Story by Tiziana Dearing and Andrea Perdomo-Hernandez
WBUR Radio Boston
October 12, 2022
Christ Church Cambridge hosted a special event Wednesday to honor a man who shares a crypt with two people who enslaved him and his parents.
“Here Lies Darby Vassall” is a multimedia installation by Harvard University Graduate School of Design student Nicole Piepenbrink, commemorating Darby Vassall’s life and death, ties to Harvard University and the the historic Longfellow House in Cambridge, and his commitment to activism once free.
Dennis Lloyd and his daughter, Egypt, are Vassall’s descendants. They hail from Roxbury and founded the Slave Legacy History Coalition, an organization that aims to help other descendants learn about their past and spread awareness of the history of slavery.
