This is site 19 - 21 of 24 Next "D" Site Return to beginning of Downtown
		D19: Irish Famine Memorial and Annie Sullivan Corner of School and Washington Streets The Irish Famine Memorial was dedicated in 1998 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Irish potato famine. It honors the arrival of Irish immigrants to Boston and their contributions to the city. Created by sculptor Robert Shure, the sculptures depict a starving family in Ireland begging for help, and one arriving in America. Among the Irish women honored by the Boston Women's Heritage Trail is Annie Sullivan Macy (1866-1936), known as the gifted teacher of Helen Keller. Born to poor Irish immigrants to Massachusetts, Sullivan progressively became blind. After the death of her mother and her father's abandonment, she entered an orphanage. In 1880, a supervisor placed her in the Perkins School for the Blind in South Boston. Two operations improved her eyesight enough so she could read, and Sullivan graduated as valedictorian of her class. She became the teacher of Helen Keller (1880-1968), who came from an advantaged family but could not hear, see, or speak. Sullivan devoted her life to Keller, who became a national celebrity, and saw Keller through her education and early career. "Children require guidance and sympathy far more than instruction" -- Annie Sullivan
		D20: Old South Meeting House and Phillis Wheatley 310 Washington Street When Old South, the site of mass protest meetings in Revolutionary Boston, was slated for demolition a hundred years later, a group of women bought the building (but not the land) to protect it. Philanthropist Mary Tileston Hemenway (1820-1894) then contributed more than half the sum needed to preserve it, becoming an early leader in historic preservation. Phillis Wheatley (c.1753-1784), the first African American poet to be published in book form, was a member of Old South. While still a child, she was purchased as a slave by the Wheatley family. Her poetry reflects her love of freedom: "Should you ... wonder from whence my love of Freedom sprung ... I, young in life, was snatched from Afric's fancy'd happy seat ... such, such my case. And can I then but pray Others may never feel tyrannic sway?" An exhibit depicting her life is permanently displayed here. For the site marking Wheatley's landing place, see C5. "Poetry is the voice through which I speak to the world. I was taken from my parents ... at the age of seven, my only memory being one of my mother pouring out water before the sun rose. That was in 1761, when I was transported as a slave to Boston ...." -- Phillis Wheatley
		D21: Birthplace of Jane Franklin Mecom (and Benjamin Franklin), 17 Milk Street Jane Franklin Mecom (1712-1794), Benjamin Franklin's sister and favorite family correspondent, survived the trials of raising nine children and many grandchildren in 18th-century Boston. After Mecom's husband died in 1765, she opened a boarding house near the Old State House, where legislators stayed frequently and kept her informed about local and national political issues. At the age of 76 she wrote: "I have a good clean House to live in ... I go to bed Early lye warm & comfortable Rise Early to a good Fire have my Brakfast directly and Eate it with a good Apetite and then read or Work ... we live frugaly Bake all our own Bread ... a Friend sitts and chats a litle in the Evening ...."