Project Profile

The Early Black Boston Digital Almanac is a collection of digital exhibits, as well as exciting and edifying material about the vibrant Black communities of Boston during the 18th and 19th centuries. Inspired by Benjamin Banneker’s almanacs published between 1792–1796 and Benjamin Franklin’s “Poor Richard’s Almanack,” published between 1732 and 1758, which contained stories, poems, sayings, and serialized stories, in addition to calendars, maps, and data about astronomy, astrology, and the weather, the EBBDA aspires to be similarly inclusive in terms of its material and exhibits. Unlike its inspiration, however, EBBDA is completely open-access. The exhibits and data it contains are created by scholars, students, and interested members of the public and submitted to an editorial collective before publication.