This reception celebrates the plaques that were placed honoring David Walker and Maria Stewart, who both lived at 81 Joy Street (formerly 8 Belknap Street.) in Boston. Maria W. Stewart (1803-1879) was a controversial black abolitionist, essayist, lecturer and religious activist who lived on Beacon Hill. Her speeches, published by William Lloyd Garrison, were the first publicly-delivered speeches by an American woman on politics and women's rights. David Walker (1785-1830), in 1829, published "Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World" decrying American slavery, racial hatred, and summoning his fellow African Americans to resist. A bounty was placed on him by slave owners.
A highly-respected historian of the African-American experience, Dr. Spencer R. Crew's innovative museum exhibits have brought new life to American history. He is perhaps best known for his study of the Great Migration the massive movement of Southern African-Americans to Northern cities in the early twentieth century. Crew was both the first African-American director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History (NMAH) and the youngest. In 2001 he became executive director and CEO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.