Welcome!
Welcome, scholars from the Boston Public Schools!
This guide introduces resources to support your research on activism for racial equity in and desegregation of Boston Public Schools. Use the tabs on the left to explore primary sources related to the lives and work of 5 activists; Ruth Batson, Paul Parks, Jean McGuire, Ellen S. Jackson, and Carmen Pola.
What are Primary Sources?
Primary sources are first-hand sources created at the time of a particular event or period under study. They may be artifacts or observations or accounts of events and experiences. We'll be reviewing letters, photographs, interviews, and more.
Searching in Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections' Digital Collections
To get started viewing archival material, we recommend visiting your activist’s page first by clicking on their name in the menu to find archival records created by them, that mention their name, or that document something your activist was involved in.
You can search and view all the digitized records related to Boston school desegregation here.
If you would like to search all of the Archives and Special Collections' digitized records you can visit our Digital Repository here.
When searching you can filter your results by year and by type of archival record: text, image, audio, moving image:
Click on your result to see a preview and some description about what your document is and is about. If your result is a document or has more than one page, scroll to the bottom and click “download” to see the full document:
Primary Sources about Busing and School Desegregation in Boston
- Beyond Busing: Boston School Desegregation Archival ResourcesThis site is an entry-point for Boston school desegregation archival resources. These sources explore the history of desegregation in Boston beginning with the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954 through to the Morgan v. Hennigan case in 1974.
- Boston Desegregation ProjectExplore digitized materials related to Boston desegregation from the Northeastern University Archives.
- (Digital Public Library of America) Busing & Beyond: School Desegregation in BostonAn overview and primary sources related to the story of busing and desegregation in Boston.