The Northampton Association of Education and Industry was one of several utopian communities that arose in the 1840s. Its members were ardent abolitionists who believed in equality for blacks and women. The Association served as a haven for radical reformers and as a stop on the Underground Railroad. Sojourner Truth and David Ruggles, a well-known African-American abolitionist, were valued members. Engaged in silk manufacture and other economic activities, the Association paid all its workers equally. Frederick Douglas remembered its people as the "most democratic I have ever met. There was no high, no law, no masters, no servants, not white, no black."

Photo: Marc Posner