First Black Landowner

BlackFacts Details

First Black Landowner

Bostian Ken of Dorchester was perhaps the first Black landowner in Massachusetts. In 1656 he owned a house and lot in Dorchester, as well as more than 'four acres of land planted in wheat.'

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Leader in Barber Business

James Guilford, who owned and operated a barbering business in lower Roxbury from 1934 to 1973 ( Dunbar Barbers until 1945 and Jimmy Guilford's Men's Hair Salon until 1973), was state president of the Associated Master Barbers of Massachusetts, which included both white and Black barbers.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Slavery Abolished in Massachusetts

The year 1773 saw increasing agitation among Blacks in Boston and Massachusetts for an end to slavery. On January 6, then in April, and again in May, they sent petitions first to royal General Thomas Gage and next to the Massachusetts legislature, denouncing slavery as destructive of natural rights

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

David Walker's Appeal

With his publication ofAppeal to the Colored Citizens of the World, urging slaves to fight for their freedom, David Walker created an influential piece of anti-slavery literature that helped shape the posture of Black militancy of the 1830s and beyond.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

The historic Pioneer Club, a semi-private club owned by Shag and Bal Taylor and a landmark in the history of jazz, was a funky after-hours night spot located in a brick, three-story row house at the end of a short alley off Tremont Street (where the new Douglass Plaza now stands). Socially and

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

African-Americans first served as jurors in Massachusetts in 1860.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Former Owners of Channel 7

WNEV-TV (now WHDH-TV, Channel 7) in Boston was the first major television station in the country to have Black people as majority owners when, between 1981 and 1986, Bertram Lee, Ruth Batson, Thomas Brown, Henry Hampton, Joyce Fredkin, Melvin Miller, and Barron Martin were major stockholders.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

'Little Chocolate' Dixon

Boxer George 'Little Chocolate' Dixon (1870-1908) of Boston was the first Black to win both the featherweight and bantamweight championships.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

School Desegregation Suit

In 1972 a suit was filed by the Boston Branch NAACP against the Boston School Committee for maintaining a segregated school district and low quality education for its mostly Black student population. When Federal Court Judge W. Arthur Garrity, Jr., ordered a school desegregation plan in Boston in

fave

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.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Knights of Pythias

The Knights of Pythias was a fraternal and benevolent order in Boston's small and growing Black community in lower Roxbury that provided effective health insurance and death benefits to widows and orphans. Anchored in its own building at the corner of Ruggles and Washington Streets, it helped

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

First Licensed Attorney

Macon B. Allen, who was the first licensed African-American attorney in the United States (he passed the bar exam in Maine in 1844), was the first to practice law in Boston, having been admitted to the Suffolk County, Massachusetts bar in May 1845. He became a Justice of the Peace in 1848 and

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Housing Discrimination Victories

In 1989 the Boston branch of the NAACP won two major lawsuits for housing discrimination . Both cases were unique because they were the 'first of their kind' in the country to award individuals monetary compensation, according to Attorney Dianne Wilkerson, the NAACP Housing Committee

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

New England Anti-Slavery Society

The New England Anti-Slavery Society, successor to the Massachusetts General Colored Association, was founded at Boston's African Meeting House in 1832, becoming the leading, most eloquent, most effective voice in the battle against slavery. (Note: The Caution poster in the other panel was not

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Aswalos House, a satellite of Boston's YWCA at the corner of Maple and Seaver Streets in upper Roxbury, was opened in the Black community in 1968 and has continuously provided educational, social, and recreational services for young girls and women for over 20 years.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

20th-Century Novelist

Dorothy West, born in 1910 and raised in Boston, became a leading novelist, short-story writer, editor, and columnist. Her novelThe Living Is Easy (about growing up Black in Boston) was published in 1948; currently she writes a column for theVineyard Gazette on Martha's Vineyard Island.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

First Black Female Law Firm

Attorneys Margaret Burnham, Geraldine Hines, and Judith Dilday established the first Black female law firm in New England in 1989. Located in Boston, Burnham, Hines and Dilday specialize in family law, divorce, wills, custody, and civil and criminal litigation.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity

In another approach to upgrading education for Boston's Black students, the Metropolitan Council for Education Opportunity ( METCO) was founded in 1966, and 219 Boston students began attending school in seven suburban communities (Newton, Brookline, Wellesley, Lexington, Lincoln, Arlington, and

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Black Educator's Alliance of Massachusetts

The Black Educators Alliance of Massachusetts ( BEAM), originally called the Massachusetts Negro Educators Association, was founded in 1965. Led by the late Rollins Griffith, and including John D. O'Bryant, Gerry Hill, Barbara Jackson, and Jean McGuire, it was the first professional association of

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

20th-Century First

Lawrence Banks, a Republican, became the first African-American from Boston to serve in the Massachusetts legislature in the 20th century, when he was elected from Ward 9 in 1946. Banks also won election to the Boston City Council in 1949.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Richard Earle Pioneer Club

The Richard Earle Pioneer Club served the Black railway workers in Boston during the first quarter of the century. Providing sleeping quarters, meals, and a place to relax for the Pullman porters, dining car waiters, and chefs during 'off hours,' The Pioneer Club was an important community

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Lucy Terry Prince (c. 1733-1821), sometimes referred to as America's first Black poet, was a Massachusetts storyteller whose poem 'The Bar's Fight' was written in 1746 while she was still a slave.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Early Leader in Shipping and in Civil Rights

Paul Cuffe of the Westport-New Bedford area became a prosperous merchant, mariner, ship builder and owner between 1780 and 1810. He pioneered the opening up of trade with West African countries, using his own ships. He was also the nation's first Black millionaire who used his considerable

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Racial Imbalance Act

The Massachusetts Racial Imbalance Act, spearheaded by Boston's African-American community, was passed in 1965, making Massachusetts the first state in the nation to outlawde facto segregation in a school district.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Early Childhood Educator

Lucy M. Mitchell became the first African-American elected to the Board of Directors of the Boston YWCA in 1941, where she served for seven years. Previously, in the mid-1930s she pioneered the development of a model nursery school at the Robert Gould Shaw House and led efforts to improve and

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Medical Breakthrough

Dr. William A. Hinton (1883-1959) directed the Wasserman Laboratory of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at Harvard Medical School from 1915 to 1949 and developed the famous Hinton test for syphilis, which was used to diagnose this venereal disease for over 40 years.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

The Fight for School Equality

In 1787 Primus Hall and other Black leaders petitioned the Massachusetts legislature for equal school facilities for Black children.

fave

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

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Newton Alderman

Matthew Jefferson was the first Black to serve on the Newton Board of Aldermen. He repeatedly won election to the board in nine city-wide election campaigns after being chosen to join the board in 1968. In all he served as alderman for 20 years, six of those years as president.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Commissioners of Public Health

The first African-American to hold the position of Commissioner of Public Health in Massachusetts was Dr. Bailus Walker, appointed in 1984. He was followed by another African-American, Dr. Deborah Prothow-Smith, Commissioner from 1987 to 1989, the first woman to hold this position.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Voting Rights for Blacks

Prominent businessman Paul Cuffe used his influence to petition the Massachusetts legislature for voting rights for Blacks and American Indians, which were later granted through court action in 1783.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Business Facts

Blackfacts BETA RELEASE 11.5.3
(Production Environment)