Belinda's Petition

Belinda’s Petition is a landscape design project grounded in research from the Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery report, focusing on the Royall family’s wealth built on slavery and the resilient life of Belinda Sutton—an enslaved African woman who lived at the Royall House and Slave Quarters, one of the few surviving sites of slavery in the northern U.S.

The design traces Belinda’s emotional journey through three phases: Strive, Determination, and Hope, transforming the site into a space of remembrance, resistance, and healing.

In Strive, Belinda is forcibly relocated to Massachusetts, laboring at Ten Hills Farm and the Royall estate. This phase is marked by a rammed earth wall, symbolizing the ceramics crafted by enslaved people during rare moments of leisure at the Slave Quarters—acts of creativity and cultural continuity in a life of hardship.
Around the wall:

A mist installation evokes the quiet ritual of smoking on the stoop—fleeting moments of rest and reflection.

Blueberry plantings honor the sisterhood formed during berry-picking excursions—one of the few chances enslaved women had to leave the house, share stories, and bond with one another.

In Determination, Belinda petitions the Massachusetts courts for reparations, asserting her agency amid the slow abolition of slavery. The design responds by dividing the landscape:

One side features the formal Neo-Classical Grand Garden, reflecting the Royall family’s dominance.

The other continues the blueberries and mist, representing Belinda’s emotional and spatial separation from the master’s world.

In Hope, the rammed earth wall begins to fracture, symbolizing liberation. The journey ends at a circular fountain beneath existing trees—a space of peace and renewal, where memory is held and honored.

Belinda’s Petition transforms the Royall House site into a living memorial, revealing the lives once hidden and celebrating the legacy of courage, creativity, and hope.