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| Research
Services of the Heritage Trail |
The Heritage Trail offers research services involving the use
of archival sources and community oral histories. Research into
the life of Captain William Martin,
the Islandšs only known African American whaling captain was originally
done by Elaine Cawley Weintraub, and published in the New England
Journal of History in 1993. Since that time, further research
has been undertaken and the results published into the lives of
Captain Martin, and the three generations of women who preceded
him. This research has been presented at the Mystic Seaport Conference
on Race and Ethnicity in Maritime America, and published in the
"African American Heritage Trail of Marthašs Vineyard",
a booklet published in 1998.
In recent years, the Trail has been responsible for researching
and publishing the story of the African American "landladies" who
were the first to rent rooms to people of color on the island. The
Trail has also researched the story of the rescue
of a fugitive from enslavement on Martha's Vineyard. This rescue
involved the Wampanoag tribe
and other parts of the island community that opposed the institution
of slavery and the provisions of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
which made it illegal to shelter or rescue a fugitive from enslavement
in the south who had escaped. The story of the Jannifer family
who were seasonal residents in Oak Bluffs was published last year
following the gift to the Heritage Trail of a series of photographs
that showed Mr. Jannifer as a member of a French regiment during
WW1.
The Heritage Trail holds considerable resources and, as a community
history project, welcomes requests to research and celebrate the
lives of African Americans on Martha's Vineyard.
Requests for assistance in researching community histories will
be honored and the boards welcomes gifts of photographs and other
resources that will serve as the basis for our continued research
into the forgotten histories of people of color on this island.
Dr. Cawley Weintraub's sophomore students also act as research assistants
under her supervision.
All board members will be happy to help initiate research or to receive
memorabilia from the community. |
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