The story goes that the American Civil Rights movement started when Rosa Parks refused to leave her bus seat in 1955. But 89 years before that, Ellen Garrison refused to leave the waiting room at a Baltimore train station. When she was thrown out, she sued, in one of the first court cases to test African American civil rights. Criss-crossing America to teach former slaves wherever needed, Ellen Garrison devoted her life to lifting those who had been held down. Katie takes us on location to The Robbins House in Concord, Massachusetts.
photo by Katie Nelson
from the Robbins House
Jen Turner is a doctoral candidate in history at UMass Amherst and a long time adjunct faculty member in the history department at Bridgewater State University. She is also a museum professional and has worked at various museums throughout Massachusetts, including the Paul Revere House and Plimoth Patuxet Museums. Currently, she is the part-time Museum Educator at the Buttonwoods Museum in Haverhill, Mass and the Lead Tour Guide, Curatorial Associate, and Site Manager of the Sargent House Museum in Gloucester, Massachusetts. She is the harried mother of a toddler son born in the middle of a global pandemic and a first grader who may or may not like history as much as her mother.