image description — The house Susan B. Anthony was born in passed through many hands before being purchased by Carol Crossed in 2006.

Anthony Museum Plans Opening Ceremony Sunday

Staff ReportsiBerkshires
08:59PM / Wednesday, February 10, 2010Print Story | Email Story

Anthony was born on East Road in Adams in 1820, a century before women could vote.

ADAMS, Mass. — The Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum will hold a formal ribbon-cutting this Sunday, Feb. 14, at 2 p.m., one day before the suffragist's 190th birthday.

The opening is a year later than planned because of delays in the restoration process. Residents were given a sneak peek of the work under way at last year's birthday celebration. Waiting a year, however, meant the museum opens for the 90th anniversary of Anthony's lifelong goal — passage of the 19th Amendment that gave women their long-delayed right to vote.

The former home of the Anthony family has been undergoing nearly four years of research and restoration. The 192-year-old house on East Road was built by Anthony's father, Daniel, who operated a store out of the first floor. Anthony was born in the house two years after it was built, likely in the south parlor looking out toward Tophet Brook where her father's textile mill stood.

Anthony and her parents moved from the area when she was a child to upstate New York, where she became a prominent writer and lecturer on abolitionism and women's right to vote. She frequently returned to the Mother Town to visit family until her death in 1906.

The house has been restored to reflect her childhood with exhibits looking at the wide-ranging legacy of Anthony including Quaker life, temperance, opposition to slavery and abortion, women's suffrage, and 19th Amendment, called by some the Susan B. Anthony Amendment.

State Sen. Marian Walsh of Suffolk has been invited to be the guest speaker. She was the first woman from her district elected to both the House of Represenatives and the Senate. She is currently the Senate majority whip and is vice chairman of the Senate Mental Health and Substance Abuse Committee and is a member of the Committees on Community Development and Small Business and on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development.

Boston Magazine in 2003 named her one of "Boston's 100 Most Powerful Women."

"We are honored to have Senator Walsh address the Susan B. Anthony ribbon-cutting ceremony," said Sally Winn, the museum's executive director. "She embodies the ideals of women in leadership that was Anthony's life's work. Her service with Massachusetts tourism and cultural community is especially relevant to what we are doing with this Berkshire treasure, the childhood home of Anthony, indeed the nation's most famous daughter."

Following the ceremony, a birthday celebration with cake will be held at Memorial Hall in the Adams Free Library. Reservations are required for the party and limited seating is available for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Contact Mary Lou Beaudin at 413-743-3516 or staff@sbanthonybirthplace.com.

The museum and gift shop will be open for a free public preview from Monday, Feb. 15, through Sunday, Feb. 21, from 10 to 4.

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iBerkshires.com welcomes critical, respectful dialogue. Name-calling, personal attacks, libel, slander or foul language is not allowed. All comments are reviewed before posting and will be deleted or edited as necessary.

I think that it would be appropriate for iBerkshires to do a story reflecting some of the discussion on this site a few months back, when the professional director was replaced with an executive director who's primary qualification for the job was having been a former director of "Feminists for Life". Ms. Crossed, who purchased the site is a leader in the anti-choice movement, and Susan B. Anthony is something of an anti-choice heroine, as of late. It's clear that the S.B.A. birthplace was not intended to be a straightforward historic site, but was intended as a subtle means of promoting the anti-choice agenda. The Transcript runs lots of straight press releases, and although iBerkshires has limited staff, it seems as if this might be an appropriate opportunity for some more in-depth reporting. Editor: I want to see the exhibit in the museum before writing further on the issue.
from: jFox	on: 02-12-2010 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

That's fair enough, editor. However, I'd hasten to add that even if the content of the SBA birthplace isn't overwhelmingly political, I think that could work in favor of the founders' and executive director's intent. I'm sure they're intelligent people, and aware enough to understand that berating people with a political agenda is ineffective. Just the fact of having this birthplace, with a director who's experience and connections are in the political (not historic) arena, will make it an effective means of promoting the anti-choice agenda. Would the building have been purchased by Ms. Crossed if Susan B. Anthony wasn't a mascot of the anti-choice movement? Probably not. Would this particular executive director have been chosen? Certainly not.
from: jFox	on: 02-12-2010 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

So what if Anthony was pro-life? Why is there all of this controversy? Can pro-choice activists no longer tolerate people who are pro-life or pro-life feminists? Editor: The issue is whether the exhibit is historically accurate.
from: Kristan	on: 02-12-2010 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

Sounds like this editor is trying to do their job--view the exhibit before writing the story--kudos for gathering information before casting judgement. Aside from that, the historical record of Anthony's opposition to abortion is indisputable; of course the open question might be if she would still feel the same way today, after going through all the social changes of the 20th century--I don't think anyone can definitively answer that without their own personal prejudice on what is purely speculation anyway.
from: Bergenser	on: 02-13-2010 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

I find it interesting that NO media is willing to actually DIG into the truth behind these people. You would only need a little sand shovel. Their agenda is so clear that I wonder if the local media is actually afraid to dig. Perhaps positioning fact finders as opposition makes it easier. I hope someone has the integrity to explore the possibility of some truth. This mythological middle is tiring and draining. Give us some freakin truth eh? DIG! a little, please.
from: Jonathon Ray	on: 02-14-2010 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (1)

Community Meeting Addresses Prejudice in Pittsfield Schools

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:49PM / Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Johanna Lenski, a special education surrogate parent and advocate, says there's a 'deeply troubling' professional culture at Herberg that lets discriminatory actions and language slip by.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Around 60 community members gathered at Conte Community School on Monday night to discuss issues with prejudice in the district.

The event was hosted by the Pittsfield Public Schools in partnership with the Berkshire NAACP and the Westside Legends. It began with breaking bread in the school's cafeteria, and caregivers then expressed fears about children's safety due to bullying, a lack of support for children who need it the most, and teachers using discriminatory and racist language.

"One thing I've learned is that as we try to improve, things look really bad because we're being open about ways that we're trying to improve, and I think it's really important that we acknowledge that," interim Superintendent Latifah Phillips said, reflecting on her work in several other districts before coming to PPS last summer.

"It is very easy to stay at the surface and try to look really good, and it may look like others are better than us, when they're really just doing a better job of just kind of maintaining the status quo and sweeping things under the carpet."

Brett Random, the executive director of Berkshire County Head Start, wrote on her personal Facebook page that her daughter reported her math teacher, "used extremely offensive language including both a racial slur (n-word) and a homophobic slur (f-word) and then reportedly tried to push other students to repeat those words later in the day when students were questioning her on her behavior."

The school department confirmed that an eighth-grade teacher at the middle school was placed on leave.

The Berkshire Eagle, which first reported on the incident, identified the teacher as Rebecca Nitsche, and the teacher told the paper over the phone, "All I can tell you is it's not how it appears." Nitsche told the paper she repeated the words a student used while reporting the incident to another teacher because officials needed to know it happened.

Johanna Lenski, speaking as a special education surrogate parent and parent advocate, on Monday said there is a "deeply troubling" professional culture at Herberg that has allowed discriminatory, racist, non-inclusive, and ableist treatment of students.

She said a Black transgender student was called a "piss poor, punk, puke of a kid," and repeatedly and intentionally misgendered by one of the school's teachers, and then wrongfully accused of physically assaulting that teacher, which resulted in a 10-day suspension.

Another Herberg student with disabilities said the same staff member disclosed to an entire classroom that they lived in a group home and were in state Department of Children and Families' custody. When the teacher was asked to come to an individualized education program meeting for that student, Lenski said he "spent approximately 20 minutes attacking this child's character and portraying her as a problem, rather than a student in need of services and protection and support."

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