Dr. Zebulon Miletsky, an expert in Africana Studies and History, discusses the often-overlooked racial tensions in Northern cities like Boston during the busing era of the 1970s. He reveals how decades of de facto segregation led to a chaotic integration process that didn't uplift educational standards. Through personal narratives and historical events, he sheds light on the community's resistance to integration, the violent backlash it provoked, and the ongoing struggles for racial equality that challenge the city's liberal reputation.
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1968 Dashiki Protests Sparked Violence
In 1968 Boston students protested after a Black student was suspended for wearing a dashiki and violence spread across schools.
Protesters demanded Black student unions, Black history curricula, and the right to wear African dress.
insights INSIGHT
Northern Abolitionists Still Supported Segregation
Boston had early public schools yet still practiced segregation into the 1800s despite abolitionist reputations.
Abolitionist sentiment did not automatically translate into willingness to educate Black children alongside white children.
insights INSIGHT
Ethnic Politics Shaped School Resistance
Irish control of the Boston School Committee shaped patronage and staffing, fueling resistance to reforms benefiting Black students.
Many Irish Catholics felt insecure and protected jobs and resources for their own community.
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We talk about racism in the United States like it only happens in the South. But the nasty truth is that the North is also guilty of racist behavior. This is evident in the way that we behaved when schools were integrated by bus.
Brown v. Board of Education called for public schools to integrate. However, it took decades for many public schools to carry out this directive. It wasn't until the 1970s that the Boston schools were forced to integrate. But how?
Schools are frequently attended by children who live in a given school district. But the North had divided itself up by race, forcing black people to live only in certain areas of a city. Black children were not going to white public schools because they simply didn't live in white neighborhoods. This was de facto segregation at work. So when schools were called to integrate, they had to come up with a plan. They would bus students between schools, thus integrating them.
But there were problems. In Boston, they started this program by cross-populating poor schools with poor schools. So the quality of education didn't go up. Violence broke out across the city as parents and children alike struggled to welcome people who looked different than them.
In this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Zebulon Miletsky, Associate Professor, Africana Studies and History at Stony Brook University.
Sources:
Before Busing: A History of Boston's Long Black Freedom Struggle by Dr. Zebulon Miletsky
Boston Against Busing by Ronald P Formisano
Boston Globe (1960-); Sep 26, 1968; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Boston Globe pg. 1 and 32
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