First Black Trained Nurse

BlackFacts Details

First Black Trained Nurse

Mary Eliza Mahoney (1845-1926), acknowledged to be the first Black trained nurse in America, graduated from the New England Hospital for Women and Children, now the Dimock Community Health Center, in 1879. While she was one of the few early Black members of The American Nurses Association, she helped to organize The National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses in 1908.

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Beginning in the fall of 1968, Black student unions were formed in most Boston high schools to defend the rights of Black students and to push for educational reform in Boston.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Early Political Writer

Hailed as America's first Black political writer, Maria W. Stewart, an early Boston activist, championed women's rights and Black self-improvement in a series of speeches and essays written between 1831 and 1833. She was probably the first Black American to lecture publicly in defense of

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 Bostonians in 1800

By 1800 some 1,100 Black Bostonians made up one of the largest free African-American communities in North America.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Juvenile Garrison Independent Society

In the 1830s and 1840s Black Bostonians were providing for the education and intellectual stimulation of their youth. The Juvenile Garrison Independent Society, mostly teenagers, provided Black history education for themselves and services for the community - sponsoring lectures, community fix-up

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

First Downtown Clerks

In the Christmas season of 1945, shoppers at Gilchrist's brought their gifts for wrapping to a young female employee who stood out among the holiday help. Cynthia Belgrave was the first Black clerk ever hired in a downtown department store in Boston. This hiring came from pressure exercised by

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

African Meeting House

In 1806 free Blacks in Boston, led by Cato Gardner, raised $7,700 to enable Black craftsmen and laborers to build the African Meeting House. The Meeting House served as an anchor for the Black settlement on Beacon Hill throughout the 1800s. Until 1898 the Meeting House served as the home of the

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Malcolm X, formerly Malcolm Little (1925-1965), was one of the most fiery, controversial leaders of his time and one of the major Black leaders of the 20th century. Growing up in Boston during the 1940s, he became involved in criminal activities which landed him a ten-year prison sentence. While in

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Famous Restaurants

Small lunchrooms and restaurants were plentiful during the early 1900s in Boston's Black neighborhoods. One was the Southern Dining Room operated by Thomas E. Lucas, who advertised his place as 'cool, clean and commodious. . . . . Good food and prompt attentive service have made this a most

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Ward 9 Politicians

From Boston's 'old' Ward 9 in the Beacon Hill area, Boston's Black citizens were able to elect 20 Black persons to public office - to the city council, the state legislature, and school committee - during the second half of the 19th century.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

First Federal Judge

David S. Nelson became the first Black federal judge in Massachusetts in 1979.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Progressive Musical Union

The Progressive Musical Union, an organization of Black musicians, sponsored its first public concert on March 9, 1875.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

For 30 years Samuel P. Perry, Jr., has spent his days and nights tutoring boys and girls in all subjects, preparing them for college. Almost any late afternoon you can see this quiet whirlwind of a Black man rushing back and forth among a half dozen Black students in Bates Hall, the huge

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Writer of Race Politics

During the first quarter of the 20th century George W. Forbes (1864-1927) was an important journalist for national race politics. From 1893 to 1903, he edited the Boston Courant, one of Boston's early Black newspapers. He helped start the Boston Guardian, founded and published by William M. Trotter

fave

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.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

National Federation of Afro-American Women

The National Federation of Afro-American Women was founded at Boston's Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1895. The following year it united with the Washington National League to form the National Association of Colored Women.

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

Stull and Lee, Inc.

The architectural and planning firm of Stull and Lee, Inc., established by Donald L. Stull in 1966, has made a profound impact on the physical environment and landscape of Boston. With co-partner David Less and a staff of 40 design professionals - architects, planners, and urban designers - Stull

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

A group of Black Bostonians founded a local chapter of the Odd Fellows, a fraternal organization, in 1846.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

State Housing Board First

In 1959 Frank Morris became the first African-American senior manager of a state agency in the history of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts when he was appointed to the position of director of the State Housing Board. Starting as a junior planner with the Board in 1948, Frank Morris had one of the

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

First Black Lawyer before Supreme Court

John Sweat Rock (1825-1866), a noted Boston lawyer, became in 1865 the first African-American to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and the first Black person to speak before the U.S. House of Representatives.

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

Africans in Boston Before 1638?

In 1638, eight years after the original settlement of Boston, a ship named Desire arrived in Boston with the first American slaves. Built in Marblehead, the merchant vessel brought its cargo of cotton, tobacco, and slaves from Providence Island in the Bahamas. There is reason to believe that Black

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

In 1787 Prince Hall founded Boston's African Lodge Number 459, the first African Masonic Lodge in the country and the beginning of Black Masonry in the United States. The Lodge, currently located at 18 Washington Street in the Grove Hall section of Dorchester, is one of the few Masonic lodges

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Women's Anti-Slavery Organizer

Born in Salem, Sara Remond (1826-1894) was a leading organizer of women for the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in the 1840s and 1850s. Protesting segregation in churches, theatres, and other public places, she won a civil court suit after being ejected from the Howard Athenaeum in Boston, which

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

'Black Nativity,' a folk-song rendering of the Christian story based on Langston Hughes's gospel song-play about the birth of Christ, has become an annual tradition in Boston since 1969. First presented in the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts, it has attracted a wider audience in its performances on

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Church in Faneuil Hall

While Black people in Boston attended white churches after the American Revolution, increasing incidents of racial discrimination moved them to request the use of Fanueil Hall for religious meetings. Permission was granted in 1789 and the non-denominational prayer services led to the establishment

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

19th-Century Statesman

Julius C. Chappelle had one of the most successful careers in Boston electoral politics of the late 19th century. He was elected to the Republican State Central Committee, the Boston City Council, and the state legislature. He served in the state House of Representatives from 1883 to 1886, the

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

World War I Lieutenants

When the 17th Provisional Training Regiment at Des Moines, Iowa, graduated 278 Blacks as Army lieutenants at the beginning of World War I, eleven of the graduates were from Massachusetts and two of them, Oliver Lewis and Edward Dugger, were African-American from Roxbury. Edward Dugger helped to

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Media and Political Strategist

In 1986 the Boston Globe called media and political strategist Joyce Ferriabough, the only woman to break into the campaign managers' circle when she guided Charles Yancey's historic run for State Auditor. Regularly quoted in the news media for her views on political trends, especially as they

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Blackfacts BETA RELEASE 11.5.3
(Production Environment)