The Museum of Afro-American History
Administrative Offices, 14 Beacon Street, Suite 719, Boston MA 02108
Nantucket Phone: 508-228-9833. Fax: 508-325-7005
Boston Phone: 617-725-0022. Fax: 617-720-5225. Web: www.afroammuseum.org
Contact: Tracy Gibbs – 617-725-0022 ext. 21
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW CEMETERY MARKER FOR
BOSTON BLACK ABOLITIONIST
Prelude to 200th Anniversary of the African Meeting House
Saturday, October 15, 2005
BOSTON, MA - The memory of JOHN STEWART “SWEAT” ROCK (1826–1866) will be honored with the dedication of a
new granite monument at a graveside observance in the Woodlawn Cemetery, 315 Elm Street, Everett, Mass., on
Saturday, October 15, 2005, at 10:00 A.M. Following the ceremony at the cemetery, a Noon reception will be
held at the Beacon Hill site of the Museum of Afro-American History, 46 Joy Street, Beacon Hill.
John Stewart “Sweat” Rock was the first black lawyer entitled to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court
(honored as such by a room named for him at the Boston Bar Association) in Washington, D.C., on February 1,
1865. He was also a teacher, dentist, physician, and was the fourth Afro-American lawyer to practice in
Massachusetts. Dr. Rock, well-known in his time as a fiery, outspoken, dynamic speaker was a national voice who
devoted his short lifetime to the abolition of slavery and righting the wrongs against African Americans and the
enslaved. He spent countless hours on Beacon Hill where he lived, speaking at the African Meeting House on a
multitude of subjects. It was Rock who first coined the phrase “Black is Beautiful” responding to negative
portrayal of Africans in the white press.
Rocks untended gravestone had fallen and was broken. Funds were raised by the Salem County Historical Society
for a replica monument. It will be dedicated and his memory remembered by his home church, the Twelfth
Baptist Church On Roxbury where the dedication observance will be officiated by The Reverend Arthur T. Gerald,
Jr., as part of that church’s 200th Anniversary Celebration Year. The Museum of Afro-American History will host
the reception and program for this important event, memorializing a significant Boston abolitionist, as a prelude
to celebrating the 200th anniversary of their historic African Meeting House on Beacon Hill.
For more information contact: Tracy Gibb 617-725-0022 ext. 21, tgibbs@afroammuseum.org,
www.afroammuseum.org
Other contact Information: Twelfth Baptist Church (617) 442-7855–Museum of Afro-American History (617)
725.0022– Salem County Historical Society (856) 935.5004, www.salemcountyhistoricalsociety.com.
John Stewart Rock