First U.S. Senator since Reconstruction

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First U.S. Senator since Reconstruction

In 1962 Edward W. Brooke, a Boston attorney, became the first African-American to be elected Attorney General for the Commonwealth. Two year later, in 1964, he became the first African-American elected to the United States Senate since Reconstruction.

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

'Birth of a Nation' Protest

In 1915 all of Boston's Black institutions, agencies, and community leaders united to protest the showing of the film, 'Birth of a Nation,' at the Tremont Theater because the film portrayed southern Blacks as depraved and glorified the Ku Klux Klan. Despite the collective protest, the city allowed

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Refused to Fight Against the U.S.

Richard Seavers, a Black Boston seaman who entered the British navy prior to the outbreak of the War of 1812, refused to fight against the United States and was therefore sentenced to England's Dartmoor Prison.

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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

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Pioneer Activist Doctor

Dr. Louis T. Wright (1891-1952), a Harvard Medical School graduate in 1915 and a leading 20th century Black physician, pioneered in the struggle of adequate health care and medical facilities until his death in 1952. His first struggle was in Boston when he was denied the opportunity to attend

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Distinguished Female Dentist

Dr. Mary Crutchfield Wright was the only woman to pass the Massachusetts Civil Service examination for dentists in state institutions in 1932.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

First Black Woman in Legislature

Doris Bunte was the first African-American woman to serve in the Massachusetts legislature. Elected in 1972, she served as state representative until 1985.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Red Sox Lawyer and Manager

In January 1990 Attorney Elaine Weddington was appointed assistant general manager for the Boston Red Sox baseball team, a first in the nation for an African-American woman, but not a first for Weddington. In August 1988 she was also appointed associate counsel for the team.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Pioneering Public Servant

Clarence Richard Elam (1923-1985) performed as a pioneering public servant as Assistant Director of Civil Defense for the City of Boston form 1950-52, Executive Secretary of the Governor's Council (1952-56), Chairman of the Boston Licensing Board (1956-74), and Special Assistant to Attorney General

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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

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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

Melnea Cass (1896-1978), who fought vigorously and successfully for the improvement of services and resources for Boston's Black community for over 60 years, had a new thoroughfare named in her honor in 1981, Melnea Cass Boulevard in the lower Roxbury neighborhood of Boston.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Catholic Bishop

Bishop James A. Healy, born of mixed parentage on a Georgia plantation, served as a priest in Boston's Irish immigrant neighborhoods in the 1850s. He was named Chancellor of the Boston Archdiocese in 1855 and Bishop of the Portland (Maine) Diocese in 1875.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Charles Street A.M.E. Church

In 1983, Charles Street A.M.E. Church celebrated its 150th anniversary. Founded in 1833 by Boston's 19th-century Black community on Beacon Hill, it moved to its present site in upper Roxbury in 1939, the last Black church to move out of the Beacon Hill area.

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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

First Court Child Care Center

The Roxbury District Court Child Care Center was the first court-affiliated drop-in care center in New England for families who must bring their children with them when they have court business. Roxbury District Court Judge Julian T. Houston, now a Superior Court judge, worked for four years to

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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.

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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.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

First City Appointment

The first appointment of an African-American to a city position in Boston appears to have been that of W. W. Bryant, who in 1885 was made deputy sealer of weights and measures.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Breezy Meadows Camp

On May 1, 1936 the Robert Gould Shaw House bought Breezy Meadows Camp in Holliston, Massachusetts, which provided summer camping for Boston's Black children and youth until the mid 1960s.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Sergeant William E. Carter (1858-1918), for whom the Carter Playground in Boston's South End is named, served in the Spanish-American War, the Massachusetts National Guard from 1899 to 1917, and in World War I, where he was killed in action in October 1918.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Black Population by 1890

In 1820 the Black population of Boston was 1,690; in 1890 it was 8,125.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Early Black Neighborhood

Between 1800 and 1900 most of Boston's African American residents lived in the West End, between Pinckney and Cambridge Streets and between Joy and Charles Streets - a neighborhood now called the north slope of Beacon Hill.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

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.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Creating Political Opportunities

In 1986 the Black Political Task Force joined forces with the Rainbow Coalition, the Massachusetts Latino Democratic Committee, and the Asian Political Caucus to challenge the redistricting plan put forth by the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Redistricting is the process by which

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Drop-A-Dime/Report-A-Crime, Inc.

This anti-drug program, Drop-A-Dime/Report-A-Crime, Inc., was founded in 1983 by Georgette Watson and Rev. Bruce Wall to combat the rampant drug trade, especially in the African-American communities. As an executive director, Watson used a telephone hot-line approach for anonymous callers to inform

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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

Bob the Chef's Restaurant

Bob the Chef's Restaurant has been a popular landmark soul food eating place in Boston for 30 years. Established by Bob 'the Chef' Morgan on Columbus Avenue where it stands today, this famous eating place is known for its ham hocks, fried chicken, barbecued spareribs, cornbread, and sweet potato

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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

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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

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Top Position for 'Colored Man'

Attorney E. E. Brown was appointed Assistant Health Commisioner for the city of Boston in 1907 by Mayor Fitzgerald, a Democrat. The Guardian newspaper called Brown's appointment the 'best position any colored man ever had in Boston.' The newspaper went on to say, 'The appointment of a colored man

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

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