GBH Openvault
Stay Out For Freedom; Reaction to Boycott Report; Reaction to Boycott Report [1 of 2]
Part of From the Vault. Part of Boston’s 1960s Civil Rights Movement: A Look Back.
06/18/1963
In June 1963 the Education Committee of the Boston Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) presented the Boston School Committee with a 14-Point Proposal to end de facto segregation in the public schools. The contentious and failed negotiations precipitated a series of nonviolent, direct action demonstrations in Boston, not the least of which was the June 18, 1963 Stay Out for Freedom Day. The Massachusetts Freedom Movement, co-chaired by Rev. James Breeden, St. James Episcopal Church and Noel Day, Director, St. Marks Social Center, called for a Stay Out for Freedom direct action whereby Black junior and senior high school students would attend Freedom Schools rather than the Boston public schools. In the two and a half hour special segment, Reaction to the Boycott Report, WGBH covered much the days activities at the St. Marks Social Center, one of the nine Freedom Schools organized by the civil rights leaders. The activities included reports on the negotiations with the Boston School Committee; the singing of Freedom Songs; and lectures by community leaders and college professors on the civil rights struggle across the country and in Boston, nonviolent direct action, civic and educational responsibilities, governmental processes, Negro History, and African History. The Freedom School Program was moderated by Peggy Trotter Dammond, St. Marks Social Center and student at Boston University and led in Freedom Songs by Julian Houston, also a Boston University and member of SNCC. The bi-racial faculty included: Royal Bolling, State Representative (Roxbury) and Editor, Boston Sun, Noel Day, Director, St. Marks Social Center, Alan Gartner, Chairman, Boston CORE, Dr. Adelaide Hill, Professor, Boston University, Dr. Charles Merrill, Headmaster, Commonwealth School, Massachusetts, Paul Parks, Member, NAACP Education Committee, Dr. Thomas Pettigrew, Professor, Harvard University, Dr. Sumner Rosen, Simmons College, Bryant Rollins, Reporter, Boston Sun and Bishop Anson Phelps Stokes, Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. While the discussion on the meaning and practice of nonviolence evoked a momentous response; Dr. Adelaide Hills presentation that showed the historical and ongoing relationship between Africa and Blacks in the United States particularly captured the attention of the students. Summary and select metadata for this record was submitted by Audrea Dunham. PART 1 Of 2, Days Freedom School, Reaction to Stay Out
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
- Reaction to Boycott Report
- Title
Reaction to Boycott Report [1 of 2]
- Series Description
Radio series. Series release date: 1963
- Program Description
Radio
- Duration
02:32:05
- Asset Type
Broadcast program
- Media Type
Audio
- Subjects
- Freedom Schools
- Race Relations-Northern Discrimination
- African Americans-Freedom Songs
- African Americans-Educational Opportunities
- African Americans-Social Justice
- Civil Rights Era
- African Americans-Human Rights
- Roxbury, Massachusetts
- Stay Out for Freedom Day
- Politics-National Association for the Advancement of Colored People/Boston School Committee Negotiations
- Boston, Massachusetts
- Race Relations-Nonviolent Direct Action
- African Americans-Structural Racism
- African Americans-Civil Rights
- Politics-1963 Boston School Committee Election
- Race Relations-De facto Segregation
- African Americans-Educational Opportunities
- Race Relations-Similarities in discrimination in the North and South
- Topics
- Social Issues
- Contributors
- Parks, Paul (Speaker)
- Rollins, Bryant (Speaker)
- Merrill, Charles (Speaker)
- Holson, Al (Producer)
- Dammond, Peggy Trotter (Speaker)
- Bolling, Royal (Speaker)
- Connelly, Tom (Reporter)
- Day, Noel (Speaker)
- Hill, Adelaide (Speaker)
- Houston, Julian (Speaker)
- Mascott, Ted (Producer)
- Gartner, Alan (Speaker)
- Stokes, Anson Phelps (Speaker)
- Rosen, Sumner (Speaker)
- Pettigrew, Thomas (Speaker)
- Citation
- Chicago: “Stay Out For Freedom; Reaction to Boycott Report; Reaction to Boycott Report [1 of 2],” 06/18/1963, GBH Archives, accessed November 23, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/A_D36BEAD747064F0C9491E06BB43F2DC2.
- MLA: “Stay Out For Freedom; Reaction to Boycott Report; Reaction to Boycott Report [1 of 2].” 06/18/1963. GBH Archives. Web. November 23, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/A_D36BEAD747064F0C9491E06BB43F2DC2>.
- APA: Stay Out For Freedom; Reaction to Boycott Report; Reaction to Boycott Report [1 of 2]. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/A_D36BEAD747064F0C9491E06BB43F2DC2