Gravestone Of Historic Island Woman Restored

The Nantucket Cemetery Commission announced this week that the grave site of Phebe Ann Boston, a black woman denied admittance to one of Nantucket’s schools in the 1800s that sparked a famous lawsuit, has been restored – calling it a positive step in a significant and tragic piece of Nantucket history.

"In 1845 Captain Absalom Boston brought suit against the Town of Nantucket because his daughter Phebe Ann had been denied admittance to one of Nantucket’s schools," the commission explained in a press release this week. "This was despite the Massachusetts law passed in March of 1845 that prohibited discrimination in the schools and guaranteed equal access to education for all. A special town meeting was called in September 1845 to take up the issue. All attempts to resolve the matter failed, and the meeting was adjourned with no action."

The case then moved on to the Supreme Judicial Court, where it stalled. Another year passed before Nantucket integrated its public schools, prompting Captain Boston to drop his suit.

But the Boston family’s triumph was short-lived. Phebe Ann only lived three more years and upon her death, she was buried in the Historic Coloured Cemetery behind Mill Hill, and her parents marked her grave with a headstone identifying her as the daughter of Absalom F. and Hannah C. Boston and a footstone with her initials P. A. B.

“Absalom Boston had been widowed twice before he married Hannah Cook, and the graves of his first and second wives, Mary “Polly” Boston and Phebe Boston, are nearby,” the commission continued. “Several years ago, Phebe Ann’s footstone had come free and was leaning loose against a tree next to the graves of Polly and Phebe. (Former) Town Clerk Catherine Stover took the footstone into the vault in the Town Building for safekeeping. This week it has finally returned to where it belongs as part of a project undertaken by the Nantucket Cemetery Commission to straighten, repair, and clean the stones in the Historic Coloured Cemetery.”

The commission added that the story of the Boston family’s struggle on behalf of Phebe Ann can be found in Barbara Ann White’s book A Line in the Sand: The Battle to Integrate Nantucket Public Schools, 1825-1847.