Discovering Boston’s Civil Rights StoryLesson 3: Student Worksheet A Notetaking Guide for the Timeline Research ProjectDirections: Use the following organizer to take notes about people from the timeline:1. NAME:a. Family:b. Education:c. Occupation:d. Accomplishments:e. Relevant Quotations:2. NAME:a. Family:b. Education:c. Occupation:d. Accomplishments:e. Relevant Quotations:3. NAME:a. Family:b. Education:c. Occupation:d. Accomplishments:e. Relevant Quotations:48101 Walnut Street, Watertown, MA 02472 * 617.923.9933 * www.primarysource.org
Discovering Boston’s Civil Rights StoryLesson 4: The Road to Desegregation: Speaking Up, Speaking Out (June 1963)Background“What happens to a dream deferred?” the first line of a poem by Langston Hughes poses apowerful question for any person at any moment in history. African Americans of each generation haveunderstood the efficacy of literacy and education; it has been a particularly important vehicle foradvancement in a society whose founding documents claim that all are created equal but in which AfricanAmericans have been particularly aware that equality has often been restricted by race.Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, there were demonstrations and protests for equality throughoutthe United States. The most famous of these protests were in Little Rock, Arkansas; Birmingham,Alabama; and Montgomery, Alabama; southern cities. The struggles for civil rights in northern cities areless well known, but equally important. According to one community activist, Boston’s African Americancommunity was “like a simmering pressure cooker.” To emphasize the conditions that underlie thisstatement he recounted that there were few blacks in police, fire, schools, MBTA, department stores.June 11, 1963 was a momentous day internationally, nationally, and locally. A VietnameseBuddhist monk Thích Quang Duc commited self-immolation to protest the oppression of Buddhists bythe Diem administration. Alabama Governor George C. Wallace stood in the door of the University ofAlabama to protest integration. President John F. Kennedy made an historic civil rights speech, in whichhe promised a Civil Rights Bill, and asked for "the kind of equality of treatment that we would want forourselves."During that evening’s Boston School Committee meeting, The NAACP, African Americanparents and community activists, presented letters and testimonies expressing their frustration with thelack of educational opportunities for children of color attending Boston Public Schools. Between 1963and 1974 there were school committee meetings, protests, and boycotts. Legislation was filed requesting,urging, demanding that the Boston School Committee develop and implement plans to foster integrationand equal funding and care of facilities of Boston’s schools. School committee records and newspaperarticles have documented the efforts of parents, community activists, and religious leaders as theynegotiated, protested and brought legal cases in an effort to desegregate Boston Public Schools. Thisbattle culminated in the 1974 United States District Court case, Morgan v. Hennigan, which, after elevenyears, brought about the desegregation of Boston Public Schools.Objectives:! To research the background of the Civil Rights Movement in Boston by examining the records ofthe Boston School Committee! To learn about the inequities that existed for African Americans in Boston during the 1960s, inthe areas of housing, employment, education and healthOrganizing Idea:The day-to-day experiences of children and parents galvanized parents’ demands for accountability of theschool committee and the desegregation of Boston Public Schools. Their activism and agency providedthe support for negotiation and protest by the African American community, led by the NAACP,ministers and community activists.Key Questions:! What events and issues galvanized the African American community leading to protests andschool boycotts?! How did the fight to end segregation in Boston Public Schools begin?49101 Walnut Street, Watertown, MA 02472 * 617.923.9933 * www.primarysource.org
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