Author Talk: Black Homeownership on Martha’s Vineyard

On Saturday, July 20th, at 3:30pm, at the West Tisbury Library, local authors Thomas Dresser and Richard Lewis Taylor will discuss their newly released book, Black Homeownership on Martha’s Vineyard: A History. Books will be available for purchase and signing. This event is free and open to the public.

About the book:

“Martha’s Vineyard has always been a unique island and vacation destination, made even more diverse with the arrival of Black homeowners in the 19th century. Early landowners included the formerly enslaved Charles Shearer, who along with his wife Henrietta, founded Shearer Cottage. However, the fall of the first Black community on the island came in the 1890s when forty Black and Indigenous people were required to remove their cottages from the Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting Association. Despite this painful blow, other families, including the Wests, Jones and Huberts bought island homes, challenging restrictive and racist covenants that encumbered the properties. They then passed their homes on to subsequent generations, leading to a legacy of Black homeownership that thrives to this day. Authors Thomas Dresser and Richard Taylor explore the challenges, triumphs and the sense of community that has endured.”

Thomas Dresser taught elementary school for ten years, was a nursing home administrator for twenty years, and drove a school bus for fifteen years.  He has enjoyed writing all his life, but found his niche on the Vineyard, joining Island writing groups, writing for the local press, and publishing a number of books on Vineyard history. He lives in Oak Bluffs with his wife Joyce, a retired West Tisbury teacher.

Richard Lewis Taylor has been a summer resident on Martha’s Vineyard for more than forty-five years. He is the Oak Bluffs columnist for the Vineyard Gazette. In his capacity as the president of the Union Chapel Educational and Cultural Institute, he established the Charles Ogletree Public Forums. His service to the island was recognized by the Martha’s Vineyard Museum, which bestowed on him the Martha’s Vineyard Medal.