The Howard Athenaeum was among the most famous of Scollay Square landmarks. The theater and the square were demolished in the 1950s urban renewal project and replaced with Government Center. Sarah Parker Remond (1826-1894), the granddaughter of a free black who fought in the Revolutionary War, committed her first act of public resistance at the Howard Athenæum
In 1853, Remond bought a ticket for the opera Don Pasquale at the Howard Athenæum in Boston. When she refused to accept segregated seating, she was forcibly thrown out of the theater. Remond sued for damages and won her case, being awarded $500 and gaining an admission that she was wronged.
Remond went on to become an international anti-slavery lecturer and an activist for African American and women’s suffrage. Later, she moved to Italy where she became a medical doctor.
