Finding a Political Voice

Spurred by catalysts such as the passage of the Racial Imbalance Act, Boston’s African American community began to develop a coherent and audible political voice in the 1960s and 1970s. Education became an especially powerful rallying point, particularly as Boston entered into court-ordered desegregation, a protracted and ugly struggle beginning in 1974.

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Gallery:

Black Political Task Force "Community Slate" letter
Black Political Task Force
Crowd at the NAACP March for desegregation
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Statement on the Proposed Boston School Stayout
Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts
List of Freedom Schools for February 26, 1964
Breeden, James P.
Day, Noel A.
Freedom Stay-Out Committee of the Massachusetts Freedom Movement
Fact Sheet: Freedom Stayout Day in the Boston Public Schools
Brookline Committee for Civil Rights
Invitation to State-Wide Hearings
Dukakis, Michael S.
Kerry, John F.
Warren, Joseph D.
For Martin Luther King and Boston: Southern Christian Leadership Conference
King, Jr., Martin Luther
Wood, Virgil A.
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference