AUGUST 31: Meet at the Monument
1769 SPINNING PROTEST REENACTMENT
Julia Robbins Barrett
Significance:
Julia Robbins Barrett was an artist, abolitionist and suffragist
who supported her family’s business interests and engaged in
independent intellectual pursuits. Julia worked as a carpet
designer in Lowell, and was proud to find a job and earn a
separate income. Julia also helped arrange speakers for the
Lyceum at Robbins Hall. She and her sister Ellen represented
Lexington at the 1850 American Anti-Slavery Bazaar in Boston.
Julia’s dedication to correspondence and keeping diaries
provides us with insight into women’s lives and our community
history.
Birth:
Death:
May 6, 1819
1900
None - Died on 5 October 1900, in Boston at age 81 and buried in Concord, Middlesex, MAssachusetts
Obituary:
Marriage:
Married to John Barrett on May 17, 1860
Children:
None
Places Lived:
East Lexington; Concord, MA.
Connection to Lexington:
Born in Lexington, lived in Lexington for most of her life as part of a large multi-generational family. Her grandfather fought in Captain Parker’s company in the Battle of Lexington.
Wikipedia:
Not available
Book Titles:
Education:
Employment:
Julia’s biography: In Haste Julia: Julia Robbins Barrett, Abolitionist, Artist, Suffragist by Mary E. Keenan
Additional resource: Abolition, Women’s Rights and War: From the End of the Revolution to the End of the Civil War, 1790-1865
https://www.lexingtonhistory.org/uploads/6/5/2/1/6521332/2wp_abolitiontemperance.pdf
Not available
Julia Robbins Barrett was a key player in bringing important intellectual lecturers into town as part of the lyceum movement of the 19th century.
Quotation:
“This day the great Convention in Worcester to discuss Women’s Rights. Was greatly crossed not [tp] be able to go. Had planned and looked forward all summer to thie…;..
Link to page in Notable American Women:
Inclusion in the Lexington
Historical Society Exhibit?
Additional Info:
Preliminary Sketch
- Meredith Bergmann
