A historical tour of Boston
Boston likes very much to parade its history, but it seems more reluctant to trot out its uglier history — such as this:
That’s from a very unfortunate, but very real part of Boston history centered around busing in the ‘70’s. The gentleman being attacked is Ted Landsmark, who at the time was executive director of the Boston Contractors Association. The gentleman with the flag is Joseph Rakes. The event took place in 1976, and I believe what we’re looking at above is Faneuil Hall.
This stuff is very important, and nowadays it’s hard to remember that cities burned over race relations. If I understand correctly, race relations in the 60’s and 70’s explain a large part of why Detroit is a husk of its former self. (Though I invite others to correct me.)
We need to get this kind of historical tour — not just Paul Revere’s ride, but what happened 200 years after that. History’s not dead, but it’s the unfortunate habit of American history courses to treat it as though it were.
Joseph Rakes–any relation to Stephen Rakes?
Comment by Adam Rosi-Kessel — January 1, 1970 @ 8:00 am
I didn’t know about Stephen Rakes, but a moment of googling fixed that. Interesting: he was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice, even though from the looks of it his hands were quite tied.
Not sure whether Joseph and Stephen are related. They’re both from Southie, it seems. Other than that I’m not sure. Google says they’re unrelated.
Comment by Steve Laniel — January 1, 1970 @ 8:00 am
That’s City Hall Plaza, actually. Interesting idea for a tour, why not also include the place where Garrison (publisher of the pro-abolition The Liberator) was tarred and feathered? But then again, maybe also include sites showing how progress has been made – the Boston of 2005 is far from perfect, but it is hardly the Boston of 1975, either. For that matter, why didn’t downtown Boston collapse the way downtown Detroit did?
Comment by adamg — January 1, 1970 @ 8:00 am
Great idea. I’m just thinking about the way I learned history, and the way that Boston treats its history (“Hey kids! Walk the Freedom Trail!”) and I realize how much is missing — both good and bad.
It’d be cool to walk around a city with a GPS-enabled iPod-like device that would tell you all the interesting things that happened within sight of the spot where you’re standing.
Comment by Steve Laniel — January 1, 1970 @ 8:00 am
http://global.yellowarrow.net/
Comment by adamg — January 1, 1970 @ 8:00 am
these two people are related. i was a girlfriend at the time
Comment by d. — January 1, 1970 @ 8:00 am
This would be a cool idea to have a tour like this. What about some thing like Boston by Foot? Wonder if they’d let you put something together?
Comment by Mr. Smith — January 1, 1970 @ 8:00 am
fyi – there’s an org called MyTown similar in concept to the Boston By Foot idea
Comment by POPS — January 1, 1970 @ 8:00 am
How kind you are to Mr. Rakes to refer to him as a gentleman.
Comment by Native — January 1, 1970 @ 8:00 am