Muriel Snowden International High School

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Muriel Snowden International High School

While Muriel Snowden (1916-1988) was still alive, the Boston School Committee renamed Copley Square High School, the Muriel Snowden International High School, in recognition of Mrs. Snowden's efforts to foster the study of other cultures and foreign languages among urban youth and for co-founding and directing Freedom House in Boston (with her husband, Otto) from 1949-1984.

Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Two All-Black Fighting Units

There were two all-Black units, the Massasoit Guards and the Liberty Guards in Boston in the 1850s, but they were not attached to the militia of the State because there was opposition 'to there being any Colored men belonging to the State Militia.' Many of these men eventually joined the

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Wig Manufacturer

The largest wig manufacturer in Boston in the early 1900s was Gilbert C. Harris. By 1910 his mail-order business was the largest of its kind in New England, supplying theatrical stock companies throughout the country.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Black Newspaper Publisher

In 1838 Benjamin Roberts (who worked for The Liberator under William Lloyd Garrison) established the Anti-Slavery Herald, intended to be an anti-slavery journal by and for Blacks in Boston. Only a few issues were printed. In 1853 Roberts tried again establishing a Black paper called Self Elevator.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Prosperous Dressmaker

Eliza Ann Gardner conducted a prosperous dress-making business in Boston before the Civil War and did the delicate needlework for the first banner made for the Plymouth Rock Chapter of Odd Fellows.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Black Nurse in Civil War

Susie King Taylor (1848-19?), who distinguished herself as a nurse with the Union forces during the Civil War, moved to Boston in 1874 to work as a laundress. In 1886 she helped organize Corps 67 of the Boston Branch of the Women's Relief Corps, the auxiliary to the Grand Army of the

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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

'Finest Boxer to Wear Gloves'

Sam Langford of Boston and Cambridge had by his own count 650 boxing bouts between 1902 and 1926; 250 of his fights were officially recorded. Standing just 5 feet 7 inches, and weighing 165 pounds - the size of a middleweight - Langford fought as a heavyweight and held the so-called Negro and

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Legendary Community Politicians

From the mid-1920s through the 1950s, brothers Silas F. and Balcom S. Taylor, Registered Pharmacists, championed voter registration, jobs, housing, and political participation for Blacks in Boston, when there were no elected Black officials in city or state government. Their drugstore on Tremont

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Brighton High Valedictorian

In 1911 an African-American girl, F. Marion Reed, was valedictorian of her class at Brighton High School. With an overall average of 95 for her four years of high school study, she was in the top ten of academically achieving students out of 1,291 graduates from Boston high schools in 1911.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Nationally Known Dancer

Stanley E. Brown (1902-1977) was a nationally known dancer and dance instructor in Boston from 1929 to 1977. Founder of the Stanley Brown Dance Studio, he trained and coached hundreds of professionals. 'Sugar Ray' Robinson took tap lessons from Brown as did Cab Calloway, Diana Ross, and Lola

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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

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

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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.

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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.

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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

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

First Black Female Dentist

Dr. Jessie G. Garnett (1897-1976) was the first Black woman dentist in Boston. A 1919 graduate of Tufts Dental School and the first Black woman to graduate from Tufts Dental, she practiced for 50 years until 1970. Dr. Garnett once recalled, 'When I first started, patients came to the office and saw

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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.

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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

Robert C. Hayden, Author/Historian

Robert C. Hayden has been the leading researcher and writer of Boston African-American history for over 20 years. From 1974-1983 he wrote a weekly column entitled 'Boston's Black History' forThe Bay State Banner newspaper. His other works includeFaith, Culture and Leadership: A History of the Black

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Memories of Great Black Athletes

Fifty Sports Years Along Memory Lane: Afro-American Sports History - Hometown, Local and National by Mabray 'Doc' Kountze of West Medford was published in 1981. Kountze's book chronicles hundreds of sports figures, teams and events in greater Boston's African-American history.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

First Graduate, New England Conservatory of Music

Rachel M. Washington was the first African-American to graduate from the New England Conservatory of Music in the year 1876. She served as organist and choir director at Twelfth Baptist Church in the latter half of the 19th century and was a leading music teacher in Boston's Black community.

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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

90 Black Churches

The number of Black churches in Boston grew from two in 1830 to five by 1850. One was the Free Church, later named Tremont Temple, established in 1836 as an integrated church protesting segregated seating in Boston's white churches. Today there are over 90 churches that 'identify with the

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Black Businesses in 1846

Nearly 200 of Boston's 800 black residents operated businesses in 1846.

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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

Valiant Navy Admiral

Gerald E. Thomas of Natick and Boston rose to become Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy. His first command was in 1962 aboard the USS Impervious, an ocean minesweeper operating in the western Pacific. He also commanded the Destroyer Squandron NINE and the Cruiser-Destroyer Group FIVE. Thomas's medals

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Eminent Foreign Correspondent

William Worthy, Jr., born in Boston in 1921 and educated in its public schools, served as an eminent and significant foreign correspondent and columnist for the Baltimore Afro-American from 1951 to 1980; as a special CBS News correspondent in China, Africa, and the Soviet Union between 1955-57; and

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

First Black Episcopal Priest

In 1894, at the Church of St. Augustine, Oscar Lieber Mitchell was the first African-American ordained into the priesthood of the Episcopal Church in Boston.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

First Black Printing Business

In 1838 Benjamin Roberts established Boston's first Black-owned and operated printing business.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Preacher at Tremont Temple

Rev. John Sella Martin, who served as pastor of the Joy Street Baptist Church ( African Meeting House) around 1859, often served as guest preacher at the Tremont Temple, a mostly white congregation. He addressed worshippers at the Temple on January 1, 1863, when news of

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Education Facts

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