop on the Underground Railroad, right on the spot where the childrens' Treasure Hunt 'passports' were stamped, at the site of our Liberty Tree. Later that month, FDNA hosted a Downtown Lantern Walk. First we geared up for safety with reflective vests. Along the walk, stops were made and stories were told at Edgar's Department store, site of the very first department store Santa; 224 Main, where Watt Terry, Brockton's first black millionaire, had his office in the early 1900s, at our live Christmas Tree on Legion Parkway, and of course in the Douglass Garden. At the end of the walk, the children hung their lanterns on the brick wall of the Garden as an art installation.

FDNA tells our story in a 1917 PopUp Village in Brockton, MA.

What, to the Slave, is the 4th of July? We read in many languages as one community. Funded by the generosity of MassHumanities, the Frederick Douglass Neighborhood Association has established and annual tradition of reading Douglass' speech "What is the Fourth of July to the Slave" in the three dominant languages of our city: English, Cape Verdean Creole, and Haitian Creole. In 2017 we also had readers translate and recite paragraphs in Italian, Polish, Lithuanian, Greek, Spanish, Gaelic and Mandarin Chinese to honor our ancestors. After reading in many langages as one community, our participants stayed for conversation and pie and lemonade in the community garden.

/our story "We are one, our cause is one, and we must help each other if we are to succeed." Frederick Douglass Brockton, MA is located about 25 miles south of Boston. In 2004 our Liberty Tree, a sycamore which stood at an Underground Railroad site, had to be taken down. High Street was then renamed Frederick Douglass Avenue, and promises were made to rehabilitate the area. In 2014 the street was still neglected -- but a small sapling grew from the roots of the Liberty Tree. Inspired by its tenacity, a group of residents reclaimed a small neglected plot on the street and went to work. Now our neighborhood's Town Green, this garden represents the work we do studying and reflecting on Douglass's work; building community with beauty, on our neighborhood streets and within ourselves! DOUGLASS GARDEN Sept. 2015 Douglass Garden Nov 2015 Douglass Garden Dec 2015 seed swap notice Sunday Oct 4.jpg Frederick Douglass Avenue, Brockton, In 2004 the city renamed High Street in honor of Frederick Douglass We reclaim the garden Volunteers decide to reclaim the street Clearing the land We weed and clean After the clearing We get the plot down to its original shape Garden party The garden is used by the community to celebrate! Show More 2025 Officers Cindy Pendergast-Chair/President Cynthia Hodges -Vice Chair Heather Nelson-Treasurer Jamie Hodges—Clerk/Secretary (All officer terms will be for one year) Board Members Louis Lemieux Carol Griffin Annette Thomas Marc Osborne

I Please join the City of Brockton's Frederick Douglass Neighborhood Association as we unveil, dedicate and celebrate our "Stride Toward Freedom, Together" Walkway and signs. The date is November 15, 2015. The panels will tell the story of four civil rights icons from around the world whose lives are connected to that of Frederick Douglass. Meet the artists, the scholars, and the students who have worked tirelessly to make this Walkway a reality. During the one hour ceremony we will hear about the history of the Avenue and the Underground Railroad in Brockton, the story of the fire at the Ardmore Hotel that once stood on this site, and the story of our four honorees. Most importantly, we will get to thank all of the volunteers, supporters and members who walk with us as we build common ground, community spirit, and pride in our neighborhood and our history. The garden is located on Frederick Douglass Avenue, which runs one way from Main Street to Warren Avenue. Parking lots are available on the street next to the garden for your convenience. The event will take place rain or shine.

FDNA 2019 Reading featured on "CBS Sunday Morning" In their July 5, 2020 broadcast, CBS Sunday Morning featured the "Reading Frederick Douglass Together" grant program that is funded by MassHumanities. FDNA was asked for permission to use clips from our 2019 reading during that broadcast, which also featured the City of Somerville's Reading. Normally held in our community garden, FDNA had to move indoors in 2019 due to thunderstorms that drenched the area. Messiah Baptist Church graciously opened their doors for us. When you watch the clip, look for the indoor scenes which feature our readers: Willie A. Wilson., Jr., Fran Jeffries, Mark Linde, Michelle DuBois, and young Ashton Guerlande. Follow this link to view the 5 minute segment: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/frederick-douglass-admonition-on-the-moral-rightness-of-liberty-for-all/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab6i&linkId=92908535&fbclid=IwAR2NxB76anPHoyziwl5qu5F103ASu_JNmmsU9R4cToj1SaRAvRaDy7jIgLI Willie A. Wilson Jr. Charlot of Ashton and sister CBS credits Willie A. Wilson Jr. 1/5

2018 Building * Growing * Learning Reading Douglass Together More Here A Night With Doughlass An Evening with Frederick Douglass See More Pictures HERE Douglass Bicentennial

Our Plant and Seed Swap was a terrific success! Out thanks to everyone who volunteered, participated, and came.