Black Patriots of Lexington - Becoming an Historical Reenactor Workshop II

Learn from world-renown storytellers Rochel Coleman and Valerie Tutson how to bring stories to life on the stage and at an historical site.

Learn how to bring the stories of the Black men and women who played important roles in the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. Also, help to build their 18th century community by learning to tell the stories of the men and women, Black, White, and Indigenous Caribbean who were their family members, friends, patrons, and enslavers.

Learn storytelling techniques and frameworks to identify, craft, and share stories to inspire audiences.

And learn the business of storytelling and reenacting from professionals with decades of experience.

Workshop Trainers

Rochel Garner Coleman, actor, singer, storyteller, has been performing since he was 9 years old. He travels nationally and internationally sharing stories of Black historical legends such as Nat Love and Cool Papa Bell in shows developed using the research to performance method.

Valerie Tutson has been telling stories in schools, churches, libraries, festivals and conferences since 1991. She draws her stories from around the world with an emphasis on African traditions. Her repertoire includes stories and songs she learned in her travels to South Africa, her experiences in West Africa, stories from African American history. In addition, she is gaining quite a reputation for her exciting retelling of age-old Bible stories.

She graduated from Brown University with a Master’s Degree in Theatre Arts and a degree in a self-designed Major-Storytelling as A Communications Art.

POTENTIAL STORY AND REENACTOR SUBJECTS

Active Combatants on April 19, 1775

• Prince Estabrook: enslaved Lexington resident and member of Captain Parker’s Company who was shot by British Regulars during dawn Battle of Lexington; served at the Battle of Bunker Hill; enslaved by Benjamin Estabrook
• Eli Burdoo: orphan indentured to Joseph Bridge, Jr. of Lexington; member of Captain Parker’s Company; son of French and Indian War veteran Moses Burdoo of Lexington; grandson of Ann and Philip Burdoo who owned 40 acre homestead in Cambridge Farms which became Lexington
• Silas Burdoo: third generation tax paying Lexington resident, son of Philip Burdoo, Jr.; cousin of Eli Burdoo; received pension for his service in Revolutionary War
• Caesar Ferrit: Natick yeoman who proclaimed to have the "blood of four nations in his veins": Dutch and French from his grandfathers and Indigenous Caribbean and African from his grandmothers; member of Natick militia that responded to Lexington Alarm
• John Ferrit: second generation tax paying Natick resident; son of Caesar Ferrit; member of Natick militia that responded to Lexington Alarm

Economic Patriots

• Cate Chester: Lexington resident on April 19, 1775; married to Prince in 1772; hired many times in 1773 by Reverend Jonas Clark to spin flax into linen thread; following Stamp Act of 1765 domestic linen was favored by independence seeking colonists; formerly enslaved by Phineas Taylor of Boxborough
• Prince Chester: tax paying Lexington resident on April 19,1775; married to Cate in 1772; between 1769 and 1773 hired many times by Reverend Jonas Clark to dress flax for linen production; following Stamp Act of 1765 domestic linen was favored by independence seeking colonists; formerly enslaved by Samuel Stone of Lexington

Eye Witnesses of Battle of Lexington and Concord

• Pomp Blackman: Lexington boarder of John Simonds; in 1777 enlisted for three year term with the 15th Massachusetts Regiment; formerly enslaved by Nathan Wyman of Woburn
• Pompey (aka Pompee) Fiske: enslaved at Fiske farm in Lexington which was the site of intense fighting on April 19, 1775; enlisted on May 17, 1775; served at the Battle of Bunker Hill; enslaved by Benjamin Fiske
• Venus Roe: enslaved by Captain James Reed of Woburn District (now Burlington); as only enslaved person over 16 years old in the household, likely served Samuel Adams and John Hancock when they took refuge at the Reed homestead after Adams and Hancock fled the home of the Reverend Jonas Clarke of Lexington; likely served up to 12 British regulars who were held prisoner during the later morning and afternoon of April 19, 1775; at about 3 years old gifted by Jonas Roe of Lexington to Smitheren Reed of Woburn District (Smitheren was the father of James Reed).
• Adam Tidd: enslaved in Lexington by Lieutenant William Tidd of Captain Parker’s Company; in 1776 served in Capt. John Bridge’s company which was part of Colonel Eleazer Brooks’s regiment.
  

Relations of the Black Patriots of Lexington

• Phillip Burdoo and Ann (Solomon) Burdoo - grandparents of Eli and Silas Burdoo. Philip Bizdue aka Burdoo married Ann Solomon in Medford on October 17, 1704. Ann Burdoo was admitted to the church in Lexington on December 26, 1708. Philip Burdoo participated and voted in Town Meeting in colonial Lexington.
• Philip Burdoo, Jr. and Mary Burdoo - parents of Silas Burdoo and at least two other children. Philip Burdoo, Jr. was baptized in Lexington on April 10, 1709
• Moses Burdoo and Phebe (Banister) Burdoo - parents of Eli Burdoo. Moses Burdoo, a French and Indian War veteran, was baptized in Lexington on April 9, 1710. They were married in Lexington on February 13, 1754.
• Aaron Burdoo - cousin of Eli and Silas Burdoo. He lived in Reading, Vermont near Silas Burdoo after the Revolutionary War. Aaron was the father of Silas Burdoo, Civil War veteran who was a member of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment.

• Isaac Barbadoes - Revolutionary War veteran who enlisted for a three year term with the 15th Massachusetts Regiment and was on the Muster Roll with Pomp Blackman. Isaac was baptized, along with his sister Mary, in Lexington on November 16, 1755 as enslaved children.
• Kate Barbadoes - mother of Isaac Barbadoes. She joined the Lexington church with her husband Quawk on July 19,1754 as an enslaved couple.
• Abel Barbadoes - brother of Isaac Barbadoes. Abel was baptized in Lexington on July 11, 1756 as a freeborn child.

• Naomi (Isaac) Ferrit - wife of Caesar Ferrit who was the mother of two veterans of Battles of Lexington and Concord and at least 5 other children. All children are believed to have had the blood of five nations: French, English, Dutch, African, and Indigenous Caribbean.
• Thomas Nichols - son-in-law of Caesar and Naomi Ferrit who was awaiting trial in Concord jail on April 19, 1775. He was accused of "enticing divers Servants [enslaved individuals] to desert the Service of their Masters" and was acquitted in May 1775.
• Patience (Ferrit) Nichols - wife of Thomas Nichols

• Amos Fortune - friend of Pomp Blackman who had power of attorney during 1777 enlistment

• Joseph and Elot Bridge - master and mistress of indentured orphan Eli Burdoo
• Reverend Jonas Clarke - frequent customer of Cate and Prince Chester
• Benjamin Estabrook - enslaver of Prince Estabrook
• Benjamin Fiske - enslaver of Pompey Fiske
• Captain James Reed - enslaver of Venus Roe
• Jonas Roe - initial enslaver of Venus Roe
• Samuel Stone - former enslaver of Prince Chester
• Phineas Taylor - former enslaver of Cate Chester
• Lieutenant William Tidd - enslaver of Adam Tidd
• Nathan Wyman - former enslaver of Pomp Blackman

BACKGROUND

ABCL’s Black Patriots of Lexington is a multi-pronged project that includes a nine-part series that explores the lives of 5 soldiers who fought in Lexington on April 19, 1775; three Black men who witnessed the battle as Lexington residents and later enlisted in the Continental Army; and two Black women and one Black man who witnessed the first day of war. Of the 8 soldiers, 3 were born into land-owning, tax-paying families and 5 were born into enslavement. All served their nascent country well and 7 of the 8 are known to have died free men.

The project also includes portrait banners of the 11 featured Black Patriots and two workshops to help create a community of storytellers and reenactors that can bring these amazing 18th century lives to a 21st century audience.

ABCL’s Black Patriots of Lexington is supported by a Community Endowment of Lexington grant.