Busing's legacy in Boston, 50 years later

Coverage of the 50th anniversary of a federal judge’s ruling that led to mandatory busing in Boston to desegregate schools is produced through an editorial partnership between WBUR and The Emancipator.

Essay: The empty promise of ‘diversity’

From desegregation efforts to DEI, shallow victories keep leaving Black students stranded, writes Pamela D’andrea Martínez.

Education

Jun 21, 2024

Volunteer parents and family members lead children through activities at a parent-child play group at the Mario Umana Academy in East Boston. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

As Boston pursues 'hub' model, city battles memories of segregated neighborhood schools

The neighborhood school model was a big driver of inequity among Boston public schools in the years before mandatory busing. BPS is hoping that a new kind of school model...

Education

05:54Jun 21, 2024

Yang Cao pushes his sons Zhentao and Yiteng on the swings at Menino Park in Charlestown. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

Busing turned a Charlestown school into a Mandarin language magnet. Now that program's closing

By 1975, many elementary school students were bused from Chinatown to schools in Charlestown. Today, there's still a significant number of Chinese students attending a Charlestown elementary school. Still, 50...

Education

04:41Jun 20, 2024

The beautiful vision of Boston’s Freedom Schools

Before busing, civil rights thinkers devised a solution for bad education: freedom schools.

Local Coverage

05:46Jun 20, 2024

As police stand guard, Black students arrive at South Boston High School in Boston, Mass., for the first day of classes on Sept. 12, 1974. (Getty Images)

The desegregation of Boston’s schools was a long time coming

Most observers have viewed U.S. District Judge Arthur Garrity’s order as one that was foisted upon the city from on high, as though no Bostonians wanted the desegregation that he...

Cognoscenti

Jun 20, 2024

How school segregation survived Boston’s busing

Boston schools are more segregated now than than they were 30 years ago. Did integration fail, or did the people?

Education

03:42Jun 19, 2024

The Eliot K-8 Innovation Upper School building on Commercial Street in the North End. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

How Boston's Eliot School desegregated — and resegregated

Since the end of mandatory busing in 1988, white students in the Boston public schools have tended to 'cluster' once again in a small handful of select schools, due to...

Education

05:28Jun 18, 2024

Police officers break up a scuffle amid demonstrators outside South Boston High School on the first day of a court-ordered busing program to integrate Boston public schools in 1974.(Peter Bregg/AP)

The complicated history of school choice in Boston

Racially diverse schools are still elusive. Boston’s changing demographics have played a role — but so have decisions by city officials.

Education

Jun 17, 2024

Bused Black schoolchildren arrive with police escort at South Boston High School during court-ordered desegregation in 1974. (Spencer Grant/Getty Images)

Timeline: Major events shaping Boston’s school busing era

Take a look at some of the key developments starting in the mid-20th century that shaped this pivotal era in Boston’s history.

Education

Jun 17, 2024

Suzanne Lee and Leola Hampton at WBUR's studios in Boston. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

'We were fighting for our life': Former Boston Public Schools student, teacher reflect on busing, 50 years later

Nearly 50 years after the ruling mandating Boston desegregate its schools, two people who lived through that history joined WBUR's Morning Edition to look back on what happened and how...

Education

06:46Jun 17, 2024