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Silence Dogood

@silencedogoodboston

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Bringing ✨Light✨ to the enduring revolutionary spirit, from Boston and beyond

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What can an individual do in the face of a government that allows injustice? When the financial interests of a few are allowed to flourish off the exploitation of the many? When racism runs rampant and family members are ripped from one another? What can one person do?

In 1846, the States were grappling with unprecedented division as opposing factions clashed over the future of slavery in America. That year, the US declared war on Mexico in what northern abolitionists identified as a move to expand the practice of slavery ever westward. That year, Henry David Thoreau was living in a tiny cabin in the woods near Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. That year, (and for five years before) he refused to pay his poll tax because he didn’t believe in funding a government that allowed slavery, and he certainly didn’t believe in funding a war to expand slavery.

Thoreau was arrested and spent a night in the Concord jail. From this experience he wrote an essay which we know as “Civil Disobedience.” We brought a few of those words back to the Walden woods.

What can one person do? Start by voting; vote out those who enable tyranny. Vote early; ensure your voice is heard. Then, lean in. Let your actions be a counter-friction to stop the insanity, the corruption, the injustice. Find the levers you can pull and put your full weight behind them.
#walden #thoreau by @silencedogoodboston

Tonight in Boston…On the eve of Early Voting in Massachusetts and with only weeks left before the midterms, a reminder of who and what we are fighting for in this country. Vote. Vote Early. Organize a voter drive. Help people to the polls. Silence and inaction are complicity. Thanks to @silencedogoodboston for always bringing the best projections and to @mass50501 for organizing! #bostonphotography October 16, 2026.

@indivisibleteam @boston.indivisible @andreaforag @teamhealeydriscoll @maura_healey by @silencedogoodboston

Who’s ready to VOTE?? 🗳️🗳️🗳️

Meet us at Faneuil Hall this Friday to stand among voting rights activists and organizers of the past, learn about early voting and ballot measures, and make a plan!

#vote #midterms #nokings by @silencedogoodboston

One of the signed copies of the Declaration of Independence is on display here at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. The second Continental Congress declared independence from Great Britain on July 2, 1776. On July 4 they adopted the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration can be thought of as a letter to the world explaining the States’ (newly united) decision to remove themselves from British rule. It includes a list of ‘grievances’ against the King, actions that they claimed made him a tyrant and unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

The fight for American freedom was not won that day and it is not won today. Though the cause of freedom has been advanced by every generation, the forces of oppression laid out 250 years ago continue to deny the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to many Americans.

This weekend, take a few minutes to read the Declaration of Independence. It’s only about 1,300 words long. (That’s the equivalent of about 4 instagram captions.) Consider what it means to pledge your life, fortune, and sacred honor to your fellow citizens. Consider where this country started, and where we can lead it. If it derives its just power from the consent of the governed, do we consent to this?

#america250 #freedom250 #washingtondc #4thofjuly #independenceday by @silencedogoodboston

Robert Hemmings stayed in a house on this site in Philadelphia in the summer of 1776. He was 14 years old, and Thomas Jefferson’s enslaved bodyservant. Was Robert here in the house with Jefferson as he wrote these famous words? Could he hear the scratch of quill on parchment?

The moral contradictions have been present since the very founding moment of our country, when pen met paper in Philadelphia at the corner of 7th Street and Market Street. For 250 years, to be American has been to live with the hope of freedom and the reality of oppression under the same roof. Liberty is won inch by inch, generation after generation. The work continues.

You can read more about Robert Hemmings on Monticello’s website, linked in bio.

#america250 #blackhistory #philadelphia by @silencedogoodboston

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”

250 years ago, Thomas Jefferson stayed on the corner of 7th and Market Street in Philadelphia with his enslaved valet, Robert Hemmings. It was here that Jefferson wrote his draft of the Declaration of Independence.

Take a moment this week to read the Declaration (linked in bio). It’s shorter than you might think. Consider the progress we’ve made toward securing those rights for all. Consider how much further there is to go. 250 years later, the work of liberty remains unfinished.

#america250 by @silencedogoodboston

The President’s House in Philadelphia was the site of the Executive Mansion from 1790 to 1800, and was occupied by George Washington and John Adams. But it was also occupied by Austin, Paris, Hercules, Christopher Sheels, Richmond, Giles, Ona Judge, Moll, and Joe. Individuals enslaved by George and Martha Washington.

Earlier this spring, the National Park Service removed exhibit panels with information on their lives and the history of slavery following an executive order that claimed Independence National Historical Park promotes “corrosive ideology.”

While the executive branch barks orders and the courts argue, the people show up. Through the simple resistance of paper & tape, we keep American history intact and refuse to forget where we come from and where we are going. by @silencedogoodboston

The Juneteenth Flag was first flown here in Boston — in Roxbury Heritage State Park, to be specific. Created by Ben Haith (also known as Boston Ben) the flag was first raised in this park in 2000. Boston Ben also founded the National Juneteenth Celebration Foundation.
The work of remembering, celebrating, and advocating for freedom continues, and we are all inheritors of that work. Nobody’s free until everybody’s free. by @silencedogoodboston

251 years ago, New Englanders fortified this hill under cover of night. The next day, the first major battle of the American Revolution was fought. It was the bloodiest day of a war that lasted 8 more years, and proved the Americans bravery and resolve against the dominant force of the time.

What did those Americans, Black, white, and Indigenous, fight and die for on this hill? A future free from authoritarian rule.

The battle for freedom at Bunker Hill continues. Earlier this month, the federal government called for the removal of quotes from veterans, abolitionists, suffragists, and immigrants on display here. Veterans, abolitionists, suffragists, and immigrants all contributed to the work begun on this hill 251 years ago. We inherit their cause.

#boston #america250 by @silencedogoodboston

251 years ago, New Englanders fortified this hill under cover of night. The next day, the first major battle of the American Revolution was fought. It was the bloodiest day of a war that lasted 8 more years, and proved the Americans bravery and resolve against the dominant force of the time.

What did those Americans, Black, white, and Indigenous, fight and die for on this hill? A future free from authoritarian rule.

The battle for freedom at Bunker Hill continues. Earlier this month, the federal government called for the removal of quotes from veterans, abolitionists, suffragists, and immigrants on display here. Veterans, abolitionists, suffragists, and immigrants all contributed to the work begun on this hill 251 years ago. We inherit their cause.

#america250 #bunkerhill by @silencedogoodboston

From this house in London, Benjamin Franklin worked to reconcile the American colonies and the British government from 1757 and 1774. This building at 36 Craven Street is the only house he lived in that still exists today. From his rooms on the second floor, he pursued diplomacy to its furthest extent, eventually realizing that no one willingly relinquishes their power and fortune.

250 years later, individuals with “unbounded fortunes” continue to pursue power at the expense of our liberty. They wage wars, call military forces into our cities to threaten and kill citizens, and seek to destroy our access to representative government by gerrymandering and voter restriction and intimidation.

Benjamin Franklin was open minded, valued progress, and invested in the common good. He was a tradesman, a diplomat, a scientist, an inventor, an enslaver, and later a staunch abolitionist. In 1776 there was both extreme injustice, and a vision for a future of freedom and progress. 250 years later, will we recommit to injustice or to freedom? Will we abandon the progress won by past generations, or will we continue to fight for every American’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?

#america250 #franklin by @silencedogoodboston

"We have to stay ever vigilant," says president and CEO of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, Rahsaan D. Hall. Speaking as part of Silence Dogood's Precedented Times Series, Hall asserts that the public must defend and fight for their rights continuously. You can watch the full discussion on the Forum Network Youtube channel. by @silencedogoodboston