Annotation 1: There is a plaque on the front of the building. The plaque is not legible in the artifact I provided above but a plaque on a building can speak a thousand words. It can represent number one, the building being a historical site and can be explaining why it is a historical site. This plaque is showing that history happened and that it will continue to stay there for others to learn and explore. 

Annotation 2:This building was one of very few that survived the great fire of 1866. On the door you can see the burn marks on the outer border of it. It is incredible that this building survived the fire. If this building would have burnt down during the great fire I can’t imagine where all the African Americans would have gone because in ways that was their home. That building brought their community together when they needed to support and care for each other as much as they could. The rest of the building does not look like there is any damage from the fire but the story behind it all. If this building would have burned so much history would have been lost.

Annotation 3:When looking at the picture of the aritfact I noticed the top windows of the building are bordered up but the big windows in the front of the building are not. Is that from when the building was still being used or after the building was not being used anymore? The borders could have been protecting African American slaves that were hiding because they ran away. There are alos not many windows on the building in general from what I can see from the picture. This was probably a safety precaution overall. I question why not all the windows are bordered up.

Bibliography:The Abyssinian Church also known as the Abyssinian Meeting House is a part of the freedom Portland trail. This church was more than just a church. It was a safe space for African Americans and African American slaves. The land where the church was built was bought by Reuben Ruby who was an African American activist. It was the first black congregation in Maine. This meeting space was a safe space for slaves. This is where former or current slaves would arrive after escaping whatever their fate was. This church was also the hub of the Underground Railroad in Maine. The church was 73 out of 75 safe homes on the railroad. This building was one of the very few remaining buildings from the great fire of 1866.

“Portland Freedom Trail – Maine Historical Society.” Maine Historical Society, https://www.mainehistory.org/documents/41/Portland_Freedom_Trail.pdf, www.mainehistory.org/documents/41/Portland_Freedom_Trail.pdf.

Reflection: I had never heard about the Portland Freedom trail or the Abyssinian Church until this project so I was really interested to learn about it. Sadly I never got to go see the church like I had planned on but one day I would really like to go visit the trail. Throughout the course of the semester in every single reading we have been assigned there is all one lingering detail in all the narratives and images we look at, people are trying to erase slavery history and it is our job to make sure that doesn’t happen. For the artifact I chose it is a very simple picture of the church, if you did not know what the Abyssinian church was you would probably just think it is an old building and walk right past it. But no this church held thousands of African Americans and gave them safety, a place with people they trusted and became family, it was THEIR building where history happened. I have learned that people have been trying to erase or change slaves’ history or completely erase it. Slavery should have never come to light in our world but it did and it still may very much be happening in the world around us today we just don’t see it as much. During our discussions in class specifically on Douglass and Jacobs we talked a lot about how it is THEIR story but white Americans kept trying to take their story away from them, publish it themselves, but not in Douglasses or Jacobs words. Those people wanted to completely just take everything away from them in life when they have already been through so much, telling their story is something that should never be taken away from them or forgotten about. I am glad they got to tell their stories.