Thomas Dalton

Born free in Gloucester, Massachusetts, Thomas Dalton (1794-1883) became a leading abolitionist, political activist, and education rights campaigner. After moving to Boston in 1818, Dalton married Patience Young, his first wife, and they set up home in the North Slope community on Boston's Beacon Hill. 

Over the years, Dalton made his living variously as a bootblack, waiter, tailor and clothing store owner. He was President of the Massachusetts General Colored Association, the first Black abolitionist organization in the state. He worked closely with other leading Black abolitionists of the time, including David Walker, Robert Morris, Lewis Hayden, and William Cooper Nell. 

Dalton was twice the Grand Master of the Prince Hall Lodge, the first lodge of African American Freemasons in the country. He led or was active in numerous mutual aid societies and organizations for Black uplift and self-help, including the Boston Mutual Lyceum, The Infant School Association, The Massachusetts Colored People Fund Society, The Wilberforce School, The Adelphic Union, and the African Freehold Society. He and his second wife, Lucy Lew Dalton, were also members of several literary societies. 

At aged 16, Dalton was taken to Boston by his uncle, Scipio Dalton, who had been enslaved in the Gloucester area, to participate in African marches and Prince Hall Lodge celebrations. The connections the younger Dalton forged with Black activists in Boston informed his life’s mission. As a political organizer, Dalton managed the city's largest Black political demonstrations, including the annual parade to celebrate the prohibition of the slave trade by the governments of the U.S., Great Britain, and Denmark. 

Throughout his life, Dalton pushed for the right of Black children to receive a high quality education and was one of the earliest advocates for school integration, working closely over many years with fellow abolitionist William Cooper Nell. 

Photograph above: Courtesy of The Gibson House Museum, Boston, Massachusetts