What could possibly unite a 300-year-old archaeological site, local politics, family history and a fated meeting in the PEM Shop? Buckle up, as I have a story for you. I live in the Salem house my maternal grandparents bought in 1936. Not many people currently living in the bustling Witch City can say that they were born and raised here, and I’m immensely proud to say I was. My grandparents, Euline Geraldine (Prescod) and Albert Cohen Hill Sr., met at a party and fell in love at first sight. They married in the early 1930s and decided to make their life in Salem because my Nana loved being near the ocean. They raised six children (my mother is number four). They did not have much money, but they had an overabundance of love. They were continually active in St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, where they became close friends with the reverend and his wife.
In addition to being active in our church, Nana and Grandpa joined a political group called the Young Republicans whose mission was to encourage voter participation and community activism, and who became the archetype for modern-day Democrats. When they were not engaging in grassroots movements, they often gathered for jovial events such as summer picnics. One such outing was captured in a photo I count as a favorite in my family’s archives. In the photo are the smiling faces of my grandparents and four of six children, including my mom at two years old being held by my Nana, and a couple posing near my great-aunt whose happy countenances are unknown to anyone still living. Unbeknownst to me, a chance encounter would allow me to learn about this couple and make a significant connection.
Growing up in Salem, I had the privilege of being able to wander through the hallowed halls of the Peabody Museum and Essex Institute at any time, most often after school. Over the course of the merger of those two prestigious institutions and the later expansions of the Peabody Essex Museum, I remember fondly the many notable people I have had the pleasure of meeting. Two of the most interesting are Christopher Hyland and Constantino Castellano. I met Christopher and Constantino while working in the PEM Shop one Sunday afternoon in July 2021. While they were browsing, Christopher asked if I lived in Salem and knew the Hill family. When I answered “Yes” to both questions, they were in a state of disbelief because they had been told that “no Hills live in Salem.”
Christopher went on to tell me that he was born in Salem, and before his parents moved their family to Marblehead, they were regularly active with a group called the Young Republicans. “So were my grandparents!” I said. What a revelation! Christopher went on to describe a photo that he cherishes of his parents and other members of the Young Republicans at a summer gathering. The image immediately came to mind, and I exclaimed, “Were they standing in front of a bus?!”
Christopher and Constantino both said “YES!!” In that moment, I learned that the unknown couple in the photo were Christopher’s parents, Samuel and Patricia Hyland. I also learned that when Mr. Hyland ran for mayor, my grandfather worked on his campaign! This truly was the most amazing chance encounter.
Bradley Livingstone Black, King Pompey, 2021. Chalk on paper. Commissioned and lent by Christopher S. Hyland in honor of Patricia and Samuel Francis Hyland, Anna Kirk Calo, Euline and Albert Hill and their children Natalie, Cynthia, Aletha, Albert Jr., and Sinclair Hill, Margaret and Joseph Hill, and Rochelle Sport.
Christopher explained that the reason for their visit was to reunite the Hill and Hyland families, and to bring to the Peabody Essex Museum a portrait he had commissioned in 2021 of King Pompey, a remarkable but largely forgotten figure in 18th-century Massachusetts. No portrait of King Pompey from his lifetime survives, but this exquisitely drawn contemporary portrait of a man in fashionable period clothing — a nod to Pompey’s later career as a clothier — honors his legacy.
Bradley Livingstone Black, King Pompey, 2021. Chalk on paper. Commissioned and lent by Christopher S. Hyland in honor of Patricia and Samuel Francis Hyland, Anna Kirk Calo, Euline and Albert Hill and their children Natalie, Cynthia, Aletha, Albert Jr., and Sinclair Hill, Margaret and Joseph Hill, and Rochelle Sport.
As the label next to the portrait in our Salem Stories exhibition explains, Pompey was no ordinary king. Born in West Africa, Pompey claimed royal African ancestry. Forcibly trafficked across the Atlantic Ocean, he was enslaved by Daniel Mansfield, a wealthy white mill owner in Lynn, Massachusetts. Following Mansfield’s death in 1758, Pompey was set free and later worked as a clothier.
This summer, on the shores of the Saugus River about 10 miles north of Boston, archeologists unearthed what is believed to be Pompey’s homestead. During the mid-18th century, Pompey and his wife Phylis (or possibly Phebe, the record is unclear), an enslaved Black woman from nearby Reading, hosted an annual Election Day celebration on the last Wednesday in May, which coincided with the official Massachusetts election. Black men, women and children — some enslaved and some free — traveled from across the region to Pompey’s land in Lynn to revel, talk, dance, sing, eat and drum together. The day’s highlight was voting for and crowning the group’s own king. Over his honorary reign, the king would settle disputes and offer insights to the Black community.
Kabria Baumgartner, a Dean’s Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies at Northeastern University and the author of King Pompey’s Salem Stories wall panel, told the Northeastern Global News that the recent archeological discovery offers “a renewed appreciation for King Pompey and the celebration electing Black kings and governors in New England.”
Benjamin Lynde Sr., a white magistrate from Salem, wrote in his diary on May 27, 1741: “Negro’s hallowday here at Salem” — the earliest written record of the event here. Communities throughout the state continued to celebrate Black Election Day until about 1831, when Massachusetts shifted the opening of its legislative year to January. Black Election Day was revived a century later in Salem through the summer gathering now known as the Black Picnic.
Each year on the third Saturday in July, Black Picnic attendees gather at Salem Willows Park. Though no voting occurs, it is a long-standing tradition where Black families reunite, spend time together and engage in civic activities such as registering to vote. It is testament to Pompey’s original gatherings and the lasting legacy of Salem’s Young Republicans.
Since meeting Christopher and Constantino, I have been blessed to know that familial connections often extend beyond one’s immediate family, and that one’s chosen family can be just as important. I could never have imagined that I would make a connection spanning multiple generations, all because of a chance encounter at PEM, a photograph and a king.
Read more about the archeological dig illuminating King Pompey’s story. The 2024 Black Picnic was celebrated on Saturday, July 20 in Salem Willows.
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