Two hundred years ago on August 13th, pioneering human rights activist Lucy Stone was born in West Brookfield.  As legend has it, at her birth her mother exclaimed sadly, “I’m sorry it’s a girl; a woman’s lot is so hard.”  Fortunately for us, Lucy Stone grew up determined not to let her gender stop her from living her best life.  As a young girl, she studied, taught, and helped with the farm.  Against her father’s wishes, she was determined to attend college, and after much hardship and agitation caused by her perception of unequal treatment of males and females, graduated from Oberlin College in 1847.  Shortly thereafter, she was hired as a paid lecturer by the New England Anti-Slavery Society, a cause for which her support never wavered.  In 1855, Lucy married Henry Blackwell at her home on Coy’s Hill; theirs was an unconventional wedding and marriage, in that she kept her own name and continued to work, even after the birth of her only child, her daughter Alice.  In Dorchester, where she lived until she died in 1893, Lucy published the Woman’s Journal, a well-respected publication which promoted women’s suffrage but also welcomed diverse viewpoints.

At the urging of Scottish radio producer Moira Hickey, the Town of West Brookfield decided to celebrate this anniversary in style.  The West Brookfield Historical Commission and the Community, with the support of the Trustees of Reservations, presented five events on Saturday and Sunday of this weekend.  Yesterday morning, the Quaboag Historical Society provided a tour to the Lucy Stone Home Site and to Rock House Reservation.  From 2 to 4 pm, a Suffragist Tea was held in the Town Hall.  In the evening, the Old Sturbridge Village Singers performed a concert of period songs.  This afternoon, a one-woman show by History at Play took place at the Congregational Church, followed by a concert by a violin-piano duo.  In the evening, a round-table panel discussion in the Great Hall was moderated by WBUR radio host Deborah Becker.  In addition, students at the West Brookfield Elementary School created artwork, birthday cards, and “Lucy Stones” which were displayed in the Town Hall.  The Merriam-Gilbert Library sponsored art and poetry contests and special displays to honor her memory; the Worcester Art and Frame Gallery teamed up with the Historical Commission to present “We Love Lucy,” an exhibit with work from six local artists inspired by Lucy Stone.

I was thrilled to attend three of the five scheduled events.  Yesterday evening, the Old Sturbridge Village Singers, an 11 member choir, performed a repertoire of pieces that would have been familiar to Lucy Stone and her family (Old Sturbridge Village is supposed to be a reconstruction of a typical New England village around 1830).  Insofar as each piece was introduced in its historical and artistic context, I learned a lot about music in the early nineteenth century.  For example, in the early days of colonial America, four-part harmony was unknown; instead a technique called “lining out” enabled a leader to teach the melody to congregations.  At church services, the congregation would have both a tune book with the music and a hymnal with the words.  Starting in the mid-1700s and continuing through the 1800s, singing masters would travel from town to town and stay for short stints, often during the winter months, in order to train pupils to sing in church choirs.  By the mid-19th century, secular music was also included in the singing schools, and choral music was performed at almost every civic event.  Both patriotic and religious pieces were performed at concerts held to celebrate Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July, the two major holidays celebrated in America at that time.

This afternoon, I attended Judith Kalaora’s bravura performance of “I Now Pronounce You Lucy Stone.”  A professionally trained actress, educator, and historian, Ms Kalaora made me believe I was listening to Lucy Stone herself; it was a compelling and inspiring portrait of this fierce and uncompromising woman, who was devoted to her family and also to larger political causes like abolition and suffrage.  Following the play, Samantha Gillogly on violin and Virginia Bailey on piano gave a recital of pieces written by nineteenth century woman composers.  I did not realize there were women composers at all, some of whom, against all odds, even enjoyed commercial success.  Ms Gillogly did a lot of research to prepare the program, which featured compositions by Marion Dix Sullivan, Amy Beach, Augusta Browne, Clelia Solito, and more.  Who knows these names?  I did not know any of these women, with one exception:  because I grew up in Hawaii, I was quite familiar with Queen Lili’uokalani, the last Hawaiian monarch who also wrote over 150 songs and chants, almost all of them in Hawaiian, many of which are still sung today.

Held in the Great Hall, the Round-Table Panel focused on the question “Lucy Stone: Where do we go from here?”  Moderated by WBUR senior correspondent and host Deborah Becker, seven prominent local women, Dr Vivian Acosta, Dr Linda Jean Carpenter, Dr Regina Edmonds, State Senator Anne Gobi, historian Joelle Million, musician Samantha Gillogly, and actress Judith Kalaora, responded to questions from the moderator and shared their personal experiences and thoughts on the status of women today.  I believe the panelists all agreed that Lucy Stone’s work more than a century ago bore fruit for future generations, but there is still more that must be done.  One of the more interesting questions was, “What two things would Lucy Stone campaign on today?”  Senator Gobi thought it would be race and gender inequality.

As I understand it, the decorations for the celebration were carefully chosen.  The women dressed in period costume wore sashes of purple, gold, and white:  purple represented loyalty and steadfastness, white signified purity, and gold symbolized light and life as well as the torch that was carried for women’s suffrage.  The weekend reminded me again that we should all be mindful of our legacies.  Shouldn’t we all try to “Make the world better”?  I’m glad I was part of this celebration, which involved so many in the town as well as descendants of the Stone and Blackwell families.  Many thanks to Richard Rossman, Chairman of the West Brookfield Historical Commission and to Dan Hamilton, West Brookfield Historical Commission Event Coordinator, for all their hard work in planning this bicentennial weekend.