Cambridge began to prepare for the 200th anniversary of the nation’s independence a full decade before the first event of the Bicentennial era. In 1964, Congressional legislation created a Bicentennial Commission, and in January 1965, the Cambridge Chronicle announced that MIT professor Douglas P. Adams had become the first Cambridge resident to be named by the governor to the commission. Adams went quickly to work representing Cambridge on the state level, but much of the commission’s efforts during the late 1960s and into the early 1970s took place behind the scenes.
By 1973, however, the city was beginning to think in earnest about the best way to plan for and execute its Bicentennial celebrations. As a first step toward this goal, the Cambridge Public Library held a series of community meetings and conducted a survey to learn more about what residents would like to see from these celebrations. In addition to a desire for improvements in transportation, infrastructure and tourist information – both as a series of civic improvements and as a means of accommodating the many visitors who were expected to descend on the area at this time – the Chronicle reported that “attention was also given to the spirit of the Bicentennial Celebration, suggesting that [the city] launch a grass-roots tax reform movement and emphasize the ideal of what America could do to eliminate poverty and social injustice.”
Preparations for the nation’s 200th birthday came during a volatile and complex time in U.S. history; when the city began to compile suggestions for celebrating the Bicentennial, the country was in the midst of the Watergate scandal, struggling to free itself from the quagmire in Vietnam and still coming to terms with the many issues of racial and social justice that had been at the heart of the previous decade’s movements for civil and women’s rights. Many Americans hoped the Bicentennial would provide an opportunity for the country to heal through a celebration of its fight for independence. Much of the narrative that was shared during this era centered on the stories of political and military leaders such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, or on the ordinary farmers and tradespeople who answered the call of the militia to defend their homes and communities from tyranny.
But there were many in Cambridge who believed that the Bicentennial should also be commemorated by celebrating the diversity of the city’s population. In the fall of 1973, the Public Library embarked on a series called “Heritage of a City: A Bicentennial Prelude,” to highlight Cambridge’s immigrant communities. The Chronicle reported that “for three days each month, the Library will honor an ethnic group ‘which has bestowed a rich, cultural legacy on Cambridge,’ according to Associate Librarian Marguerite Lechiaro. ‘It’s an exciting and meaningful way to celebrate the founding of our republic.’” Over the next three years, the library partnered with various cultural societies to create programs highlighting immigrants from Poland, Ireland, French-speaking Canada, England, Lithuania and Italy, as well as the Black community, many of whom had moved north during the Great Migration to escape the segregated South.
These library programs were hugely successful, with hundreds of Cantabrigians attending monthly to sample the cuisine, hear the music and try the dancing steps of another culture. The Chronicle reported that more than 600 people attended the first program, which focused on the Polish community. These events also gave the library the opportunity to share its sizable collection of materials in other languages, especially those spoken by Cambridge’s largest ethnic groups, as well as increasing the resources available to add to its holdings.
Cambridge’s schools emphasized the city’s multiculturalism in their Bicentennial activities. Virtually every school in the city had a series of pageants, essay contests, concerts and other events celebrating independence, but these almost universally featured some sort of international fair or festival. Students, staff and families were invited to bring food, clothing, toys and other elements of their home cultures to share with the school community, and these “world villages” were often the centerpiece of their Bicentennial celebrations. Public education had long been the vehicle through which U.S. leaders hoped to spread national pride and civic knowledge, but the stories being told at these school events did not represent merely a one-way flow of identity from immigrant to assimilated American. Through these programs, the school community were encouraged to celebrate where they had come from, not only where they had ended up.
Like most cities and towns across the country, Cambridge had its fair share of historic house tours, public lectures and of course the Bicentennial Parade, all of which featured stories of patriots and loyalists, great people and their great deeds. But Cantabrigians also understood that it was their diverse population and all that they brought with them that made the city of 1975, and they celebrated their history in a way that defined “revolutionary” in terms not limited to those of the colonial period. By embracing their rich and varied populace, Cambridge was able to create a Bicentennial atmosphere that looked not only backward at the city’s past, but forward to a diverse and harmonious future.
History Cambridge started in 1905 as the Cambridge Historical Society. Today we have a new name and a new mission. We engage with our city to explore how the past influences the present to shape a better future. We recognize that every person in our city knows something about Cambridge’s history, and their knowledge matters. We listen to our community and we live by the ideal that history belongs to everyone. Throughout 2026, we are focusing on the history of West Cambridge. Make history with us at historycambridge.org.
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