Charlotte Forten: On this day...

...in 1855, Charlotte Forten passed the entrance examination for the Salem Normal School, one of four colleges recently established in Massachusetts to train teachers. She was the school's first black student. Eighteen months later, she would be its first black graduate.

Read on at Mass Moments, which features a Massachusetts-related bite sized history lesson every day.

"North Shore residents black and white paved the way for integration"

As Martin Luther King Jr. Day approaches, the Salem News pays tribute to local abolitionists, including William Lloyd Garrison and Charlotte Forten Grimké—both of whom made their mark on North Shore literature with their essays and reporting.

Essex County Chronicles: North Shore residents black and white paved the way for integration