Microwave Associates

BlackFacts Details

Microwave Associates

Microwave Associates, Inc. (now called M/A-COM) was founded in 1950 in Boston by two African-American engineers, Louis W. Roberts and Richard M. Walker, and Vess Chigas (a Greek American). In 1956 the company offered public stock and many of Boston's African-Americans invested. Microwave Associates became a multi-national company with sales over $500 million.

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.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

First Female Federal Magistrate

Joyce London Alexander became the first Black woman in the country appointed as a federal magistrate in Boston when she was named to that post by President Jimmy Carter in 1979.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Advocate for Community Development

Charles 'Chuck' Turner, executive director of the Center for Community Action, has been a community organizer, activist, and advocate for Boston's African-American community for over 20 years. He has a record of effectively organizing people to confront city and state agencies for jobs, affordable

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

Black Population 1880-1920

The Boston Black population numbered 2,348 in 1865. By 1880 (after the Civil War), it had climbed to 5,873. Throughout the entire period from the Civil War to World War I, Boston had as large a proportion of African-American residents as New York, Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland; the Black

fave

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

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Newspaper/Radio/TV Pioneer

In 1954 George Forsyth became the first African-American reporter to be hired by theBoston Traveler, the afternoon paper owned by theBoston Herald. Beginning as a street reporter, he became a feature writer and drama and entertainment critic. In 1968 he joined the staff of WHDH-TV as an on-air

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Barred from Harvard Medical School

Daniel Laing and Isaac H. Snowden of Boston and Martin R. Delany of Pittsburgh, in 1850, were the first blacks admitted into Harvard Medical School. All three were dismissed, however, in 1851, when white students protested their presence; and the Dean of the medical school felt that 'this

fave

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.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Longest Tenure for a Black Minister

In 1980, Rev. Richard M. Owens completed 43 years of pastoring the historic Peoples Baptist Church, giving him the longest tenure for a Black minister in Boston's history. He was the first Black elected President of the American Baptist Convention of Massachusetts in 1969.

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

Harvard Phi Beta Kappa

In 1895 Boston's William Monroe Trotter became the first Black to receive a Phi Beta Kappa key from Harvard University.

fave

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

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Outstanding Criminal Lawyer

William H. Lewis (1869-1949), long recognized as one of Boston's outstanding criminal lawyers, was the first African-American to hold the position of Assistant United States Attorney General, appointed by President Taft in 1911.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Distinguished Black Judge

Harry J. Elam became the first Black to serve as a Justice in the more than 300-year history of the Boston Municipal Court when he was appointed in 1971 as an Associate Justice. In 1978 he was the unanimous choice of the full bench of the Supreme Judicial Court to serve a five-year term as Chief

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Oldest Suburban Churches

Myrtle Baptist Church in Newton, founded in 1874, and St. John's Baptist Church in Woburn, founded in 1886, are the oldest Black churches in suburban Boston.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Boston Common 'Out of Bounds'

In 1742, when whites feared uprisings against oppression from the heavy concentration of slaves in Boston, the Boston Common was 'out of bounds' for Blacks and American Indians. The Black community of the city fought this restriction, but it was not until July 4, 1836 that they were allowed to use

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

First Massachusetts Legislators

The first Blacks elected to the Massachusetts legislature in the 20th century were William H. Lewis (from Cambridge in 1909) and Lincoln Pope (from Boston in 1956), with Pope being the first Black Democrat to represent Boston in the legislature.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Benjamin and Sarah Roberts Lawsuit

Benjamin Roberts sued the Boston School Committee in 1849 for denying his daughter Sarah admission to an all-white Boston school. His action rallied school integration forces in the early 1850s, leading to the first official school desegregation in Boston in 1855. At that time the Massachusetts

fave

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

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Black-Owned Hotels

There were three Black-owned and operated hotels in Boston in 1915: the Pitts, Carlton, and Melbourne.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

A group of Black women led by Wilhelmina Crosson started the Aristo Club in 1924 to teach African-American history in the Boston schools and Black community and to boost educational and cultural opportunities for Boston's Black youth. In 1926 the Club sponsored the first official Negro History Week

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

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

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.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

While The Liberator newspaper (1831-1869), founded by the militant white abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, was an anti-slavery organ, it was also a journal for Black Americans throughout Boston and the East. The paper provided a network with its listing of death notices and social

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Early Career Officer

Colonel Frank M. Snowden (1885-1947) of Boston joined the U.S. Army in 1907 and rose through the ranks, in an era when few Blacks became officers, to become a colonel. After leaving the service in 1945 he served as civilian executive of the First Service Command (U.S. Army) in Boston.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Freedom Electronics and Engineering

Now more than 20 years old, Freedom Electronics and Engineering was founded by lawyer and businessman Archie Williams during the height of the civil rights movement in Boston in the 1960s. The firm presently supplies products and services for giant high-tech industries such as Digital Equipment

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Early Black Newspapers

The Afro-American Pressand Its Editors, the Boston Co-Operator, The Boston Leader, The Advocate, the Courant, and The Boston Observer were early Black newspapers in Boston during the 1880s and 1890s.

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

'Dean' of Black Lawyers

Henry E. Quarles, Sr., born in Boston in 1906, and a graduate of Suffolk Law School in 1928, is considered 'The Dean' of Black lawyers in Boston. He holds the distinction of having the longest legal career - 61 years of practice as an attorney - in Boston. He received an Honorary Doctor of Law from

fave

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Blackfacts BETA RELEASE 11.5.3
(Production Environment)