Royall House and Slave Quarters

Located within a dense residential neighborhood, the Isaac Royall House blends in perfectly with all the other homes and historic buildings along the street. Although quiet and serene today, in the 18th-century, this place was bustling with people as it was the residence of the largest slave-owning family in the history of Massachusetts. Now in the 21st century, the historic estate has been preserved, giving a face and life to the existence of slavery within the state and educating future generations to ensure its history will not be forgotten.

Isaac Royall Jr. was born in the British Caribbean colony of Antigua in 1719. His father, Isaac Royall Sr., was a prominent merchant who operated in the rum, sugar, and slave trade. A series of natural calamities affecting the island, such as a drought, a hurricane, an earthquake, and a smallpox epidemic had a severe impact on the Royall family’s business. Due to the aforementioned disasters, a slave revolt was planned in 1736, but discovered by British authorities who executed the rebels using brutal methods such as the breaking wheel, gibbeting, and burning at the stake. One of Isaac Sr.’s personal slaves, named Hector, was also executed, for which Royall received £70 in compensation.

As a result of the attempted revolt, the Royall family moved to Massachusetts in an area called Ten Hills Farm in Medford, which was purchased by Isaac Sr. in 1732 and originally owned by the colony’s first governor, John Winthrop. When Isaac Sr. died in 1739, the estate passed on to his son, who greatly expanded and renovated the home. Like his father before him, Isaac participated in the Caribbean sugar and slave trade, accumulating vast amounts of wealth. While most slave owners in colonial Massachusetts may have owned one or two slaves, Isaac Royall Jr. owned over 60, making his family the largest slave owners in the history of Massachusetts. By the time of the American Revolution, the Royalls were staunch loyalists who fled from Boston to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and eventually back to England. The estate was confiscated by the Massachusetts General Court and Major-General John Stark made the home his headquarters during the Siege of Boston in 1776.

After the war, a slave named Quock Walker from the Town of Barre cited the Declaration of Independence and the Massachusetts Constitution as justification for his emancipation. After several court cases, he, along with every other slave in the state, was granted freedom in 1783, with Massachusetts becoming the first state to grant immediate abolition. Following this, one of Isaac Royall Jr.’s former slaves, named Belinda Sutton, petitioned the court, requesting a pension. She gave a detailed account of her abduction from West Africa as a child and of being held in bondage by the Royall family for over 50 years. After multiple attempts, her case was won, and she was awarded an annual pension of 15 pounds and 12 shillings in perhaps one of the very first cases regarding reparations for enslavement. In 1898, the Daughters of the American Revolution conceived the idea of preserving the Royall House and opened to the public on Patriot’s Day of that year. Over the years, the home has undergone numerous renovations and restorations and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960.

The Royall House and Slave Quarters is a significant location to understand the history and existence of enslavement in Massachusetts. The estate has been meticulously preserved, offering a rare glimpse into 18th-century life and the adjacent slave quarters are the only surviving example in the entire Northeast. There’s no denying that the discussion of slavery and the legacy it left behind on American society is a sensitive and complex topic. However, teaching the objectivity of its history and reckoning with the past is an essential component to learn from the experiences and lessons left behind by previous generations. After Isaac Royall Jr. died in 1781, his will bequeathed a significant amount of money to Harvard University, which was used to establish Harvard Law School. For almost 200 years, the school’s coat of arms contained elements of the Royall family crest until it was officially retired in 2016 following renewed attention towards the family’s slave-owning history. Famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass once said, “Without a struggle, there can be no progress.” The Royall House museum has made it its mission to ensure the struggle of enslaved Americans and the progress of abolition, civil rights, equality, and equity will not be forgotten.