The Black Freedom Struggle in Boston

Black in Boston and Beyond

In this episode Dr. Hettie V. Williams is in conversation with Dr. Zebulon Vance Miletsky about his book Before Busing: A History of Boston’s Long Black Freedom Struggle (University of North Carolina Press, 2022). Williams is incoming director of the Trotter Institute at UMass Boston and Miletsky is Associate Professor of Africana Studies at Stonybrook in New York. Before Busing takes us through the long history of the Civil Rights Movement in Boston. Miletsky begins his text by discussing the roots of American liberty and bondage in the Boston and continues with a discussion of the early push to desegregate the school system in Boston during the nineteenth century. His work is changing the way we look at the Black freedom struggle by arguing that there are more apparent links between racism in the South and North. Boston’s Black citizens were in many ways leaders in the demand for civil rights reform in the public school system and in public places. In this episode, he goes as far as to reconceptualize the notion of the sundown town to the idea that given the deep segregation in sections of the city of Boston we might begin to think of the space as having a history as a “sundown city.” Before Busing is changing the way that we think about the history of the civil rights movement in the North and in the nation. For more about Dr. Miletsky click here Dr. Zebulon Vance Miletsky and for information on ordering his book click here: Before Busing: A History of Boston's Long Black Freedom Struggle #BlackBoston #BlackinBostonandBeyond