ABOUT
Silence Dogood is a grassroots collective committed to using public art to remind people of Boston’s long history of protest and resistance. We create installations in public spaces that connect the city's revolutionary past with today’s struggle for liberty.
You can’t bring hell to Boston.
It’s been here waiting for tyrants and aspiring despots since 1770. Boston was the town that lit the spark of revolution, and while much has changed since then, the pursuit of liberty and justice and a refusal of any external infringement to our freedoms have remained eternal in our city.
As our mayor testifies before congress on the anniversary of the Boston Massacre, we thought it time to remind those who may have forgotten: Boston is a city that doesn’t back down. From the Boston Tea Party, to abolition, to women’s suffrage, and gay marriage, Boston has never backed down from a fight for freedom.
Remember the nineteenth century when Bostonians took to Faneuil Hall, the cradle of liberty, to protest, plan, and resist the Fugitive Slave Act. Boston’s abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator, wrote “nothing so well becomes Faneuil Hall as the most determined resistance to a bloody and overshadowing despotism.” And they reminded us that “Massachusetts is solemnly bound to give protection to all who flee to her for safety.”
Our residents have long stood against injustice and taken action to right it. Sam Adams once wrote, “if ever a time should come when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.” That time is now. Those most experienced patriots are Bostonians. To all who call Boston home: you belong here. To all who question our “eternal enmity to tyranny,” read a history book.
-Silence Dogood
March 5, 2025
You cannot erase belonging.
The Old Corner Bookstore reminds us of the power of words. Built in 1718, it first housed a bookstore in 1828. From 1832 to 1865 one of the most important publishing houses of the time, Ticknor & Fields, operated here, and hosted New England’s most famous authors.
In response to the list of words this administration seeks to edit out of government websites, curricula, and other materials, we visited this historic hub of Boston’s literary heritage to highlight our refusal to erase swaths of our citizens. Activism, belonging, BIPOC, Black, cultural heritage, community diversity, disability, equality, female, immigrants, indigenous, Latinx, LGBTQ, Native American, nonbinary, pregnant people, transgender, social justice, women, and more. These people and concepts have been present, active, and essential throughout Boston’s history, and are Boston’s future. You cannot erase belonging, and why would you want to? This is Boston and you belong here.
-Silence Dogood
March 9, 2025
These are precedented times.
Boston has taken on tyrants bent on injustice before and we have never lost.
Last night we visited Faneuil Hall to shine a light on its enduring role in our country’s pursuit of freedom. The “Cradle of Liberty” has witnessed the revolutionary spirit of generations of Bostonians.
260 years ago, Boston rallied here to protest taxation without representation and lit the first sparks of revolution.
170 years ago, Boston rallied here to denounce the institution of slavery and began our city’s long fight against racism.
150 years ago, Boston rallied here for women’s suffrage and ensured that half of the country would gain the right to vote.
120 years ago, Boston rallied here for workers rights and fair labor practices, and protected hardworking Americans from exploitation.
50 years ago, Boston rallied here for LGBTQ+ rights, and led to the our state being the first to legalize same-sex marriage because liberty is our love language.
The vain and aspiring men that Sam Adams warned us about are here, taking aim at our civil liberties for their own gain. But Bostonians are our nation’s most experienced patriots.
As JFK said on the floor of Faneuil Hall, “I think this old hall reminds us of how far we've been as Americans and what we must do in the future. It reminds us of our great history, of what our people have been willing to do in order to build our society.” Boston stands ready to defend what we’ve built.
-Silence Dogood
March 8, 2025
The call rings out again:
“Friends! Brethren! Countrymen! The hour of opposition to the machinations of tyranny stares you in the face. Every friend to his country, to himself and to posterity, is now called upon to meet at Faneuil Hall, at nine o'clock THIS DAY (at which time the bells will ring), to make united and successful resistance to this last, worst, and most destructive measure of administration.”
This was the call from the Sons of Liberty to Boston in 1773 in the weeks leading up to the Boston Tea Party. On the night of December 16, 1773, Bostonians rallied at the Old South Meeting House before meeting the tea waiting in the harbor, and setting in motion committed resistance to tyranny across the American Colonies.
The call rings out again: every friend to this country, to themself, and to posterity is called to The Common at 11am on April 5th, to make a united and successful resistance to every destructive measure of this administration.
Tyranny once again stares us in the face, and once again we resist. We unite. We boycott. We protest. We do what Boston does for America.
-Silence Dogood
April 2, 2025