Press Release: 9/19/2023

THE BOSTON DESEGREGATION AND BUSING INITIATIVE TO HOST FIRST FORUM EXPLORING THE COMMUNITY EFFORT IN THE 1960'S TO END SEGREGATION IN BPS

Forum will focus on the community efforts, led by the Black community  in the 1960’s to challenge the Boston School Committee to address terrible education conditions and segregation in the city’s public schools

(Boston, MA) - On September 26th at 6pm at Roxbury Community College, the Boston Desegregation and Busing Initiative will host the first of five forums designed to examine the desegregation of Boston Public Schools and the busing program of the era. The first forum will be focused on how the Boston School Committee systematically operated a two-tiered educational system, and the community organizing and legal efforts to try to eliminate segregation and secure educational justice for Black students during the period spanning 1960-1973.

 

Register here: https://www.masshist.org/events/boston-desegregation-busing-initiative-segregation-boston-public-schools-community

 

WHO: Boston Desegregation and Busing Initiative

 

Panelists include:

Hubie Jones, former Director of Roxbury Multi-Services Center, led passage of the MA Special Education Law and the MA Bilingual Education Law, founder and a leader of Higher Ground initiative for wrap-around services for 3 Roxbury public schools

Zebulon Miletsky, Associate Professor of African Studies at Stony Brook University and author of Before Busing: A History of Boston’s Long Black Freedom Struggle, graduate of O’Bryant High School, boston Public Schools

Jean McGuire, former Executive Director of METCO 1973-2016, former Boston School Committee member, and longtime civil rights activist

Lyda Peters, for 25 years active on these issues as key aide to Ruth Batson,  legendary organizer for equity and desegregation

Gloria Lee, a student who attended Freedom School on Stay Out/Boycott Day February 1964

Charles Glenn, coordinated Freedom School on Stay Out/Boycott Day February 1963 at Roxbury Crossing Church, later led state efforts on desegregation

Vernita Carter-Waller, daughter of Rev. Vernon Carter who picketed the Boston School Committee headquarters for 114 consecutive days in 1965 to push for passing the Racial Imbalance Law

Moderator: 

Kim Janey, former Mayor of Boston and student who was bused to Edwards Middle School in Charlestown and past member of Boston City Council. Also, former long time organizer at Massachusetts Advocacy Center. Current Director of EMPath, Economic Mobility Partners

 

WHAT: The first of a series of forums designed to remember, examine,

and teach about the desegregation of Boston Public Schools and busing.

 

WHERE: Roxbury Community College, Media Arts Building, 1234 Columbus Avenue, building 

                              is at the corner of Columbus Avenue and Malcolm X. Boulevard

 

WHEN:  September 26th, 2023 at 6pm

 

About the Boston Desegregation and Busing Initiative

 

The Boston Desegregation and Busing Initiative (BDBI) is a committee of more than three dozen members, many of whom were BPS teachers, students and community leaders during the busing crisis. The Initiative seeks to educate the public and students about the history of desegregation and busing in the city as the crisis approaches its 50th anniversary in June 2024. BDBI is partnering with the Boston Public Schools, Boston Public Library, Massachusetts Historical Society, Embrace Boston, Freedom House, the South Boston Association of Non-Profits, Embrace Boston, the Archives at Northeastern University, UMass Boston, City of Boston, and Suffolk University, GBH,  Facing History and Ourselves, Civic Action Project.