One hundred and sixty-six years ago, a prominent Massachusetts politician, former President John Quincy Adams, played a role in black history by successfully persuading the U.S. Supreme Court to free a group of African captives who had staged a mutiny on the slave ship Amistad.

Thursday, when Deval Patrick takes his place in the history books as the state's first African-American governor, he will offer a symbolic nod to that storied past, taking the oath of office on a leather-bound Bible given by the freed captives to the former president."This Bible is a quintessential American symbol, one of democracy, and the inner workings of freedom, and our system of laws, and the abolitionist movement, and it represents a real victory for Africans who stood up for themselves," said Beverly A. Morgan-Welch, the executive director of the Museum of African American History and a co-chair of Patrick's inauguration committee.

"The Bible was given to Adams by these freed African men because they so appreciated that Adams was not just their legal advocate, but he believed in their freedom, and here we are, how many years later, and we are installing Massachusetts' first African-American governor."