Boston, Not Birmingham

Abstract This chapter examines and repositions the Boston busing crisis of the mid-1970s within the broader context of the long history of civil rights activism in the city. Instead of a narrative focused almost exclusively (and somewhat sympathetically) on white reaction, as has been the case in books like Common Ground or Boston Against Busing, here, African American agency and activism takes center stage, situating the busing program as the culmination of nearly three decades of consistent political organizing by black Bostonians. In addition to community organizing and protest politics, this is also the story of a decades long legal battle, pressed by community activists like Ruth Batson and championed by African American lawyers like Nathaniel Jones in the NAACP and their allies. The ultimate result was the historic Morgan vs. Hennigan (1974) decision, which defined the busing controversy in the city for the next decade and a half. In this light, black Bostonians were not merely pawns of Judge Garrity’s “judicial activism,” as is often suggested, but engaged participants in the unfolding drama. Finally, the chapter will also explore the underpinnings of white resistance as a more pervasive phenomenon than commonly thought.