Old North Church Reveals, And Reckons With, Its Ties To Slavery

Tucked away in the North End, the Old North Church still stands as a visual reminder of the American Revolution — and the night Paul Revere risked his life to warn his countrymen the British were coming.
But researchers recently unearthed a darker history behind this physical icon of independence.
Church leaders are now reckoning with the fact that Captain Newark Jackson, an early parishioner and funder of Old North's original steeple, participated in a 1743 Caribbean voyage in which he smuggled about 60 enslaved people — including children.