Zipporah Potter Atkins facts for kids

Zipporah Potter Atkins (born July 4, 1645 – died January 8, 1705) was a free African American woman. She owned land in colonial Boston. This was very unusual because few women or African Americans owned land back then. Her home was bought in 1670. This makes her the first African American to own land in Boston. She is also one of the earliest African American landowners in what would become the United States. Another early landowner was Anthony Johnson.

Zipporah's Early Life

Zipporah Potter was born in the mid-1600s. Her parents, Richard and Grace, were slaves of Captain Robert Keayne. They lived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. At that time, children born to slaves in Boston were considered free. This is why Zipporah was a free African American. She later took the last name Atkins when she got married. Zipporah reportedly had six different last names in her life. A famous Puritan minister, Cotton Mather, is said to have led her wedding. After she died, Atkins was buried in Copp's Hill Burying Ground. Her exact burial spot is not known.

Owning Land in Colonial Boston

Records show that Zipporah Potter Atkins bought her property with money she inherited from her father. Her land was located near the edge of Boston's North End. It was close to a mill pond that flowed into Boston Harbor. She owned this property even while she was single. She also kept control of her land after she got married. Zipporah owned her property from 1670 to 1699. This makes her the first African American to own land in Boston that we know of.

She also learned to read well enough to sign her initials. This was a big deal because many people could not read back then. In 1699, she signed the deed to sell her home. A deed is a legal paper that shows who owns property. By signing it, she became the first African American woman to initial a deed in Suffolk County, Massachusetts.

Remembering Zipporah

Around 2009, Dr. Vivian Johnson found Zipporah's property records. Dr. Johnson is a retired professor from Boston University. She spent years researching Zipporah's story. Later, then-Governor Deval Patrick revealed a memorial for Zipporah Potter Atkins. This memorial is located on the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway. In May 2014, Dr. Johnson gave a talk. It was called "Free, Black and Female: The Zipporah Potter Atkins Story of Homeownership in Colonial Boston." She gave this talk at the Museum of African American History in Boston.