Since the inception of slavery in Boston up until the present day, Boston's has a long history of anti-racist organizing. From abolitionist work to Black intellectualism, from school desegregation to Black Lives Matter, Boston has been a critical Black activist site in the struggle for Black self-determination in the North.
On this page:
Image Right: A black and white negative of children playing Children at the Mothers for Adequate Welfare (MAW) sit-in at the Roxbury Crossing welfare office. Part of the Brearley Collection at the Boston Public Library.
Example Library of Congress Subject Headings for Black history in Boston:
Digitized photographs, manuscripts, books and other material of local and historical interest from the Boston Public Library and other libraries, museums, archives, and historical societies in Massachusetts.
The dedicated City of Boston history portal to learn about important people and events in the Black history of Boston.
National Park Service website with information about Black history in Boston. Centered on the north slope of Beacon Hill, the African American community of s Boston led the city and the nation in the fight against slavery and injustice. These remarkable men and women, together with their allies, were leaders in the Abolition Movement, the Underground Railroad, the Civil War, and the early struggle for equal rights and education.
Desegregation in the "Cradle of Liberty"
A series of articles from the National Park Service about desegregation in Boston.
An online exhibit from the Museum of African American History where you meet Boston's black community leaders, abolitionists, and
activists and explore the ways in which they strategically used the power of public memory in their pursuit of freedom.
This Historic Resource Study presents detailed descriptions both of properties already included within Boston African American National Historic Site (BOAF) and of properties that, on the basis of their historical and architectural significance, we have judged worthy of inclusion in BOAF. These descriptions are preceded by an examination of how the neighborhood BOAF interprets evolved and a brief discussion of the people who lived within it. There are two appendices. The first is a set of architectural descriptions of sites accompanied by photographs and a chain of title; the second is a set of map reproductions illustrating the physical development of the West End of Boston between and The Griffin M. Hopkins Map of the City of Boston, and Its Environs () has been marked to show both current and recommended BOAF sites.
A timeline put together by the City of Boston about the history of protest and activism in the City.
Great Migration to Global Immigration: A Profile of Black Boston analyzes the region’s unique and growing intra-Black diversity, explores how the growing Black middle-class has helped revitalize cities and towns outside of Boston’s inner core, and details how disparities by income and wealth manifest across Black communities.