GBH Openvault
Stay Out For Freedom; Press Conference; Press Conference [1 of 2]
Part of From the Vault. Part of Boston’s 1960s Civil Rights Movement: A Look Back.
02/12/1964
In 1964, despite a year of sustained efforts by the NAACP, parents, and other civil rights activists, the Boston Public Schools remained racially segregated and negotiations with the Boston School Committee continued to be futile. The Citizens for Human Rights (CHR), the group that organized the Bostons successful 1963 Stay Out for Freedom, evolved into the Massachusetts Freedom Movement (MFM) and again led by Reverend James Breeden and Noel Day, organized another Stay Out campaign for February 26, 1964. The 1964 Stay Out, however, was also part of an emerging a national school boycott movement against segregated schools in the North, including similar demonstrations in New York, Chicago, Cleveland, and Milwaukee. WGBH-FM covered the Massachusetts Freedom Movements February 12, 1964 press conference in which they responded to a legal opinion by Massachusetts Attorney General Edward Brooke that ruled the Stay Out unlawful. While the MFM leaders acknowledged the authority of the Attorney Generals office, they vehemently argued that the forthcoming action of the parents, children and leadership against a system of segregation was a matter of moral conscience that superseded any legal ramifications. Reverend James Breeden, Noel Day and Reverend Vernon Carter also responded to reporters questions regarding the Freedom Schools, possibilities of arrests and NAACP negotiations with the Boston School Committee. They also announced that the February 25, 1964 Freedom Rally would be led by civil rights activist Dick Gregory and that both Mr. Gregory and author Louis Lomax would join the faculty of the Freedom Schools. Summary and select metadata for this record was submitted by Audrea Dunham. Reaction to Brooke Ruling, Rally with Dick Gregory/Rev. Carter
More material may be available from this program at the GBH Archives. If you would like research access to the collection at GBH, please email archive_requests@wgbh.org.
- Series
- Stay Out For Freedom
- Program
- Press Conference
- Title
Press Conference [1 of 2]
- Series Description
Radio series. Series release date: 1963
- Program Description
Radio
- Duration
00:18:30
- Asset Type
Broadcast program
- Media Type
Audio
- Subjects
- Stay Out for Freedom Day
- Race Relations-Northern Discrimination
- Politics-National Association for the Advancement of Colored People/Boston School Committee Negotiations
- Politics-Law Enforcement by State Attorney General
- Educational Issues-Legality of School Boycott
- Freedom Schools
- Civil Rights Era
- Boston, Massachusetts
- Roxbury, Massachusetts
- Race Relations-De facto Segregation
- Educational Issues-Civil Disobedience
- Topics
- Social Issues
- Contributors
- Carter, Vernon (Speaker)
- Day, Noel (Speaker)
- Breeden, James (Speaker)
- Citation
- Chicago: “Stay Out For Freedom; Press Conference; Press Conference [1 of 2],” 02/12/1964, GBH Archives, accessed April 19, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/A_9A27EBFE83124797A01583E82C17887E.
- MLA: “Stay Out For Freedom; Press Conference; Press Conference [1 of 2].” 02/12/1964. GBH Archives. Web. April 19, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/A_9A27EBFE83124797A01583E82C17887E>.
- APA: Stay Out For Freedom; Press Conference; Press Conference [1 of 2]. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/A_9A27EBFE83124797A01583E82C17887E