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“Not everybody approves of that history … but this moment is a sobering reminder that we must continue to stand up and continue to tell this story,” the museum’s president says.
The African Meeting House of the Museum of African American History. Pat Greenhouse / Boston Globe
A suspected hate crime investigation is underway after a package containing Juneteenth-themed puzzles was set on fire outside the Museum of African American History’s Boston campus Wednesday, authorities said.
The package was discovered burned and torn open outside the museum at 46 Joy St. in Beacon Hill shortly before 8 a.m., according to a Boston Police Department report. The package’s contents had been scattered around the burned remains.
MAAH CEO and President Noelle Trent said the incident was particularly alarming given the dense, historic nature of the Beacon Hill neighborhood.
“Luckily, nothing happened, but it could have affected our neighborhood. It could have affected the museum and the buildings that we have,” she told Boston.com.
Trent said even a small ember could spark a devastating fire among the closely packed buildings that surround the museum’s campus.
“This was a tremendous risk, so this was very distressing to us as an institution,” she said.
The MAAH preserves and interprets the history of the Black communities in Boston from the Colonial era through the 19th century. Its Boston campus includes the African Meeting House, the oldest surviving Black church building in the U.S., and the adjacent Abiel Smith School, the nation’s oldest remaining school built for Black students.
According to the police report, the vandalism case is being investigated as a “suspected hate crime” involving an alleged anti-Black racial bias. A BPD spokesperson confirmed Thursday afternoon that the investigation remains active.
National Park Service officers also responded to the scene and documented the incident, the report states.
Boston police posted an alert on Facebook Thurday afternoon seeking help identifying the suspected perpetrator.
Police shared images of a person described as a white male, wearing a dark jacket, light-colored shirt or sweatshirt underneath, dark pants, and white sneakers. He was also seen carrying a light-colored bag or package, the department said.
Boston police are seeking the public’s assistance to identify this man in connection incident at the Museum of African American History. – Boston Police Department
While police are investigating the case as a suspected hate crime, Trent said the museum is awaiting law enforcement’s determination on whether the incident ultimately meets that legal standard.
Still, she said the act comes at a time when African American history and how it is taught are increasingly being challenged.
“There is a movement that says that it is uncomfortable and disparages another community just by talking about the things that have happened to the Black community,” Trent said. “We acknowledge that there are these alternative perspectives that are trying to silence us, but we refuse to do that, and so we are here to stand firm against that.”
Trent noted that institutions dedicated to preserving African American history have long faced opposition, some of which has extended beyond rhetoric to attacks on physical spaces.
The MAAH experienced a similar incident in 2018 when its Nantucket campus was vandalized with racist graffiti and imagery.
“We have been here before,” Trent said. “It is not a space or place that we like to be in, but we, the institution, has experienced this.”
Unlike the 2018 vandalism, which was highly visible to the public, this week’s incident was “more subtle,” Trent said. However, she emphasized that its implications remain significant.
“Not everybody approves of that history. Not everybody appreciates that history,” Trent said. “But this moment is a sobering reminder that we must continue to stand up and continue to tell this story.”
The incident has left the museum staff, leadership, and board members grappling with a large range of emotions, she added.
“There are a myriad of emotions that people are feeling — anger, frustration, despair, you name it,” Trent said. “We’re just trying to draw our strengths to figure out a way to move forward in this challenging moment.”
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