Heated discussions of vaccine mandates and the class and racial tensions inherent in these conversations may seem like a contemporary dilemma, but Cambridge engaged in similar debates around the issue of smallpox vaccination and public accommodation more than 100 years ago.

Cambridge’s Basket Club was a women’s community service organization in the 19th and 20th centuries that sewed linens for donation to hospitals, orphanages and other charities – like many Cantabrigians did during the spring and summer of 2020.

Statues, plaques and memorials across the city commemorate people and events from its nearly 400 years of settlement. But who decides what is worthy of commemoration, and how does the memorial landscape of the city reinforce certain narratives of Cambridge history and exclude others?

As the only teacher of color in the city, an ascent to principal and its attendant public scrutiny was more than Maria Baldwin felt capable of taking on. But she allowed herself eventually to be persuaded and moved from being one of its most beloved teachers to becoming its beloved leader.