Hamilton Hall, Sarah Parker Remond, Harriet James, and the Ladies
Committee
9 Chestnut Street
Hamilton Hall, built in 1805 by Salem’s leading architect,
Samuel McIntire, served as the home and office for a successful
catering business run by John Remond. An immigrant from Curaçao,
John Remond was politically active in the causes of antislavery
and school desegregation. During the 1840s, the Remonds, including
John’s daughter Sarah Parker Remond (1826-94) were deeply involved
in the antislavery cause. Sarah’s first act of public resistance
to racism happened in Boston in 1853 when she refused to move to
the segregated gallery of Boston’s Howard Theatre. She was
hurt in the altercation, sued the management for damages, and won
five hundred dollars. By 1856, Sarah was well known as a professional
antislavery lecturer, touring New England, New York, Pennsylvania,
and the Ohio Valley. In 1858, she appeared at the National Women’s
Rights Convention in New York City. The following year, Sarah took
her message across the Atlantic to Great Britain, where she also
pursued the advanced education that had been denied her in America.
According to Salem historian Jim McAllister, “Women lecturers,
especially women of color, were a rarity in the British Isles, and
Remond’s brilliant oratory and devoutly moral antislavery message
made her highly sought after as a speaker. Her talks attracted as
many as two thousand people at a time, most of them white, and often
inspired important resolutions, press articles, financial contributions,
and other types of support.”69
Eventually, Sarah traveled to Italy where she married and practiced
medicine for twenty years until her death. She never returned to
her native country.
Another woman we remember at this site is “Miss Harriet James”
who taught Salem children the basics of dance and manners in classes
she offered at Hamilton Hall and other locations in town for nearly
sixty years beginning in 1918. More than two dozen of her students
went on to perform in national or international dance companies.
Many older Salemites can attest to the verity of Miss James’s
claim that she was “a holy terror on deportment.”70
Since 1946, a significant portion of the funding for the maintenance,
repairs, and furnishing of Hamilton Hall has been raised through
a series of current event lectures offered each winter. That series
has been run starting in 1949 by a volunteer committee of women
from Salem and other North Shore communities. Typically, three hundred
and fifty series tickets are sold each year, generating as much
as nineteen thousand dollars in a single year for the benefit of
the hall. Subscribers pride themselves on attending the lectures
despite the worst of New England weather conditions.
Notes
69. McAllister, From Naumkeag to Witch City,
76.
70. Jim McAllister files.
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