Coordinator (Part Time) for the Boston Desegregation and Busing Initiative

The Boston Desegregation and Busing Initiative (BDBI) is looking for a part-time Coordinator. We are organizing forums, partnerships, and exhibitions on the 50 th anniversary of the momentous desegregation court case and subsequent busing for the Boston Public Schools.

This was perhaps the most important series of events in Boston’s history in the second half of the 20th Century. Boston’s reputation across the country was shaped by the incidents of racism, violence, division that embroiled the city. People still carry the trauma from these events and the Boston Public School system is still shaped in way for better and for worse by those events.

The BDBI has taken on the challenge of trying to in our agenda of events and organizing to answer the questions of what happened, lessons learned, and what next for the Boston Public Schools. A committee of 40 people who were community leaders then and new, teachers in this period, and even “kids on the bus” who were bused and are now in their 50’s and 60’s.

We already ran 3 successful events in the fall of 2023. These were a kickoff press conference at the Massachusetts State House. A premier of the GBH American Experience documentary, “The Busing Battleground” that included Mayor Wu and Superintendent Skipper speaking. And our first forum, “Organizing for Education Equity and Desegregation, led by the Black Community, 1960-1974”.

Duties:

Work with Co-Chairs Karilyn Crockett and Lew Finfer and the BDBI Committee to organize events for this commemoration.

1. Planning and carrying out planned forums.

2. Organizing additional forums that get added.

3. Work with neighborhood teams on neighborhood events.

4. Work with partners, the Boston Public Schools, Mayor’s Office, GBH, Embrace Boston, Facing History and Ourselves, the Archives at Northeastern, UMass Boston, Suffolk University, City of Boston on ways to add to the initiative.

5. Expand and bring the exhibition that’s been begun of photos, letters, student essays to planned events.

6. Serve as a liaison to media on coverage of our initiatives including forum and the special September 13 tour for media.

7. Help with fundraising proposals and follow up needed with funders.

Hours: 15-20 a week based on flow of the work.

Pay: $35 to $50 an hour depending on experience

How to apply: Send cover letter on why you are interested in this position, your key qualifications and related experiences along with a Resume to LewFinfer@gmail.com

Deadline to Apply is February 15th, 2024

Background on the Boston Desegregation and Busing Initiative organized for the 50th Anniversary of Desegregation of the Boston Schools and Busing

The Boston Desegregation and Busing Initiative is guided by 40 community leaders, many of whom have first-hand experience in the 1960s to 1980s years of desegregation and busing.

We are organizing forums, exhibits, partnerships to tell what happened, lessons learned, and what next for our schools.

We held these events in the fall of 2023 and have these plans for further events, see below.

--September 7  Launch Press Conference at the State House

--September 11 “Watch Party” for the PBH documentary “The Busing Battleground” that Mayor Wu, Superintendent Skipper, and the two filmmakers spoke at. Held at the Community Academy of Science and Health, a Boston Public School and attended by 125 people.

--September 26  First Forum “Organizing for Education Equity 1960-1974, largely led by the Black community; Before Busing. Attended by 175 people and 300 signed up for the zoom. Was held at Roxbury Community College.

I. Other Forums and Events in 2024:

1. June 20, 2024  3:00-5:00 On the Tallulah Morgan vs. James Hennigan, the Boston desegregation court case, that was decided on June 21, 1974 by Judge Garrity, to be held at the Moakley Federal Court House in Boston

Panelists include Eric Van Loon/Plaintiff’s Attorney, Alex Rose/Law Clerk to Judge Garrity. Charles Glenn/MA Department of Education official enforcing the Racial Imbalance Law, Martha Minow, former Dean of Harvard Law School

2. September 12, 1974 on the exact 50th Anniversary of when busing began….a Walking Tour of the major events of these years will be done for the Media and One for the Public….it will cover events at 15 Beacon Street which was the headquarters of the Boston School Committee, the State House where the Racial Imbalance law was passed and repealed, City Hall Plaza and City Hall including the attack on Ted Landsmark, the Federal Courthouse where judge Garrity made his decision, South Boston High School and the ugly first day, and Freedom House where parents rallied to demand safety for their children from Mayor White

3. September 28, 2024  A Town Meeting on Desegregation and Busing, at Boston Public Library

   a. Morning Forum  10:00-12:00  What happened in the schools and neighborhoods when busing began September 12,1974  Panelists being finalized but will include Donna Bivens/former Director of UMN project on Desegregation and Busing, Michael MacDonald/author of All Souls

   b. Afternoon Forum  1:00-3:00  The Legacy of Desegregation and Busing....Success or Failure? and what next for the Boston Public Schools. Panelists being finalized but will include Hubie Jones, important Black Community leader, Matthew Delmont, author of Why Busing Failed, Henry Allen, Co-Chair Citywide Parents Council, Bob Monahan/South Boston community leader, and others.

4. Fall 2024 The Suburbs and Desegregation; why the suburbs were not included in the Boston desegregation court orders, policies that limited integration of the suburbs, METCO bringing 3300 Boston students of color to 33 suburbs. Panelists include Milly Arbaje-Thomas/METCO Director, representatives from the 33 schools, Amy Dain/author of report on suburban practices excluding access, etc. and other panelists being finalized.

 5.  Neighborhood events being planned on what happened in schools in specific neighborhoods.

II. Exhibits

  a.  Working with the Archives at Northeastern, UMass Boston, Suffolk, and the City of Boston, we will exhibit at the forums 40 enlarged photographs of

  1) Stay Out Freedom Schools during boycotts in the 1960's and pressing

the Boston School Committee 2) Black students desegregating schools,     

   3) Opposition to busing in South Boston, Charlestown, Hyde Park. 

   4) Letters sent to federal judge Garrity on his decision & implementation of busing

  b. In conjunction with these Archives we will have an exhibit of pictures, letters, and other documents on desegregation and busing from their archives during the fall of 2024 at the J Gallery at Boston Public Library.

  c. Disseminating Bibliographies of books and articles on these events.

  d. Disseminating Links to documents and photos in the Archives of Northeastern University, UMass Boston, Suffolk University, Boston College, City of Boston.

III. Partnerships with

  a. Boston Public Schools, to help in teaching of this, and getting speakers with first- hand experience in these events of the 1970's.. BPS working with Facing History and Ourselves is designing curriculum for 8th grand civics classes to be taught in the fall of 2024. We are working to get BPS to do something like this for more students in more grades.

  b. Boston Public Libraries, to help in getting speakers with first-hand experience in these events for forums they hold, provide bibliography of books and articles]

  c. Embrace Boston, work with them on commemorative events in the neighborhoods, connecting to leaders of these events and their families who Embrace Boston honored in the sculpture of the Kings

  d. Facing History and Ourselves— Providing resources for educators on educational justice in Boston.  Speakers available for implementing teachers. Outreach to educators in other Massachusetts Districts.

  e. UMass Memory Road Shows--help organize these for residents to record their oral histories related to these events, bring in documents and letters to be digitalized, see videos of these events

  f. Massachusetts Historical Society to host our events on their website, co-sponsor our forums, publicize them on their website and lists.

  f. Work to exhibit and publicize the archives of documents and photos on these events that are housed in the archives of Northeastern, UMass Boston, Suffolk University, Boston College, City of Boston.

 g. GBH, helping disseminate the documentary “The Busing Battleground” and teaching materials for this.

 h. Leventhal Mapping Center at Boston Public Library—discussing holding a “From the Vault” showing of related documents on a Friday afternoon, such as their copy of the Phase 1 Desegregation Plan,

IV. What next with the Boston Public Schools

We want to enable giving voice to concerns about the Boston Public Schools now.  We want to connect people to community organizations bringing policy issues and voice of parents and students to strengthening of the Boston Public Schools.

Our Boston Desegregation and Busing Initiative is initially proposing 3 initiatives for Boston Public Schools to Mayor Wu and Superintendent Skipper. These include a) partnerships with institutions, b) curriculum resources, c) teacher orientation.

For more information, email, LewFinfer@gmail.com, KarilynC@gmail.com