Kathleen Gagne, Executive director, Mechanics Hall, Worcester
September 25, 2020
Mechanics Hall will add first Black American portraits to Great Hall
Photo | Courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration
Frederick Douglass, prominent orator and abolitionist
Worcester County Mechanics Association, which owns and operates the historic venue Mechanics Hall, announced on Tuesday it would add portraits of Frederick Douglass and William Brown to its Great Hall gallery, marking the first time that Black Americans would be included in the installation.
Frederick Douglass is known best for his writing, oration and work in the abolition movement. Brown, in turn, was the first Black member of the Worcester County Mechanics Association, as well as the great-great-grandfather of Dr. John Golsberry, a current member of the association and an honorary trustee.
Executive Director Kathleen Gagne estimated the installation would take at least two years to complete as a committee works on funding, selecting artists and deciding which portraits will be displaced to make room for the new additions, according to a press release from Mechanics Hall.
In comparison, adding the first women’s portraits to the gallery took four years. That project was completed in 1999.
The four women added in 1999 included Worcester abolitionist Abby Kelley Foster, mental health advocate Dorothea Dix, suffragist Lucy Stone, and Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross.
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