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March with Ellen Stone in the
Patriots’ Day Parade!
Saturday, April 19, 1-3PM
Parade Route: Ellen Stone Building to Lexington High School
Come join the Lexington Lyceum Advocates—and a larger-than-life Ellen Stone!—and march in Lexington’s Patriots’ Day Parade.
Register NOW and make a donation of $5 to get a Lexington Lyceum Advocates sweatshirt! Show your support for civic engagement, rich history, and public space in the parade, and all around town.
Information about parking and transportation on parade day will be sent after you register. Register now!
Lexington Candidate Forum
Sat. Feb 22 – 1pm to 2:30pm
Lexington Community Center
Organized by Indian Americans Getting Involved Group. Join us along with Indian Americans of Lexington and Chinese Americans of Lexington to participate in a candidate forum.
Submit Candidate Questions via QR code form:
more info soon
Frederick Douglass Day
February 14
Are you interested in Black and abolitionist history? Can you read cursive writing? Want to learn what transcription is all about? Then join LLA, the Association of Black Citizens of Lexington, Lexington Public Schools, Lexington Historical Society, and the Simon W. Robinson Lodge, A.F & A.M. for this free national transcription and history event!
Come for an hour or the whole time and help (or learn to) transcribe documents in the Library of Congress’ African American Perspectives collections, learn about Frederick Douglass and Lexington’s abolitionist history, check out the building where Douglass reportedly visited in the 1840s, and celebrate Douglass’ birthday with cake! Students, educators, and lovers of history welcome.
Location: Masonic Hall, 3 Bedford Street, Lexington (Parking available behind First Parish Church, 7 Harrington Road, Lexington, MA)
Time: 12pm – 3 pm
Cost: Free
Sponsored by:
Stone Building Illumination Night
Sunday 19 Jan – 4:30pm
Video Projection starts at Dusk (5pm) sharp!!
Ellen Stone Building, 735 Mass Ave, Lexington
Voices on the Green with Lexington Lyceum Advocates as Community Partner!
Cost: Free; donations gratefully accepted.
Friday, November 22, 7 pm (doors open at 6:30 pm)
First Parish Lexington, 7 Harrington Rd, Lexington Green
As Lexington prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary, Voices on the Green, Lexington’s live music and storytelling series, returns for an evening lifting up the many ways in which this town and its people are “Better Together.” Storytellers, speaking from their own perspective – or embodying that of a historical figure – will share a moment that captures how Lexington’s people have helped make us Better Together, or the ways in which individuals discovered the value of how there is power in connection to one another.
Storytellers are:
- Rabia Behgaam, an immigrant from Afghanistan welcomed to Lexington by the Lexington Refugee Assistance Program (LexRAP);
- Emmett Bell-Sykes portraying Moses Burdoo, a free black man who resided in Lexington prior to the Revolution and appreciated the support of his family and fellow soldiers;
- Elisabeth Jas and Erik Svenson, spouses who reflect on new ways to create family in the face of their own challenging family histories;
- Meg Soens, who with her spouse, Cecelia d’Oliveira, found strength in community to create a welcoming and inclusive school environment for their children.
- Amy Swanson, who helped start Lexington’s Interfaith Garden to grow sustaining food for Lexington’s Food Pantry;
- Hua Wang, who learned that community organizing was the key to belonging and connection in the town that has become his home.
Regie O’Hare Gibson will bringhis award-winning poetic artistry to the stage as the evening’s host and members of Lexington High School’s outstanding a cappella groups will perform. Lexington Lyceum Advocates is the community partner for this event. “Better Together” and Voices on the Green have received the generous support of a grant from the Community Endowment of Lexington, an endowed fund of the Foundation for MetroWest. Voices on the Green is proud to work in partnership with the Lexington 250 celebration committee.
Please visit voicesonthegreen.org for further information and check out the “Better Together” promo video!
Better Together Flyer
Reconstruction and the “Moral Sense of the Nation”
Register Now
Thursday, October 17, 7 PM
Follen Church Sanctuary, 755 Mass Ave
Lexington resident Dr. Robert A. Bellinger will explore the significance of the Reconstruction era for understanding America’s past and as a window for examining issues in the present.
Robert Bellinger, PhD, Associate Professor Emeritus in History at Suffolk University. Dr. Bellinger is a public historian with a background in Black Studies and almost half a century of experience as an educator. He has served as a consultant and historian for documentary films, most notably the well-received documentary Birth of a Movement (2017). Dr. Bellinger has been engaged in public history projects at historic sites, monuments, and installations. Recently Dr. Bellinger completed a research project with the Lexington Historical Society on the history of Black people in Lexington 1690-1800, to expand the understanding and interpretation of the history of this Massachusetts community. A recent inductee into the Old Middlesex Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, Dr. Bellinger also serves on several boards, including for the Robbins House in Concord, the Shirley-Eustis House in Roxbury, and Middleton Place in Charleston, South Carolina.
This event is co-sponsored by the Association of Black Citizens of Lexington. A community reception will follow.
🎂 Come Eat Cake on Ellen Stone’s Birthday! 🎉
Monday, October 7, 8:30 AM at 250 Countdown Calendar, 1624 Mass Ave, Lexington
October 7 will be Ellen Stone’s 170th birthday, and we’ll be celebrating by taking our turn at the Lex250 Countdown Calendar, 1624 Mass Ave, Lexington—and we’ll have cake!
Everyone is welcome to join us (and Ellen!) for the turning.
Join LLA at the East Village Fair!
Saturday, October 5, 10AM-3PM, at the Ellen Stone Building, 735 Mass Ave, Lexington
Come visit the LLA Booth at the 186th East Village Fair, right next door to the Stone Building (735 Mass Ave, Lexington)! There will be food, fun, and a flea market—and a chance to catch up on a few of your favorite Lexington community organizations.
Bikeway Block Party
Sunday, September 15, 11 AM – 4PM
The Minuteman Bikeway is turning into a party! Enjoy this free event featuring a diverse array of arts, activities, and culture at parks along the Bikeway in Lexington and celebrate our shared space.
Make you visit the Lexington Lyceum Advocates table at Mill Brook Park (East Lexington near Fottler Avenue)!
See www.bikewayblockparty.orgfor more information.
A Walk Along the Bikeway Past
Sunday, September 15, 9-10 AM, Lexington Depot
Come enjoy a free walking tour along the bikeway and discover the visible clues that show us where the railway was, who used the railways, and how Lexington changed when Boston suddenly became an easy ride away. Co-sponsored by the Bikeway Block Party.
Lexington and Concord’s Battle Against Slavery
Meet the Robbins – Stone family and learn about Lexington and Concord’s cooperation in the Lyceum era. Louisa May Alcott’s family members were friends with the anti-slavery activists of the Ellen Stone Building. Learn about the cooperation between Emerson, Thoreau, the Alcotts, and their Concord circle with the Robbins family of East Lexington.
Saturday August 10, 10-11AM – See a follow-on event at 11am below led by recent Lexington High School graduate Amelia Settembre.
Meet at the Ellen Stone Building (735 Mass Ave Lexington)
Tour Guide: Kathleen Dalton, PhD. Suggested donation: $20.
This is an outdoor event
The Robbins Family, their Village, and their Cemetery
Learn about the Lyceum, its role in East Lexington’s early 19th-century history, and historic buildings and landscapes along Mass Ave. The tour will conclude at Robbins cemetery with an overview of New England tombstones and the history of the families buried there.
Saturday, July 27, 10-11:30 AM.
Meet at the Ellen Stone Building (735 Mass Ave Lexington) – Tour is outdoors
Tour Guide: Jeff Howry.
Suggested donation: $20
Free for Students, Teachers or anyone to whom a fee is a deterrent to attending
6/15: International Fun Fest
Mark your calendar!
Saturday June 15: 4-8pm
Lawn of the Ellen Stone Building
735 Mass Ave., Lexington
On the lawn of the Ellen Stone Building – Hold the date!
Let’s celebrate Lexington’s cultures and have some summer fun at the Stone Building, the eastern gateway to the Lexington Cultural district! Play family games, dance, listen to music from around the world, and relax with a beer and enjoy some of the longest days of the year.
- Play family games!
- Dance!
- Listen to music from around the world!
- Relax with a beer and enjoy one of the longest days of the year!
This festival is made possible with a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Have a suggestion for a performer or a fun activity?
Email International-Fest@lexlyceum.org
Sponsors
Douglass Day
Wednesday, February 14, 2024
12 – 3 pm for general public
11 am – 3 pm for students
Lexington Depot
13 Depot Square, Lexington
In Lexington, this free event will bring together high school students, local public historians, and other interested community members for a day of history, transcription, and fun.
Join us as we host the Lexington contingent for this national event, organized by the Douglass Day Organization and the Library of Congress. The annual Douglass Day program honors Frederick Douglass with an online crowd-sourcing transcription project intended to make primary Black history resources more widely accessible.
In 2024, this event will feature the Frederick Douglass Papers: General Correspondence, 1841 to 1912, in the collection of the Library of Congress. Participants will try to transcribe all 8,731 pages in a single day!
Sponsored by Lexington Lyceum Advocates, the Association of Black Citizens of Lexington (ABCL), the Lexington Historical Society, the Lexington High School Social Studies Department, and the Lexington High STEAM Team
Affordable Housing
Community Conversation Series: How Much Affordable Housing Do We Need?
Tuesday, January 30, 2024, 7 pm
Follen Church Community Center
755 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington
What is “affordable housing”? Who uses it and why do we need it in Lexington? How will the actions we take as a Town impact our community and the broader housing crisis in Massachusetts?
The evening’s panelists will answer these questions from a personal, Town, and State perspective and then invite you to consider how much affordable housing Lexington needs.
Moderator:
Representative Michelle Ciccolo (15th Middlesex)
Panelists:
Jack Cooper, Board member, Housing Corporation of Arlington, retired Executive Director, Mass. Union of Public Housing Tenants
Chris Kluchman, Acting Director, Community Services Division, Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC)
Tiffany Payne, Lexington Resident and Affordable Housing Advocate
Elaine Tung, Chair, Lexington Affordable Housing Trust
Co-Sponsors
Frederick Douglass and the Reimagination of American Democracy in the Civil War Era: An Evening with Historian David Blight
Thursday, January 25, 2024, 7 pm
Tickets: $20
($15 for students, teachers, and Lexington Historical Society Members)
Purchase Tickets – Sold Out
Lexington Depot, 13 Depot Square, Lexington, MA
Historian David Blight will explore Frederick Douglass’s role as a prose poet of democracy, from his transformation as an advocate of the proslavery Constitution to the antislavery Constitution in the 1850s and how he interpreted the revolutionary transformations of emancipation and Reconstruction.
Blight is Sterling Professor of History and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University. He is the author of several highly acclaimed books, including Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory and Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, which won the Pulitzer Prize in history. Copies of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom will be available for sale and signing at the event.
Sponsored by Lexington Lyceum Advocates, the Association of Black Citizens of Lexington, and the Lexington Historical Society
Deck the Halls:
Female Abolitionists and Christmas
December 11 – 7 pm
Ken Turino
Historic New England
Follen Church Sanctuary, 755 Massachusetts Avenue
View the recorded event
New England’s female abolitionists in the first half of the nineteenth century played a large role in the development of modern American Christmas traditions. These abolitionists, led by Maria Chapman, hosted anti-slavery society Christmas Fairs – one of the earliest traditions associated with Christmas. It was at these fairs that most Americans in the first half of the nineteenth century encountered a Christmas tree. These fairs had a wide-ranging influence on our current customs, including the use of greenery in decorating and gift giving in America. Women, including Lexington sisters Julia and Ellen Robbins, promoted abolitionism while creating goods for sale as well as organizing the fairs. This helped move women out of the designated domestic sphere of the home (not without controversy) into the economy. All of this would forever change the role of women in society and how we celebrate Christmas.
This event is co-sponsored by Lexington Lyceum Advocates and LexSeeHer
4/30: Growing up in a Climate Crisis: how are young people responding?
Tuesday, April 30, 6:30-9PM
Follen Church Community Center
755 Mass Ave, Lexington
6:30 Pre-conversation activity with Roaming Buffalo Wabanaki
7:00 Panel Conversation
How are young people driving change, staying resilient, and keeping hope alive in the face of climate crisis? Join this interactive conversation and hear high school students and young college graduates talk about how they feel, what they think, and what they’re doing about climate change.
At 6:30 pm, Roaming Buffalo Wabanaki will lead us into a space of heart-centered connectedness to all living things that depend on the planet and a healthy, stable climate to thrive and survive. They will draw on Indigenous wisdom and teachings to help us prepare for our community conversation.
Resources
Moderator / Facilitator & Panelists
Read participants’ bios
Cindy Arens: Moderator
Roaming Buffalo Wabanaki: Pre-conversation centering and circle facilitator
Panelists:
– Isaiah Johnson, LHS graduate, Mystic River Watershed Association
– Milo Briskin, Education Coordinator, Mass Audubon
– Atreyi Basu, LHS ’24, Sustainable Lexington Youth
– Caroline Ehmann, LHS ’25, Co-captain, LHS Envirothon
– Dora Liao, LHS ’24, Sustainable Lexington Youth
– Eileen Ho, LHS ’25 Co-captain, LHS Envirothon
