Pharmacist Doctor Jackson

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Pharmacist Doctor Jackson

For 50 years, from 1938-1988, Clarence Noel Jackson (1911-1988), Reg. Ph., owned and operated the Douglass Square Pharmacy in lower Roxbury. 'Dr. Jackson,' as he was called, a graduate of the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in 1937, provided a community institution for health care throughout difficult periods of change in the lower Roxbury neighborhood.

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

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Successful Housing Development

The Lower Roxbury Community Corporation under the leadership of Ralph D. Smith, between 1972 and 1980, developed housing for the elderly and low-income residents and townhouses with 570 housing units. Organized 1966, LRCC was the first neighborhood group to initiate and develop housing in the

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Professional and Business Men's Club

From its founding in 1946 by Black professional and business men of Boston until its closing in 1987, the Professional and Business Men's Club, also called the P&B, was a unique community institution at 542 Massachusetts Avenue. It was 'a place where you could get know â€˜something' or

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

First Black Harvard College Graduate

Richard Theodore Greener, class of 1870, was the first Black to graduate from Harvard College. He became a professor of mental and moral philosophy at the University of South Carolina and U.S. Consul at Vladivostok during the Russo-Japanese War.

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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.

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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

55th Massachusetts Regiment

The 55th Massachusetts Regiment commanded by Colonel Hallowell of Boston acquitted itself valiantly during many Civil War battles, particularly in the battle of Honey Hill in South Carolina, where its determined resistance to advancing southern forces saved the lives of numerous Federal troops. In

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Commander at Pearl Harbor

Edward O. Gourdin commanded the 372nd Regiment during World War II and was commander of ground defense at Pearl Harbor. After the war he served as a member of the Secretary of War's Discharge Review and later as Acting Judge Advocate of the Massachusetts National Guard. He later became a judge in

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Theological School President

Rev. David T. Shannon became the first African-American to head the 184-year old Andover Newton Theological School in Newton in 1991. This school is the nation's oldest Protestant graduate school of theology.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Roxbury Community College

Roxbury community College was established in 1973 and its new permanent campus was opened at New Dudley Street and Columbus Avenue to serve the higher education needs of Blacks, Hispanics, and other who previously did not have access to the kind of post-secondary schooling that offered preparation

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Beacon Hill Barbershops

In 19th-century Black Boston, centered on the north slope of Beacon Hill, the local barbershop was an important forum for the discussion of political ideas, the exchange of community information, and the posting of job openings. Peter Howard's shop and John J. Smith's barbershop, both at the foot

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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.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Leading Tennis Player

Titus Sparrow was a leading tennis player in Boston and New England in the 1930s and 1940s. He was a tennis official of the old Boston Tennis Club and its offspring, the Roxbury Sportsmen. He was the winner of numerous trophies, including the New England Gardner Clase Bowl, awarded annually by the

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

19th-Century Sculptor

Edmonia Lewis (1845-1890) was America's first Black artist recognized for her reliefs and busts of great anti-slavery leaders and forForever Free, a composition of marble (completed in 1867) showing a man and woman overcome with emotion on hearing news of the emancipation from slavery. Lewis began

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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.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Pioneer Historian and Minister

George Washington William (1849-1891) was a graduate of Newton Theological Seminary (1874) and the Pastor of Boston's Twelfth Baptist Church from 1874-1876. After seven years of research he authoredA History of the Negro Race in American from 1619 to 1880: Negroes as Slaves, as Soldiers and as

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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

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Theodore Drury, who had earlier produced operas with Black casts in New York City, organized and trained a Black company in Boston in the early years of the 20th century. In 1907 'Aida' and a scene from 'Carmen' were produced, and 'Faust' and 'Cavalleria Rusticana' in the following year.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Served General Washington

Barzillai Lew of Cambridge, who had been a member of the Massachusetts fighting unit during the French and Indian War of 1760, was one of the full seven-year veterans of the American Revolution. He directly served General George Washington and later headed an all-Black unit in Rhode Island during

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Opening Doors of Opportunity

Several organizations have strong track records of service to the African-American community. Three such organizations have worked for more than 20 years to open doors of opportunity for Blacks: the Contractors Association of Boston (CAB); the Black Patrolmen's Association, currently known as

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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

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Massachusetts Legislative Black Caucus

In 1972 the Massachusetts Legislative Black Caucus was founded in an effort to coordinate the efforts of Black elected officials and make them more accountable to the Black community.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

George W. Forbes, Librarian

George W. Forbes (1864-1927) served as reference librarian from 1896 to 1927 in the West End Branch of the Boston Public Library, the city's busiest branch at the time. While the West End Beacon Hill neighborhood was a predominantly Black neighborhood during the late 1890's, a Jewish population

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Principal Harpist in BSO

Ann Hobson Pilot is the principal harpist in the Boston Symphony Orchestra ( BSO). As the only African-American in the BSO for over 20 years, she started as a second harpist in 1969, moved to associate harpist and then to principal harpist in 1980. Nationally she is the only principal

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

T. J. Anderson, who served as Chairman of the Department of Music and is currently the Austin Fletcher Professor of Music at Tufts University, is a leading 20th-century composer. He is recognized for his orchestration of Scott Joplin's opera,Treemonisha, which premiered in Atlanta in 1972. He has

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

20th-Century Statesman

Herbert L. Jackson became one of the most successful Black politicians in the history of Massachusetts, serving some 30 years in public office from the 1940s to the 1970s. He was first elected in 1945 to a seat on the Malden City Council, where he served until 1950, when he won his first of two

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Largest Negro Weekly Newspaper

The Boston Chronicle, from 1920 to 1967, was 'New England's largest Negro Weekly Newspaper.' Published and edited by Alfred Haughton with William Harrison as Associate Editor, this Black community newspaper covered local, statewide, regional, national, and international news of people, places, and

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Internationally Recognized Sculptor

Meta Warwick Fuller, who lived in Framingham, Massachusetts, from 1909 until her death in 1968, was widely acclaimed for her sculpture. Her sculptures of human figures were exhibited both locally and nationally.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Leading Businesswoman

A leading African-American businesswoman in Boston for more than 20 years, Estella V. Crosby owned and operated a dry goods store on Tremont Street. She chaired the annual convention of the National Business League in Boston in 1955, organized the Housewives League, and was active in the League of

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Inventor of Diving Suit

In 1919 Charles H. Jackson, a mechanic in Boston, invented a diving suit used to set a new world's record in 1920 for deep sea diving. John F. Turner, an internationally know diver, reached a depth of 360 feet while diving with Jackson's suit.

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Source: African Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years

Literature Facts

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