Rediscovering the Boston 1974 National March Against Racism

Rediscovering the 1974 National March Against Racism and Labor-Left Organizing in Boston’s School Desegregation Era

JAMES GREEN MEMORIAL LECTURE AND PEOPLE’S HISTORY WALKING TOUR

FIGHTING RACISM, DEFEATING FASCISM 

Date:  Nov. 23

Location:  Democracy Brewing, 35 Temple Place, Boston, 02111

10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

WW PHOTO archives

Fifty years ago, as Black children, educators and community members traveled to desegregate schools in Boston — as ordered by the federal court — they endured violent racist attacks from a highly coordinated “anti-busing” movement whose leaders sat in the White House, Congress and the State House and whose banners hung in the windows of City Hall.

Building on decades of Black-led activism for educational equality and self-determination, a multi-racial left coalition, including union organizers, tenant advocates and civil rights veterans, organized to fight back. Their efforts culminated in the national march to “Say No to Racism,” which drew 25,000 marchers to Boston on December 14, 1974, under the leadership of then-State Senator Bill Owens Jr., to push back the fascist movement. 

As Bostonians commemorate the 50th anniversary of court-ordered desegregation, the trials of 1974 are increasingly well known, but the March Against Racism remains unheralded, left out of mainstream histories of this era. 

Join the UMass Boston Labor Resource Center as we hear from those who organized the march, share records from the unions that supported it, and discuss the legacy and lessons of this remarkable left-labor campaign in Boston and beyond. 

Roundtable Discussion with: 

Edward Childs, Harvard University Dining Services UNITE HERE Local 26 (retired)

Steve Kirschbaum, Boston School Bus Drivers’ Union, USW Local 8751 (retired)

Monica Moorehead, Workers World newspaper, 1974 Norfolk, Virginia, organizer

Schedule:

Doors and Breakfast: 9:30am

Roundtable Discussion: 10am

Walking Tour: 11:30am

Register on Zoom!

tinyurl.com/3ndr9cr4

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