We are the busing group! Our group is composed of 3 members: Chantal Placido 17 years old is a student at Madison Park high school, Taeia Downie 15 years old, attends to John D O'Bryant and Tewahedo Haimanot, 16 years old attends Boston Latin Academy. Our groups is basically focused on busing and desegregation. Before we went and found all the information, we had questions about Boston Busing that you may have too. How did busing affect Boston, and how violent did it get? To find all this information we went to Suffolk University and looked for information on our archives. Our archivists were Julia Howington and Sonali Munshi. Our presentation goal is to give our audience the information we found but in a way that makes it more interesting. As you explore the website, we would like you to think about Busing -- if TODAY we have improved because of it or shown improvement from racial segregation. Our own opinion to that question as Boston Public Students, is posted below. I hope you guys enjoy our hard work and get to find important information about the busing situation.
Timeline
- Martin Luther King, Jr. led Boston march for school desegregation on April 23rd of 1965
- Racial Imbalance Act of 1965 is passed by Judge Garrity
- 1974 busing started in Boston
- December 11th 1974 stabbing of michael faith in South Boston
- September 10th 1975 " Rabbits Inn" incident
- November 1st 1975 white students flee Boston Public Schools
- October 13th 1976 Busing in Boston is mostly a model of how not to do it
- In 1988 busing ends in Boston and the school district's population had shrunk from 100,000 students to 57,000 students only 15 percent of whom were white
This picture is of Martin Luther King, Jr. giving a speech during the march to City Hall in Boston Massachusetts. He is speaking at the Bandstand on the Boston Common. MYTOWN Archive photo credits to Beresford St. C. Corbin
Joe Moakley/Busing Papers, Suffolk University.
Chantal: This document in my opinion is really important because it shows an organization that was actually against bussing. Also it shows how the people intending to act violently decided to send a letter to try to change the situation. This also shows how people felt about the situation and wanted a change.
Joe Moakley/Busing Papers, Suffolk University.
Joe Moakley/Busing Papers, Suffolk University.
This newspaper article answers one of our main questions, "How did busing affect Boston?" This article shows how students were fleeing schools and families were not cooperating with black students coming into the schools. It shows chaos within Boston Public Schools because of the racial tension around busing.
Joe Moakley/Busing Papers, Suffolk University.
This newspaper article answered our other research question, "How violent was it in Boston because of Busing?" In the photograph, protesters are marching on the Boston Common and near the State House -- a good way to get attention. They were protesting the killing that had happened in the past two weeks (with a bomb going off near the courthouse and hurting 23 people and the beatings on the streets people have receiving during Busing.) The responsibility of all this harm was taken by inmates from a state prison in Massachusetts, but it makes me wonder if they were really responsible for the attacks, or if it was just people angry about busing but not wanting to take the blame for causing violence.
March from Carter Playground to Boston City Hall on April 1965, Massachusetts. Martin Luther King, Jr. marches for equality in schools, 50,000 people attended. MYTOWN Archives, photo credits to Beresford St. C. Corbin.
Chantal: This picture is really important because it shows one of the most important people in the Civil Rights movement and the person who was actually trying hard to end racism and segregation.
For additional information you can click on these links.
http://www.lib.neu.edu/archives/voices/aa-political10.htm - Martin Luther King March on Boston flyer and Southern Christian Leadership Conference Brochure (1965) http://www2.suffolk.edu/moakley/garrityguide.html - Judge Arthur Garrity Research Guide On Busing Papers
http://www.solidarity-us.org/site/node/1703 - Additional information regarding ROAR. - Restore Our Alienated Rights
How has busing impacted Boston Public Schools? Has busing changed the way students learn?
Tewahedo Haimanot
Busing has changed the way students act in Boston Public Schools. Black, or even white students, have not been physically hurt because of their race anymore. Even though the violence part is out of the way, that does not mean everything is fine. There is still racial tension inside the schools. Some schools still have segregated lunches, where black students sit at a place and white students too. It is not forced that they sit that way, it's just how it is. Personally, as a black student, I still feel that there is some tension or discrimination against black students. Just because some of us dress in a certain way, talk in a certain way, we automatically get bad grades, or are considered bad people. That shows how Busing left something in schools that impacted the way students interact in schools. Kids are still hesitant to talk to students if they are not the same race. Kids are also hesitant to work with kids with different racial backgrounds as well. Nobody is getting hurt as before, but there still is some impact left from Busing on Boston Public Schools today.
Chantal Placido
In my opinion, busing changed the way students learn but also how they interact with each other. Nowadays in Boston Public Schools all students are mixed together, it does not matter what race you are or your skin color. Now they do not discriminate like before even though there are still some people that are racist and still feel that there is a difference between people. I believe that now some people feel more empathy for others and they do not treat others how they do not want to be treated. The busing situations was a really bad experience for students back in the day but now thanks to all the people that fought to end that we all can be together in the same place and learning environment.
Taeia Downie
The busing situation in Boston was a very serious situation that caused many problems throughout the city. I believe that the busing situation had a positive impact on the Boston Public Schools even though at the time of busing in the 1970s, there was a wave of frustration surrounding students and the parents. During the time of busing, the student population in Boston Public Schools went from 100,000 student to 57,000. This event changed the diversity of the schools drastically. The schools went from the black students and many other races being the minority to the white students being the minority. I believe that busing really changed the way that students learn because of the fact that if no one tried to take that step to make a difference in the schools then black students and the other races besides white would be forced to be taught at a lower level of education. Today I believe that everyone has a chance and because of busing it helped us get to this point. It is our decision if we take that chance or not.
Today there are 56,037 students in Boston Public Schools. 13% are white, 35.6% are black, 41.0% Hispanic, 8.5% Asian and 2.4% are from other races. This shows how diverse the schools are today, and that is why there are some problems with students. There are many assumptions that make students not want to engage, or talk to other students. It shows Busing still has an impact because students are still hesitant to step outside their circle and work with other students.