A "must" introduction to significant African-American events & people in Massachusetts where so much American history began. The first slaves arrived in Boston in 1638; the first Black gave his life in the Boston Massacre. Entries are dramatic bullet-style cameos set off by more than 100 photographs. Arranged chronologically within a dozen categories--Science, Religion, Government, Creative Arts, among them--the elegantly designed paperback offers instant identification of names & invites follow up research--a catalyst "to find out more." Among the entries: a high school student wins ten dollars in gold for her essay on the "Evils of Intemperance"; a physician fights for the right to deliver babies at the city hospital; Blacks unite in protest against the film BIRTH OF A NATION; a Boston mechanic invents a diving suit & a dentist invents a golf tee. The BOSTON GLOBE calls it a book that explores the "rich heritage & legacy of leaders who lived here but had an impact upon all America--including Frederick Douglass, William DuBois, Phillis Wheatley, Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." An executive of Bank of Boston, which funded the publication, calls it "a book about dreams." And the dreams came true. Available through Publisher's Sales Office--666 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116, Tele-(617)-536-5400. xt 346.

Here, for the first time in more than eighty years, is a detailed study of political Antimasonry on the national, state, and local levels, based on a survey of existing sources. The Antimasonic party, whose avowed goal was the destruction of the Masonic Lodge and other secret societies, was the first influential third party in the United States and introduced the device of the national presidential nominating convention in 1831. Vaughn focuses on the celebrated "Morgan Affair" of 1826, the alleged murder of a former Mason who exposed the fraternity's secrets. Thurlow Weed quickly transformed the crusading spirit aroused by this incident into an anti-Jackson party in New York. From New York, the party soon spread through the Northeast. To achieve success, the Antimasons in most states had to form alliances with the major parties, thus becoming the "flexible minority." After William Wirt's defeat by Andrew Jackson in the election of 1832, the party waned. Where it had been strong, Antimasonry became a reform-minded, anti-Clay faction of the new Whig party and helped to secure the presidential nominations of William Henry Harrison in 1836 and 1840. Vaughn concludes that although in many ways the Antimasonic Crusade was finally beneficial to the Masons, it was not until the 1850s that the fraternity regained its strength and influence.