If you think Massachusetts’ culture begins and ends with Boston’s epic St. Patrick’s Day parade, you’re missing out on the melting pot of cultures that make up the Bay State. You can get a taste of multicultural Massachusetts with some dim sum in Boston’s Chinatown or homemade Italian pasta in the North End. Check out the moving Black History Trail in Nantucket or find out more about our Native American heritage. Around here, we celebrate multiculturalism in ways small and big, like the Massachusetts Multicultural Film Festival at UMASS Amherst.
MUSEUMS AND CULTURAL CENTERS
Museum of African American History:
Boston & Nantucket: 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.
Museum of Russian Icons
Visit the largest collection of Russian Icons in North America
HERITAGE TRAILS, TOURS AND MORE…
Second Saturday Walking Tour of Florence Abolition Era Sites
Visit the homes of Sojourner Truth, Samuel Hill and fugitive slave Basil Dorsey. See the Mill River dam where David Lee and Lydia Maria Child processed sugar beets as an alternative to slave-grown sugar cane. Stand in the Pine Grove where William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips spoke before members of the Northampton Association “utopian” community . Hear about David Ruggles’ Water Cure and the visits of Frederick Douglass. Donations benefit the David Ruggles Center. These tours are offered the second Saturday of the month from June through November. All tours meet at the Sojourner Truth Memorial Statue, 10:00 am, corner of Park and Pine Streets, Florence.
The Black Heritage Trail, Boston
A walking tour that explores the history of Boston’s ninetieth century African American community that lived primarily on the north slope of Beacon Hill. The tour consists of 14 historic sites including the 54th Regiment Memorial and the African Meeting House. The Boston African American Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service, located at 46 Joy Street, offers guided tours and information for self-guided tours. Both services are free to the public.
The Black History Trail, Nantucket
Presented by the Museum of Afro-American History and the Friends of the African Meeting House on Nantucket, the Black History Trail features 10 sites that reveal the heritage of African Americans living on Nantucket, especially in the nineteenth century.
The African American Heritage Trail, Martha’s Vineyard
This physical entity comprised of 16 sites is dedicated to the formerly unrecognized contributions made by people of African descent to the history of the island. At each of these sites a descriptive plaque has been placed.
African American Heritage Trail – Cambridge
This self-guided walking tour through Cambridge was created to highlight 20 historic sites throughout the city. These sites serve as important reminders of the history that surrounds the social, political and economic development of Cambridge.
The Upper Housatonic Valley African American Heritage Trail, Great Barrington
This trail presents a rich history of African Americans who played pivotal roles in key national and international events and made significant contributions to our culture. Blacks in the region spent their lives defining the tenets of freedom and democracy, hoping to claim the “unalienable rights” our founding fathers deemed “self-evident.” The trail celebrates the lives, accomplishments and contributions of African Americans who made their mark in Western Massachusetts and beyond.
Irish Heritage Trail – Boston
A guide to landmarks of Irish-American artists and heroes from the 1700s to the present here in Massachusetts. The Trail is divided into three sections: 20 sites in downtown Boston and Back Bay, covering over three miles: and over 50 other landmarks in Boston neighborhoods, cities and towns throughout the state.
African American Heritage in Salem
NEIGHBORHOODS
The North End
Boston’s Little Italy
Chinatown Boston:
The first Chinese immigrants arrived to Boston in the 1880s. They pitched tents in what is today known as “Ping on Alley”. Today, Chinatown in Boston has grown to be the central hub to Chinese families in Massachusetts and all of New England. Located between Downtown Crossing and the South End, Chinatown offers a variety of historical attractions, events, and traditional Chinese cuisine.
ORGANIZATIONS
Boston Irish Tourism Association
A unique community of cultural, social and genealogy groups, dance studios, academic programs, and annual events that emphasize the Irish-American community of Massachusetts and the state cultural community at-large.
Japan Society of Boston
The Japan Society of Boston organizes information about Japan-related events across Boston for everyone who loves Japan.
FILM
Boston Latino Film Festival (BLIFF),
Our mission is to bring communities together through film by increasing intercultural awareness thereby combating stereotypes. Our goal is to help non-Latino Bostonians to better understand their neighbors, colleagues and friends.
The Boston International Film Festival
The Boston International Film Festival was created to celebrate the art of filmmaking and to honor the filmmakers who make it all possible. This is a festival dedicated to rewarding artists for their individual talents and for their creative expression through the medium of film. The festival strives to bring together in Boston local, national and international filmmakers by promoting the world’s most artistic and creative independent and experimental films.
Boston Jewish Film Festival
New England’s largest Jewish cultural event. This critically acclaimed festival features more than 50 independently produced films, shown in 7 locations and reflects the work of film artists from 16 countries in 18 languages.
Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival
Boston Irish Film Festival
The Irish Film Festival Boston (IFFB) was founded in 1999. In 2003, the festival inaugurated the annual IFFB Awards, offering filmmakers awards in four categories: Best Film, Best Documentary, Best Short Fiction/Animation, and Director’s Choice. The IFFB Awards also include the annual Excellence Award, which honors those filmmakers whose work brings the very best of Ireland and the Irish to audiences around the world.
Berkshire International Film Festival
The Triplex Cinema
70 Railroad Street, Great Barrington, MA 01230
A world-class festival celebrating independent, feature, documentary and short films