1 00:00:01,600 --> 00:00:03,066 ANNOUNCER: The following program contains the use 2 00:00:03,066 --> 00:00:05,200 of racial epithets in historical context 3 00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:07,566 and to recount personal experiences. 4 00:00:07,566 --> 00:00:09,600 Viewer discretion is advised. 5 00:00:14,700 --> 00:00:20,733 ♪ ♪ 6 00:00:26,700 --> 00:00:28,966 PHYLLIS ELLISON-FEASTER: The first day of school, 7 00:00:28,966 --> 00:00:31,333 my brother and I had our bus assignments, 8 00:00:31,333 --> 00:00:35,033 and we collected students and other buses 9 00:00:35,033 --> 00:00:37,000 to drive up to South Boston High School. 10 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:40,533 L Street Annex, right over here-- first two buses, please. 11 00:00:43,766 --> 00:00:46,733 BOB MONAHAN: I went up to Southie High. 12 00:00:46,733 --> 00:00:50,100 There was staging for the television cameras. 13 00:00:50,100 --> 00:00:53,866 And the first one I noticed was the BBC. 14 00:00:53,866 --> 00:00:57,766 We all knew something was going to happen. 15 00:00:57,766 --> 00:01:00,733 LEON ROCK: As the kids were getting out the buses, 16 00:01:00,733 --> 00:01:04,266 there was a line of police 17 00:01:04,266 --> 00:01:09,100 holding back residents from South Boston 18 00:01:09,100 --> 00:01:12,966 screaming at the Black students. 19 00:01:12,966 --> 00:01:15,366 We were fearful for our lives. 20 00:01:15,366 --> 00:01:19,833 RUTH BATSON: We were not pushing for desegregation 21 00:01:19,833 --> 00:01:23,233 because of the brotherhood of man concept. 22 00:01:23,233 --> 00:01:26,933 Where there were White students, that's where the money went. 23 00:01:26,933 --> 00:01:31,033 MONAHAN: How adults in Boston could not have come up with a better plan, 24 00:01:31,033 --> 00:01:33,600 it still baffles me. 25 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:35,500 WOMAN: I'm not for this. 26 00:01:35,500 --> 00:01:37,600 I don't care, my one will not go to school. 27 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:40,533 But it's tearing them apart. 28 00:01:40,533 --> 00:01:42,466 I wouldn't care if they were green or purple. 29 00:01:42,466 --> 00:01:44,566 It's the idea of putting my kid on a bus when I have a school 30 00:01:44,566 --> 00:01:46,166 right across the street from where they should go. 31 00:01:46,166 --> 00:01:48,966 JIM VRABEL: White families and even some Black families 32 00:01:48,966 --> 00:01:52,066 felt that the decision of where their children 33 00:01:52,066 --> 00:01:54,866 should go to school should be up to them. 34 00:01:54,866 --> 00:01:58,866 First of all, busing will never work in this city-- never. 35 00:01:58,866 --> 00:02:01,700 They will not take the rights away from these people. 36 00:02:01,700 --> 00:02:05,566 ROCK: Many Black parents were saying, "This is crazy. 37 00:02:05,566 --> 00:02:09,533 No, we can't send our kids into the lion's den." 38 00:02:09,533 --> 00:02:11,100 WOMAN: I don't want to bus my child 39 00:02:11,100 --> 00:02:12,633 to any school. 40 00:02:12,633 --> 00:02:14,833 I want to have a good school in my community where my child 41 00:02:14,833 --> 00:02:18,433 can go and get just as much good education as anybody else. 42 00:02:18,433 --> 00:02:21,133 MATTHEW DELMONT: The battle over busing in Boston 43 00:02:21,133 --> 00:02:22,566 exposed an important truth, 44 00:02:22,566 --> 00:02:24,366 that the majority of White Americans 45 00:02:24,366 --> 00:02:26,366 didn't actually support civil rights if it meant 46 00:02:26,366 --> 00:02:28,033 they had to actually address racial inequality 47 00:02:28,033 --> 00:02:29,500 in their own cities. 48 00:02:29,500 --> 00:02:31,833 The people of Boston elected people 49 00:02:31,833 --> 00:02:33,833 to public office who campaigned 50 00:02:33,833 --> 00:02:36,800 on deliberately racist platforms. 51 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:38,266 LOUISE DAY HICKS: If you ask me, 52 00:02:38,266 --> 00:02:41,566 "Do you know where I stand?", you know where I stand. 53 00:02:41,566 --> 00:02:42,766 Shoot all the niggers. 54 00:02:42,766 --> 00:02:44,300 MAN: Why? 55 00:02:44,300 --> 00:02:46,333 Because why should they move over here and wreck this city? 56 00:02:46,333 --> 00:02:48,166 IRA JACKSON: It was the ugliest 57 00:02:48,166 --> 00:02:50,933 that I've ever experienced human nature, 58 00:02:50,933 --> 00:02:54,033 and the most fraught with danger 59 00:02:54,033 --> 00:02:57,800 and concern that we were at the precipice 60 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:01,966 of anarchy, civil war-- a race riot. 61 00:03:01,966 --> 00:03:03,200 It's not a question 62 00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:07,966 of whether the Constitution can be enforced. 63 00:03:07,966 --> 00:03:10,300 It's only a question of at what cost. 64 00:03:10,300 --> 00:03:12,333 (people shouting) 65 00:03:21,166 --> 00:03:24,233 ♪ ♪ 66 00:03:24,233 --> 00:03:28,833 (people talking in background) 67 00:03:33,066 --> 00:03:38,266 (shutters clicking) 68 00:03:43,466 --> 00:03:46,666 (static crackling) 69 00:03:46,666 --> 00:03:49,233 Good evening, my fellow citizens. 70 00:03:49,233 --> 00:03:52,133 BRYANT ROLLINS: On June 11, 1963, 71 00:03:52,133 --> 00:03:56,000 President John Kennedy calls for a national press conference 72 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:58,633 and all three networks broadcast it. 73 00:03:58,633 --> 00:04:01,766 It rivets the attention of the country. 74 00:04:01,766 --> 00:04:04,333 The Negro baby born in America today, 75 00:04:04,333 --> 00:04:08,000 regardless of the section or the state in which he is born, 76 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:11,333 has about one-half as much chance 77 00:04:11,333 --> 00:04:13,633 of completing a high school as a White baby 78 00:04:13,633 --> 00:04:17,433 born in the same place on the same day. 79 00:04:17,433 --> 00:04:20,733 I was at home watching him on TV. 80 00:04:20,733 --> 00:04:22,766 And to hear a president of the United States 81 00:04:22,766 --> 00:04:26,833 acknowledge the depth of the racial challenges 82 00:04:26,833 --> 00:04:31,166 was just remarkable and uplifting. 83 00:04:31,166 --> 00:04:35,933 In the middle of the struggles that are going on in the South, 84 00:04:35,933 --> 00:04:38,366 to take a side like that, on our side, 85 00:04:38,366 --> 00:04:40,700 it was, like, revolutionary. 86 00:04:40,700 --> 00:04:42,766 There can be no submission to the theory 87 00:04:42,766 --> 00:04:44,000 that the central government... 88 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:45,833 ROLLINS: Earlier in the day, 89 00:04:45,833 --> 00:04:48,200 Governor George Wallace stood in the schoolhouse door and said, 90 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:51,200 "In my tenure as governor here, 91 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:56,266 Negroes will never attend the University of Alabama." 92 00:04:56,266 --> 00:05:00,000 I am asking from you an unequivocal assurance 93 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,633 that you will not bar entry to these students, 94 00:05:02,633 --> 00:05:04,533 to Vivian Malone and to James Hood. 95 00:05:04,533 --> 00:05:08,366   ROLLINS: Kennedy finally saw how rigid 96 00:05:08,366 --> 00:05:12,700 and devastating the racism in the South had become, 97 00:05:12,700 --> 00:05:15,600 that it was no longer possible to stay on the sidelines. 98 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:18,766 This is not a sectional issue. 99 00:05:18,766 --> 00:05:21,566 Difficulties over segregation and discrimination 100 00:05:21,566 --> 00:05:26,000 exist in every city in every state of the Union. 101 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:28,766 Part of the irony of Kennedy's speech was that in Boston, 102 00:05:28,766 --> 00:05:33,666 the NAACP is appearing before the Boston School Committee, 103 00:05:33,666 --> 00:05:37,233 in an equally dramatic moment, at the same time. 104 00:05:37,233 --> 00:05:41,233 It was a very hot night, there was no air conditioning. 105 00:05:41,233 --> 00:05:44,933 The windows were wide open in search of air. 106 00:05:44,933 --> 00:05:47,100 PEOPLE (in distance): ♪ We shall overcome ♪ 107 00:05:47,100 --> 00:05:49,600 JONES: You could hear, downstairs, demonstrators 108 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:54,066 chanting and singing freedom songs. 109 00:05:54,066 --> 00:05:57,900 Inside the school committee headquarters, 110 00:05:57,900 --> 00:06:00,400 Ruth Batson presented her case 111 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:03,233 to the all-White school committee. 112 00:06:03,233 --> 00:06:05,533 FARAH STOCKMAN: Ruth Batson really is on a mission to get 113 00:06:05,533 --> 00:06:08,766 the Boston School Committee to admit 114 00:06:08,766 --> 00:06:13,133 that there was de facto segregation 115 00:06:13,133 --> 00:06:17,500 in the schools and to do something about it. 116 00:06:17,500 --> 00:06:21,400 JONES: Louise Day Hicks, South Boston lawyer, 117 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:24,933 chairperson of the school committee, said to Mrs. Batson, 118 00:06:24,933 --> 00:06:30,100 "Mrs. Batson, we don't segregate the schools. 119 00:06:30,100 --> 00:06:32,566 "We only assign students to schools closest 120 00:06:32,566 --> 00:06:35,600 "to where they live, so we're not accepting this notion 121 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:37,733 "and we are not going to do anything 122 00:06:37,733 --> 00:06:39,866 about what you're talking about." 123 00:06:39,866 --> 00:06:44,200 We made our presentation, and everything broke loose. 124 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:48,566 We were completely rejected that night, 125 00:06:48,566 --> 00:06:52,000 and we left battle-scarred. 126 00:06:54,700 --> 00:06:58,166 If an American, because his skin is dark, 127 00:06:58,166 --> 00:07:02,166 cannot eat lunch in a restaurant open to the public, 128 00:07:02,166 --> 00:07:04,466 if he cannot send his children 129 00:07:04,466 --> 00:07:07,266 to the best public school available, 130 00:07:07,266 --> 00:07:09,566 if he cannot vote, 131 00:07:09,566 --> 00:07:11,900 who among us would then be content 132 00:07:11,900 --> 00:07:15,133 with the counsels of patience and delay? 133 00:07:15,133 --> 00:07:19,766 So here you've got President Kennedy making 134 00:07:19,766 --> 00:07:22,100 an impassioned speech to the nation, 135 00:07:22,100 --> 00:07:25,866 in this morally rich position that he's taking, 136 00:07:25,866 --> 00:07:28,966 juxtaposed with the Boston School Committee, 137 00:07:28,966 --> 00:07:31,400 which is presented with this opportunity, 138 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:35,433 and it does exactly the opposite: dug its heels in. 139 00:07:35,433 --> 00:07:37,833 JONES: This meeting is a turning point. 140 00:07:37,833 --> 00:07:40,366 It ignited a movement. 141 00:07:40,366 --> 00:07:45,466 The Civil Rights Movement came to Boston 142 00:07:45,466 --> 00:07:49,566 on June 11, 1963. 143 00:07:49,566 --> 00:07:54,200 (crowd singing) 144 00:07:56,833 --> 00:08:02,700 ♪ ♪ 145 00:08:07,300 --> 00:08:10,066 VRABEL: In the 1960s, 146 00:08:10,066 --> 00:08:14,033 Boston was a rundown has-been of a city. 147 00:08:14,033 --> 00:08:18,666 The middle class was on its way out. 148 00:08:18,666 --> 00:08:23,466 It was left as a place for the poor and working class. 149 00:08:23,466 --> 00:08:27,800 It was a city of Waldorf and Hayes-Bickford cafeterias, 150 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:29,800 and bookie joints, 151 00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:32,900 and newspapers blowing down the streets. 152 00:08:32,900 --> 00:08:34,366 BILL JOY: Boston is sort of like 153 00:08:34,366 --> 00:08:36,533 the palm of your hand. 154 00:08:36,533 --> 00:08:37,766 You have the little peninsulas 155 00:08:37,766 --> 00:08:39,366 going out into the harbor, 156 00:08:39,366 --> 00:08:43,833 whether it's Dorchester, South Boston, 157 00:08:43,833 --> 00:08:49,200 East Boston, North End, Charlestown. 158 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:51,066 They go out into the harbor. 159 00:08:51,066 --> 00:08:54,166 And the Downtown area is sort of the back of your hand. 160 00:08:54,166 --> 00:08:56,533 So, you don't go through the neighborhoods. 161 00:08:56,533 --> 00:08:59,433 The neighborhoods are their own little sort of worlds. 162 00:08:59,433 --> 00:09:03,500 ROLLINS: East Boston was the Italian neighborhood. 163 00:09:03,500 --> 00:09:06,833 Mattapan was the Jewish neighborhood. 164 00:09:06,833 --> 00:09:10,200 South Boston was the Irish neighborhood. 165 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:14,666 The South End was Hispanic, by and large. 166 00:09:14,666 --> 00:09:18,033 Right adjacent to the Downtown Boston 167 00:09:18,033 --> 00:09:19,666 was the Chinese community. 168 00:09:19,666 --> 00:09:22,500 ♪ ♪ 169 00:09:22,500 --> 00:09:26,600 Roxbury-- Lower Roxbury and Upper Roxbury-- 170 00:09:26,600 --> 00:09:28,433 were the Black communities: 171 00:09:28,433 --> 00:09:31,133 African Americans who had been there for some 200 years, 172 00:09:31,133 --> 00:09:36,233 and Caribbean Americans who came in the 1900s. 173 00:09:36,233 --> 00:09:38,266 STOCKMAN: Ten years earlier, 174 00:09:38,266 --> 00:09:40,633 Boston had been a very White city. 175 00:09:40,633 --> 00:09:44,700 In the 1950s, you're seeing people 176 00:09:44,700 --> 00:09:46,433 come up from the Deep South. 177 00:09:46,433 --> 00:09:48,466 They're crowding into these neighborhoods 178 00:09:48,466 --> 00:09:50,233 where Blacks are allowed to live-- 179 00:09:50,233 --> 00:09:51,600 the South End and Roxbury. 180 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:56,200 They can't move out because of racial covenants 181 00:09:56,200 --> 00:09:58,133 written into the deeds. 182 00:09:58,133 --> 00:10:00,100 And outside of those Black neighborhoods, 183 00:10:00,100 --> 00:10:02,866 they faced tremendous discrimination. 184 00:10:02,866 --> 00:10:08,100 ROLLINS: The conditions were pretty bad, and they were deteriorating 185 00:10:08,100 --> 00:10:10,400 as more folks moved in. 186 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:13,133 JONES: Boston was like up South. 187 00:10:13,133 --> 00:10:17,066 There were patterns of racial discrimination everywhere. 188 00:10:17,066 --> 00:10:20,666 Black folks were invisible. 189 00:10:20,666 --> 00:10:24,166 It was like they didn't live in the city. 190 00:10:24,166 --> 00:10:28,100 People from South Boston didn't come into Roxbury. 191 00:10:28,100 --> 00:10:30,633 People from Roxbury didn't go into South Boston. 192 00:10:30,633 --> 00:10:33,633 (crowd cheering, drums pounding) 193 00:10:33,633 --> 00:10:36,300 AL HOLLAND: We used to try to go 194 00:10:36,300 --> 00:10:38,400 to the St. Patrick Day parade. 195 00:10:40,400 --> 00:10:43,533 Once we got to the South Boston side, we realized that, 196 00:10:43,533 --> 00:10:45,600 "Hey, we'd better get out of here," 197 00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:47,433 because people started yelling at us, 198 00:10:47,433 --> 00:10:49,133 calling us all kinds of names. 199 00:10:50,666 --> 00:10:54,133 Then people started chasing us. 200 00:10:57,033 --> 00:10:59,533 JOE BURNIEIKA: The only time I ever saw a Black person 201 00:10:59,533 --> 00:11:01,933 when I was growing up was when the Black Jehovah Witnesses 202 00:11:01,933 --> 00:11:04,000 would come down the street. 203 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:07,066 My grandmother, who was from County Cork in Ireland... 204 00:11:07,066 --> 00:11:09,033 (laughs): When she would see them coming down, 205 00:11:09,033 --> 00:11:10,433 she would say, "Close the blinds, 206 00:11:10,433 --> 00:11:11,500 don't answer the door!" 207 00:11:11,500 --> 00:11:12,933 And I could never understand 208 00:11:12,933 --> 00:11:14,366 what she was so upset about. 209 00:11:14,366 --> 00:11:18,500 But that was the environment that I grew up in. 210 00:11:21,700 --> 00:11:24,600 ♪ ♪ 211 00:11:28,833 --> 00:11:33,066 Boston's tradition of education is long and lustrous. 212 00:11:35,066 --> 00:11:38,066 It had the first school in America, in Boston Latin. 213 00:11:39,900 --> 00:11:43,900 Up until the Depression, it was probably one of the best 214 00:11:43,900 --> 00:11:46,933 public school systems in the country. 215 00:11:48,233 --> 00:11:51,066 But then it kind of hit a downturn 216 00:11:51,066 --> 00:11:53,933 and became more of a political place. 217 00:11:53,933 --> 00:11:56,500 It was all about getting constituents jobs. 218 00:11:56,500 --> 00:12:00,633 Everybody knew that if you wanted to have a promotion, 219 00:12:00,633 --> 00:12:02,866 if you wanted to become an assistant principal, 220 00:12:02,866 --> 00:12:05,600 or, God forbid, you wanted to be a principal, 221 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:07,400 you had to contribute 222 00:12:07,400 --> 00:12:11,166 to the campaigns of the elected school committee. 223 00:12:11,166 --> 00:12:14,666 It was never based on merit. 224 00:12:14,666 --> 00:12:17,433 Boston had literally a two-tiered system 225 00:12:17,433 --> 00:12:20,500 of high schools-- there were the district high schools, 226 00:12:20,500 --> 00:12:22,566 like East Boston, 227 00:12:22,566 --> 00:12:26,500 South Boston High School, Charlestown High School. 228 00:12:26,500 --> 00:12:30,200 Charlestown High School, you might only have a few kids 229 00:12:30,200 --> 00:12:33,200 that graduated and went to a four-year college. 230 00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:36,433 Then there were the exam schools. 231 00:12:36,433 --> 00:12:38,666 There was Boston Latin for boys, 232 00:12:38,666 --> 00:12:40,466 there was Girls' Latin, 233 00:12:40,466 --> 00:12:41,800 and Boston Tech. 234 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:43,833 And those schools were elite 235 00:12:43,833 --> 00:12:46,366 and mostly White. 236 00:12:47,866 --> 00:12:51,433 As a student in training to be a teacher 237 00:12:51,433 --> 00:12:53,933 and visiting Boston schools and then visiting, 238 00:12:53,933 --> 00:12:56,000 as well, schools in the suburbs, 239 00:12:56,000 --> 00:12:59,566 the differences were extreme. 240 00:12:59,566 --> 00:13:02,133 So, in the suburban schools, 241 00:13:02,133 --> 00:13:05,033 I would see these beautiful new school buildings, 242 00:13:05,033 --> 00:13:08,333 modern science labs, modern auditoriums. 243 00:13:08,333 --> 00:13:11,533 And I'd go back to visiting a school 244 00:13:11,533 --> 00:13:14,866 in Boston, and I'd say, like, "Are we in the same world, 245 00:13:14,866 --> 00:13:16,700 the same planet, the same state?" 246 00:13:18,400 --> 00:13:21,366 "Why are schools in Boston underfunded 247 00:13:21,366 --> 00:13:23,933 and disgraceful-looking?" 248 00:13:23,933 --> 00:13:25,966 VRABEL: The schools in the African American community 249 00:13:25,966 --> 00:13:28,500 were even less well-off. 250 00:13:28,500 --> 00:13:31,966 The school buildings were older, the resources less. 251 00:13:31,966 --> 00:13:35,433 ZEBULON MILETSKY: Black schools were located 252 00:13:35,433 --> 00:13:38,766 in some of the oldest school buildings in Boston. 253 00:13:38,766 --> 00:13:41,966 They were missing basic resources 254 00:13:41,966 --> 00:13:45,933 like paper, pencils, pens. 255 00:13:45,933 --> 00:13:47,900 But they also didn't have lunchrooms, 256 00:13:47,900 --> 00:13:50,400 and they didn't have libraries, in some cases, or gymnasiums. 257 00:13:51,933 --> 00:13:53,800 JONATHAN KOZOL: The school building which I taught in Boston 258 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:56,300 was something out of a Charles Dickens novel. 259 00:13:56,300 --> 00:13:59,900 We taught two, three, four classes 260 00:13:59,900 --> 00:14:05,166 all in the same un-partitioned, noisy auditorium, day after day. 261 00:14:05,166 --> 00:14:08,200 Kids there were loaded with substitute teachers, 262 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:10,100 walls were peeling paint, 263 00:14:10,100 --> 00:14:11,933 blackboards were collapsing. 264 00:14:11,933 --> 00:14:15,200 My elementary teachers were all White. 265 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:19,166 There was nothing about Black history 266 00:14:19,166 --> 00:14:24,400 or the contributions of other minorities to this country. 267 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:28,066 I knew all the Irish songs. 268 00:14:28,066 --> 00:14:30,800 The basketball coach, he had us saying, 269 00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:33,666 "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord be with..." 270 00:14:33,666 --> 00:14:36,866 And we're all Black kids. 271 00:14:36,866 --> 00:14:40,866 Most of us were Baptists. 272 00:14:40,866 --> 00:14:43,733 ♪ ♪ 273 00:14:43,733 --> 00:14:49,200 ROLLINS: I remember we read "Little Black Sambo" out loud. 274 00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:52,700 Tremendously stereotypical African kid, 275 00:14:52,700 --> 00:14:55,666 the object of fun and laughter. 276 00:14:55,666 --> 00:14:58,166 And I saw myself in that kid, 277 00:14:58,166 --> 00:15:01,833 and I knew other people saw me in that kid. 278 00:15:01,833 --> 00:15:05,533 Later on, I was very angry about it, 279 00:15:05,533 --> 00:15:08,433 but when I was in the middle of it, 280 00:15:08,433 --> 00:15:11,266 I had to learn how to live in that environment 281 00:15:11,266 --> 00:15:14,200 without knowing what was wrong, 282 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:18,400 only knowing that I don't feel right about this. 283 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:30,466 STOCKMAN: The fight for racial equity 284 00:15:30,466 --> 00:15:33,400 started more than a decade before 285 00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:37,033 that school committee meeting in 1963. 286 00:15:37,033 --> 00:15:39,966 It began with Ruth Batson. 287 00:15:39,966 --> 00:15:44,133 JONES: Ruth Batson was a Roxbury resident, 288 00:15:44,133 --> 00:15:46,400 a mother of three children. 289 00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:49,900 She was fed up with what her children 290 00:15:49,900 --> 00:15:53,800 were not getting from the Boston Public Schools. 291 00:15:53,800 --> 00:15:56,700 BATSON: I was living in the Orchard Park Housing Project, 292 00:15:56,700 --> 00:16:01,433 and two of my children were attending the Dearborn School. 293 00:16:01,433 --> 00:16:04,866 And I was very concerned with their education, 294 00:16:04,866 --> 00:16:07,500 because I had the feeling from talking with other parents 295 00:16:07,500 --> 00:16:09,866 in other parts of the city 296 00:16:09,866 --> 00:16:13,533 that the education was different. 297 00:16:13,533 --> 00:16:17,333 LYDA PETERS: Ruth talked to teachers about her children, 298 00:16:17,333 --> 00:16:19,466 and asks why is there a difference 299 00:16:19,466 --> 00:16:21,466 between what her child is assigned 300 00:16:21,466 --> 00:16:24,566 and what children from predominantly White districts 301 00:16:24,566 --> 00:16:28,033 are assigned, such as science. 302 00:16:28,033 --> 00:16:31,600 She gets ridiculed and she is demeaned, 303 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:34,700 so that fires her up. 304 00:16:34,700 --> 00:16:37,066 BATSON: I became chairperson 305 00:16:37,066 --> 00:16:39,766 of the NAACP public school committee. 306 00:16:39,766 --> 00:16:42,733 I gathered a group of people around me, 307 00:16:42,733 --> 00:16:45,300 and when we would go to White schools, 308 00:16:45,300 --> 00:16:47,366 we'd see these lovely classrooms, 309 00:16:47,366 --> 00:16:49,600 a small number of children in each class. 310 00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:51,866 The teachers were permanent. 311 00:16:51,866 --> 00:16:54,466 We would see wonderful materials. 312 00:16:54,466 --> 00:16:56,766 When we'd go to our schools, 313 00:16:56,766 --> 00:16:58,966 we would see overcrowded classrooms, 314 00:16:58,966 --> 00:17:02,033 children sitting out in the corridors, and so forth. 315 00:17:02,033 --> 00:17:06,233 We felt that if we moved our students 316 00:17:06,233 --> 00:17:11,033 to where they were spending the money, we would benefit. 317 00:17:11,033 --> 00:17:12,966 We certainly didn't think 318 00:17:12,966 --> 00:17:15,433 that just putting Black and White kids together 319 00:17:15,433 --> 00:17:19,333 meant that Black kids would improve. 320 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:24,000 VRABEL: She ran for school committee in the 1950s and lost, 321 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:28,233 but, as an activist said, "She gave people spine." 322 00:17:28,233 --> 00:17:32,466 JONES: She had a tough core of steel. 323 00:17:32,466 --> 00:17:35,000 You mess with Ruth Batson, 324 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:36,666 you better be ready. 325 00:17:39,166 --> 00:17:42,033 ANNOUNCER: It's time for the "Longines Chronoscope," 326 00:17:42,033 --> 00:17:43,333 a television journal 327 00:17:43,333 --> 00:17:44,933 of the important issues of the hour. 328 00:17:44,933 --> 00:17:48,400 The United States Supreme Court has made a unanimous decision. 329 00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:51,700 It's ruled that Negro and White pupils in our public schools 330 00:17:51,700 --> 00:17:53,533 must not be segregated. 331 00:17:53,533 --> 00:17:56,000 This will surely have a penetrating significance 332 00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:58,466 on all American life. 333 00:17:58,466 --> 00:18:00,800 TOMIKO BROWN-NAGIN: This was a decision that 334 00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:03,766 many African Americans had hoped for 335 00:18:03,766 --> 00:18:05,166 for a long time. 336 00:18:05,166 --> 00:18:08,866 The lawyers from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund 337 00:18:08,866 --> 00:18:14,033 had been litigating this line of cases for several years. 338 00:18:14,033 --> 00:18:18,033 And finally, they had this triumphant opinion that said 339 00:18:18,033 --> 00:18:21,800 separate Black and White schools were unlawful. 340 00:18:21,800 --> 00:18:26,400 The Black schools were invariably inferior. 341 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:29,900 MILETSKY: Ruth Batson felt jubilation. 342 00:18:29,900 --> 00:18:32,200 She, you know, thought to herself, 343 00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:34,933 now that Brown v. Board has been decided, 344 00:18:34,933 --> 00:18:38,233 this was going to open the doors for all Black children, 345 00:18:38,233 --> 00:18:40,333 whether in the South or the North. 346 00:18:40,333 --> 00:18:43,400 ALAN ROSE: African American families 347 00:18:43,400 --> 00:18:46,066 across the country had a right to expect that 348 00:18:46,066 --> 00:18:48,933 their children would no longer be sent 349 00:18:48,933 --> 00:18:51,766 to schools that were segregated, 350 00:18:51,766 --> 00:18:54,600 and that instead, they would be going to schools 351 00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:57,933 that were integrated. 352 00:18:57,933 --> 00:19:00,166 That was their expectation 353 00:19:00,166 --> 00:19:02,033 and that was their constitutional right. 354 00:19:02,033 --> 00:19:04,966 ♪ ♪ 355 00:19:04,966 --> 00:19:07,300 (children calling in background) 356 00:19:07,300 --> 00:19:10,333 DELMONT: For Black activists in Boston, nothing practically changes 357 00:19:10,333 --> 00:19:11,933 after the Brown decision in terms of what's 358 00:19:11,933 --> 00:19:13,933 actually going on on the ground for Black children. 359 00:19:13,933 --> 00:19:16,166 And eventually, it increases frustration, 360 00:19:16,166 --> 00:19:17,933 because they can see with their own eyes 361 00:19:17,933 --> 00:19:20,366 that segregation exists in Boston, 362 00:19:20,366 --> 00:19:21,933   that there's children that are receiving 363 00:19:21,933 --> 00:19:23,800 second-class educations. 364 00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:26,733 Another group started in 1960, a group called 365 00:19:26,733 --> 00:19:30,133 CBPS-- Citizens for Boston Public Schools. 366 00:19:31,900 --> 00:19:36,100 It was started to try and do something about the schools. 367 00:19:36,100 --> 00:19:39,233 The only community that was interested in working with them 368 00:19:39,233 --> 00:19:42,100 was the Black community and Ruth Batson. 369 00:19:42,100 --> 00:19:46,400 ROLLINS: In 1961, the Boston Citizens for Public Schools 370 00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:50,166 put together their own slate for the school committee. 371 00:19:50,166 --> 00:19:52,566 One of the primary candidates was Mel King, 372 00:19:52,566 --> 00:19:55,300 who was a leader in the African American community. 373 00:19:55,300 --> 00:19:58,433 ALLEN: They were running a campaign that was based on, 374 00:19:58,433 --> 00:20:01,066 "We are interested in reforming 375 00:20:01,066 --> 00:20:03,266 and building a quality school system in Boston." 376 00:20:04,733 --> 00:20:07,700 MILETSKY: Louise Day Hicks is also a candidate 377 00:20:07,700 --> 00:20:10,500 for the Boston School Committee. 378 00:20:10,500 --> 00:20:13,333 She bills herself as the only mother in the race. 379 00:20:13,333 --> 00:20:16,133 At that time, she was soliciting the Black vote, 380 00:20:16,133 --> 00:20:18,733 and very actively doing so in the community. 381 00:20:20,166 --> 00:20:24,533 Mel King didn't get elected, but Louise Day Hicks did. 382 00:20:24,533 --> 00:20:28,866 So, what the NAACP does is compile 383 00:20:28,866 --> 00:20:30,766 a bunch of statistics. 384 00:20:30,766 --> 00:20:34,566 And they find that 13 schools were predominantly Black. 385 00:20:34,566 --> 00:20:39,866 And in those schools, there was a terrible case of overcrowding. 386 00:20:39,866 --> 00:20:44,000 One school was built to hold 600 kids, 387 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:47,266 and there were more than a thousand enrolled. 388 00:20:47,266 --> 00:20:50,266 They were old buildings. 389 00:20:50,266 --> 00:20:53,866 Four had been condemned. 390 00:20:53,866 --> 00:20:56,666 The school system spends, on average, 391 00:20:56,666 --> 00:21:00,700 $275 per elementary school kid per year. 392 00:21:00,700 --> 00:21:03,500 But in some of these predominantly Black schools, 393 00:21:03,500 --> 00:21:06,966 it's only spending $229. 394 00:21:06,966 --> 00:21:09,633 So, they compile a very strong case 395 00:21:09,633 --> 00:21:13,833 that kids in these predominantly Black schools are suffering. 396 00:21:13,833 --> 00:21:17,100 And it's on the merits of these statistics 397 00:21:17,100 --> 00:21:19,900 that they demand a meeting. 398 00:21:19,900 --> 00:21:23,033 MILETSKY: At the meeting, Ruth reminded them that 399 00:21:23,033 --> 00:21:25,900 they had been talking about these issues for years, 400 00:21:25,900 --> 00:21:28,766 that they had been trying to remind them of the plight 401 00:21:28,766 --> 00:21:31,433 of Black students in the system, 402 00:21:31,433 --> 00:21:33,400 and that no one had listened. 403 00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:35,666 REPORTER: Would you care to speculate on why 404 00:21:35,666 --> 00:21:38,366 the NAACP has raised this issue in Boston? 405 00:21:38,366 --> 00:21:43,166 HICKS: I might say that it's a national problem, 406 00:21:43,166 --> 00:21:45,033 and they have brought it to Boston, 407 00:21:45,033 --> 00:21:47,333 where it does not belong. 408 00:21:47,333 --> 00:21:49,333 REPORTER: You do not believe, then, that this agitation 409 00:21:49,333 --> 00:21:51,366 originated here in this city. 410 00:21:51,366 --> 00:21:53,533 HICKS: No, I do not. 411 00:21:53,533 --> 00:21:56,800 We go prepared to the school system, 412 00:21:56,800 --> 00:21:59,300 and we were really innocent-- we were naive. 413 00:22:00,500 --> 00:22:02,500 We were insulted. (laughs) 414 00:22:02,500 --> 00:22:05,166 We were told our kids were stupid, 415 00:22:05,166 --> 00:22:07,466 and this was why they didn't learn. 416 00:22:07,466 --> 00:22:10,233 We found out that we had brought to them 417 00:22:10,233 --> 00:22:14,133 a wonderful political issue, and that this was an issue 418 00:22:14,133 --> 00:22:16,966 that was going to give their political careers 419 00:22:16,966 --> 00:22:20,133 stability for a long time to come. 420 00:22:22,166 --> 00:22:24,433 (talking in background) 421 00:22:24,433 --> 00:22:26,866 REPORTER: Today, Boston witnessed 422 00:22:26,866 --> 00:22:29,866 the Stay Out for Freedom Day, the so-called boycott 423 00:22:29,866 --> 00:22:34,133   by Negro students of junior and senior high schools of Boston. 424 00:22:34,133 --> 00:22:36,466 VRABEL: When the school committee refused 425 00:22:36,466 --> 00:22:41,200 to do anything to respond to the NAACP, 426 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:43,266 the Black community decided 427 00:22:43,266 --> 00:22:46,633 that they had to keep the pressure on and, and act. 428 00:22:46,633 --> 00:22:51,333 Reverend James Breeden had witnessed a school stay-out 429 00:22:51,333 --> 00:22:55,366 in the South, and he suggested doing the same thing in Boston. 430 00:22:55,366 --> 00:22:58,633 "Let's get the Black children to stay out of school 431 00:22:58,633 --> 00:23:03,833 for a day and to show that we represent a lot of people." 432 00:23:03,833 --> 00:23:07,633 EDWARD CROWDER: When the stay-out of school for freedom came, 433 00:23:07,633 --> 00:23:10,500 there was no question I was going to be there. 434 00:23:10,500 --> 00:23:13,800 I was coming out of a relatively poor family, 435 00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:17,766 but even as a child, I had aspirations to do better. 436 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:20,933 I didn't tell my parents. 437 00:23:20,933 --> 00:23:25,433 Dad would be scared that that could impact him. 438 00:23:27,866 --> 00:23:32,166 ROLLINS: We identified locations where we set up freedom schools, 439 00:23:32,166 --> 00:23:36,500 and we filled them with music, with poetry, 440 00:23:36,500 --> 00:23:38,933 and with lessons, 441 00:23:38,933 --> 00:23:41,233 and with speakers who these young people 442 00:23:41,233 --> 00:23:43,566 would never have an opportunity to encounter. 443 00:23:45,733 --> 00:23:47,533 We helped to make the connection to the South. 444 00:23:47,533 --> 00:23:50,966 We helped them to understand that this freedom school 445 00:23:50,966 --> 00:23:52,533 was part of the Civil Rights Movement. 446 00:23:52,533 --> 00:23:55,400 NOEL DAY: Most of you came here 447 00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:57,933 because you understood that 448 00:23:57,933 --> 00:23:59,366 here in Boston, 449 00:23:59,366 --> 00:24:01,500 you are deprived of your rights 450 00:24:01,500 --> 00:24:04,000   just as much as people in Birmingham 451 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:06,300 are deprived of their rights. 452 00:24:06,300 --> 00:24:09,200 We've taken the first real step in Boston 453 00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:13,000 in beginning the struggle for our freedom here. 454 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:16,933 REPORTER: Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics, 455 00:24:16,933 --> 00:24:20,700 you gave a very powerful speech today at this freedom sit-in. 456 00:24:20,700 --> 00:24:23,800 Could you tell us what you feel is the success 457 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:26,633 of this freedom stay-out? 458 00:24:26,633 --> 00:24:29,833 RUSSELL: The important thing is that we have taken the first step, 459 00:24:29,833 --> 00:24:31,866 and we have, 460 00:24:31,866 --> 00:24:34,566 as they say, thrown the gauntlet down. REPORTER: Right. 461 00:24:34,566 --> 00:24:37,166 RUSSELL: And we're into the fight now, and I think we'll win. 462 00:24:38,966 --> 00:24:40,533 DELMONT: In November of 1963, 463 00:24:40,533 --> 00:24:42,866 there's a Boston School Committee election. 464 00:24:42,866 --> 00:24:46,933 Louise Day Hicks is reelected to the school committee. 465 00:24:46,933 --> 00:24:50,466 She wins in a landslide. 466 00:24:50,466 --> 00:24:52,233 She sees that she's been rewarded 467 00:24:52,233 --> 00:24:55,666 for fighting against integration of schools. 468 00:24:55,666 --> 00:24:57,866 VRABEL: Louise, early on, 469 00:24:57,866 --> 00:25:00,200 saw that a way of getting more votes 470 00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:02,666 and raising her political profile 471 00:25:02,666 --> 00:25:07,100 was to oppose these efforts at ending de facto segregation. 472 00:25:07,100 --> 00:25:10,500 STOCKMAN: People in the Black community were frustrated 473 00:25:10,500 --> 00:25:13,033 that nothing was happening. 474 00:25:13,033 --> 00:25:14,800 They didn't win at the ballot box. 475 00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:17,000 They didn't get anywhere with the school committee. 476 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:20,266 So, three Black state legislators 477 00:25:20,266 --> 00:25:23,166 file racial imbalance bills 478 00:25:23,166 --> 00:25:27,066 to say that if a town or city had 479 00:25:27,066 --> 00:25:30,966 racially imbalanced schools, they would have to address it. 480 00:25:30,966 --> 00:25:34,000 Those bills went nowhere. 481 00:25:35,933 --> 00:25:38,400 In February 1964, there's a second school stay-out, 482 00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:40,233 and this one's much larger than the first one. 483 00:25:40,233 --> 00:25:43,466 This time, you have a number of students 484 00:25:43,466 --> 00:25:45,000 from suburban schools outside of Boston 485 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:46,800 come in and participate, as well. 486 00:25:50,333 --> 00:25:53,733 JONES: I was asked to organize students living in the suburbs 487 00:25:53,733 --> 00:25:58,366 to come join the stay-out 488 00:25:58,366 --> 00:26:02,733 and to attend freedom schools, and get to know kids 489 00:26:02,733 --> 00:26:04,466 from Boston, and kids who were different 490 00:26:04,466 --> 00:26:06,600 from them in race and culture. 491 00:26:08,700 --> 00:26:12,533 And the response was amazing. 492 00:26:12,533 --> 00:26:17,400 (people talking in background) 493 00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:20,233 BATSON: We have these three musicians this morning, 494 00:26:20,233 --> 00:26:22,433 were able to integrate this room in two minutes. 495 00:26:22,433 --> 00:26:24,466 They merely said, "You come down here and sit here, 496 00:26:24,466 --> 00:26:26,000 and you come there and sit there." 497 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:27,400 And we were integrated, weren't we? 498 00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:32,466 (applauding) 499 00:26:32,466 --> 00:26:36,366 I don't feel that this plan needs so, all that brains. 500 00:26:36,366 --> 00:26:41,933 I think it just mean, needs some goodwill and some common sense. 501 00:26:41,933 --> 00:26:47,066 ♪ This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine ♪ 502 00:26:47,066 --> 00:26:51,866 ♪ This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine ♪ 503 00:26:51,866 --> 00:26:56,100 ♪ This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine ♪ 504 00:26:56,100 --> 00:27:00,133 ROY WILKINS: Boston seems to be unique in the United States cities 505 00:27:00,133 --> 00:27:04,100 in that its school board, as far as we're able to learn, 506 00:27:04,100 --> 00:27:07,900 has refused to admit that de facto segregation 507 00:27:07,900 --> 00:27:11,866 exists in Boston, and won't even talk about it. 508 00:27:11,866 --> 00:27:14,633 This is the oddest position that any city 509 00:27:14,633 --> 00:27:17,066 has taken in the United States. 510 00:27:19,833 --> 00:27:22,766 ♪ ♪ 511 00:27:22,766 --> 00:27:26,000 JONES: We saw in 1963 512 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:29,466 and 1964 an extraordinary amount of energy 513 00:27:29,466 --> 00:27:33,400 being used to try to move 514 00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:35,433 the Boston public school system. 515 00:27:35,433 --> 00:27:36,966 Like you never saw before. 516 00:27:36,966 --> 00:27:39,966 It was fierce energy. 517 00:27:39,966 --> 00:27:44,166 ROLLINS: It's like a tsunami was sitting off the coast. 518 00:27:44,166 --> 00:27:46,366 And these different events that were happening: 519 00:27:46,366 --> 00:27:48,266 Ruth Batson at the school committee, 520 00:27:48,266 --> 00:27:49,800 the stay-out for freedom. 521 00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:52,233 (chanting) 522 00:27:52,233 --> 00:27:55,033 ROLLINS: Picketing the school department, 523 00:27:55,033 --> 00:27:56,633 the sit-ins. 524 00:27:56,633 --> 00:27:58,400 MAN: School Committee! PROTESTERS: Must go! 525 00:27:58,400 --> 00:27:59,966 ROLLINS: And so, the school committee, 526 00:27:59,966 --> 00:28:01,500 every time something like this happened, 527 00:28:01,500 --> 00:28:05,566 they dug their heels in even more so. 528 00:28:05,566 --> 00:28:09,933 They acted in ways that provoked more action on our part 529 00:28:09,933 --> 00:28:11,933 because they would benefit from it. 530 00:28:20,700 --> 00:28:22,200 MAN: Watch your head... 531 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:23,966 All right, back it up. 532 00:28:23,966 --> 00:28:26,833 (people singing and clapping) 533 00:28:26,833 --> 00:28:29,366 (talking in background) 534 00:28:29,366 --> 00:28:31,366 MAN: Got to open up, now! Open up! 535 00:28:31,366 --> 00:28:33,500 Open up! Let's go! 536 00:28:33,500 --> 00:28:38,200 What we must have is quality integrated education 537 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:41,133 across the board and we must have it in Boston. 538 00:28:41,133 --> 00:28:44,733 (people cheer and applaud) 539 00:28:44,733 --> 00:28:47,200 And I want you to know that I'm with you. 540 00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:51,966 I come here because you have come to us so often. 541 00:28:51,966 --> 00:28:56,466 ROLLINS: Martin Luther King was invited to come in April of 1965 542 00:28:56,466 --> 00:28:59,166 by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 543 00:28:59,166 --> 00:29:01,700 SCLC, which was his main organization. 544 00:29:01,700 --> 00:29:05,600 MILETSKY: Martin Luther King's visit kind of packed with meaning, 545 00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:10,033 because he had been a student at Boston University. 546 00:29:10,033 --> 00:29:13,033 He had preached and given sermons 547 00:29:13,033 --> 00:29:15,100 at Twelfth Baptist Church. 548 00:29:15,100 --> 00:29:18,900 He met Coretta Scott King in Boston. 549 00:29:18,900 --> 00:29:22,166 It was announced that there was gonna be a march for freedom. 550 00:29:22,166 --> 00:29:24,733 We were going to meet and greet Martin Luther King. 551 00:29:24,733 --> 00:29:28,266 Martin Luther King was our leader. 552 00:29:28,266 --> 00:29:31,200 He was the one that we were following. 553 00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:33,366 ♪ Amen ♪ 554 00:29:33,366 --> 00:29:35,766 ROLLINS: All of my friends were there. 555 00:29:35,766 --> 00:29:38,066 These are the people who had put their heart and soul 556 00:29:38,066 --> 00:29:40,766 into the activism during Boston's emerging 557 00:29:40,766 --> 00:29:45,833 Civil Rights Movement, and at great risk to themselves. 558 00:29:45,833 --> 00:29:47,766 And here they were, 559 00:29:47,766 --> 00:29:50,100 being supported by this icon from out of town. 560 00:29:50,100 --> 00:29:52,166 (woman singing) 561 00:29:52,166 --> 00:29:56,666 It was thrilling to feel supported in that way. 562 00:29:58,233 --> 00:30:01,166 WOMAN: ♪ I can hear you sing out ♪ 563 00:30:01,166 --> 00:30:03,566 ROLLINS: We walked, singing freedom songs, 564 00:30:03,566 --> 00:30:07,700 and then at the Common, he gave one of his big speeches. 565 00:30:07,700 --> 00:30:14,133 KING: It would be demagogic and dishonest for me to say 566 00:30:14,133 --> 00:30:17,366 that Boston is a Birmingham, 567 00:30:17,366 --> 00:30:22,533 or to equate Massachusetts with Mississippi, 568 00:30:22,533 --> 00:30:26,666 but it would be morally irresponsible 569 00:30:26,666 --> 00:30:30,766 were I to remain blind to the threat to liberty, 570 00:30:30,766 --> 00:30:35,400 the denial of opportunity, and the crippling poverty 571 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:40,666 that we face in some sections of this community. 572 00:30:40,666 --> 00:30:42,633 ♪ ♪ 573 00:30:42,633 --> 00:30:45,900 ROLLINS: Martin presented the city with a mirror. 574 00:30:45,900 --> 00:30:48,400 You know, he made it clear 575 00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:53,000 that he saw racism in the North as invidious 576 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:55,433 as racism in the South. 577 00:30:55,433 --> 00:30:57,400 And when he held up that mirror, 578 00:30:57,400 --> 00:30:58,900 he's showing city and state leaders 579 00:30:58,900 --> 00:31:02,133 a picture that is disconcerting for them. 580 00:31:02,133 --> 00:31:04,333 It's disconfirming. 581 00:31:04,333 --> 00:31:08,366 MILETSKY: King, with his national following 582 00:31:08,366 --> 00:31:10,866 and entourage and media presence, 583 00:31:10,866 --> 00:31:13,100 embarrassed many state legislators, 584 00:31:13,100 --> 00:31:16,833 who move all of a sudden with great alacrity 585 00:31:16,833 --> 00:31:19,533 and speed toward passage of, you know, 586 00:31:19,533 --> 00:31:21,100 a Racial Imbalance Act. 587 00:31:21,100 --> 00:31:23,233 ♪ ♪ 588 00:31:23,233 --> 00:31:27,400 VRABEL: The racial imbalance bill, filed originally in 1964, 589 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:30,000 said that any school district 590 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:34,200 that had schools with more than 50% of its students 591 00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:39,233 as minorities had to adopt a racial imbalance plan 592 00:31:39,233 --> 00:31:41,600 to address the situation. 593 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:45,700 I think the impetus for passing it in 1965 594 00:31:45,700 --> 00:31:48,833 was for the state to do something 595 00:31:48,833 --> 00:31:50,533 when the Boston School Committee and the city 596 00:31:50,533 --> 00:31:52,566 obviously were not doing anything. 597 00:31:52,566 --> 00:31:54,333 In August 1965, 598 00:31:54,333 --> 00:31:56,533 Governor John Volpe signs the Racial Imbalance Act, 599 00:31:56,533 --> 00:31:59,233 which makes Massachusetts the first state in the country 600 00:31:59,233 --> 00:32:00,866 to proactively pass legislation 601 00:32:00,866 --> 00:32:03,533 to try to address school desegregation. 602 00:32:03,533 --> 00:32:05,800 It was a bit like a statewide version 603 00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:07,233 of the Brown versus Board decision 604 00:32:07,233 --> 00:32:08,533 nearly a decade earlier. 605 00:32:08,533 --> 00:32:09,900 On paper, it meant that Massachusetts 606 00:32:09,900 --> 00:32:11,833 was committing itself to take real action 607 00:32:11,833 --> 00:32:14,766 to address school segregation. 608 00:32:14,766 --> 00:32:19,100 It became clear immediately after the passage 609 00:32:19,100 --> 00:32:21,900 by the Mass. Legislature of the Racial Imbalance Act 610 00:32:21,900 --> 00:32:25,666 that the Boston School Committee had no intention 611 00:32:25,666 --> 00:32:28,866 of integrating the school system. 612 00:32:28,866 --> 00:32:33,600 They resisted at every turn. 613 00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:35,066 Mrs. Hicks, is there a racial imbalance 614 00:32:35,066 --> 00:32:36,533 in Boston schools? 615 00:32:36,533 --> 00:32:39,866 If you mean predominantly ethnic groupings in our schools, 616 00:32:39,866 --> 00:32:42,233 yes, there is racial imbalance. 617 00:32:42,233 --> 00:32:45,533 Which merely reflects the geographic content 618 00:32:45,533 --> 00:32:48,100 of the neighborhood. 619 00:32:48,100 --> 00:32:50,633 But if you mean by racial imbalance 620 00:32:50,633 --> 00:32:51,900 inferior schools, 621 00:32:51,900 --> 00:32:53,933 we do not have racial imbalance 622 00:32:53,933 --> 00:32:56,000 in the Boston Public Schools. 623 00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:57,433 DELMONT: The Boston School Committee 624 00:32:57,433 --> 00:33:00,100 saw it as a threat to their control and their power 625 00:33:00,100 --> 00:33:02,066 over how schools functioned in Boston. 626 00:33:03,866 --> 00:33:06,333 While the Racial Imbalance Act had recommendations 627 00:33:06,333 --> 00:33:08,733 and policies for how school committees should address 628 00:33:08,733 --> 00:33:10,533 issues of racial imbalance in the cities, 629 00:33:10,533 --> 00:33:13,066 Boston's school committee didn't want to hear it. 630 00:33:14,766 --> 00:33:17,400 It is only the idea of using buses to transport students 631 00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:19,966 that really gets the attention of Boston's school committee. 632 00:33:19,966 --> 00:33:22,133 They latch onto the issue of busing. 633 00:33:22,133 --> 00:33:24,966 I feel that busing has no advantages 634 00:33:24,966 --> 00:33:27,566 educationally for our little children. 635 00:33:27,566 --> 00:33:29,666 It will take them far from their neighborhoods 636 00:33:29,666 --> 00:33:32,666 and it will bring them into very strange neighborhoods. 637 00:33:32,666 --> 00:33:35,766 The school committee goes through the motions 638 00:33:35,766 --> 00:33:37,400 of filing plans 639 00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:41,400 to desegregate the schools that it knows will be rejected. 640 00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:45,200 Some of them are silly and farcical. 641 00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:48,033 The school committee didn't accept 642 00:33:48,033 --> 00:33:50,733 the necessity to file the plans, 643 00:33:50,733 --> 00:33:53,633 and the penalty, the withdrawal of aid, 644 00:33:53,633 --> 00:33:57,033 wasn't something that was enough to get them to move. 645 00:33:57,033 --> 00:33:59,000 Often, politicians created 646 00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:01,166 the impression that, in fact, 647 00:34:01,166 --> 00:34:05,400 somehow, the obligation to racially integrate 648 00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:07,366 the schools would go away. 649 00:34:07,366 --> 00:34:10,133 VRABEL: Year after year, 650 00:34:10,133 --> 00:34:12,466 Mrs. Hicks would get a legislator 651 00:34:12,466 --> 00:34:15,033 to file a repeal bill. 652 00:34:15,033 --> 00:34:17,066 So, you want the complete repeal 653 00:34:17,066 --> 00:34:19,266 of the 1965 racial imbalance law. 654 00:34:19,266 --> 00:34:22,066 Yes, I do, because it is acting to a detriment 655 00:34:22,066 --> 00:34:23,766 to the schoolchildren of Boston 656 00:34:23,766 --> 00:34:26,300 and it is very costly to the taxpayers. 657 00:34:26,300 --> 00:34:29,100 ♪ ♪ 658 00:34:29,100 --> 00:34:30,766 VRABEL: Year after year, 659 00:34:30,766 --> 00:34:34,466 support for repealing the racial imbalance law actually grew. 660 00:34:38,033 --> 00:34:40,000 There were a lot of factors at play 661 00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:42,600 for those White Bostonians who opposed school desegregation. 662 00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:46,866 Some people really didn't want to put their kids 663 00:34:46,866 --> 00:34:48,633 on a bus to another neighborhood. 664 00:34:48,633 --> 00:34:50,133   They were terrified-- they didn't own a car. 665 00:34:50,133 --> 00:34:52,200 If something happened, 666 00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:54,233 they would have a hard time getting there. 667 00:34:54,233 --> 00:34:58,500 Others were, quite frankly, very racist, 668 00:34:58,500 --> 00:35:00,866 and they did not want their child to go to school 669 00:35:00,866 --> 00:35:03,100 with someone from another ethnic group. 670 00:35:03,100 --> 00:35:05,000 That was real-- that was real, too. 671 00:35:07,333 --> 00:35:11,233 MOE GILLEN: In Charlestown, it was mostly Irish. 672 00:35:11,233 --> 00:35:14,100 Everybody knew everybody. 673 00:35:14,100 --> 00:35:18,300 Most of the marriages were townie marrying townie. 674 00:35:20,600 --> 00:35:22,400 LISA MCGOFF-COLLINS: We grew up in the projects. 675 00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:26,833 A lot of divorced parents, a lot of alcoholic parents. 676 00:35:26,833 --> 00:35:31,033 When my dad died, my mom had to get a real job, she said. 677 00:35:31,033 --> 00:35:33,966 (chuckles): So she worked for the telephone company. 678 00:35:33,966 --> 00:35:36,433 She wasn't on welfare. 679 00:35:36,433 --> 00:35:38,700 She worked hard, and these were her children, 680 00:35:38,700 --> 00:35:40,633 and no one's going to tell her what to do with them. 681 00:35:41,966 --> 00:35:44,400 She thought it was wrong that they could take 682 00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:46,466 a whole bunch of poor kids from one community 683 00:35:46,466 --> 00:35:48,066 and stick them into another school, 684 00:35:48,066 --> 00:35:50,600 not giving them anything else. 685 00:35:50,600 --> 00:35:53,933 If I had to bus my child, I'd keep her home. 686 00:35:53,933 --> 00:35:57,066 As I said before, I'll go to court, I'll fight it. 687 00:35:57,066 --> 00:35:59,666 I will not let her be bused anywhere. 688 00:35:59,666 --> 00:36:01,933 JOY: The whole sense of the integration 689 00:36:01,933 --> 00:36:05,000 was a challenge to people. 690 00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:07,200 "I don't think it's going to be better for my kids 691 00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:08,800 "to go across the city to Dorchester 692 00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:10,666 "or Roxbury or wherever. 693 00:36:10,666 --> 00:36:13,866 "I know if they stay here in Charlestown that they're 694 00:36:13,866 --> 00:36:16,200 "gonna have an education, they're going to have a job, 695 00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:18,366 and they're going to have friends around them for life." 696 00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:25,766 MICHAEL PATRICK MACDONALD: The people behind the racial imbalance law 697 00:36:25,766 --> 00:36:30,233 were people from wealthier leafy suburbs. 698 00:36:30,233 --> 00:36:33,500 Communities with schools that were 100% White. 699 00:36:33,500 --> 00:36:36,466 Therefore, the racial imbalance law wouldn't apply to them. 700 00:36:38,466 --> 00:36:40,933 JONES: In 1965, 701 00:36:40,933 --> 00:36:44,466 a White school committeeman from suburban Brookline, 702 00:36:44,466 --> 00:36:47,933 Leon Trilling, comes up with the idea: 703 00:36:47,933 --> 00:36:50,300 why don't we have a program that buses 704 00:36:50,300 --> 00:36:54,700 Black young people from Roxbury to suburban schools? 705 00:36:54,700 --> 00:36:56,166 He brings this idea 706 00:36:56,166 --> 00:36:59,633 to Ruth Batson, who embraced the idea. 707 00:36:59,633 --> 00:37:02,966 So, in September 1966, 708 00:37:02,966 --> 00:37:06,900 220 Black students from Boston 709 00:37:06,900 --> 00:37:09,666 go to seven suburban school systems, 710 00:37:09,666 --> 00:37:12,133 and that's the start of the METCO program. 711 00:37:12,133 --> 00:37:15,233 STOCKMAN: Ruth Batson was a huge force behind 712 00:37:15,233 --> 00:37:19,433 the creation of METCO and ended up working for it, 713 00:37:19,433 --> 00:37:23,033 recruiting the kids, working with the schools. 714 00:37:23,033 --> 00:37:26,966 She said, "I want the best that White people have to offer. 715 00:37:26,966 --> 00:37:29,466 I don't want the worst." 716 00:37:29,466 --> 00:37:31,366 The suburbs had all kinds of equipment 717 00:37:31,366 --> 00:37:33,433 that schools in the city didn't have. 718 00:37:33,433 --> 00:37:35,633 And she wanted that for Black children. 719 00:37:37,166 --> 00:37:39,166 REPORTER: Seven transportation companies were hired 720 00:37:39,166 --> 00:37:43,533 to pick up 220 Negro children in the METCO program. 721 00:37:43,533 --> 00:37:45,700 Most of the stops are in Roxbury. 722 00:37:45,700 --> 00:37:48,066 Some are in neighboring North Dorchester, 723 00:37:48,066 --> 00:37:50,766 another Negro community in Boston. 724 00:37:50,766 --> 00:37:54,233 The ride on a METCO bus takes up to an hour and five minutes. 725 00:37:55,766 --> 00:37:59,233 The integration program is hardly massive this year. 726 00:37:59,233 --> 00:38:01,733 At Braintree's East Junior High School, for example, 727 00:38:01,733 --> 00:38:05,733 there were ten Negro students to about 1,200 Whites. 728 00:38:07,700 --> 00:38:10,200 DELMONT: The METCO program was quite limited. 729 00:38:10,200 --> 00:38:13,366 The other issue is that these suburban communities, 730 00:38:13,366 --> 00:38:15,933 they're doing everything they can to oppose affordable housing 731 00:38:15,933 --> 00:38:17,500 that would actually have meaningful 732 00:38:17,500 --> 00:38:20,033 integration in their suburbs. 733 00:38:23,566 --> 00:38:30,100 (jazz piece playing) 734 00:38:30,100 --> 00:38:33,566 VRABEL: Louise Day Hicks had always been politically ambitious. 735 00:38:33,566 --> 00:38:38,433 She had always had wanted to be mayor of Boston. 736 00:38:40,166 --> 00:38:42,966 1967 seemed to be a perfect time for it. 737 00:38:42,966 --> 00:38:44,466 HICKS: Let me give you a stick. 738 00:38:44,466 --> 00:38:46,633 Now, when you use it, you have to say, 739 00:38:46,633 --> 00:38:48,700 "Stick with Hicks on the 26th," okay? 740 00:38:48,700 --> 00:38:51,500 VRABEL: She ran against Kevin White, 741 00:38:51,500 --> 00:38:53,666 who was secretary of state of Massachusetts. 742 00:38:53,666 --> 00:38:55,333 All right? 743 00:38:55,333 --> 00:38:57,400 That's right, chivalry isn't dead. 744 00:38:57,400 --> 00:38:59,866 That means men are still polite-- what's your name? 745 00:38:59,866 --> 00:39:01,600 Hello, nice meeting you. 746 00:39:01,600 --> 00:39:05,000 VRABEL: He was a candidate that liberals would vote for. 747 00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:07,300 (people talking in background) 748 00:39:07,300 --> 00:39:08,966 JACKSON: Kevin White had a big vision 749 00:39:08,966 --> 00:39:11,266 that Boston could be a world-class city. 750 00:39:11,266 --> 00:39:13,266 He ran against Louise Day Hicks 751 00:39:13,266 --> 00:39:16,500 in a very racially charged election. 752 00:39:16,500 --> 00:39:20,600 VRABEL: The motto of her campaign was, "You know where I stand." 753 00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:22,600 JONES: And that meant, "You know I stand 754 00:39:22,600 --> 00:39:26,300 "with you, the White community, in opposition 755 00:39:26,300 --> 00:39:30,000 to the interests and demands of the Black community." 756 00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:31,966 You know, it doesn't matter what 757 00:39:31,966 --> 00:39:33,733 the color of her mother's skin is. 758 00:39:33,733 --> 00:39:36,933 She wants her little child in the neighborhood school. 759 00:39:36,933 --> 00:39:40,133 If you ask me, "Do you know where I stand?", 760 00:39:40,133 --> 00:39:41,900 you know where I stand. 761 00:39:41,900 --> 00:39:44,900 I stand on behalf of all the people of Boston. 762 00:39:44,900 --> 00:39:48,000 As a very serious citizen of Roxbury, 763 00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:50,966 I'd like to know exactly what are you gonna... 764 00:39:50,966 --> 00:39:53,333 HICKS: Good morning, how are you? Good morning. 765 00:39:53,333 --> 00:39:54,966 Good morning, how are you? MAN: Go ahead, shake hands with... 766 00:39:56,200 --> 00:39:57,433 If you intend to be a mayor of Boston, 767 00:39:57,433 --> 00:39:59,333 I think you should talk to everybody. 768 00:39:59,333 --> 00:40:02,333 HICKS: I'd be very happy to meet you back in my district. I want to ask you here. 769 00:40:02,333 --> 00:40:04,866 I'll be very happy to. Answer me now, here, just like you talked 770 00:40:04,866 --> 00:40:06,800 to everybody else at the station. 771 00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:08,500 Why ignore me? 772 00:40:08,500 --> 00:40:11,633 BATSON: I feel that the people of Boston have found their leader. 773 00:40:11,633 --> 00:40:13,266 Now, as history records her, 774 00:40:13,266 --> 00:40:14,866 she'll be only recorded 775 00:40:14,866 --> 00:40:17,100 as a person that created bigotry, 776 00:40:17,100 --> 00:40:19,266 created division, created hate. 777 00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:24,233 JONES: Mrs. Hicks scared the hell out of Kevin White 778 00:40:24,233 --> 00:40:26,966 because she was doing pretty well. 779 00:40:26,966 --> 00:40:29,400 And then Kevin White went to the Black community 780 00:40:29,400 --> 00:40:31,533 to get the Black vote. 781 00:40:33,033 --> 00:40:36,733 So, they rallied-- they voted. 782 00:40:36,733 --> 00:40:39,433 MAN: White has won the election with 100,820 votes. 783 00:40:39,433 --> 00:40:44,433 (audience cheers and applauds) 784 00:40:44,433 --> 00:40:46,100 JACKSON: Kevin White prevailed because people 785 00:40:46,100 --> 00:40:49,700 were disgusted with Boston's parochialism. 786 00:40:49,700 --> 00:40:52,100 They knew that there needed to be a spark, 787 00:40:52,100 --> 00:40:54,900 or Boston was going to be a historical footnote. 788 00:40:54,900 --> 00:40:58,133 People were desperate for change. 789 00:40:58,133 --> 00:41:00,766 But it was a narrow fight, 790 00:41:00,766 --> 00:41:03,366 and I think it was for the soul of the city. 791 00:41:03,366 --> 00:41:05,566 Are you happy? 792 00:41:05,566 --> 00:41:09,500 (crowd cheers and applauds) 793 00:41:09,500 --> 00:41:14,466 Tonight is a night of celebration for all of us. 794 00:41:14,466 --> 00:41:17,666 (crowd cheers and applauds) 795 00:41:17,666 --> 00:41:21,800 ANNOUNCER: This is a CBS News Special Report. 796 00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:24,533 Dr. Martin Luther King, 797 00:41:24,533 --> 00:41:27,066 the apostle of nonviolence in the Civil Rights Movement, 798 00:41:27,066 --> 00:41:29,700 has been shot to death in Memphis, Tennessee. 799 00:41:29,700 --> 00:41:32,200 Police have issued an all-points bulletin 800 00:41:32,200 --> 00:41:35,033 for a well-dressed young White man seen running from the scene. 801 00:41:37,066 --> 00:41:39,100 ROLLINS: I remember somebody came in and said, 802 00:41:39,100 --> 00:41:41,933 "They killed King, Dr. King." 803 00:41:41,933 --> 00:41:43,533 You could feel the floor 804 00:41:43,533 --> 00:41:45,633 drop out from under people. 805 00:41:48,500 --> 00:41:53,600 Martin was more than a preacher and a leader. 806 00:41:53,600 --> 00:41:57,700 We were all ennobled by him. 807 00:41:57,700 --> 00:42:00,833 We were all raised up by him. 808 00:42:00,833 --> 00:42:02,833 He said, "The moral arc of the universe is long, 809 00:42:02,833 --> 00:42:06,866 but it bends toward justice; have faith, we'll get there." 810 00:42:08,566 --> 00:42:11,866 And suddenly, that's gone. 811 00:42:11,866 --> 00:42:16,300 When he died as a leader in the way that he died, 812 00:42:16,300 --> 00:42:18,200 it was devastating. 813 00:42:18,200 --> 00:42:21,266 I felt devastated by it. 814 00:42:21,266 --> 00:42:24,733 (inhales) 815 00:42:24,733 --> 00:42:29,500 Right, and so, I'm still mourning. 816 00:42:29,500 --> 00:42:31,533 Him. 817 00:42:31,533 --> 00:42:34,500 ♪ ♪ 818 00:42:34,500 --> 00:42:37,533 After Dr. King was assassinated, 819 00:42:37,533 --> 00:42:41,633 it was very personal for all of us. 820 00:42:41,633 --> 00:42:44,933 We were saying to ourselves, 821 00:42:44,933 --> 00:42:46,800 "If this country can't take care of us, 822 00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:49,900 we need to figure out how to take care of ourselves." 823 00:42:51,066 --> 00:42:53,233 Well, it's my feeling that the main problem 824 00:42:53,233 --> 00:42:55,733 is that there irrelevant and racist education at the school. 825 00:42:55,733 --> 00:42:58,866 And that the young people are fed up with it. 826 00:42:58,866 --> 00:43:00,266 They... REPORTER: What is the-- excuse me, 827 00:43:00,266 --> 00:43:03,033 but what do you mean by racist education? 828 00:43:03,033 --> 00:43:05,500 They have no instruction in Afro-American history. 829 00:43:05,500 --> 00:43:09,100 The orientation is all around European and Western cultures. 830 00:43:09,100 --> 00:43:13,966 The music that is, is called or referred to as "classical" 831 00:43:13,966 --> 00:43:16,966 or "important" music is Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. 832 00:43:16,966 --> 00:43:19,200 It's not James Brown and Otis Redding. 833 00:43:19,200 --> 00:43:21,333 And that's kind of that institutional kind of racism. 834 00:43:21,333 --> 00:43:24,000 In addition to that, we have, we have a history of problems 835 00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:26,466 with individual teachers who are prejudiced, 836 00:43:26,466 --> 00:43:28,166 and it's nothing to be ashamed of. 837 00:43:28,166 --> 00:43:29,366 It's something that must be dealt with. 838 00:43:30,733 --> 00:43:34,333 The movement towards more community control of the schools 839 00:43:34,333 --> 00:43:36,733 resulted in getting a Black principal 840 00:43:36,733 --> 00:43:39,000 in the King School, ultimately. 841 00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:41,400 It was a big victory. 842 00:43:41,400 --> 00:43:43,933 Then community momentum shifted 843 00:43:43,933 --> 00:43:45,900 to the Gibson School. 844 00:43:45,900 --> 00:43:48,400 SANDIE FENTON: The Gibson School was an old building 845 00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:50,366 in an African American community, primarily. 846 00:43:50,366 --> 00:43:56,066 It was under-resourced, very few materials. 847 00:43:56,066 --> 00:43:58,600 There was a certain fear of children, really, 848 00:43:58,600 --> 00:44:01,533 in the school, but also locked doors. 849 00:44:01,533 --> 00:44:06,200 They were kind of a symbol of keeping parents out. 850 00:44:06,200 --> 00:44:08,466 As the first day of school neared, 851 00:44:08,466 --> 00:44:10,566 we were aware of this 852 00:44:10,566 --> 00:44:12,600 building tension in the community. 853 00:44:12,600 --> 00:44:14,100 We really didn't know what was going to happen 854 00:44:14,100 --> 00:44:15,733 the first day of school, but we knew 855 00:44:15,733 --> 00:44:18,466 something was going to happen. 856 00:44:18,466 --> 00:44:21,933 There was an announcement that a number of parents 857 00:44:21,933 --> 00:44:23,333 had entered the school 858 00:44:23,333 --> 00:44:25,500 and were in the principal's office. 859 00:44:25,500 --> 00:44:28,333 The community had installed an alternative principal, 860 00:44:28,333 --> 00:44:30,533 Ben Scott. 861 00:44:30,533 --> 00:44:32,233 He was a nuclear chemist. 862 00:44:32,233 --> 00:44:33,900 He had been working with the community activists 863 00:44:33,900 --> 00:44:35,533 to try and improve schools. 864 00:44:35,533 --> 00:44:38,466 BILL OWENS: We went to the office and told the principal 865 00:44:38,466 --> 00:44:42,766 that she could no longer operate that school, 866 00:44:42,766 --> 00:44:46,066 that we were, as parents, 867 00:44:46,066 --> 00:44:47,533 going to take over the school. 868 00:44:47,533 --> 00:44:50,633 We went to the teachers and told them they could stay 869 00:44:50,633 --> 00:44:53,200 if they chose to do so. 870 00:44:53,200 --> 00:44:56,300 Mel King came to my room 871 00:44:56,300 --> 00:44:58,400 and taught a lesson to my fourth-graders. 872 00:44:58,400 --> 00:45:03,533 He just radiated positive energy. 873 00:45:03,533 --> 00:45:06,766 He was a community leader 874 00:45:06,766 --> 00:45:09,000 who I had seen on television, 875 00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:11,333 so, wow, when he walked into my room that day, 876 00:45:11,333 --> 00:45:13,533 I was so excited. 877 00:45:13,533 --> 00:45:15,400 And the kids got it. 878 00:45:15,400 --> 00:45:18,600 They were quiet and listening, and... 879 00:45:18,600 --> 00:45:23,966 ♪ ♪ 880 00:45:23,966 --> 00:45:26,200 FENTON: The next day, 881 00:45:26,200 --> 00:45:29,533 there were a number of policemen at the school door. 882 00:45:29,533 --> 00:45:33,533 EGAN: They would let the teachers in, but nobody else. 883 00:45:33,533 --> 00:45:37,833 OWENS: If we cannot go into the school, 884 00:45:37,833 --> 00:45:40,433   we will not allow our children to go in. 885 00:45:40,433 --> 00:45:44,766 So, we left that school and, honestly, 886 00:45:44,766 --> 00:45:46,766 I didn't know where we were going, 887 00:45:46,766 --> 00:45:48,566 but I knew we weren't going in there. 888 00:45:48,566 --> 00:45:52,266 Our children were not going to go in. 889 00:45:52,266 --> 00:45:54,800 Bill Owens walks out and grabs the parents, 890 00:45:54,800 --> 00:45:56,700 and they follow him. 891 00:45:58,366 --> 00:46:00,733 He looks behind him, he finds there's a bunch 892 00:46:00,733 --> 00:46:03,066 of teachers, White teachers, that come with him. 893 00:46:03,066 --> 00:46:05,666 FENTON: They were doing what they felt 894 00:46:05,666 --> 00:46:07,200 was right for their kids in the moment. 895 00:46:07,200 --> 00:46:12,233 We were trying to make things better in a desperate situation. 896 00:46:12,233 --> 00:46:16,200 And so, we chose to support the parents. 897 00:46:16,200 --> 00:46:17,966 Everybody goes inside 898 00:46:17,966 --> 00:46:21,333 to the Robert Gould Shaw House, and the teachers begin trying 899 00:46:21,333 --> 00:46:24,166 to organize little classrooms. 900 00:46:24,166 --> 00:46:27,100 MAN: The primary purpose for keeping the children 901 00:46:27,100 --> 00:46:31,466 out of the Gibson School is that we want 902 00:46:31,466 --> 00:46:34,033 community-controls school. 903 00:46:34,033 --> 00:46:38,433 We want a principal in the school who is approved 904 00:46:38,433 --> 00:46:40,700 by the parents of the Gibson School. 905 00:46:41,900 --> 00:46:45,166 FENTON: Our firing by the head of the school committee 906 00:46:45,166 --> 00:46:47,300 was pretty immediate. 907 00:46:47,300 --> 00:46:51,533 No hearing, no anything. 908 00:46:51,533 --> 00:46:53,466 What do you plan to do now? 909 00:46:53,466 --> 00:46:55,900 What about next? What are you gonna do? We don't... 910 00:46:55,900 --> 00:46:58,033 We don't really know, we're... We haven't decided. 911 00:46:58,033 --> 00:46:59,933 Uh, we'll, we'll still be teaching, of course, 912 00:46:59,933 --> 00:47:02,800 any children from the Gibson School district 913 00:47:02,800 --> 00:47:06,000 who will be available to us. 914 00:47:06,000 --> 00:47:07,733 You will be there Monday morning, then? 915 00:47:07,733 --> 00:47:09,800 We will be with the Gibson children, 916 00:47:09,800 --> 00:47:11,866 wherever they are, Monday morning. 917 00:47:16,100 --> 00:47:17,933 FENTON: The decision was made by the parents and others 918 00:47:17,933 --> 00:47:20,533 to set up this Gibson Liberation School. 919 00:47:20,533 --> 00:47:22,066 And so, a lot of people 920 00:47:22,066 --> 00:47:24,100 descended immediately to help us. 921 00:47:24,100 --> 00:47:27,100 There were people who brought materials, 922 00:47:27,100 --> 00:47:29,500 books about Black kids and Black families 923 00:47:29,500 --> 00:47:32,066 that were relevant to the kids. 924 00:47:32,066 --> 00:47:34,600 REPORTER: Upon inspecting the school tomorrow morning, 925 00:47:34,600 --> 00:47:37,266 if you do, in fact, find that there are no police there, 926 00:47:37,266 --> 00:47:39,066 would you then be ready to negotiate 927 00:47:39,066 --> 00:47:41,666 with the school committee without any other preconditions? 928 00:47:41,666 --> 00:47:43,300 Yes, we would be. 929 00:47:43,300 --> 00:47:44,700 We would be ready, yes. 930 00:47:44,700 --> 00:47:47,200 WILLIAM TOBIN: You have no right to enter this building. 931 00:47:47,200 --> 00:47:49,200 SCOTT: I've been authorized to enter this building... 932 00:47:49,200 --> 00:47:50,666 By who? ...by the parents. 933 00:47:50,666 --> 00:47:52,466 The parents have no right 934 00:47:52,466 --> 00:47:55,066 to give you any authorization to enter this building. 935 00:47:55,066 --> 00:47:57,133 The parents... If you enter this building, I am telling you, 936 00:47:57,133 --> 00:47:59,433 you are trespassing-- I'm warning you now. 937 00:47:59,433 --> 00:48:01,400 You are on school property right now, 938 00:48:01,400 --> 00:48:03,833 and you are to remove yourself from school property, 939 00:48:03,833 --> 00:48:05,133 or we'll have you removed. 940 00:48:06,900 --> 00:48:09,566 EGAN: People called the parents on the phone 941 00:48:09,566 --> 00:48:11,466 and said they were going to cut off their welfare. 942 00:48:11,466 --> 00:48:13,333 They were going to be evicted 943 00:48:13,333 --> 00:48:17,066 if they didn't send their kids back to school. 944 00:48:17,066 --> 00:48:19,233 The parents were afraid. 945 00:48:20,466 --> 00:48:22,166 FENTON: In November, 946 00:48:22,166 --> 00:48:24,300 the parents decided to close the liberation school, 947 00:48:24,300 --> 00:48:26,933 go back to continue the fight 948 00:48:26,933 --> 00:48:29,666 at the Gibson School. 949 00:48:29,666 --> 00:48:31,900 The kids all lined up, 950 00:48:31,900 --> 00:48:34,200 and they sang at the top of their voices 951 00:48:34,200 --> 00:48:35,800 "Lift Every Voice"... 952 00:48:35,800 --> 00:48:37,833 CHILDREN: ♪ Lift every voice and sing ♪ 953 00:48:37,833 --> 00:48:41,100 FENTON: ... all the way back to the Gibson School. 954 00:48:41,100 --> 00:48:44,900 CHILDREN: ♪ Ring with the harmonies ♪ 955 00:48:44,900 --> 00:48:49,633 ♪ Of liberty ♪ 956 00:48:54,200 --> 00:48:57,333 VRABEL: After Louise Day Hicks ran for mayor and lost, 957 00:48:57,333 --> 00:49:01,800 she was no longer a member of the school committee. 958 00:49:01,800 --> 00:49:03,600 The school committee finally agreed to use 959 00:49:03,600 --> 00:49:06,533 desegregation money to build new schools. 960 00:49:06,533 --> 00:49:10,700 GLENN: The Lee School was one of a number of new schools 961 00:49:10,700 --> 00:49:13,933 built between Black and White neighborhoods. 962 00:49:13,933 --> 00:49:19,133 The School Department had a plan to assign students 963 00:49:19,133 --> 00:49:22,333 from neighboring White schools and neighboring Black schools 964 00:49:22,333 --> 00:49:24,066 into this beautiful 965 00:49:24,066 --> 00:49:26,933 new facility with everything you can imagine, 966 00:49:26,933 --> 00:49:30,800 but began to encounter a great deal of resistance 967 00:49:30,800 --> 00:49:35,233 from parents whose children attended the Fifield 968 00:49:35,233 --> 00:49:40,166 or the O'Hearn School, which were both predominantly White. 969 00:49:40,166 --> 00:49:43,400 Approximately 200 children continued 970 00:49:43,400 --> 00:49:45,533 to come to the Fifield School today, 971 00:49:45,533 --> 00:49:47,533 even though they were assigned to the Lee. 972 00:49:47,533 --> 00:49:49,600 And the same held true at the Patrick O'Hearn 973 00:49:49,600 --> 00:49:51,400 a few blocks away. 974 00:49:52,433 --> 00:49:55,933 VRABEL: A turning point in the whole desegregation saga 975 00:49:55,933 --> 00:49:58,600 took place after school had started. 976 00:49:58,600 --> 00:50:01,166   There was a meeting at the O'Hearn School, 977 00:50:01,166 --> 00:50:03,466 and the school committee was deciding 978 00:50:03,466 --> 00:50:05,366 whether to reconsider its vote 979 00:50:05,366 --> 00:50:09,866 to open the school as a racially balanced school or not. 980 00:50:09,866 --> 00:50:11,300 (applause slows) 981 00:50:11,300 --> 00:50:13,233 I am making the motion that parents of the children 982 00:50:13,233 --> 00:50:16,633 in the former O'Hearn and Fifield school districts 983 00:50:16,633 --> 00:50:19,000 be allowed to make their own decisions. 984 00:50:19,000 --> 00:50:22,233 VRABEL: John Craven decided to reverse his vote, 985 00:50:22,233 --> 00:50:26,066 to vote not to open the school 986 00:50:26,066 --> 00:50:27,733 as a racially balanced school, 987 00:50:27,733 --> 00:50:31,633 and to kind of acquiesce to the demands 988 00:50:31,633 --> 00:50:34,766 of the parents to not bus their children there. 989 00:50:34,766 --> 00:50:36,366 So at this point, 990 00:50:36,366 --> 00:50:38,666 the Black community in Boston has tried everything. 991 00:50:38,666 --> 00:50:41,666 They've tried the ballot box, they've tried direct action. 992 00:50:41,666 --> 00:50:44,400 They've tried the State House. 993 00:50:44,400 --> 00:50:47,833 And, um, really, it hasn't worked. 994 00:50:47,833 --> 00:50:49,700 None of it has worked. 995 00:50:51,566 --> 00:50:53,833 So, some of them felt it was time to do 996 00:50:53,833 --> 00:50:57,533 the last option, which was the court system. 997 00:50:59,400 --> 00:51:04,333 In March 1972, lawyers for the NAACP, 998 00:51:04,333 --> 00:51:06,966 on behalf of plaintiffs-- 999 00:51:06,966 --> 00:51:10,466 14 parents and 44 children-- 1000 00:51:10,466 --> 00:51:13,666 file suit charging the Boston Public Schools 1001 00:51:13,666 --> 00:51:15,600 with de jure segregation, 1002 00:51:15,600 --> 00:51:19,133 that you had intentionally segregated the schools. 1003 00:51:19,133 --> 00:51:24,366 After the NAACP achieves its monumental victory 1004 00:51:24,366 --> 00:51:26,666 in Brown versus the Board of Education, 1005 00:51:26,666 --> 00:51:30,500 it's clear that the principle should apply in the North. 1006 00:51:31,833 --> 00:51:34,533 The reality was that schools 1007 00:51:34,533 --> 00:51:39,900 were segregated by race nationwide. 1008 00:51:39,900 --> 00:51:43,233 So those lawyers litigate a series of cases 1009 00:51:43,233 --> 00:51:46,500 in Northern cities that seek to establish that 1010 00:51:46,500 --> 00:51:48,933 schools that are in fact segregated 1011 00:51:48,933 --> 00:51:51,700 by race in Northern cities 1012 00:51:51,700 --> 00:51:54,233 should be desegregated just the same 1013 00:51:54,233 --> 00:51:56,100 as those in Southern cities. 1014 00:51:56,100 --> 00:52:00,533 ERIC VAN LOON: The judge in the Boston school desegregation case 1015 00:52:00,533 --> 00:52:02,833 was W. Arthur Garrity. 1016 00:52:02,833 --> 00:52:05,000 He was very different 1017 00:52:05,000 --> 00:52:07,866 from the typical personality of a federal judge. 1018 00:52:07,866 --> 00:52:09,666 (laughs): This sort of, bang the gavel, 1019 00:52:09,666 --> 00:52:11,433 take charge, forceful. 1020 00:52:11,433 --> 00:52:15,900 He was a thoughtful, reflective person. 1021 00:52:16,900 --> 00:52:18,300 ROSE: Plaintiffs had to prove 1022 00:52:18,300 --> 00:52:23,666 that the segregation of the Boston Public Schools, 1023 00:52:23,666 --> 00:52:25,400 which was basically 1024 00:52:25,400 --> 00:52:29,600 an undisputed fact, was the result 1025 00:52:29,600 --> 00:52:31,766 of deliberate policies 1026 00:52:31,766 --> 00:52:33,600 by the Boston School Committee. 1027 00:52:35,400 --> 00:52:39,500 It was very easy after Brown versus the Board of Education 1028 00:52:39,500 --> 00:52:44,900 for plaintiffs in Southern cities to prove their case. 1029 00:52:44,900 --> 00:52:50,333 VAN LOON: Across the Southern states, there were laws 1030 00:52:50,333 --> 00:52:51,933 that said, officially, 1031 00:52:51,933 --> 00:52:53,333 Black kids will go to this school, 1032 00:52:53,333 --> 00:52:54,833 White kids will go to that school. 1033 00:52:56,433 --> 00:53:01,333 In the North, there were not statutes of that nature. 1034 00:53:01,333 --> 00:53:04,633 A lot of the proof for the trial 1035 00:53:04,633 --> 00:53:07,966 ended up being easier than we had anticipated. 1036 00:53:09,266 --> 00:53:11,266 One of the most amazing things about 1037 00:53:11,266 --> 00:53:15,300 the Boston School Committee was that they literally had 1038 00:53:15,300 --> 00:53:18,433 a stenographer that would take down every single word 1039 00:53:18,433 --> 00:53:20,966 that was said in their public meetings, 1040 00:53:20,966 --> 00:53:24,200 so we had verbatim transcripts 1041 00:53:24,200 --> 00:53:27,733 of exactly the thoughts that they were thinking. 1042 00:53:30,400 --> 00:53:32,966 ROSE: Those transcripts became very, very important evidence 1043 00:53:32,966 --> 00:53:34,966 during the trial. 1044 00:53:36,566 --> 00:53:39,466 There were numerous comments made by 1045 00:53:39,466 --> 00:53:41,433 individual school committee members, 1046 00:53:41,433 --> 00:53:44,266 which revealed their true intentions. 1047 00:53:46,100 --> 00:53:47,733 VAN LOON: What was probably 1048 00:53:47,733 --> 00:53:52,566 the most surprising was all of the fiendishly clever 1049 00:53:52,566 --> 00:53:56,100 different kinds of arrangements that they made 1050 00:53:56,100 --> 00:53:58,366 to create and promote segregation. 1051 00:53:58,366 --> 00:54:02,200 One was the feeder pattern for schools. 1052 00:54:02,200 --> 00:54:06,800 You had this literal dual school system, 1053 00:54:06,800 --> 00:54:10,766 where Black kids would go elementary to middle school, 1054 00:54:10,766 --> 00:54:14,000 and a four-year high school; Whites would go elementary 1055 00:54:14,000 --> 00:54:16,600 to junior high and a three-year high school. 1056 00:54:16,600 --> 00:54:20,366 A Black student would be finished with middle school, 1057 00:54:20,366 --> 00:54:24,100 but there'd be no White high school with a ninth grade 1058 00:54:24,100 --> 00:54:26,866 for him to go to. 1059 00:54:26,866 --> 00:54:30,666 There were many instances where a Black population 1060 00:54:30,666 --> 00:54:33,933 in a particular area increased dramatically. 1061 00:54:33,933 --> 00:54:35,733 And what did the school committee do? 1062 00:54:35,733 --> 00:54:39,033 They would build some fairly small schools 1063 00:54:39,033 --> 00:54:43,466 adjacent to these African American areas, 1064 00:54:43,466 --> 00:54:46,966 which virtually ensured that those schools 1065 00:54:46,966 --> 00:54:51,766 would quickly become filled up with African American students. 1066 00:54:51,766 --> 00:54:56,266 VAN LOON: Another major device that the school department used 1067 00:54:56,266 --> 00:54:58,400 was called open enrollment: 1068 00:54:58,400 --> 00:55:03,333 the right of any student to go to any other school, 1069 00:55:03,333 --> 00:55:06,266 "so long as there was space available." 1070 00:55:06,266 --> 00:55:11,133 Very frequently, White students in an overcrowded school 1071 00:55:11,133 --> 00:55:12,633 would be bused 1072 00:55:12,633 --> 00:55:16,933 past a nearby predominantly Black school 1073 00:55:16,933 --> 00:55:18,933 that had space available 1074 00:55:18,933 --> 00:55:22,033 in order to go further away 1075 00:55:22,033 --> 00:55:24,366 to an overcrowded White school, 1076 00:55:24,366 --> 00:55:27,566 where they would add portable classrooms. 1077 00:55:27,566 --> 00:55:32,200 30,000 students every day were bused or used 1078 00:55:32,200 --> 00:55:35,566 other transportation for segregation. 1079 00:55:35,566 --> 00:55:38,966 There were decisions that were constantly being made 1080 00:55:38,966 --> 00:55:43,766 which only made sense from a racial standpoint. 1081 00:55:43,766 --> 00:55:48,000 And when you added into that mix pejorative comments, 1082 00:55:48,000 --> 00:55:51,233 it just became very clear that the Boston School Committee 1083 00:55:51,233 --> 00:55:54,433 had deliberately maintained a dual school system. 1084 00:55:54,433 --> 00:55:57,800 LEM TUCKER: The question of racial imbalance in Boston schools 1085 00:55:57,800 --> 00:55:59,733 is now before a federal court. 1086 00:55:59,733 --> 00:56:02,066 If you had to guess at this point, 1087 00:56:02,066 --> 00:56:04,466 what do you think that court will say? 1088 00:56:04,466 --> 00:56:07,966 (chuckles): Well, I, I would hope, 1089 00:56:07,966 --> 00:56:10,666 and I would believe, that the court would uphold 1090 00:56:10,666 --> 00:56:13,533 the feelings of many of us, 1091 00:56:13,533 --> 00:56:15,800 that schools should be desegregated in Boston. 1092 00:56:15,800 --> 00:56:18,966 There was a long period of time between the trial 1093 00:56:18,966 --> 00:56:22,533 and Judge Garrity's ultimate ruling. 1094 00:56:22,533 --> 00:56:25,533 It was over a year. 1095 00:56:25,533 --> 00:56:27,500 ROSE: He was under a tremendous amount of pressure, 1096 00:56:27,500 --> 00:56:32,000 including from Mayor White, to come out with his decision. 1097 00:56:32,000 --> 00:56:35,533 VRABEL: On June 21, 1974, 1098 00:56:35,533 --> 00:56:38,266 Judge Garrity ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, 1099 00:56:38,266 --> 00:56:40,600 and he found that the school committee 1100 00:56:40,600 --> 00:56:43,666 was guilty of maintaining a dual school system, 1101 00:56:43,666 --> 00:56:46,433 one for Black students and one for Whites, 1102 00:56:46,433 --> 00:56:48,666 that was unconstitutionally segregated. 1103 00:56:48,666 --> 00:56:52,633 ROSE: The opinion was extraordinary 1104 00:56:52,633 --> 00:56:54,866 in its detail. 1105 00:56:54,866 --> 00:56:57,233 Garrity wanted to make sure 1106 00:56:57,233 --> 00:57:01,666 that anybody who took the time to read the opinion 1107 00:57:01,666 --> 00:57:04,166 would agree with the result. 1108 00:57:04,166 --> 00:57:10,133 The facts that the judge points to as unlawful-- 1109 00:57:10,133 --> 00:57:13,800 the using of feeder schools, transfer policies, 1110 00:57:13,800 --> 00:57:15,666 school assignment policies 1111 00:57:15,666 --> 00:57:20,200 to segregate the schools-- are observable 1112 00:57:20,200 --> 00:57:24,566 in many school systems in the country. 1113 00:57:24,566 --> 00:57:28,100 That would mean that many school systems 1114 00:57:28,100 --> 00:57:32,600 are segregated, following the logic of Morgan. 1115 00:57:32,600 --> 00:57:35,600 After a judge has found that a school system 1116 00:57:35,600 --> 00:57:38,466 is unconstitutionally segregated, 1117 00:57:38,466 --> 00:57:41,666 that situation has to be remedied. 1118 00:57:41,666 --> 00:57:47,133 Many people felt that the city schools should be 1119 00:57:47,133 --> 00:57:50,233 integrated along with suburban schools. 1120 00:57:50,233 --> 00:57:53,233   We prefer a metropolitan solution 1121 00:57:53,233 --> 00:57:55,066 for the problem, and its terms of 1122 00:57:55,066 --> 00:57:57,466 every kind of social fairness, 1123 00:57:57,466 --> 00:57:59,600 a metropolitan solution would be, 1124 00:57:59,600 --> 00:58:02,366 would be much, much better. 1125 00:58:02,366 --> 00:58:04,266 (people talking in background) 1126 00:58:04,266 --> 00:58:08,400 VAN LOON: That's what had happened in Detroit. 1127 00:58:08,400 --> 00:58:09,966 The Black parents had said, 1128 00:58:09,966 --> 00:58:11,600 "We've been discriminated against," 1129 00:58:11,600 --> 00:58:14,533 but the Detroit schools are nearly 100% Black already, 1130 00:58:14,533 --> 00:58:18,600 so that the only effective way to have desegregation 1131 00:58:18,600 --> 00:58:20,966 is to bring in the suburbs. 1132 00:58:20,966 --> 00:58:24,033 That case, Milliken against Bradley, 1133 00:58:24,033 --> 00:58:26,500 was at the United States Supreme Court 1134 00:58:26,500 --> 00:58:29,000 and being argued at, essentially, 1135 00:58:29,000 --> 00:58:30,666 the exact same time. 1136 00:58:30,666 --> 00:58:34,100 Late in July of 1974, 1137 00:58:34,100 --> 00:58:35,566 the Supreme Court of the United States ruled 1138 00:58:35,566 --> 00:58:38,566 there was simply no legal basis 1139 00:58:38,566 --> 00:58:41,266 for including surrounding towns 1140 00:58:41,266 --> 00:58:43,933 in the remedy phase of the case. 1141 00:58:43,933 --> 00:58:47,366 Tragically, Milliken went down to defeat, five to four. 1142 00:58:47,366 --> 00:58:51,466 If Milliken had been affirmed, Detroit and Boston 1143 00:58:51,466 --> 00:58:54,466 would've ended up with a suburban, metropolitan solution. 1144 00:58:54,466 --> 00:58:58,066 We would have had a pooling of resources. 1145 00:58:58,066 --> 00:59:00,266 If we want to do something fundamentally about 1146 00:59:00,266 --> 00:59:02,700 educational opportunity and integration, 1147 00:59:02,700 --> 00:59:04,933 you have to involve more than just the inner city. 1148 00:59:06,000 --> 00:59:07,933 BROWN-NAGIN: In his dissent, 1149 00:59:07,933 --> 00:59:09,633 Justice Thurgood Marshall-- 1150 00:59:09,633 --> 00:59:12,233 who had been the chief lawyer 1151 00:59:12,233 --> 00:59:15,066 who represented the Black plaintiffs 1152 00:59:15,066 --> 00:59:17,166 in Brown versus Board of Education-- 1153 00:59:17,166 --> 00:59:21,366 makes the point that the court had taken 1154 00:59:21,366 --> 00:59:24,733 a giant step backwards from Brown. 1155 00:59:24,733 --> 00:59:29,866 It was deciding a constitutional law case based 1156 00:59:29,866 --> 00:59:33,866 not on logic and legal precedent, 1157 00:59:33,866 --> 00:59:36,233 but based on White resistance. 1158 00:59:36,233 --> 00:59:38,066 ♪ ♪ 1159 00:59:38,066 --> 00:59:41,500 VAN LOON: In 1973, the state Board of Education 1160 00:59:41,500 --> 00:59:45,500 had developed a desegregation plan for Boston, 1161 00:59:45,500 --> 00:59:47,900 because Boston officials refused to do it. 1162 00:59:47,900 --> 00:59:52,800 The state Supreme Court had ordered that 1163 00:59:52,800 --> 00:59:55,366 the state plan be implemented 1164 00:59:55,366 --> 00:59:58,100 in September 1974. 1165 00:59:58,100 --> 01:00:01,400 BROWN-NAGIN: As an interim measure, 1166 01:00:01,400 --> 01:00:06,266 Judge Garrity commanded that the Boston School Committee 1167 01:00:06,266 --> 01:00:10,233 comply with the order that had been issued by 1168 01:00:10,233 --> 01:00:13,233 the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. 1169 01:00:13,233 --> 01:00:14,966 It really was an effort by him 1170 01:00:14,966 --> 01:00:18,033 to have the City of Boston comply with an order 1171 01:00:18,033 --> 01:00:21,300 that it already should have been complying with. 1172 01:00:21,300 --> 01:00:23,100 ♪ ♪ 1173 01:00:23,100 --> 01:00:25,800 (protesters chanting and shouting) 1174 01:00:25,800 --> 01:00:27,666 VRABEL: The plan, 1175 01:00:27,666 --> 01:00:31,266 which would affect 40% of the city, 1176 01:00:31,266 --> 01:00:33,433 called for the busing of 1177 01:00:33,433 --> 01:00:37,166 19,000 junior high school and high school students. 1178 01:00:37,166 --> 01:00:41,033 It was just what all these busing opponents 1179 01:00:41,033 --> 01:00:44,633 who had been fighting all these years were afraid of. 1180 01:00:44,633 --> 01:00:47,066 STOCKMAN: Many people were very hopeful 1181 01:00:47,066 --> 01:00:49,700 that something would actually change now. 1182 01:00:49,700 --> 01:00:53,366 Others were scared about what was going to happen, 1183 01:00:53,366 --> 01:00:55,533 because there was going to be resistance. 1184 01:00:55,533 --> 01:00:59,066 ALLEN: I think there was a sense of 1185 01:00:59,066 --> 01:01:04,000 euphoria, relief, excitement, vindication, 1186 01:01:04,000 --> 01:01:08,133 jubilation, combined with a sense of, 1187 01:01:08,133 --> 01:01:10,033 "Now what do we do?" (chuckles) 1188 01:01:11,900 --> 01:01:14,666   (phones ringing, people talking in background) 1189 01:01:14,666 --> 01:01:17,733 JACKSON: We mobilized the A-team. 1190 01:01:17,733 --> 01:01:19,700 We had a boiler room. 1191 01:01:19,700 --> 01:01:21,733 We hired hundreds of new employees 1192 01:01:21,733 --> 01:01:24,200 as school crossing guards, as bus monitors, 1193 01:01:24,200 --> 01:01:25,400 as school room aides. 1194 01:01:25,400 --> 01:01:27,033 But the issue became 1195 01:01:27,033 --> 01:01:29,066 the election and racial imbalance law. 1196 01:01:29,066 --> 01:01:31,333 JACKSON: Kevin White had a hundred coffee klatches. 1197 01:01:31,333 --> 01:01:34,066 He knew that, at a minimum, 1198 01:01:34,066 --> 01:01:36,300 White parents needed to be listened to. 1199 01:01:36,300 --> 01:01:38,366 And I love raising my children here, 1200 01:01:38,366 --> 01:01:40,166 but yet I feel that we should be able 1201 01:01:40,166 --> 01:01:42,466 to solve our own problems 1202 01:01:42,466 --> 01:01:44,266 and not having outsiders come and do it. 1203 01:01:44,266 --> 01:01:46,033 WHITE: I agree with you. 1204 01:01:46,033 --> 01:01:48,500 PETERS: Mayor White would have these parent meetings, 1205 01:01:48,500 --> 01:01:50,800 and he would say things like, 1206 01:01:50,800 --> 01:01:52,900 "This is going to be hard. 1207 01:01:52,900 --> 01:01:55,133 "It, it's going to be like the South, 1208 01:01:55,133 --> 01:01:56,566 but we can get through this." 1209 01:01:56,566 --> 01:01:58,800 Secondly, it'll be a painful process 1210 01:01:58,800 --> 01:02:00,633 going through it, because the South 1211 01:02:00,633 --> 01:02:01,900 didn't just slide through it. (man murmurs) 1212 01:02:01,900 --> 01:02:03,600 It tore them apart 1213 01:02:03,600 --> 01:02:04,733 as it'll help to tear us apart. 1214 01:02:04,733 --> 01:02:06,833 PETERS: That was his message. 1215 01:02:06,833 --> 01:02:09,466 Ruth Batson always said, 1216 01:02:09,466 --> 01:02:13,433 "Not one politician-- including the mayor of this city-- 1217 01:02:13,433 --> 01:02:15,766 ever said, 'This is the right thing to do.'" 1218 01:02:15,766 --> 01:02:18,400 Kevin White was contemptuous of the scheme 1219 01:02:18,400 --> 01:02:22,166 that Judge Garrity imposed, but did Kevin White 1220 01:02:22,166 --> 01:02:24,300 ever once say, "I won't enforce it"? 1221 01:02:24,300 --> 01:02:25,566 No. 1222 01:02:25,566 --> 01:02:27,666 Now, was he a profile in courage? No. 1223 01:02:27,666 --> 01:02:29,933 And I don't recall any other elected officials 1224 01:02:29,933 --> 01:02:32,633 being profiles in courage during busing. 1225 01:02:32,633 --> 01:02:35,766 They all headed for the hills. 1226 01:02:37,133 --> 01:02:41,000 ROLLINS: One of the great ironies in this entire busing situation 1227 01:02:41,000 --> 01:02:45,900 was that it's likely that most African American parents 1228 01:02:45,900 --> 01:02:48,933 would have preferred not to bus their kids. 1229 01:02:48,933 --> 01:02:51,666 They would have preferred to have their kids in schools 1230 01:02:51,666 --> 01:02:52,666 in their neighborhoods 1231 01:02:52,666 --> 01:02:55,066 that were high-quality. 1232 01:02:55,066 --> 01:02:59,866 ROCK: There was not a unified African American community 1233 01:02:59,866 --> 01:03:02,100 as it relates to school desegregation. 1234 01:03:02,100 --> 01:03:05,033 Many Black parents were saying, 1235 01:03:05,033 --> 01:03:08,200 "What are you thinking about, NAACP? 1236 01:03:08,200 --> 01:03:10,433 "This is crazy! 1237 01:03:10,433 --> 01:03:15,000 No, we can't send our kids into the lion's den." 1238 01:03:15,000 --> 01:03:19,833 PETERS: People were generally afraid for their children. 1239 01:03:19,833 --> 01:03:22,233 They fear going to South Boston, 1240 01:03:22,233 --> 01:03:23,866 they fear going to Charlestown, 1241 01:03:23,866 --> 01:03:26,466 they fear going to all-White schools 1242 01:03:26,466 --> 01:03:29,766 where Black people actually didn't live. 1243 01:03:29,766 --> 01:03:33,433 Made most parents very cautious. 1244 01:03:33,433 --> 01:03:36,533 (protesters shouting) 1245 01:03:36,533 --> 01:03:42,033 VRABEL: Garrity's decision deepened the opposition to busing. 1246 01:03:42,033 --> 01:03:46,166 They were going to oppose it with every fiber of their being. 1247 01:03:46,166 --> 01:03:47,766 I will not... 1248 01:03:47,766 --> 01:03:49,266 CROWD (repeating): I will not... 1249 01:03:49,266 --> 01:03:50,900 ...pledge allegiance... 1250 01:03:50,900 --> 01:03:51,900   CROWD: ...pledge allegiance... 1251 01:03:51,900 --> 01:03:53,233 ...to the order... 1252 01:03:53,233 --> 01:03:54,466   CROWD: ...to the order... 1253 01:03:54,466 --> 01:03:55,966 ...of the United States court. 1254 01:03:55,966 --> 01:03:57,600 CROWD: ...of the United States court. 1255 01:03:57,600 --> 01:03:59,966 Nor to the dictatorship... 1256 01:03:59,966 --> 01:04:02,166 CROWD: Nor to the dictatorship... 1257 01:04:02,166 --> 01:04:03,233 WOMAN: ...for which it stands. 1258 01:04:03,233 --> 01:04:04,233 CROWD: ...for which it stands. 1259 01:04:04,233 --> 01:04:05,833 WOMAN: One order... 1260 01:04:05,833 --> 01:04:09,666 JOY: As the busing order became more and more real, 1261 01:04:09,666 --> 01:04:11,633 people tried to enroll their children into 1262 01:04:11,633 --> 01:04:14,100 parish schools that weren't part of their parish. 1263 01:04:14,100 --> 01:04:15,733 And the archbishop of Boston, 1264 01:04:15,733 --> 01:04:17,333 Humberto Cardinal Medeiros, 1265 01:04:17,333 --> 01:04:19,900 says, "No, you can't do that." 1266 01:04:19,900 --> 01:04:21,433 The church's position was, "You know? 1267 01:04:21,433 --> 01:04:23,433 "This is a court order. 1268 01:04:23,433 --> 01:04:24,933 "Not only are we going to obey it, 1269 01:04:24,933 --> 01:04:26,633 but it's the right thing to do." 1270 01:04:26,633 --> 01:04:28,833 A lot of people had so much to say, 1271 01:04:28,833 --> 01:04:31,533 to tell us what we had to do here in this community, 1272 01:04:31,533 --> 01:04:33,366 but nothing was happening to them. 1273 01:04:34,766 --> 01:04:36,566 They weren't being forced. 1274 01:04:36,566 --> 01:04:38,333 It bothered me that people 1275 01:04:38,333 --> 01:04:40,300 would have a lot to say about us, 1276 01:04:40,300 --> 01:04:42,366 but they don't live here. 1277 01:04:44,366 --> 01:04:46,900 JOY: Charlestown was a nitty-gritty place. 1278 01:04:46,900 --> 01:04:50,833 There was the largest housing project in the city, 1279 01:04:50,833 --> 01:04:53,233 more than 1,000 units of... 1280 01:04:53,233 --> 01:04:54,500 It was, it was grimy, it was old. 1281 01:04:54,500 --> 01:04:58,066 The people in Charlestown felt betrayal, 1282 01:04:58,066 --> 01:05:00,533 that after negotiations 1283 01:05:00,533 --> 01:05:03,000 with a lot of the urban renewal projects, 1284 01:05:03,000 --> 01:05:05,866 as part of the quid pro quo, I guess you'd call it, 1285 01:05:05,866 --> 01:05:08,566 they had been promised two new schools: 1286 01:05:08,566 --> 01:05:11,566 the Warren-Prescott School and the Kent School. 1287 01:05:11,566 --> 01:05:14,600 They felt as though they were taken away from them. 1288 01:05:14,600 --> 01:05:17,366 These new schools were no longer their schools. 1289 01:05:17,366 --> 01:05:20,733 They were someone else's schools. 1290 01:05:20,733 --> 01:05:24,000 GILLEN: We were told, "No, no, no, no, no. 1291 01:05:24,000 --> 01:05:26,300 Your kid cannot go to that school." 1292 01:05:26,300 --> 01:05:27,800 Wouldn't you be upset? 1293 01:05:27,800 --> 01:05:29,133 Wouldn't anybody be upset? 1294 01:05:29,133 --> 01:05:31,000 Of course we're upset. 1295 01:05:31,000 --> 01:05:32,866 We're upset about our rights. 1296 01:05:32,866 --> 01:05:36,533 Our kids could've gone from 1297 01:05:36,533 --> 01:05:39,500 pre-kindergarten to community college 1298 01:05:39,500 --> 01:05:41,266 and never leave the town, 1299 01:05:41,266 --> 01:05:43,933 and we were very happy with that. 1300 01:05:43,933 --> 01:05:47,100 MACDONALD: In phase one of the busing plan, 1301 01:05:47,100 --> 01:05:51,433 South Boston High School and Roxbury were paired. 1302 01:05:51,433 --> 01:05:54,433 South Boston's lower end, which is where I'm from, 1303 01:05:54,433 --> 01:05:56,500 held one of the highest concentrations 1304 01:05:56,500 --> 01:05:59,433 of White poverty in America. 1305 01:05:59,433 --> 01:06:02,300 We were not working class, we were poor. 1306 01:06:02,300 --> 01:06:03,866 (glass breaking) 1307 01:06:03,866 --> 01:06:05,533 To focus on a school 1308 01:06:05,533 --> 01:06:08,600 that had a lot of students on welfare, 1309 01:06:08,600 --> 01:06:11,666 that's not really the place to get equity. 1310 01:06:11,666 --> 01:06:14,000 (calling and yelling) 1311 01:06:14,000 --> 01:06:15,700 JACKSON: Black parents were smart enough to know 1312 01:06:15,700 --> 01:06:17,700 that the education their kids were going to get 1313 01:06:17,700 --> 01:06:21,366 at South Boston High School was not what they aspired to. 1314 01:06:21,366 --> 01:06:26,300 And the White community knew that their kids were being bused 1315 01:06:26,300 --> 01:06:29,333 into inferior schools in the Black community. 1316 01:06:29,333 --> 01:06:31,266 MAN: ♪ We'll fight ♪ 1317 01:06:31,266 --> 01:06:33,000 VRABEL: The group was formed, 1318 01:06:33,000 --> 01:06:36,900 ROAR-- Restore Our Alienated Rights-- 1319 01:06:36,900 --> 01:06:39,600 by Louise Day Hicks and others in South Boston. 1320 01:06:39,600 --> 01:06:41,166 MAN: ♪ Tonight ♪ 1321 01:06:41,166 --> 01:06:42,433 ♪ Let us unite ♪ 1322 01:06:42,433 --> 01:06:46,800 ♪ And do it ROAR's way ♪ 1323 01:06:46,800 --> 01:06:48,433 ♪ ♪ 1324 01:06:48,433 --> 01:06:50,533 VRABEL: Its meetings were held 1325 01:06:50,533 --> 01:06:54,000 in the Boston City Council chambers in City Hall, 1326 01:06:54,000 --> 01:06:58,133 that by this time Louise Day Hicks was on. 1327 01:06:58,133 --> 01:07:01,333 She posted big letters in the windows 1328 01:07:01,333 --> 01:07:04,266 that spelled out R-O-A-R, 1329 01:07:04,266 --> 01:07:07,733 and anyone passing by on City Hall Plaza 1330 01:07:07,733 --> 01:07:11,166 could look up and see what seemed to be 1331 01:07:11,166 --> 01:07:14,300 the official endorsement of ROAR by City Hall. 1332 01:07:14,300 --> 01:07:17,900   MAN: ♪ You see, his name is Garrity ♪ 1333 01:07:17,900 --> 01:07:22,300 ♪ You know darn well, he can go to hell ♪ 1334 01:07:22,300 --> 01:07:25,366 ♪ We'll do it ROAR's way ♪ 1335 01:07:25,366 --> 01:07:30,900 (car horns honking) 1336 01:07:30,900 --> 01:07:33,333 MONAHAN: We had motorcades 1337 01:07:33,333 --> 01:07:35,833 to draw attention and noise through the whole town 1338 01:07:35,833 --> 01:07:39,100 that we're against this. 1339 01:07:39,100 --> 01:07:43,666 We drove by Garrity's house in Wellesley. 1340 01:07:43,666 --> 01:07:45,400 It was exciting. 1341 01:07:45,400 --> 01:07:48,133 How can that be exciting? 1342 01:07:48,133 --> 01:07:51,400 But as a teenager, with all that activity, 1343 01:07:51,400 --> 01:07:55,666 that is one way I would describe the experience. 1344 01:07:55,666 --> 01:07:57,900 It all culminated that fall, 1345 01:07:57,900 --> 01:08:00,433 just before school opened, with a 1346 01:08:00,433 --> 01:08:04,033 10,000-person demonstration in Government Center. 1347 01:08:04,033 --> 01:08:05,966 (people talking in background) 1348 01:08:05,966 --> 01:08:07,800 REPORTER: Today, the people who gathered 1349 01:08:07,800 --> 01:08:10,966 on City Hall Plaza were angry. 1350 01:08:10,966 --> 01:08:12,800 Their battle against busing has been lost. 1351 01:08:12,800 --> 01:08:14,666 They said they were coming to 1352 01:08:14,666 --> 01:08:17,933 tell Senators Kennedy and Brooke exactly how the city feels 1353 01:08:17,933 --> 01:08:19,733 about their consistent support for busing. 1354 01:08:19,733 --> 01:08:21,700 (chanting): Impeach Kennedy! 1355 01:08:21,700 --> 01:08:23,200 Impeach Kennedy! 1356 01:08:23,200 --> 01:08:25,900   Impeach Kennedy! 1357 01:08:25,900 --> 01:08:29,466 MCGOFF-COLLINS: I can remember, it was an angry, angry time. 1358 01:08:29,466 --> 01:08:30,800 No matter what we said, 1359 01:08:30,800 --> 01:08:32,066 all these people that we looked up to 1360 01:08:32,066 --> 01:08:33,566 at one time in our lives were turning against us. 1361 01:08:33,566 --> 01:08:36,400 (protesters shouting) 1362 01:08:36,400 --> 01:08:38,033 JACKSON: Our senior senator, Ted Kennedy, 1363 01:08:38,033 --> 01:08:40,500 is walking through City Hall Plaza 1364 01:08:40,500 --> 01:08:44,233 surrounded by a crowd of angry anti-busing activists 1365 01:08:44,233 --> 01:08:46,633 who confronted him, 1366 01:08:46,633 --> 01:08:48,500 jostled him. 1367 01:08:48,500 --> 01:08:50,533 Kennedy took a punch in the, in the gut. 1368 01:08:50,533 --> 01:08:51,700 I was there, I saw it. 1369 01:08:51,700 --> 01:08:53,266 (protesters shouting) 1370 01:08:53,266 --> 01:08:57,500 His aides were helping him evade the crowd, 1371 01:08:57,500 --> 01:09:00,566 which was getting angrier and angrier. 1372 01:09:00,566 --> 01:09:04,766 Security got the senator into the building safely, 1373 01:09:04,766 --> 01:09:08,300 and a number of folks 1374 01:09:08,300 --> 01:09:10,933 just started pounding on the glass. 1375 01:09:10,933 --> 01:09:14,733 (protesters shouting, pounding) 1376 01:09:14,733 --> 01:09:16,800 (pounding loudens) 1377 01:09:16,800 --> 01:09:18,266 And it broke. 1378 01:09:18,266 --> 01:09:20,800 (glass shatters) 1379 01:09:20,800 --> 01:09:22,333 JACKSON: And if that glass had shattered on Ted Kennedy, 1380 01:09:22,333 --> 01:09:23,500 he could've been killed. 1381 01:09:23,500 --> 01:09:26,833 30-foot-high plate glass shattering 1382 01:09:26,833 --> 01:09:29,033 is something to behold. 1383 01:09:29,033 --> 01:09:32,033 It was a very scary moment. 1384 01:09:32,033 --> 01:09:36,200 There was no dialogue during this period. 1385 01:09:36,200 --> 01:09:39,066 There was only historical division and hatred. 1386 01:09:40,866 --> 01:09:44,566 This was just as polarized, 1387 01:09:44,566 --> 01:09:48,166 just as ugly, as any place on the Earth. 1388 01:09:48,166 --> 01:09:50,266 Good evening. 1389 01:09:50,266 --> 01:09:51,966 As we all know, in three days, 1390 01:09:51,966 --> 01:09:54,666 the city of Boston will face one of her greatest challenges: 1391 01:09:54,666 --> 01:09:55,933 busing. 1392 01:09:55,933 --> 01:09:57,833 JACKSON: That night, 1393 01:09:57,833 --> 01:10:00,366 Kevin White asked for permission from local television 1394 01:10:00,366 --> 01:10:02,300 to give a speech. 1395 01:10:02,300 --> 01:10:04,200 I wrote a speech and he delivered it. 1396 01:10:05,400 --> 01:10:08,633 To every mother and father, I pledge tonight 1397 01:10:08,633 --> 01:10:11,233 that your mayor and that your police department 1398 01:10:11,233 --> 01:10:15,133 will tolerate no threat to the well-being of your children. 1399 01:10:16,600 --> 01:10:19,433 JACKSON: Right after Kevin White delivered his speech, 1400 01:10:19,433 --> 01:10:22,266 the police commissioner informed us that Whitey Bulger, 1401 01:10:22,266 --> 01:10:24,633 who was then a notorious gangster, 1402 01:10:24,633 --> 01:10:28,033 was planning to shoot and kill Black children 1403 01:10:28,033 --> 01:10:33,466 as the buses rolled on what they called Opening Day. 1404 01:10:33,466 --> 01:10:37,966 We were at the precipice of 1405 01:10:37,966 --> 01:10:40,600 anarchy, civil war. 1406 01:10:40,600 --> 01:10:43,533 What you could feel 1407 01:10:43,533 --> 01:10:46,500 was the palpable fear and animosity 1408 01:10:46,500 --> 01:10:50,066 that, that just hung over the city 1409 01:10:50,066 --> 01:10:52,233 like an explosion 1410 01:10:52,233 --> 01:10:55,866 just waiting for a match to be lit. 1411 01:11:03,700 --> 01:11:07,166 MONAHAN: The morning of, you hear the helicopters. 1412 01:11:09,000 --> 01:11:11,266 It started at 6:00. 1413 01:11:11,266 --> 01:11:14,900 It just accentuated the tension that was in the community. 1414 01:11:16,433 --> 01:11:19,400 CARL JOHNSON: The first day was 1415 01:11:19,400 --> 01:11:23,500 anticipated to be chaotic, 1416 01:11:23,500 --> 01:11:25,733 and it was. 1417 01:11:25,733 --> 01:11:29,466 There were lots of people who were there 1418 01:11:29,466 --> 01:11:31,500 to watch what was going on. 1419 01:11:31,500 --> 01:11:34,766 There were truckfuls of cameras 1420 01:11:34,766 --> 01:11:36,600 and everything else. 1421 01:11:36,600 --> 01:11:40,700 The kids hadn't even come yet. 1422 01:11:40,700 --> 01:11:43,633 ELLISON-FEASTER: I was assigned to South Boston High School. 1423 01:11:43,633 --> 01:11:47,066 I had a new outfit for the first day of school, 1424 01:11:47,066 --> 01:11:49,100 because no sophomore could wear clothes 1425 01:11:49,100 --> 01:11:51,533 that they wore in their freshman year. 1426 01:11:51,533 --> 01:11:54,033   I was looking forward to, you know, 1427 01:11:54,033 --> 01:11:56,766 going to a football or a basketball game. 1428 01:11:56,766 --> 01:11:58,633 I was looking forward to having friends 1429 01:11:58,633 --> 01:12:01,000 and some after-school activities. 1430 01:12:02,100 --> 01:12:04,633 MAN: The first three buses, please. 1431 01:12:04,633 --> 01:12:07,300 South Boston High School now loading. 1432 01:12:07,300 --> 01:12:12,333 JACKSON: I met the police commissioner and then the superintendent. 1433 01:12:12,333 --> 01:12:14,800 We went to South Bay, 1434 01:12:14,800 --> 01:12:17,200 which is where the buses were going to come, 1435 01:12:17,200 --> 01:12:19,133 and basically form a wagon train 1436 01:12:19,133 --> 01:12:21,866 going up the Heights to South Boston High School. 1437 01:12:21,866 --> 01:12:26,833 ♪ ♪ 1438 01:12:28,533 --> 01:12:30,666 ELLISON-FEASTER: We get to a certain point, 1439 01:12:30,666 --> 01:12:33,400 and all you see is a sea of people with signs 1440 01:12:33,400 --> 01:12:37,633 and yelling at the students that are on the bus. 1441 01:12:37,633 --> 01:12:40,300 I wondered to myself, 1442 01:12:40,300 --> 01:12:43,333 "Why would a person get up that early in the morning 1443 01:12:43,333 --> 01:12:45,700 to taunt Black students?" 1444 01:12:45,700 --> 01:12:48,633 (crowd yelling indistinctly) 1445 01:12:48,633 --> 01:12:51,533 JACKSON: They were greeted with an angry crowd, 1446 01:12:51,533 --> 01:12:54,400 yelling the N-word and literally throwing bananas 1447 01:12:54,400 --> 01:12:56,400 at some of the Black kids. 1448 01:12:56,400 --> 01:12:58,700 (crowd yelling) 1449 01:12:58,700 --> 01:13:00,333 It was the ugliest 1450 01:13:00,333 --> 01:13:03,600 that I've ever experienced human nature. 1451 01:13:03,600 --> 01:13:07,000 (yelling continues) 1452 01:13:07,000 --> 01:13:10,433 ROCK: As the kids were getting out of the buses, 1453 01:13:10,433 --> 01:13:14,666 thousands of residents from South Boston 1454 01:13:14,666 --> 01:13:19,700 were screaming at the Black students, 1455 01:13:19,700 --> 01:13:23,166 "Nigger, go home. 1456 01:13:23,166 --> 01:13:26,400 Nigger, go home." 1457 01:13:29,900 --> 01:13:31,600 VRABEL: There were very few White students 1458 01:13:31,600 --> 01:13:34,033 going to school that first day, because the anti-busing side 1459 01:13:34,033 --> 01:13:36,733 had called for a boycott of schools. 1460 01:13:36,733 --> 01:13:41,333 JOHNSON: I had 35 kids assigned to each class, 1461 01:13:41,333 --> 01:13:44,900 and less than half of those kids came to my class. 1462 01:13:44,900 --> 01:13:47,033 One of the reasons why they boycotted 1463 01:13:47,033 --> 01:13:49,800 was, they were hoping that they would rescind the order 1464 01:13:49,800 --> 01:13:51,066 and allow their children 1465 01:13:51,066 --> 01:13:53,333 to go to South Boston High School. 1466 01:13:53,333 --> 01:13:56,266 It was kind of a waiting game for them. 1467 01:13:56,266 --> 01:13:59,900 IONE MALLOY: The desegregation plan for the first year, 1468 01:13:59,900 --> 01:14:03,700 the sophomores would be bused from Roxbury 1469 01:14:03,700 --> 01:14:05,333 to South Boston High School. 1470 01:14:05,333 --> 01:14:10,000 The junior class was supposed to go to Roxbury. 1471 01:14:10,000 --> 01:14:15,566 And the seniors could choose either South Boston or Roxbury. 1472 01:14:15,566 --> 01:14:17,733 RICHARD HUNT: At Roxbury High School, 1473 01:14:17,733 --> 01:14:19,633 in the heart of a Black district, 1474 01:14:19,633 --> 01:14:22,000 most of the buses sent to bring in White students 1475 01:14:22,000 --> 01:14:24,966 arrived empty or with only a few passengers. 1476 01:14:24,966 --> 01:14:26,466 Only 234 pupils-- 1477 01:14:26,466 --> 01:14:29,600 20 Whites and 214 Blacks-- 1478 01:14:29,600 --> 01:14:31,733 came to school. 1479 01:14:31,733 --> 01:14:34,966 The student body is supposed to be about 900. 1480 01:14:34,966 --> 01:14:36,633 I think it's going to be all right 1481 01:14:36,633 --> 01:14:38,733 if everybody comes and stops being scared, because, 1482 01:14:38,733 --> 01:14:41,166 shoot, I don't think there's nothing to be scared of. 1483 01:14:41,166 --> 01:14:43,166 REPORTER: How do you think things are going to work out 1484 01:14:43,166 --> 01:14:45,700 here at Roxbury High? 1485 01:14:45,700 --> 01:14:47,300 I don't know, I guess they'll work out all right if, 1486 01:14:47,300 --> 01:14:48,966 if the parents could stay out of it all and let 1487 01:14:48,966 --> 01:14:50,933 the kids work it out for themselves, it'll be all right. 1488 01:14:50,933 --> 01:14:55,466 (shouting) 1489 01:14:55,466 --> 01:14:59,433 (shouting and screaming) 1490 01:14:59,433 --> 01:15:01,333 ELLISON-FEASTER: Most of the teachers and administrators, 1491 01:15:01,333 --> 01:15:03,933 they tried to keep us away from the windows 1492 01:15:03,933 --> 01:15:06,833 because of what was going on outside. 1493 01:15:06,833 --> 01:15:08,933 (glass breaking, woman screaming) 1494 01:15:08,933 --> 01:15:10,666 (crowd shouting indistinctly) 1495 01:15:10,666 --> 01:15:12,400 HUNT: At least twice, 1496 01:15:12,400 --> 01:15:14,166 stones and bottles began to fly 1497 01:15:14,166 --> 01:15:17,200 and the police charged, led by policemen on horseback. 1498 01:15:17,200 --> 01:15:18,866 (people shouting) 1499 01:15:18,866 --> 01:15:20,566 The police charges cleared the way 1500 01:15:20,566 --> 01:15:22,333 for the buses to pick up the Black students 1501 01:15:22,333 --> 01:15:24,533 at the end of the day. 1502 01:15:24,533 --> 01:15:25,866 BROWN-NAGIN: It's clear, 1503 01:15:25,866 --> 01:15:31,700 Whites who do not want Blacks in their schools 1504 01:15:31,700 --> 01:15:34,066 are acting in just the same way 1505 01:15:34,066 --> 01:15:37,800 as violent Whites in the South. 1506 01:15:37,800 --> 01:15:41,666 MONAHAN: I'm not uncomplicit in this. 1507 01:15:41,666 --> 01:15:43,900 If you saw it on the television, I was there. 1508 01:15:43,900 --> 01:15:46,433 (crowd shouting) 1509 01:15:46,433 --> 01:15:51,666 There was a sense that we were going to lose our community. 1510 01:15:51,666 --> 01:15:54,233 I had no interest in throwing bricks or a rock, 1511 01:15:54,233 --> 01:15:55,366 and most people didn't. 1512 01:15:57,300 --> 01:16:00,300 We weren't raised that way, but it happened. 1513 01:16:00,300 --> 01:16:01,966 (rock crashing, glass shattering) 1514 01:16:01,966 --> 01:16:03,633 People throwing bricks and rocks. 1515 01:16:04,833 --> 01:16:07,266 MACDONALD: I was eight years old, 1516 01:16:07,266 --> 01:16:09,500 but I needed to feel or pretend 1517 01:16:09,500 --> 01:16:12,400 that I was part of this thing. 1518 01:16:12,400 --> 01:16:14,333 Throwing a rock was 1519 01:16:14,333 --> 01:16:16,933 part of being of the mob, of the "us." 1520 01:16:16,933 --> 01:16:20,600 ♪ ♪ 1521 01:16:20,600 --> 01:16:22,966 ROCK: When we got to the staging area, 1522 01:16:22,966 --> 01:16:25,566 waiting for the buses to come back, 1523 01:16:25,566 --> 01:16:31,066 we saw that the buses had broken windows. 1524 01:16:31,066 --> 01:16:33,466 It was painful, 1525 01:16:33,466 --> 01:16:37,733 because the kids were coming out crying. 1526 01:16:37,733 --> 01:16:40,600 Some parents showed up. 1527 01:16:40,600 --> 01:16:44,633 Some of the kids didn't have their parents to support them. 1528 01:16:44,633 --> 01:16:46,300 (talking in background) 1529 01:16:46,300 --> 01:16:49,433 JACKSON: When I reported to Kevin White on Opening Day 1530 01:16:49,433 --> 01:16:52,366 that no Black child had been killed, 1531 01:16:52,366 --> 01:16:55,266 we thought that was a victory. 1532 01:16:55,266 --> 01:16:57,833 It was the saddest day in Boston's history. 1533 01:16:58,900 --> 01:17:01,766 But if a Black child had been killed, 1534 01:17:01,766 --> 01:17:04,800 it would have been a civil war. 1535 01:17:06,533 --> 01:17:10,366 JONES: That night, Black leaders were enraged 1536 01:17:10,366 --> 01:17:13,466 because the public safety of their kids 1537 01:17:13,466 --> 01:17:15,233 was in jeopardy. 1538 01:17:16,333 --> 01:17:18,000 They called a meeting, 1539 01:17:18,000 --> 01:17:20,100 to which they invited Mayor White 1540 01:17:20,100 --> 01:17:21,900 to make it quite clear to him, 1541 01:17:21,900 --> 01:17:25,633 "We expect you to make sure that our kids are safe. 1542 01:17:25,633 --> 01:17:28,333 "We are not going to accept anything but that, 1543 01:17:28,333 --> 01:17:29,933 and you are not doing that." 1544 01:17:31,233 --> 01:17:35,033 JACKSON: It was a very tough night for Kevin White 1545 01:17:35,033 --> 01:17:37,700 to face angry, frightened Black parents, 1546 01:17:37,700 --> 01:17:39,000 because he had promised them 1547 01:17:39,000 --> 01:17:41,166 that their children would be safe, 1548 01:17:41,166 --> 01:17:43,400 and they weren't. 1549 01:17:43,400 --> 01:17:45,766 He had to admit that he had failed, 1550 01:17:45,766 --> 01:17:48,233 and he asked for their forgiveness, 1551 01:17:48,233 --> 01:17:50,133 but he wasn't able to deliver on 1552 01:17:50,133 --> 01:17:54,066 the first and most important obligation that any leader has, 1553 01:17:54,066 --> 01:17:56,400 which is to keep his community safe. 1554 01:17:56,400 --> 01:18:01,266 JONES: Black leaders had to make a tough decision: 1555 01:18:01,266 --> 01:18:04,033 to ask Black parents to stay the course. 1556 01:18:04,033 --> 01:18:06,266 Tough decision. 1557 01:18:06,266 --> 01:18:08,066 All along the way, 1558 01:18:08,066 --> 01:18:10,266 Black parents have had to make 1559 01:18:10,266 --> 01:18:12,766 very difficult decisions 1560 01:18:12,766 --> 01:18:15,466 in order to assert their rights, 1561 01:18:15,466 --> 01:18:19,633 and to use their kids in the process. 1562 01:18:22,533 --> 01:18:28,300 (people talking in background) 1563 01:18:35,566 --> 01:18:38,100 We're so proud of you, kids. 1564 01:18:38,100 --> 01:18:40,066 I know it, it takes courage, 1565 01:18:40,066 --> 01:18:41,466 and I know you're-- it's fear when 1566 01:18:41,466 --> 01:18:42,933 they throw rocks and bottles at you. 1567 01:18:42,933 --> 01:18:45,033 But we're determined. 1568 01:18:45,033 --> 01:18:46,200 And if you kids want an education, 1569 01:18:46,200 --> 01:18:47,733 you're going to get it. 1570 01:18:50,366 --> 01:18:51,700 ELLISON-FEASTER: The second day, 1571 01:18:51,700 --> 01:18:53,366 the Black students had to be 1572 01:18:53,366 --> 01:18:55,100 escorted by Boston police officers 1573 01:18:55,100 --> 01:18:57,033 because of what had happened on the first day. 1574 01:18:59,866 --> 01:19:01,500 REPORTER: How long do you anticipate the need for 1575 01:19:01,500 --> 01:19:04,300 police protection for the kids going to South Boston? 1576 01:19:04,300 --> 01:19:05,600 ROBERT DI GRAZIA: As long as it's necessary. 1577 01:19:05,600 --> 01:19:07,866 Is it, possibility that it would continue 1578 01:19:07,866 --> 01:19:09,600 till next June, till school is out? 1579 01:19:09,600 --> 01:19:11,400 Oh, I don't think so. 1580 01:19:11,400 --> 01:19:13,066 Certainly not planning on it, 1581 01:19:13,066 --> 01:19:15,166 but we'll be here if it's necessary. 1582 01:19:15,166 --> 01:19:16,933 We had marching orders 1583 01:19:16,933 --> 01:19:19,933 to go out and get stories that were forceful, 1584 01:19:19,933 --> 01:19:22,033 that ignited passion. 1585 01:19:22,033 --> 01:19:24,466 Let them move next door to me, I don't care, 1586 01:19:24,466 --> 01:19:27,466 but don't send my kids all over Timbuktu! 1587 01:19:27,466 --> 01:19:29,633 ARMSTRONG: "If anybody is yelling, make sure you get that. 1588 01:19:29,633 --> 01:19:31,733 And if they get angry with you, make sure you show that." 1589 01:19:31,733 --> 01:19:34,900 These were the stories that were picked up by the networks. 1590 01:19:34,900 --> 01:19:36,633 (crowd shouting) 1591 01:19:36,633 --> 01:19:40,766 So the nation saw a city in turmoil, 1592 01:19:40,766 --> 01:19:42,933 a city ready to explode, 1593 01:19:42,933 --> 01:19:45,633 because that's how we were covering it. 1594 01:19:45,633 --> 01:19:47,900 (people shouting in background) 1595 01:19:47,900 --> 01:19:52,300 When you look at the protests against desegregation, 1596 01:19:52,300 --> 01:19:54,033 it was mostly at the high school level. 1597 01:19:54,033 --> 01:19:57,166   There was a very small number of schools 1598 01:19:57,166 --> 01:19:58,600 where there was violence. 1599 01:19:58,600 --> 01:20:01,900 VRABEL: There were three geographic enclaves 1600 01:20:01,900 --> 01:20:05,500 that still had semblances of a neighborhood school system. 1601 01:20:05,500 --> 01:20:08,533 They were South Boston, Charlestown, and East Boston. 1602 01:20:08,533 --> 01:20:10,900 Because they were so geographically isolated, 1603 01:20:10,900 --> 01:20:12,166   they were still sending their kids 1604 01:20:12,166 --> 01:20:13,166 to neighborhood schools. 1605 01:20:13,166 --> 01:20:15,633 ♪ ♪ 1606 01:20:15,633 --> 01:20:17,233 Those three neighborhoods 1607 01:20:17,233 --> 01:20:20,100 fought hardest to keep what they had, 1608 01:20:20,100 --> 01:20:21,500 and South Boston, 1609 01:20:21,500 --> 01:20:23,566 being the only one involved the first year, 1610 01:20:23,566 --> 01:20:26,466 fought first. 1611 01:20:29,933 --> 01:20:31,266 HOLLAND: I just remember, 1612 01:20:31,266 --> 01:20:34,100 we got on the van with the Black teachers 1613 01:20:34,100 --> 01:20:37,400   because it was safe for White teachers, 1614 01:20:37,400 --> 01:20:39,166 but it wasn't safe for Black teachers 1615 01:20:39,166 --> 01:20:42,766 to drive their cars up there. 1616 01:20:42,766 --> 01:20:47,500 We got in a caravan with the school buses, 1617 01:20:47,500 --> 01:20:49,700 motorcycle escorts, 1618 01:20:49,700 --> 01:20:53,266 patrol cars, and I said, "Wow. 1619 01:20:53,266 --> 01:20:56,166 "This is how you start your day? 1620 01:20:56,166 --> 01:20:59,433 It's like you're going to a armed encampment." 1621 01:20:59,433 --> 01:21:01,733 ♪ ♪ 1622 01:21:01,733 --> 01:21:04,900 By the time kids even got off the bus, 1623 01:21:04,900 --> 01:21:06,700 they were tense. 1624 01:21:06,700 --> 01:21:11,066 Each day, your stomach would knot up. 1625 01:21:11,066 --> 01:21:13,900 REPORTER: You've had a chance now to watch for three weeks 1626 01:21:13,900 --> 01:21:15,900 how this school is going to operate logistically, 1627 01:21:15,900 --> 01:21:17,200 day in and day out. 1628 01:21:17,200 --> 01:21:19,366 Now, you, have you formed an opinion yet 1629 01:21:19,366 --> 01:21:21,500 on whether or not education can be accomplished, 1630 01:21:21,500 --> 01:21:24,433 if teaching can go on in this kind of circumstance? 1631 01:21:26,266 --> 01:21:27,700 I have formed opinions. 1632 01:21:27,700 --> 01:21:29,233 What's your opinion? 1633 01:21:31,833 --> 01:21:33,400 I think it's almost self-evident. 1634 01:21:33,400 --> 01:21:35,233 Come on, go to school or go home. 1635 01:21:35,233 --> 01:21:36,633 Come on, LaRosa, let's go. 1636 01:21:36,633 --> 01:21:38,100 (laughing) Come on. 1637 01:21:38,100 --> 01:21:39,966 HOLLAND: Dr. Reid, the principal, 1638 01:21:39,966 --> 01:21:42,033 he really cared about the kids, 1639 01:21:42,033 --> 01:21:45,366 but was almost powerless to do anything, 1640 01:21:45,366 --> 01:21:48,933 because he had no control. 1641 01:21:48,933 --> 01:21:52,833 The community outside was controlling the kids. 1642 01:21:52,833 --> 01:21:56,500 ♪ ♪ 1643 01:21:56,500 --> 01:21:59,266 ELLISON-FEASTER: I woke up in the morning 1644 01:21:59,266 --> 01:22:01,000 thinking about what's going to happen 1645 01:22:01,000 --> 01:22:02,733 inside of the building that day. 1646 01:22:05,100 --> 01:22:07,500 White students was, often call Black students a nigger. 1647 01:22:07,500 --> 01:22:09,366 (crowd shouting in background) 1648 01:22:09,366 --> 01:22:11,433 Sometimes they would make, like, a grunting sound, 1649 01:22:11,433 --> 01:22:13,366 like we were apes. 1650 01:22:13,366 --> 01:22:14,933 ♪ ♪ 1651 01:22:14,933 --> 01:22:16,133 GIRL: It's tense. 1652 01:22:16,133 --> 01:22:17,833 It's always tense in the class, 1653 01:22:17,833 --> 01:22:19,200 because you never know when a fight is going to break out. 1654 01:22:19,200 --> 01:22:20,333 I mean, you give someone a wrong look 1655 01:22:20,333 --> 01:22:21,800 and they jump right on your back. 1656 01:22:21,800 --> 01:22:24,366 The Black kids didn't go over there to start trouble. 1657 01:22:24,366 --> 01:22:26,100 Black kids were scared. 1658 01:22:26,100 --> 01:22:30,400 So, the kids who would initiate a lot of the fighting 1659 01:22:30,400 --> 01:22:32,433 was White kids. 1660 01:22:32,433 --> 01:22:35,233 When fights occurred, Black kids were being jumped, 1661 01:22:35,233 --> 01:22:36,966 but they were being suspended. 1662 01:22:38,166 --> 01:22:42,666 ELLISON-FEASTER: My brother could not take the bullying, the harassment. 1663 01:22:42,666 --> 01:22:47,100 He eventually stopped attending school. 1664 01:22:47,100 --> 01:22:51,433 Going over there to me is like going to a war. 1665 01:22:51,433 --> 01:22:53,333 Because that's all we do over there is fight. 1666 01:22:53,333 --> 01:22:55,033 You can't get an education 1667 01:22:55,033 --> 01:22:58,733 and watch your back at the same time. 1668 01:22:58,733 --> 01:23:00,733 Black kids went through a heck of a lot 1669 01:23:00,733 --> 01:23:02,900 to go to South Boston High School, 1670 01:23:02,900 --> 01:23:06,300 to go and get a education where they weren't welcome. 1671 01:23:06,300 --> 01:23:09,166 They paid a heavy price. 1672 01:23:09,166 --> 01:23:10,866 And White kids paid a heavy price, 1673 01:23:10,866 --> 01:23:14,633 because that community used those kids like pawns 1674 01:23:14,633 --> 01:23:18,266 and sacrificed their education, as well. 1675 01:23:25,233 --> 01:23:27,500 JOHNSON: At the end of the second period, 1676 01:23:27,500 --> 01:23:29,066 the bell rang. (electronic bell rings) 1677 01:23:29,066 --> 01:23:30,500 And I went, "Oh." 1678 01:23:30,500 --> 01:23:32,900 I went out in the corridor. 1679 01:23:32,900 --> 01:23:38,866 I noticed there were a large bunch of White youngsters. 1680 01:23:38,866 --> 01:23:43,366 A bookbag came hurtling out of the crowd 1681 01:23:43,366 --> 01:23:46,333 towards these two Black boys. 1682 01:23:46,333 --> 01:23:51,366 And as the White kids turned to flee, 1683 01:23:51,366 --> 01:23:54,700 one of the Black youngsters came forward 1684 01:23:54,700 --> 01:23:58,133 and stabbed one of the White boys. 1685 01:23:58,133 --> 01:23:59,666 (girl screams) 1686 01:23:59,666 --> 01:24:01,633 My God! 1687 01:24:01,633 --> 01:24:04,166 I, I was just in, in shock. 1688 01:24:04,166 --> 01:24:08,166 ELLISON-FEASTER: I was going into the main office. 1689 01:24:08,166 --> 01:24:10,666 I heard voices saying, "The niggers killed him. 1690 01:24:10,666 --> 01:24:12,100 They killed him." 1691 01:24:12,100 --> 01:24:15,900 And then, just, you know, chaos inside of the building. 1692 01:24:15,900 --> 01:24:19,333 I went to the office, 1693 01:24:19,333 --> 01:24:22,833 and I told the secretary, "Call an ambulance." 1694 01:24:22,833 --> 01:24:25,266 And then there was a communication: 1695 01:24:25,266 --> 01:24:28,200 "White students, leave the building. 1696 01:24:28,200 --> 01:24:30,200 All Black students should go to their classrooms." 1697 01:24:30,200 --> 01:24:32,366 (crowd shouting) 1698 01:24:32,366 --> 01:24:34,733 MONAHAN: When the kids were dismissed and they said 1699 01:24:34,733 --> 01:24:36,433 a White kid had got stabbed, 1700 01:24:36,433 --> 01:24:39,433 of course, that goes through the whole community. 1701 01:24:39,433 --> 01:24:41,166 You know, and I went up to the high school. 1702 01:24:41,166 --> 01:24:44,533 ELLISON-FEASTER: The crowd had grown outside, 1703 01:24:44,533 --> 01:24:45,900 and it had grown and grown. 1704 01:24:45,900 --> 01:24:48,100 (talking in background) 1705 01:24:48,100 --> 01:24:51,100 MONAHAN: There were a number of Black students-- 1706 01:24:51,100 --> 01:24:53,366 a couple of hundred, maybe-- they were trapped. 1707 01:24:53,366 --> 01:24:57,066 It was an angry crowd 1708 01:24:57,066 --> 01:24:59,066 saying pretty angry things. 1709 01:24:59,066 --> 01:25:01,000 CROWD (chanting): Send them back to Africa! 1710 01:25:01,000 --> 01:25:03,866 Send them back to Africa! 1711 01:25:03,866 --> 01:25:06,466 MONAHAN: You know, "Bus them back to Africa," and... 1712 01:25:06,466 --> 01:25:08,033 You know, that stuff. 1713 01:25:08,033 --> 01:25:11,200 Those kids definitely could hear the chants. 1714 01:25:11,200 --> 01:25:13,533 Send them back to Africa! 1715 01:25:13,533 --> 01:25:15,566   I can't imagine... 1716 01:25:18,700 --> 01:25:20,733 (exhales) 1717 01:25:25,266 --> 01:25:29,100 (exhales): I can't imagine how those kids felt. 1718 01:25:29,100 --> 01:25:30,933 (crowd shouting) 1719 01:25:30,933 --> 01:25:32,433 JUDY STOIA: The crowd's anger spread to include 1720 01:25:32,433 --> 01:25:34,800 not only the Black students inside the school, 1721 01:25:34,800 --> 01:25:36,166 but the policemen outside, as well. 1722 01:25:36,166 --> 01:25:38,733 (crowd shouting, glass breaking) 1723 01:25:38,733 --> 01:25:41,566 Mounted police rode into the crowd 1724 01:25:41,566 --> 01:25:43,066 in an effort to split it, 1725 01:25:43,066 --> 01:25:44,800 but they were met by bricks, bottles, eggs, 1726 01:25:44,800 --> 01:25:46,933 and verbal abuse. 1727 01:25:46,933 --> 01:25:48,400 (crowd shouting, objects crashing) 1728 01:25:48,400 --> 01:25:49,800 Missiles flew from the sidewalks, 1729 01:25:49,800 --> 01:25:52,966 the back of the crowd, and from the rooftops. 1730 01:25:52,966 --> 01:25:56,033 MALLOY: Louise Day Hicks was on the front steps 1731 01:25:56,033 --> 01:26:00,433 telling the crowd to let the students go back to Roxbury. 1732 01:26:00,433 --> 01:26:02,766 (crowd shouting in background) Now, there's only one way 1733 01:26:02,766 --> 01:26:04,733 to get them back to Roxbury, 1734 01:26:04,733 --> 01:26:08,333 and that is to have them go back by bus. 1735 01:26:08,333 --> 01:26:11,233 Let's get them back. 1736 01:26:11,233 --> 01:26:13,433 (shouting, murmuring continue) Okay. 1737 01:26:13,433 --> 01:26:15,866 I am going to ask you, will you please move 1738 01:26:15,866 --> 01:26:19,800 to the other side of the street so they can go back? 1739 01:26:19,800 --> 01:26:20,800 CROWD (shouting, murmuring): No! 1740 01:26:20,800 --> 01:26:22,366 She looked frightened, 1741 01:26:22,366 --> 01:26:23,966 because she couldn't control them. 1742 01:26:23,966 --> 01:26:27,800 (crowd shouting, glass shattering) 1743 01:26:27,800 --> 01:26:29,900 ELLISON-FEASTER: We were wondering, 1744 01:26:29,900 --> 01:26:32,466 like, how are we going to get out of here? 1745 01:26:32,466 --> 01:26:34,600 (crowd shouting, objects clattering) 1746 01:26:34,600 --> 01:26:37,500 There was a sea of people, and, and it was so violent. 1747 01:26:38,766 --> 01:26:41,166 MONAHAN: They came up with a brilliant plan. 1748 01:26:41,166 --> 01:26:44,366 They sent decoy buses 1749 01:26:44,366 --> 01:26:47,166 up to the front 1750 01:26:47,166 --> 01:26:50,933 at the same time that they would escort the Black students 1751 01:26:50,933 --> 01:26:53,433 to buses that were behind the school. 1752 01:26:53,433 --> 01:26:55,666 We were waiting for the buses. 1753 01:26:55,666 --> 01:26:58,166 (chuckling): Never thinking the buses were already there 1754 01:26:58,166 --> 01:26:59,500 in the back of the building. 1755 01:26:59,500 --> 01:27:01,266 The students ran out the back door 1756 01:27:01,266 --> 01:27:02,666 to get on those buses. 1757 01:27:02,666 --> 01:27:05,500 (chanting): Here we go, Southie, here we go! 1758 01:27:05,500 --> 01:27:07,166 ELLISON-FEASTER: You could hear the crowd. 1759 01:27:07,166 --> 01:27:09,366 Here we go, Southie, here we go! 1760 01:27:09,366 --> 01:27:11,033 ELLISON-FEASTER: All I could think of was, 1761 01:27:11,033 --> 01:27:13,933 what'd happen if that crowd had caught me, 1762 01:27:13,933 --> 01:27:16,433 so I ran as fast as I possibly could 1763 01:27:16,433 --> 01:27:18,100 to get on the bus, 1764 01:27:18,100 --> 01:27:20,333 and I ducked, and I laid on the floor. 1765 01:27:26,166 --> 01:27:31,166 ♪ ♪ 1766 01:27:31,166 --> 01:27:32,500 GIRL: And they ran us to the buses, 1767 01:27:32,500 --> 01:27:34,966 and they ran us out the school, and they... 1768 01:27:34,966 --> 01:27:36,833 We had to go around the back still. 1769 01:27:36,833 --> 01:27:39,366 (all talking at once) We had to run, we had to walk all the way down L Street. 1770 01:27:39,366 --> 01:27:41,600 And parents and everything was out there trying to hurt us. 1771 01:27:41,600 --> 01:27:45,200   The police dispersed the crowd, 1772 01:27:45,200 --> 01:27:47,833 and that was the end of that day. 1773 01:27:47,833 --> 01:27:50,233 We-- teachers went out to the car, 1774 01:27:50,233 --> 01:27:51,933 and I remember, a bird flew over. 1775 01:27:51,933 --> 01:27:55,466 We all ducked, because everything was so fearful. 1776 01:27:58,366 --> 01:28:01,133 South Boston High School reopened today 1777 01:28:01,133 --> 01:28:02,933 for the first time in almost a month. 1778 01:28:02,933 --> 01:28:06,400   Only about one quarter of the students showed up today, 1779 01:28:06,400 --> 01:28:08,566 and at the main building, 1780 01:28:08,566 --> 01:28:10,266 there were more police than students. 1781 01:28:10,266 --> 01:28:13,600 (people talking in background) 1782 01:28:13,600 --> 01:28:15,166 ELLISON-FEASTER: When you walked into the building, 1783 01:28:15,166 --> 01:28:16,400 there were metal detectors 1784 01:28:16,400 --> 01:28:18,966 where students had to go through. 1785 01:28:20,633 --> 01:28:23,100 In the hallways, you had state troopers 1786 01:28:23,100 --> 01:28:24,866 every ten feet or so, 1787 01:28:24,866 --> 01:28:28,000 so it was almost as if you were in prison. 1788 01:28:28,000 --> 01:28:30,233 (police radio running) 1789 01:28:30,233 --> 01:28:34,333 As a student, it was really difficult for learning, 1790 01:28:34,333 --> 01:28:38,233 because of the tension in the building. 1791 01:28:38,233 --> 01:28:40,100 Some of the teachers did try, 1792 01:28:40,100 --> 01:28:42,600 but there was a lot, in my opinion, 1793 01:28:42,600 --> 01:28:45,666 that just tried to get through the day. 1794 01:28:45,666 --> 01:28:47,933 JOHNSON: There were kids who came in every day. 1795 01:28:47,933 --> 01:28:50,533 Basically. 1796 01:28:50,533 --> 01:28:52,833 There were some kids who would walk into the classroom, 1797 01:28:52,833 --> 01:28:54,533 and I'd say, "Ooh, who are you?" 1798 01:28:54,533 --> 01:28:55,566 (chuckling): You know? 1799 01:28:55,566 --> 01:28:57,533 These are a few of the things 1800 01:28:57,533 --> 01:28:59,400 that we should know about latitude. 1801 01:28:59,400 --> 01:29:00,733 STOIA: Many parents are balking 1802 01:29:00,733 --> 01:29:02,700 at court-ordered desegregation. 1803 01:29:02,700 --> 01:29:04,633 In fact, they've taken it a step further, 1804 01:29:04,633 --> 01:29:08,466 and set up their own underground or alternative schools. 1805 01:29:08,466 --> 01:29:10,033 These schools are not accredited, 1806 01:29:10,033 --> 01:29:11,500 and therefore, they're not legal. 1807 01:29:11,500 --> 01:29:14,200 I actually was a volunteer teacher. 1808 01:29:15,533 --> 01:29:17,766 The South Boston Information Center, 1809 01:29:17,766 --> 01:29:20,566 where the rallies were planned, 1810 01:29:20,566 --> 01:29:23,100 in the front room, on the same mimeograph 1811 01:29:23,100 --> 01:29:24,666 where you would run off the fliers, 1812 01:29:24,666 --> 01:29:27,933 I would run off my papers for class. 1813 01:29:27,933 --> 01:29:30,033 STOIA: There's also an alternative school 1814 01:29:30,033 --> 01:29:31,500 for Black children in Boston, 1815 01:29:31,500 --> 01:29:32,966 set up for many of the same reasons-- 1816 01:29:32,966 --> 01:29:35,800 parents are afraid to send their children into hostile, 1817 01:29:35,800 --> 01:29:38,500 perhaps dangerous, environments, and choose instead 1818 01:29:38,500 --> 01:29:40,933 to set up their own schools. 1819 01:29:40,933 --> 01:29:42,600 VRABEL: Cardinal Medeiros had decreed 1820 01:29:42,600 --> 01:29:46,800 that Catholic schools should not be a refuge 1821 01:29:46,800 --> 01:29:49,233 for those seeking to leave the public schools, 1822 01:29:49,233 --> 01:29:53,066 and it was widely ignored. 1823 01:29:53,066 --> 01:29:56,333 BURNIEIKA: If you didn't like getting bused to Roxbury, 1824 01:29:56,333 --> 01:30:00,266 you just went to your local parish parochial school. 1825 01:30:00,266 --> 01:30:03,600 If you worked the bingo on Friday night 1826 01:30:03,600 --> 01:30:05,433 and cleaned up afterwards, 1827 01:30:05,433 --> 01:30:08,066 X numbers of dollars would be taken off your tuition. 1828 01:30:08,066 --> 01:30:10,666 ♪ ♪ 1829 01:30:10,666 --> 01:30:14,233 VRABEL: By the end of the first year of busing, 1830 01:30:14,233 --> 01:30:16,800 10,000 children had been withdrawn 1831 01:30:16,800 --> 01:30:19,033 from the Boston public school system. 1832 01:30:21,100 --> 01:30:25,266 REPORTER: How do you speak to the frequent allegation 1833 01:30:25,266 --> 01:30:27,433 that what we're doing is creating and, 1834 01:30:27,433 --> 01:30:29,033 or inciting or 1835 01:30:29,033 --> 01:30:30,866 urging on this White flight? 1836 01:30:30,866 --> 01:30:32,000 The argument that is used, 1837 01:30:32,000 --> 01:30:33,933 that is probably most often used here, 1838 01:30:33,933 --> 01:30:35,900 that you're going to destroy the city. Very simple answer. 1839 01:30:35,900 --> 01:30:37,333 Very simple answer. 1840 01:30:37,333 --> 01:30:39,166 If the price of Whites staying 1841 01:30:39,166 --> 01:30:40,866 is Blacks losing constitutional rights 1842 01:30:40,866 --> 01:30:43,466 and educational benefits, let them go. 1843 01:30:43,466 --> 01:30:45,666 Simple answer. 1844 01:30:48,666 --> 01:30:53,433 VAN LOON: Judge Garrity had ordered the state plan into effect 1845 01:30:53,433 --> 01:30:56,533 in September 1974. 1846 01:30:56,533 --> 01:30:59,466 It was not a plan that eliminated 1847 01:30:59,466 --> 01:31:01,966 segregation "root and branch," 1848 01:31:01,966 --> 01:31:06,166 which was the, the phrase of the Supreme Court decisions. 1849 01:31:06,166 --> 01:31:11,700 So, a more comprehensive plan needed to be developed. 1850 01:31:11,700 --> 01:31:15,366 Judge Garrity ordered that the Boston School Committee 1851 01:31:15,366 --> 01:31:17,566 come up with a plan and gave them a deadline 1852 01:31:17,566 --> 01:31:19,033 in mid-December to do that. 1853 01:31:19,033 --> 01:31:21,133 The committee is under a court order 1854 01:31:21,133 --> 01:31:25,300 to file a second phase desegregation plan this Monday. 1855 01:31:25,300 --> 01:31:27,566 The question remaining is, 1856 01:31:27,566 --> 01:31:29,333 will the school committee approve the plan 1857 01:31:29,333 --> 01:31:30,766 and send it on to Judge Garrity? 1858 01:31:30,766 --> 01:31:32,900 People are leaving the city, 1859 01:31:32,900 --> 01:31:34,600 people are leaving the school system, 1860 01:31:34,600 --> 01:31:38,466 and I cannot in good conscience add to that bloodshed, 1861 01:31:38,466 --> 01:31:40,666 add to that racial hatred, 1862 01:31:40,666 --> 01:31:44,800 and add to the further fleeing of the city 1863 01:31:44,800 --> 01:31:46,400 from the people of Boston, 1864 01:31:46,400 --> 01:31:48,066 and I will not vote approval of this plan. 1865 01:31:48,066 --> 01:31:50,466 ♪ ♪ 1866 01:31:50,466 --> 01:31:53,633 VAN LOON: When it came time to submit it to the court, 1867 01:31:53,633 --> 01:31:56,466 the school committee members said, "We refuse. 1868 01:31:56,466 --> 01:31:58,133 "We won't do it. 1869 01:31:58,133 --> 01:32:03,833 We'll do nothing to aid or abet forced busing." 1870 01:32:03,833 --> 01:32:07,400 On behalf of the Black parents and the Black students, 1871 01:32:07,400 --> 01:32:10,933 we asked Judge Garrity to find the school committee 1872 01:32:10,933 --> 01:32:13,733 in criminal and civil contempt. 1873 01:32:13,733 --> 01:32:16,700 JACKSON: Why didn't the judge hold them in contempt? 1874 01:32:16,700 --> 01:32:17,900 I don't understand why, 1875 01:32:17,900 --> 01:32:22,500 given how they ignored, and abused, 1876 01:32:22,500 --> 01:32:24,666 and flaunted his orders, 1877 01:32:24,666 --> 01:32:26,233 they were let off the hook. 1878 01:32:27,633 --> 01:32:29,866 VRABEL: Garrity commissioned his experts, 1879 01:32:29,866 --> 01:32:33,166 Robert Dentler and Marvin Scott, 1880 01:32:33,166 --> 01:32:35,833 to come up with another plan, called Phase Two. 1881 01:32:35,833 --> 01:32:41,333 Phase Two increased the number of students to be bused. 1882 01:32:41,333 --> 01:32:44,000 Instead of just junior high school and high school students, 1883 01:32:44,000 --> 01:32:46,200 it was to be students from grades one to 12. 1884 01:32:47,366 --> 01:32:52,133 VAN LOON: Garrity ordered more Black teachers to be hired, 1885 01:32:52,133 --> 01:32:55,400 more Black administrators to be hired, 1886 01:32:55,400 --> 01:32:57,233 and for those to be assigned schools 1887 01:32:57,233 --> 01:33:01,200 on a desegregated basis. 1888 01:33:01,200 --> 01:33:05,000 ALLEN: Garrity recognized that 1889 01:33:05,000 --> 01:33:07,833 there was almost no parent involvement, 1890 01:33:07,833 --> 01:33:11,600 so the racial-ethnic parent councils were established. 1891 01:33:11,600 --> 01:33:14,533 It was literally the first time 1892 01:33:14,533 --> 01:33:15,933 in the history of the city 1893 01:33:15,933 --> 01:33:20,233 where large numbers of Black and White parents, 1894 01:33:20,233 --> 01:33:23,333 and some Latino and Asian parents, sat together. 1895 01:33:25,466 --> 01:33:28,966 This would be a revolution in the city of Boston. 1896 01:33:28,966 --> 01:33:32,500 ♪ ♪ 1897 01:33:35,666 --> 01:33:38,700 VRABEL: We move into the summer, 1975. 1898 01:33:38,700 --> 01:33:40,766 The scene shifts to Charlestown, 1899 01:33:40,766 --> 01:33:42,533 which is now part of the busing plan 1900 01:33:42,533 --> 01:33:44,666 for the first time. 1901 01:33:44,666 --> 01:33:47,000 It was now going to lose its neighborhood school system 1902 01:33:47,000 --> 01:33:50,700 if it adhered to the Phase Two requirements. 1903 01:33:52,633 --> 01:33:54,466 JOY: There was a sense in Charlestown. 1904 01:33:54,466 --> 01:33:57,666 It was like a tsunami was coming, that... 1905 01:33:57,666 --> 01:33:59,666 It was a foreboding. 1906 01:33:59,666 --> 01:34:01,200 It pervaded everything. 1907 01:34:01,200 --> 01:34:03,533 It's one thing to read about it in the newspaper, 1908 01:34:03,533 --> 01:34:05,400 but to walk into it and to, to feel it 1909 01:34:05,400 --> 01:34:07,300   and get a sense that, "Yeah, 1910 01:34:07,300 --> 01:34:09,733 it's not in their best interests in many ways." 1911 01:34:09,733 --> 01:34:11,733 Come on! 1912 01:34:11,733 --> 01:34:13,133 What is the attitude of 1913 01:34:13,133 --> 01:34:15,200 the parents that you have contact with? 1914 01:34:15,200 --> 01:34:16,833 Are many students going to even return 1915 01:34:16,833 --> 01:34:17,933 to Charlestown High this fall? 1916 01:34:17,933 --> 01:34:20,366 We've transferred as many as 1917 01:34:20,366 --> 01:34:24,100 six to eight students each week since June 20. 1918 01:34:24,100 --> 01:34:26,266 PAM BULLARD: Where are these students heading? 1919 01:34:26,266 --> 01:34:28,833 POWER: Generally, they're moving into what I would call 1920 01:34:28,833 --> 01:34:30,500 lower-middle-class areas 1921 01:34:30,500 --> 01:34:33,766 in surrounding communities on the north side of the city. 1922 01:34:35,033 --> 01:34:38,333 MCGOFF-COLLINS: My mother joined Powder Keg with all her friends. 1923 01:34:38,333 --> 01:34:42,533 It was an organization of Charlestown mothers 1924 01:34:42,533 --> 01:34:44,066 that were here to help 1925 01:34:44,066 --> 01:34:45,966 try to "fight" forced busing. 1926 01:34:45,966 --> 01:34:47,900 My mother said, "If you want to go to school, 1927 01:34:47,900 --> 01:34:49,300 "you can go to school. 1928 01:34:49,300 --> 01:34:50,833 If you don't want to, you don't have to." 1929 01:34:50,833 --> 01:34:53,933 I decided to go to school, 1930 01:34:53,933 --> 01:34:56,733 because I really wanted to go to Charlestown High. 1931 01:34:56,733 --> 01:34:59,933 It was something I was looking forward to. 1932 01:34:59,933 --> 01:35:01,866 If I had been assigned to Roxbury, 1933 01:35:01,866 --> 01:35:03,766 I wouldn't have gone-- I did not want to get on a bus. 1934 01:35:03,766 --> 01:35:05,800 Do you think that the project 1935 01:35:05,800 --> 01:35:07,700 has been hit particularly hard by busing, 1936 01:35:07,700 --> 01:35:09,566 as opposed to the rest of Charlestown? 1937 01:35:09,566 --> 01:35:11,433 Well, I think you'll find the project has 1938 01:35:11,433 --> 01:35:13,666 had to bear the greater brunt 1939 01:35:13,666 --> 01:35:15,833 of children who have had to leave Charlestown 1940 01:35:15,833 --> 01:35:16,866 to go to school. 1941 01:35:16,866 --> 01:35:18,833 Why, why is that? 1942 01:35:18,833 --> 01:35:20,200 I think that, um... 1943 01:35:20,200 --> 01:35:21,433 My own experience is 1944 01:35:21,433 --> 01:35:24,333 that the other sections of Charlestown, 1945 01:35:24,333 --> 01:35:25,966 that the kids have either gone to parochial schools 1946 01:35:25,966 --> 01:35:27,633 or have gone to private schools. 1947 01:35:28,833 --> 01:35:31,433 There were several evenings in the summer 1948 01:35:31,433 --> 01:35:33,133 during which parents from Roxbury 1949 01:35:33,133 --> 01:35:35,400 were bused into Charlestown High School, 1950 01:35:35,400 --> 01:35:38,900 and I can remember Black parents coming out and saying, 1951 01:35:38,900 --> 01:35:40,600 "I don't want my kid going to this school! 1952 01:35:40,600 --> 01:35:41,600 "My kid is getting bused to this school? 1953 01:35:41,600 --> 01:35:42,766 It's a dump!" 1954 01:35:42,766 --> 01:35:44,466 CROWD (chanting): Hell, no, we won't go! 1955 01:35:44,466 --> 01:35:46,466 Hell, no, we won't go! 1956 01:35:46,466 --> 01:35:47,833 JACKSON: During the first phase of busing, 1957 01:35:47,833 --> 01:35:51,366 we wanted as light a police presence as possible. 1958 01:35:51,366 --> 01:35:53,666 We didn't want to antagonize the crowd. 1959 01:35:53,666 --> 01:35:56,866 (chanting continues, officer directing march) 1960 01:35:56,866 --> 01:35:58,733 But clearly, the tactics we adopted 1961 01:35:58,733 --> 01:36:00,366 that first day were inadequate, 1962 01:36:00,366 --> 01:36:01,800 so the second year 1963 01:36:01,800 --> 01:36:03,666 was an entirely different approach, 1964 01:36:03,666 --> 01:36:08,600 and it was a much more massive physical presence of police. 1965 01:36:08,600 --> 01:36:10,733 PATRICK BRADY: The implementation plan 1966 01:36:10,733 --> 01:36:13,933 called for 997 police officers. 1967 01:36:13,933 --> 01:36:15,166 They were in attendance. 1968 01:36:15,166 --> 01:36:18,600 Also, state police in South Boston 1969 01:36:18,600 --> 01:36:21,033 had a complement of 499. 1970 01:36:21,033 --> 01:36:22,700 The MDC in South Boston, 1971 01:36:22,700 --> 01:36:24,733 there were 82. 1972 01:36:24,733 --> 01:36:27,166 This was at South Boston. 1973 01:36:27,166 --> 01:36:30,100 Also, the MDC at Charlestown with 215. 1974 01:36:30,100 --> 01:36:33,100 ♪ ♪ 1975 01:36:33,100 --> 01:36:35,233 JOY: The first day of busing was... 1976 01:36:35,233 --> 01:36:37,100 Everybody was on, on eggshells. 1977 01:36:37,100 --> 01:36:38,300 "What's going to happen 1978 01:36:38,300 --> 01:36:39,366 "when the buses are going to come? 1979 01:36:39,366 --> 01:36:41,366 What, which way are they coming?" 1980 01:36:41,366 --> 01:36:43,733 They went on the streets and figured, 1981 01:36:43,733 --> 01:36:45,100 "If we're on the streets, 1982 01:36:45,100 --> 01:36:46,433 "the buses aren't going to run us over. 1983 01:36:46,433 --> 01:36:50,700 "We can stop busing by being on the streets 1984 01:36:50,700 --> 01:36:52,900 and, and blocking the buses." 1985 01:36:52,900 --> 01:36:56,700 But the police just put up a blockade, 1986 01:36:56,700 --> 01:37:00,166 and the buses went a different route. 1987 01:37:00,166 --> 01:37:02,966 ♪ ♪ 1988 01:37:02,966 --> 01:37:05,500 I got out early 1989 01:37:05,500 --> 01:37:07,933 and the helicopters were overhead. 1990 01:37:07,933 --> 01:37:11,033 There were snipers on the buildings. 1991 01:37:11,033 --> 01:37:15,733 The place was ringed with police, 1992 01:37:15,733 --> 01:37:18,666 and it was chaotic. 1993 01:37:18,666 --> 01:37:22,233 MCGOFF-COLLINS: I met up with my two friends. 1994 01:37:22,233 --> 01:37:24,600 We had on our matching Coca-Cola pants 1995 01:37:24,600 --> 01:37:26,566 and our little shirts to match. 1996 01:37:26,566 --> 01:37:28,566 ♪ ♪ 1997 01:37:28,566 --> 01:37:31,533 I just remember motorcycle cops up and down the street. 1998 01:37:31,533 --> 01:37:35,033 And it sounded like, you know, Nazi Germany 1999 01:37:35,033 --> 01:37:39,600 instead of, you know, your first day of school. 2000 01:37:39,600 --> 01:37:44,133 As you got to the square, 2001 01:37:44,133 --> 01:37:48,600 there were a sea of cameras-- cameras everywhere. 2002 01:37:48,600 --> 01:37:51,100 JOY: Charlestown was, like, the center of the universe. 2003 01:37:51,100 --> 01:37:53,333 There were reporters from all over the place. 2004 01:37:53,333 --> 01:37:54,700 We had Japanese reporters. 2005 01:37:54,700 --> 01:37:55,900 I don't understand, 2006 01:37:55,900 --> 01:37:57,666 what is a Japanese reporter from Tokyo 2007 01:37:57,666 --> 01:37:59,300 doing here covering busing? It's, you know... 2008 01:37:59,300 --> 01:38:02,400 MCGOFF-COLLINS: We walked up the hill. 2009 01:38:02,400 --> 01:38:05,100 There were people who don't want us to go to school. 2010 01:38:05,100 --> 01:38:07,400 People yelling, you know, 2011 01:38:07,400 --> 01:38:09,433 calling us names, "You N-lover." 2012 01:38:09,433 --> 01:38:11,800 You know, "Stay out of the building." 2013 01:38:11,800 --> 01:38:13,533 Some people really believed 2014 01:38:13,533 --> 01:38:15,500 that if everybody stayed out of school 2015 01:38:15,500 --> 01:38:16,866 and didn't go, 2016 01:38:16,866 --> 01:38:20,666 then busing would not be an issue. 2017 01:38:20,666 --> 01:38:22,700 BOY: Why ain't I going to school? I'm boycotting. 2018 01:38:22,700 --> 01:38:23,700 REPORTER: How come? 2019 01:38:23,700 --> 01:38:26,066 How come? 2020 01:38:26,066 --> 01:38:27,966 Why do you think? The cops are up there. 2021 01:38:27,966 --> 01:38:29,233 MAN: When are you going to get them get out of the way? They're locking it... 2022 01:38:29,233 --> 01:38:30,533 They're locking the schools from the outside. 2023 01:38:30,533 --> 01:38:31,966 Buses busing. 2024 01:38:31,966 --> 01:38:33,333 I don't want nothing to do with it. 2025 01:38:33,333 --> 01:38:34,400 REPORTER: How long are you going to stay out? 2026 01:38:34,400 --> 01:38:36,400 All year. Really? 2027 01:38:36,400 --> 01:38:38,233 All year. 2028 01:38:38,233 --> 01:38:41,100 ALL: Holy Mary, mother of God, 2029 01:38:41,100 --> 01:38:43,300 pray for our sinners... 2030 01:38:43,300 --> 01:38:44,666 JOY: During the daytime, 2031 01:38:44,666 --> 01:38:46,200 the mothers would march and they'd take 2032 01:38:46,200 --> 01:38:49,200 the little kids with them, and maybe the baby carriage. 2033 01:38:49,200 --> 01:38:51,933 (clapping and cheering) 2034 01:38:51,933 --> 01:38:54,233 GILLEN: They protested in the street. 2035 01:38:54,233 --> 01:38:56,066 Sit down. 2036 01:38:56,066 --> 01:38:58,300 Sit down in the street. 2037 01:38:58,300 --> 01:39:01,266 They did it sometimes to aggravate, 2038 01:39:01,266 --> 01:39:04,100 as opposed to expecting 2039 01:39:04,100 --> 01:39:07,200 any real success in anything. 2040 01:39:07,200 --> 01:39:10,700 WOMAN: I raise the white flag... CROWD: ♪ God bless America ♪ 2041 01:39:10,700 --> 01:39:13,266 There were 14 arrests in Boston today, 2042 01:39:13,266 --> 01:39:16,466 bringing the total since school's opening to 94. 2043 01:39:16,466 --> 01:39:17,900   Nine policemen have been injured, 2044 01:39:17,900 --> 01:39:19,833 mainly in nighttime disturbances. 2045 01:39:19,833 --> 01:39:23,200 (sirens blaring) 2046 01:39:23,200 --> 01:39:27,266 OFFICER: I better not see that car in the area again. 2047 01:39:27,266 --> 01:39:28,700 JOY: At night, when it got dark, 2048 01:39:28,700 --> 01:39:33,266 it was a little bit more ugly, and there were 2049 01:39:33,266 --> 01:39:35,933 objects thrown at the police. 2050 01:39:35,933 --> 01:39:37,633 Windows were broken, 2051 01:39:37,633 --> 01:39:39,766 Molotov cocktails, or, or... 2052 01:39:39,766 --> 01:39:41,366 Bottles like that. 2053 01:39:41,366 --> 01:39:43,266 And it could have just exploded. 2054 01:39:43,266 --> 01:39:46,300 DI GRAZIA: Last night, a mob of several hundred people 2055 01:39:46,300 --> 01:39:48,866 started stoning civilian cars 2056 01:39:48,866 --> 01:39:51,000 and setting fires in the streets, 2057 01:39:51,000 --> 01:39:53,700 and then attacked responding firefighters. 2058 01:39:53,700 --> 01:39:56,166 It was this mob that then attacked police 2059 01:39:56,166 --> 01:39:59,300 attempting to protect the citizens and the firefighters. 2060 01:39:59,300 --> 01:40:01,900 The quickest way we can get the city back to normal 2061 01:40:01,900 --> 01:40:03,633 is to stop the troublemakers. 2062 01:40:04,966 --> 01:40:08,100 JOY: But the police were very restrained. 2063 01:40:08,100 --> 01:40:09,100 They knew these people. 2064 01:40:09,100 --> 01:40:10,666 The police department 2065 01:40:10,666 --> 01:40:15,366 was trying to police their own people, basically. 2066 01:40:16,600 --> 01:40:19,333 I think they were lenient, to say the least, 2067 01:40:19,333 --> 01:40:21,600 on some of those issues. 2068 01:40:21,600 --> 01:40:24,133 Some of the district court judges 2069 01:40:24,133 --> 01:40:27,033 had an umbrage against Judge Garrity. 2070 01:40:27,033 --> 01:40:32,033 They were more concerned about the perpetrator 2071 01:40:32,033 --> 01:40:34,766 than the victim during, during those days. 2072 01:40:34,766 --> 01:40:37,233 REPORTER: I think the cops, whatever you may, 2073 01:40:37,233 --> 01:40:39,266 else you may say, are doing a, a first-rate job. 2074 01:40:39,266 --> 01:40:41,500 Busing... Let me ask you a question. 2075 01:40:41,500 --> 01:40:44,800 If the kind of scenes, crowd scenes, 2076 01:40:44,800 --> 01:40:47,433 you, you've encountered in Charlestown-- 2077 01:40:47,433 --> 01:40:49,400 the crowds were White-- 2078 01:40:49,400 --> 01:40:53,100 was to be taking place in Roxbury, 2079 01:40:53,100 --> 01:40:54,333 where the crowds were Black, 2080 01:40:54,333 --> 01:40:56,166 do you for one minute think 2081 01:40:56,166 --> 01:40:59,800 that we would have a, a situation like we have today, 2082 01:40:59,800 --> 01:41:02,233 where the total arrests that have been made over there 2083 01:41:02,233 --> 01:41:03,966 have been less than 20? 2084 01:41:03,966 --> 01:41:06,933 Do you for one minute think that would prevail? 2085 01:41:06,933 --> 01:41:08,600 That's the answer to your question. 2086 01:41:08,600 --> 01:41:11,633 We're dealing with a double standard of law enforcement. 2087 01:41:11,633 --> 01:41:13,300 And as long as that continues, 2088 01:41:13,300 --> 01:41:15,366 then we're going to continue to have a problem 2089 01:41:15,366 --> 01:41:18,600 where people will think they can enforce the law 2090 01:41:18,600 --> 01:41:19,966 on the street with their fists 2091 01:41:19,966 --> 01:41:21,400 or with a rock or with a bottle. 2092 01:41:21,400 --> 01:41:25,766 (car horns honking, people applauding and whistling) 2093 01:41:25,766 --> 01:41:27,633 JOY: One of the difficulties in the schools 2094 01:41:27,633 --> 01:41:31,166 was the influence of the adults inciting and plotting 2095 01:41:31,166 --> 01:41:32,900 and planning for the kids to, 2096 01:41:32,900 --> 01:41:35,633 you know, "10:00, 10:30, you're going to walk out. 2097 01:41:35,633 --> 01:41:37,400 And we'll, we'll get the press there, okay?" 2098 01:41:37,400 --> 01:41:41,466 MCGOFF-COLLINS: They would plan at Powder Keg the night before 2099 01:41:41,466 --> 01:41:43,966 and would let their kids know, and then say, 2100 01:41:43,966 --> 01:41:45,166 "Okay, as soon as the bell rings, 2101 01:41:45,166 --> 01:41:46,500 "everybody, stay in your seat. 2102 01:41:46,500 --> 01:41:49,433 Don't anybody leave." 2103 01:41:49,433 --> 01:41:53,200 The children have a series of demands to make. 2104 01:41:53,200 --> 01:41:56,966 The school authorities don't want to listen to the demands 2105 01:41:56,966 --> 01:42:00,233 while they're still seated inside the school. 2106 01:42:00,233 --> 01:42:03,266 I remember being picked up physically by policemen 2107 01:42:03,266 --> 01:42:04,666 to bring us outside the building. 2108 01:42:04,666 --> 01:42:06,566 Some kids just did it 2109 01:42:06,566 --> 01:42:08,833 just so they could get out of school, you know? 2110 01:42:08,833 --> 01:42:11,100 And so, there was a lot of chaos going on 2111 01:42:11,100 --> 01:42:13,266 and everybody was joining in on it. 2112 01:42:13,266 --> 01:42:17,033 (talking in background) 2113 01:42:17,033 --> 01:42:21,966 ALLEN: Of some 164 schools in Boston, 2114 01:42:21,966 --> 01:42:24,300 there was a very small number of schools 2115 01:42:24,300 --> 01:42:25,966 where there were violence. 2116 01:42:25,966 --> 01:42:27,533 The vast majority 2117 01:42:27,533 --> 01:42:30,500 of public schools in Boston were successfully desegregated. 2118 01:42:30,500 --> 01:42:34,100 In the beginning, 2119 01:42:34,100 --> 01:42:37,266 a lot of parents kept their kids out of school, 2120 01:42:37,266 --> 01:42:38,566 Black and White, 2121 01:42:38,566 --> 01:42:42,000 mostly because, "What does this mean?" 2122 01:42:42,000 --> 01:42:43,366 REPORTER: You have a child. 2123 01:42:43,366 --> 01:42:44,866 One child, two child-- how many do you have? 2124 01:42:44,866 --> 01:42:46,333 I have two children, 2125 01:42:46,333 --> 01:42:48,100 one going to the McKay in East Boston 2126 01:42:48,100 --> 01:42:50,500 and one going to the Kent in Charlestown. 2127 01:42:50,500 --> 01:42:52,900 (chuckling): So, I've been going in two directions 2128 01:42:52,900 --> 01:42:55,233 to, you know, sort of... 2129 01:42:55,233 --> 01:42:58,000 Will you still send them in light of what you've heard? 2130 01:42:58,000 --> 01:43:00,700 Um... 2131 01:43:00,700 --> 01:43:01,966 Yeah. 2132 01:43:01,966 --> 01:43:04,066 You know, I think, when I think it over, 2133 01:43:04,066 --> 01:43:09,066 I, I will, but I'll be frightened, 2134 01:43:09,066 --> 01:43:10,700 and I'll be very nervous about it. 2135 01:43:10,700 --> 01:43:13,900 But, you know, I think that we have to do it. 2136 01:43:13,900 --> 01:43:15,600 We don't, we don't have a choice, 2137 01:43:15,600 --> 01:43:18,600 and I, I want Phase Two to work, 2138 01:43:18,600 --> 01:43:21,633 and I, I just don't think we can boycott. 2139 01:43:21,633 --> 01:43:24,200 You could find these White parents 2140 01:43:24,200 --> 01:43:28,100 emerging in these White working-class communities 2141 01:43:28,100 --> 01:43:31,933 and saying, "Yes, segregation is wrong. 2142 01:43:31,933 --> 01:43:34,633 "We want something better for Black children 2143 01:43:34,633 --> 01:43:37,366 and something better for White children." 2144 01:43:37,366 --> 01:43:40,700 Maureen and I both supported public education, 2145 01:43:40,700 --> 01:43:44,766 but it was a huge decision. 2146 01:43:44,766 --> 01:43:46,833 We were going to send our kids on a bus 2147 01:43:46,833 --> 01:43:49,666 as a first-grader into Roxbury. 2148 01:43:49,666 --> 01:43:54,600 So, it took the summer for us to discuss that. 2149 01:43:56,133 --> 01:43:59,000 All my neighbors, you know, they thought we were nuts, 2150 01:43:59,000 --> 01:44:00,800 putting them on a bus, 2151 01:44:00,800 --> 01:44:04,233 having them get stoned at Savin Hill Ave. 2152 01:44:04,233 --> 01:44:06,033 because there were Black kids on the bus. 2153 01:44:06,033 --> 01:44:07,133 And then when they got to Roxbury, 2154 01:44:07,133 --> 01:44:08,500 getting stoned by Black kids 2155 01:44:08,500 --> 01:44:10,433 because there were White kids on the bus. 2156 01:44:11,666 --> 01:44:16,500 Unfortunately, it became almost normal. 2157 01:44:16,500 --> 01:44:18,266 And that's a sad indictment 2158 01:44:18,266 --> 01:44:21,566 for a seven- or eight-year-old kid. 2159 01:44:24,800 --> 01:44:27,033 MACDONALD: There were very rational voices. 2160 01:44:27,033 --> 01:44:30,366 People who were opposed to the racism 2161 01:44:30,366 --> 01:44:34,533 but also opposed to the busing plan, and who, 2162 01:44:34,533 --> 01:44:37,466 once it happened, wanted to make it happen 2163 01:44:37,466 --> 01:44:40,433 without the violence, wanted their kids to be safe, 2164 01:44:40,433 --> 01:44:42,466 and wanted other kids from across town 2165 01:44:42,466 --> 01:44:44,066 who were Black to be safe. 2166 01:44:45,333 --> 01:44:47,566 MONAHAN: Tracy Amalfitano and Jim 2167 01:44:47,566 --> 01:44:50,466 literally lived right across the street. 2168 01:44:50,466 --> 01:44:53,866 She actually joined biracial council. 2169 01:44:53,866 --> 01:44:57,933 Tracy and others were deploring the violence 2170 01:44:57,933 --> 01:45:02,533 and just trying to get folks to calm down. 2171 01:45:02,533 --> 01:45:07,933 The one incident that's still seared into my memory... 2172 01:45:07,933 --> 01:45:10,633 (sniffs) 2173 01:45:13,133 --> 01:45:16,400 (sighs, clears throat) 2174 01:45:16,400 --> 01:45:21,366 My brothers and I are, you know, outside. 2175 01:45:21,366 --> 01:45:24,666 Out of nowhere came a mob. 2176 01:45:24,666 --> 01:45:27,200 They had bats. 2177 01:45:27,200 --> 01:45:30,133 Tracy's station wagon got busted up with, with bats. 2178 01:45:30,133 --> 01:45:32,833 Bricks or rocks thrown 2179 01:45:32,833 --> 01:45:35,000 through the windows of Tracy's three-decker. 2180 01:45:35,000 --> 01:45:39,866 So, we're just stunned that this happens. 2181 01:45:39,866 --> 01:45:41,566 And then it got worse, 2182 01:45:41,566 --> 01:45:46,400 in that several cars come down the street slowly, 2183 01:45:46,400 --> 01:45:51,266 and in the cars were some women. 2184 01:45:51,266 --> 01:45:54,266 And one of them had this (muted)-eating grin. 2185 01:45:54,266 --> 01:45:57,800 And the translation: "This is what happens 2186 01:45:57,800 --> 01:46:00,866 if you turn traitor on our community." 2187 01:46:05,500 --> 01:46:07,600 (breath trembles) 2188 01:46:08,833 --> 01:46:12,766 I didn't go to any more rallies after that. 2189 01:46:12,766 --> 01:46:15,666 It wasn't exciting anymore. 2190 01:46:19,766 --> 01:46:23,800 (playing "Yankee Doodle") 2191 01:46:23,800 --> 01:46:26,466 VRABEL: The culmination for most people of the violence 2192 01:46:26,466 --> 01:46:28,466 happened in April of 1976... 2193 01:46:28,466 --> 01:46:30,266 (cannon fires) 2194 01:46:30,266 --> 01:46:32,966 ...as Boston, 2195 01:46:32,966 --> 01:46:36,300 the birthplace of liberty, the hotbed of abolition, 2196 01:46:36,300 --> 01:46:40,700 was celebrating the bicentennial. 2197 01:46:40,700 --> 01:46:42,566 (protesters shouting) 2198 01:46:42,566 --> 01:46:46,333 MCGOFF-COLLINS: We were going to march on City Hall, 2199 01:46:46,333 --> 01:46:51,266 and I remember walking with my friend and her mom, 2200 01:46:51,266 --> 01:46:54,233 and we're singing and, you know, everybody's all riled up. 2201 01:46:54,233 --> 01:46:58,100 As we got onto the plaza, 2202 01:46:58,100 --> 01:47:00,533 there were a lot of people there. 2203 01:47:00,533 --> 01:47:04,733 I was walking across City Hall Plaza on my way 2204 01:47:04,733 --> 01:47:07,700   to attend a meeting in City Hall. 2205 01:47:07,700 --> 01:47:09,666 (protesters chanting) 2206 01:47:09,666 --> 01:47:11,766 I realized that there was 2207 01:47:11,766 --> 01:47:14,500 an anti-busing demonstration going on. 2208 01:47:14,500 --> 01:47:16,266 Several of them started shouting, 2209 01:47:16,266 --> 01:47:17,766 "There's a nigger, get him." 2210 01:47:17,766 --> 01:47:19,933 ♪ ♪ 2211 01:47:19,933 --> 01:47:23,033 The first person to attack me knocked my glasses off, 2212 01:47:23,033 --> 01:47:27,700 and that caused me to fall, 2213 01:47:27,700 --> 01:47:30,333 and then several other young men 2214 01:47:30,333 --> 01:47:33,900 decided to start kicking me. 2215 01:47:33,900 --> 01:47:38,000 I was able to pick myself up, 2216 01:47:38,000 --> 01:47:41,100 and I could see that someone 2217 01:47:41,100 --> 01:47:44,500 was swinging an American flag at me, 2218 01:47:44,500 --> 01:47:46,833 really lunging at me with the flag. 2219 01:47:46,833 --> 01:47:49,700 I see all this happening, and I remember 2220 01:47:49,700 --> 01:47:52,066 crying and saying, "Why is this happening?" 2221 01:47:53,166 --> 01:47:55,500 Because when you did these peaceful marches, 2222 01:47:55,500 --> 01:47:57,300 you don't want people to think of us as, 2223 01:47:57,300 --> 01:48:00,300 "Here come the troublemakers." 2224 01:48:02,000 --> 01:48:03,633 LANDSMARK: That evening, 2225 01:48:03,633 --> 01:48:06,100 I got a call from the Boston Police 2226 01:48:06,100 --> 01:48:11,533 saying that a photographer had captured the incident, 2227 01:48:11,533 --> 01:48:13,266 and they wanted me to see 2228 01:48:13,266 --> 01:48:15,233 whether I could identify any of the young people. 2229 01:48:16,866 --> 01:48:19,166 That was the first moment 2230 01:48:19,166 --> 01:48:22,400 that I really got to see the expressions 2231 01:48:22,400 --> 01:48:25,300 on the faces of these teenagers. 2232 01:48:25,300 --> 01:48:30,000 It was clear that there was manifest hatred 2233 01:48:30,000 --> 01:48:35,666 that several of the young men felt towards me. 2234 01:48:35,666 --> 01:48:39,133 JACKSON: The Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph became 2235 01:48:39,133 --> 01:48:43,866 the world-famous emblem of hatred. 2236 01:48:44,933 --> 01:48:47,366 The American flag, 2237 01:48:47,366 --> 01:48:51,333 a Black professional walking through City Hall Plaza, 2238 01:48:51,333 --> 01:48:56,633 and, and the violence that was inflicted upon him 2239 01:48:56,633 --> 01:48:58,600 as a result of hatred. 2240 01:48:58,600 --> 01:49:03,533 ♪ ♪ 2241 01:49:03,533 --> 01:49:06,266 (crowd shouting) 2242 01:49:06,266 --> 01:49:10,600 VRABEL: The violence continued year to year. 2243 01:49:10,600 --> 01:49:12,266 It was sporadic. 2244 01:49:12,266 --> 01:49:13,933 (glass breaking, objects clattering) 2245 01:49:13,933 --> 01:49:17,466 Hard to anticipate. 2246 01:49:17,466 --> 01:49:21,100 The tensions carried over from the school onto the streets. 2247 01:49:21,100 --> 01:49:22,733 I don't even think it had-- 2248 01:49:22,733 --> 01:49:24,000 it had nothing to do with busing anymore. 2249 01:49:25,666 --> 01:49:28,566 Anytime something bad happened to a Black person, 2250 01:49:28,566 --> 01:49:32,933 something bad would happen to a White person. 2251 01:49:32,933 --> 01:49:34,733 At least three more incidents were reported today 2252 01:49:34,733 --> 01:49:36,933 in the continuing racial violence in Boston. 2253 01:49:36,933 --> 01:49:40,500 It was like a retaliation throughout the city 2254 01:49:40,500 --> 01:49:43,133 for a long time. 2255 01:49:43,133 --> 01:49:47,433 People being pulled out of cars and beaten up, and, you know, 2256 01:49:47,433 --> 01:49:50,900 just terrible stuff. 2257 01:49:52,500 --> 01:49:56,033 BURNIEIKA: People don't realize how very close the city came 2258 01:49:56,033 --> 01:49:59,033 to just completely exploding. 2259 01:49:59,033 --> 01:50:00,600 I'm talking about the whole city. 2260 01:50:00,600 --> 01:50:03,000 It came very, very close. 2261 01:50:05,833 --> 01:50:07,666 ♪ ♪ 2262 01:50:07,666 --> 01:50:10,566 In the middle of all this chaos, 2263 01:50:10,566 --> 01:50:15,200 I wrote in my journal, "Fiat justitia ruat caelum." 2264 01:50:15,200 --> 01:50:19,433 "Do justice, though the heavens fall." 2265 01:50:19,433 --> 01:50:23,366 I remember reflecting then, 2266 01:50:23,366 --> 01:50:27,666 what good will it do to do justice if the heavens fall? 2267 01:50:27,666 --> 01:50:30,566 What would justice look like among the ruins? 2268 01:50:30,566 --> 01:50:32,933 ♪ ♪ 2269 01:50:32,933 --> 01:50:35,766 ROLLINS: If there had been a way for deep dialogue 2270 01:50:35,766 --> 01:50:39,200 between Blacks and Whites, 2271 01:50:39,200 --> 01:50:40,700 a lot of the conflict that arose 2272 01:50:40,700 --> 01:50:42,300 during the '60s and '70s was avoidable. 2273 01:50:44,133 --> 01:50:48,066 People were in a state of violent agreement. 2274 01:50:48,066 --> 01:50:49,333 What we agreed about 2275 01:50:49,333 --> 01:50:52,600 was the inefficacy of busing. 2276 01:50:52,600 --> 01:50:55,500 White parents didn't want it for their kids. 2277 01:50:55,500 --> 01:50:57,966 They had different motivations and different reasons, 2278 01:50:57,966 --> 01:51:00,433 and Black parents would have preferred 2279 01:51:00,433 --> 01:51:04,966 not to have to have busing if they had had quality schools. 2280 01:51:04,966 --> 01:51:08,433 We did not slow down, take a deep breath, 2281 01:51:08,433 --> 01:51:10,133 take a step back, and ask ourselves, 2282 01:51:10,133 --> 01:51:13,933 "What's possible together?" 2283 01:51:13,933 --> 01:51:16,533 That's a tragedy. 2284 01:51:16,533 --> 01:51:19,000 Everybody has lost. 2285 01:51:21,533 --> 01:51:27,566 ♪ ♪ 2286 01:51:49,066 --> 01:51:53,933 ♪ ♪ 2287 01:52:08,233 --> 01:52:13,100 ♪ ♪ 2288 01:52:29,166 --> 01:52:33,266 ♪ ♪