Museum Open May-October, Sundays 12 to 4 or by appointment
2025-12-08T00:00:00-05:00

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  • Annual Basil Dorsey Day Walking Tour and Open House: Celebrate Black History Month at the DRC

    David Ruggles Center 225 Nonotuck St., Florence, MA, United States

    Come join us for our annual Basil Dorsey Day Walking Tour and Open House this Saturday, 10AM-1PM. 10 AM Walking Tour: The Basil Dorsey Walking Tour highlighting key sites in Dorsey's life will start at 10AM at the David Ruggles Center in Florence. Dress warmly!  10-1 Open House: The museum will be open 10-1 with our [...]

  • The Fourth Annual Power Of Truths Arts & Education Festival w/ DRC Local Antislavery Resistance History Tour at BOMBYX

    Bombyx Center for Arts and Equity 130 Pine St, Florence, MA, United States

    Dedicated to harnessing the power of arts and education for racial and social justice, the power of truths festival returns for its fourth year. Sponsored by Self-Evident Education and the Northampton Arts Council, the festival offers a unique opportunity to help build a community dedicated to seeing and understanding the history of racism and resistance, [...]

  • 2025 Founders Day Symposium: Jennifer Rycenga on her new book, Schooling the Nation: The Success of the Canterbury Academy for Black Women

    Bombyx Center for Arts and Equity 130 Pine St, Florence, MA, United States

    In 1830s Connecticut, Prudence Crandall, a white woman, stood against racism to open a private academy for young Black women. Author and Professor Emerita Jennifer Rycenga will detail the story of Crandall and her courageous students' resistance in the face of the ensuing racist backlash. As is often the case, the effort to suppress rights [...]

  • DRC Museum Open: Sundays 12-4, May-October

    David Ruggles Center 225 Nonotuck St., Florence, MA, United States

      The DRC is open Sunday afternoons, 12-4. Come learn about the courageous individuals in 1840s and 1850s Florence who challenged slavery and prejudice, and sought to build a community based on principles of race, gender, class and religious equality. Exhibits tells the stories of famous abolitionist icons who lived in Florence like Sojourner [...]

  • Juneteenth DRC Open House: June 19, 12-4

    David Ruggles Center 225 Nonotuck St., Florence, MA, United States

    In honor of the Juneteenth holiday, the David Ruggles Center will be hosting an Open House on Thursday, June 19 from 12-4 PM. To learn more about the Juneteenth holiday, visit the website of the National Museum for African American History and Culture: https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/our-american-story-juneteenth. Then come by the museum and learn about the local efforts [...]

  • David Ruggles Week in Lyme CT/ Zoom

    Lyme Public Library 482 Hamburg Rd., Lyme, Connecticut, United States

    David Ruggles was born in Lyme, CT in 1810. The Lyme Public Library is hosting a David Ruggles Week to honor their hometown hero and his unwavering crusade for racial justice. Events include four compelling lectures about different aspects of Ruggles’ life. Click on the poster above for details. To register for the Zoom link [...]

  • Museum Closed Sunday Sept 7

    The DRC will be closed this Sunday, but we will be open next week! For more information about visiting, please email us at info@davidrugglescenter.org.

  • Book Launch Celebration: Protesting with Rosa Parks

    Bombyx Center for Arts and Equity 130 Pine St, Florence, MA, United States

    Protesting with Rosa Parks details the history of the intersections between Black activism and travel over a span of one hundred and ninety years. John K. Bollard, the author and long-time Florence resident, will present protest stories from the more than ninety-five civil rights leaders and private citizens who protested against segregation on stagecoaches, trains, [...]

  • Made in the Valley: 19th Century Music for Viols and Voices from the Connecticut River Valley

    Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence 220 Main St., Northampton, Massachusetts

    The David Ruggles Center is a co-sponsor with Historic Northampton of Made in the Valley: 19th Century Music for Viols and Voices from the Connecticut River Valley. The concert will feature voices and viols of the Early Republic period and feature musicians Tim Eriksen, Loren Ludwig, Alice Robbins, Allison Monroe, and Nate Steele. Please see Historic [...]

  • Annual Graveyard Tour of the Park Street Cemetery in Florence

    Park Street Cemetery Park Street, Florence, MA, United States

    Join tour guide Steve Strimer for a walk among the gravesites and then by the homes of several of the progressive heroes of Florence history. Utopian community founders, African American freedom seekers turned stalwart citizens, reformers, radical free thinkers, buried here in the shadow of Cosmian Hall, the Temple of Free Speech. Meet at the [...]

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