John Coburn House
| John Coburn House | |
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| General information | |
| Location | Beacon Hill |
| Address | Private residence: 2 Phillips Street |
| Town or city | Boston |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 42°21′37″N 71°03′59″W / 42.360337°N 71.066381°W |
The John Coburn House was the home of John Coburn, an African American abolitionist, soldier and recruiter, and aided people on the Underground Railroad. The home is currently a private residence. It is on the Black Heritage Trail and its history is included in walking tours by the Boston African American National Historic Site.
John Coburn (1811–1873) was a clothing retailer and community activist. He served as treasurer of the New England Freedom Association, an organization dedicated to helping people escape from slavery. In 1851 he was arrested, tried, and acquitted for the court-house rescue of Shadrach Minkins, a freedom seeker who was caught in Boston by federal slave catchers empowered by the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Coburn was co-founder and captain of the Massasoit Guards, a black military company in 1850s Boston that was a precursor to the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.
The house is a Boston African American historical site located on the Black Heritage Trail ® in Beacon Hill.
The National Park Services wrote:
The historic buildings along today's Black Heritage Trail® were the homes, businesses, schools and churches of a thriving black community that organized, from the nation's earliest years, to sustain those who faced local discrimination and national slavery, struggling toward the equality and freedom promised in America's documents of national liberty.
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