Lauren's Blog: EOTO Keypost

In 1974, schools in Boston were starting to become desegregated. For the first time, black and white students would be attending the same school. Judge W. Arthur Garrity ruled that black and white schools being segregated was unconstitutional. To achieve the goal of having schools desegregated, there had to be a school bus system that would take the kids to their assigned schools from their neighborhoods. Specifically black kids. On the first day of school angry white parents and other racists in Boston stood in the streets and started attacking the buses taking the black children to what they still considered the “white schools” in South Boston.

They threw eggs, bricks, and glass bottles at the buses. White people stood in the streets with racial signs, spit at the black children when they got off the buses, and many parents refused to send their kids to the new desegregated schools. Police Officers were forced to step in and stop the white protesters with violence. The riots were intense and lasted 2 years and around 40 riots occurred. The Boston Riots were very violent and it was a very scary time for all children as well as all black families in Boston and during the desegregation era.

The Boston Riots were extremely violent and it was a time of fear for everyone involved. The Boston Bus riots were filmed and watched by citizens everywhere. For me, this is one of the most disturbing parts of the riots that they were televised and there was still nothing that anyone did to stop them from happening. Americans watched adults in white Boston neighborhoods throw bricks, stones, glass bottles, and sometimes even bombs at black children.

These children were terrified to go to school, and the fact that this was shown on televisions everywhere and this treatment continued for two years was very sad. No matter the race, children should not be afraid to go to school. Education is a privilege that should be given to everyone. I do not understand how showing children being harassed on TV did not anger more people. The riots were streamed all over America and people saw children being hurt in Boston and there was no real action made to stop the bus riots and violence shown towards black children.

The Boston Bus Riots were violent and will always be apart of Americas history. As violent and traumatic as the riots were, desegregating school changed history. The desegregation of schools started in 1954 and in the beginning it was a hard adjustment for white citizens. Brown vs. Board stated that desegregation in schools was unconstitutional and the case sparked change in America. The first desegregated school was Lowell High School in Massachusetts. This was a huge social change and showed how much change was happening during the desegregation era. Black citizens were allowed to vote, black children were able to go to white schools, restaurants started to desegregate, and rules started to change once segregation became unconstitutional. Black and white people slowly began to accept one another and live side by side. Because of the Boston Riots and the sacrifices made by black children and parents, we now are able to live in a world where children are treated equally.