Banned in Boston · STOP 03 · Downtown
In 1860 'a mob of gentlemen' took this stage, and Frederick Douglass said the mayor broke up the meeting instead of protecting it.
In December 1860 an abolitionist meeting here was broken up by what Frederick Douglass called 'a mob of gentlemen' - and, he said, by order of the mayor. Six days later he answered with a speech on free speech that people still quote. The building on Tremont Street has burned and come back since, and it didn't start out as a church. Its marker tells you what it was.
This is stop 3 of Banned in Boston. Walk it - any two stops are free.
The plate
Collected on site
88 Tremont Street, south of School Street
Directions
Douglass's diagnosis, from the same speech: 'Slavery cannot tolerate free speech. Five years of its exercise would banish the auction block and break every chain in the South.'
More footnotes on the story card, in the app.
Near Downtown Crossing · Near Park Street · Near Government Center · Near State · Near Bowdoin · Near Boylston · Near Chinatown
Sources (3)
- Frederick Douglass, 'A Plea for Freedom of Speech in Boston' (Music Hall, Dec 9 1860), with headnoteNational Constitution Center Historic Document Library, citing The Frederick Douglass Papers, Series One, vol. 3 · 1860-12-09
- Tremont Temple marker (Boston 200)HMdb #76638 (photos Beverly and Bill Pfingsten Aug 16 2014; J. Makali Bruton Jun 14 2021) · 2021-06
- The Birth of a Nation Sparks Protest (April 17, 1915)Mass Moments (Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities) · n.d. (accessed Oct 2026)