Assistant Attorney General

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Assistant Attorney General

Glendora Putnam was the first African-American female lawyer to serve as an assistant Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She served under three state Attorneys General from 1963 to 1969: Edward W. Brooke, Elliot Richardson and Robert Quinn.

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Plymouth Hospital - 1st Picture

Plymouth Hospital and Nurses' Training School, founded and operated by Dr. Cornelius Garland, a Black doctor, from 1908 to 1928, contributed to the health care needs of Blacks and to Black community development during the first quarter of the 1900s. The hospital building still stands on East

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Robert Gould Shaw House

From 1907 to the early 1970s the Robert Gould Shaw House served as a major social agency for Black people in Boston.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Firefighters Association

The Vulcans, Boston's African-American firefighters' association, was formed in 1972. At that time there had been only 17 Black and Hispanic firemen in the history of the city's fire department. When the Vulcans filed a court suit against the city of Boston for discrimination in hiring

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Gretchen Jackson was the first African-American woman to have a sponsored and sustained daytime radio program in Boston from 1953 to 1961. As a disc jockey and talk-show interviewer, she was heard first on WBOS and later on WBMS.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

William E. B. DuBois

William E. B. DuBois (1868-1963), born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, was the first African-American to receive the Ph.D. degree from Harvard (1895). His thesis was on the African Slave Trade. DuBois was influenced by Boston's fiery and 'radical' civil rights leader William Monroe Trotter in

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Early Black Reporter

Bob Teanoh was perhaps the first African-American reporter for a white newspaper in Boston, having obtained a staff position in 1890 withThe Boston Daily Globe. He was elected to the state legislature in 1894.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Early Boston City Councilors

The 19th-century African-American members of the Boston City Council were: George L. Ruffin 1876-77 James W. Pope, 1881 William O. Armstrong, 1885-86 Andrew B. Leattimore, 1887-88 Charles E. Harris, 1889-90 Nelson Gaskins, 1891 Walden Banks, 1892-93 Stanley Ruffin, 1894-95 J. Henderson

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

First Elected Black Woman

In 1952 Madeline D. Andrews was elected to the Medford School Committee. She was apparently the first Black woman elected to public office in Massachusetts.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Legendary Baseball Great

Will 'Cannonball' Jackman of Boston is a legendary baseball great of the old Colored Baseball League during the early 1900s. For seventeen years Jackman pitched the baseball like his nickname. He played with the Philadelphia Colored Giants during the 1920s and 1930s and was a stellar attraction on

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Elma Lewis School

The Elma Lewis School was established in 1950 to give expert training in the arts to children, youth, and adults. Its students have performed on Broadway and in symphony orchestras. During its 40 years of existence, the School has been producing professional artists and changing the quality of life

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Bucks of America

During the American Revolutionary War, the Bucks of America, commanded by George Middleton, a fiery Black resident of Boston, was one of two all-Black units. The Bucks of America were hailed throughout the Commonwealth for their bravery and performance at the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

First Nurses at City Hospital

In 1929 two African-American women, Frances Harris and Letitia Campfield, became the first Blacks to be admitted to the School of Nursing at Boston City Hospital.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Principal Harpist in BSO

Ann Hobson Pilot is the principal harpist in the Boston Symphony Orchestra ( BSO). As the only African-American in the BSO for over 20 years, she started as a second harpist in 1969, moved to associate harpist and then to principal harpist in 1980. Nationally she is the only principal

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Chelsea Alderman

William J. Williams, a lawyer, was the first Black elected to the Chelsea Board of Aldermen. His term was from 1902 to 1906. He also served as a captain in Company L of the State Militia.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Edward L. Cooper, Sr.

In 1933 Edward L. Cooper, Sr., was the first African-American to be hired to manage a major food chain in Boston, the First National Store on Shawmut Avenue. From 1942-48 he was Deputy Secretary of the Urban League and served as Executive Secretary from 1948-54. From 1954-62 he served as the first

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Two Firsts for Margaret Burnham

Margaret Burnham, the first Black female lawyer to practice in Boston Municipal Court, was also the first African-American woman appointed associate justice in 1977, a position she held until 1983.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Long-Running TV Programs

'Say Brother,' produced by WGBH-TV (Channel 2) for the past 20 years, is the longest running television show targeted to the African-American and minority communities in Boston. 'Urban Update' (formerly 'Black News') on WHDH (Channel 7) is a close second with a nearly 18-year on-air history.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Harvard Law Review President

With his election in 1990, Barack H. Obama became the first Black president of the Harvard Law Review in its 103-year history. The Review is managed and edited by 78 student editors selected from Harvard's 1,600 law students. In its first 85 years, The Review has had three Black editors: Charles

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Distinguished Athletes

Matthew Bullock, a graduate of Everett High, and John Shelburne, a Boston English graduate, both became All-American football players at Dartmouth College in the early 20th century. Bullock later returned to coach at Everett High, becoming the first African-American to serve as a head coach of

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

First Black Judge - Juvenile Court

In 1948 Bruce Robinson became the first Black appointed to the bench in Massachusetts. He was named Associate Justice of the Boston Juvenile Court by Governor Robert Bradford.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Racial Imbalance in Schools

In July 1964 an advisory committee to the State Board of Education, chaired by Dr. Owen B. Kiernan, reported that segregation existed in 78 percent of the schools in Massachusetts and that racial imbalance was detrimental to sound education in six specific ways, including 'serious conflict with the

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Negro Business and Professional Women's Club

A vital force in Boston's business development for more than 30 years, the Boston Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Clubs was organized in 1957 'to create and develop opportunities for African-American women in business and the professions and to protect their interests.'

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

M.D. Degree for Black Woman

The first African-American female graduate of a medical school was Rebecca Lee, who received an M.D. degree from the New England Female Medical College in Boston in 1864.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Noted Immigration Lawyer

Attorney John W. Schenck (1869-1962), admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1914, was appointed Assistant U.S. Attorney in Boston in 1920 and held that position until 1933. During that time he handled most of the immigration cases in the Commonwealth.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Secretary of Transportation

Real estate entrepreneur Richard Taylor was appointed in 1988 to the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston; and in 1990 he became Deputy Chairman, both first appointments for an African-American in Boston. The Federal Reserve is 'the banker's bank,' controlling the money supply

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Medical Director

In 1949 Dr. Charles D. Bonner (1917-1990) became the first Black physician appointed to the staff at Boston City Hospital. In 1968 he was appointed Medical Director of Youville Hospital in Cambridge. In 1979 he was elected president of the Massachusetts Heart Association. Dr. Bonner gained national

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Commissioner of Community Affairs

Julian Steele, a Boston Latin School and Harvard graduate, as the director of the Robert Gould Shaw House in the 1930s, was the leader in the expansion of social, recreational, and educational programs for the youth of the South End and lower Roxbury. From 1938-49 he directed the

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Served General Washington

Barzillai Lew of Cambridge, who had been a member of the Massachusetts fighting unit during the French and Indian War of 1760, was one of the full seven-year veterans of the American Revolution. He directly served General George Washington and later headed an all-Black unit in Rhode Island during

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Early Episcopalians

The Church of St. Augustine and St. Martin, located in lower Roxbury, was founded by Black Episcopalians in 1908. In 1981, after 73 years as a mission church of the Society of St. John the Evangelist, it became an independent church within the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

African-Americans in 1790

There were 766 African-Americans (4 percent of the population) counted in Boston in the first United State Census in 1790.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

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