A People's Guide to Greater Boston

by Joseph Nevins, Suren Moodliar, Eleni Macrakis

Overview

A People's Guide to Greater Boston reveals the region’s richness and vibrancy in ways that are neglected by traditional area guidebooks and obscured by many tourist destinations. Affirming the hopes, interests, and struggles of individuals and groups on the receiving end of unjust forms of power, the book showcases the ground-level forces shaping the city. Uncovering stories and places central to people’s lives over centuries, this guide takes readers to sites of oppression, resistance, organizing, and transformation in Boston and outlying neighborhoods and municipalities—from Lawrence, Lowell, and Lynn to Concord and Plymouth. It highlights tales of the places and people involved in movements to abolish slavery; to end war and militarism; to achieve Native sovereignty, racial equity, gender justice, and sexual liberation; and to secure workers’ rights. In so doing, this one-of-a-kind guide points the way to a radically democratic Greater Boston, one that sparks social and environmental justice and inclusivity for all.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520294523
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	07/07/2020
Series:	A People's Guide Series , #2
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	328
Sales rank:	1,077,601
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Joseph Nevins was born and raised in the Dorchester section of Boston and is Professor of Geography at Vassar College. His books include A Not-so-distant Horror: Mass Violence in East Timor; Dying to Live: A Story of U.S. Immigration in an Age of Global Apartheid; and Operation Gatekeeper and Beyond: The War on "Illegals" and the Remaking of the US-Mexico Boundary.

Suren Moodliar, a resident of Chelsea, Massachusetts, is both coordinator of encuentro5, a movement building space in Downtown Boston, and editor of the journal Socialism and Democracy. He coedited Noam Chomsky’s Internationalism or Extinction (2020). He completed an MA in Political Science and African Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Eleni Macrakis grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and now works in the field of affordable housing development in the Greater Boston area. She holds a Master in Urban Planning from Harvard University.

Table of Contents

List of Maps xi

Introduction: Unsettling Greater Boston 1

1 A Boston's Historic Core 9

Boston Harbor 10

1.1 Deer Island

1.2 Griffin Wharf

1.3 Rainsford Island Hospital

1.4 Central Wharf/James and Thomas H. Perkins and Company

1.5 Long Wharf/Boston Fruit Company

1.6 Fort Strong, Long Island

1.7 Nixes Mate

Shawmut Peninsula 22

Downtown Boston 22

1.8 The Boston Common

1.9 Anne Hutchinson House Site

1.10 Odeon Theatre

1.11 Liberty Square

1.12 Marlboro Hotel and Chapel

1.13 Boston Court House

1.14 American House/John F. Kennedy Federal Building

1.15 John P. Jewett and Company

1.16 Daily Evening Voice

1.17 Exchange Place/Boston Bellamy Club/Immigration Restriction League

1.18 Faneuil Hall

1.19 Dewey Square

1.20 The Parker House

1.21 United Fruit Company

1.22 Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Company/The Vault

1.23 Gay Community News

The North End and the West End 46

1.24 Onesimus-Mather House

1.25 Cooper Street Armory

1.26 Parmenter Street Chapel

1.27 Great Molasses Flood Site

1.28 The West End Museum

Beacon Hill 54

1.29 James Bowdoin Home Site

1.30 David Walker Home

1.31 Abiel Smith School/Museum of African American History

1.32 Julia Ward Howe Residence

1.33 Henry Cabot Lodge House

Chinatown/The South Cove 60

1.34 Denison House

1.35 1903 Immigration Raid Site

1.36 New England Telephone Company Exchange/Verizon Building

1.37 The Common Cupboard

1.38 The Naked

1.39 The Metropolitan/Parcel C

South End 71

1.40 Tent City

1.41 Haley House

1.42 Cathedral of the Holy Cross

1.43 South End Press

1.44 Villa Victoria Center for the Arts

1.45 Blackstone

Square

The Back Bay and the Fenway 80

1.46 The Newbry

1.47 Armory of the First Corps of Cadets/The Castle

1.48 The Youth's Companion Building

1.49 The Rat

1.50 Fenway Park

1.51 Marian Hall, Emmanuel College/Boston Women's Health Book Collective

1.52 Symphony Road Community Garden

1.53 College of Public and Community Service, UMass Boston

1.54 Massachusetts Competitive Partnership

2 Other City of Boston Neighborhoods 93

Charlestown 94

2.1 Charlestown Navy Yard

2.2 City Square Park

2.3 Charlestown High School football field

East Boston 99

2.4 Maverick Square

2.5 The East Boston Immigration Station/Navy Fuel Pier Airport Edge Buffer

2.6 Boston Logan International Airport

2.7 Lewis Family Home

2.8 Neptune Road Edge Buffer Park

2.9 Suffolk Downs

South Boston 106

2.10 L Street Bathhouse/BCYF Curley Community Center

2.11 Police Station 6/Patriot Homes

2.12 South Boston High School/Excel High School

2.13 South Boston District Courthouse

2.14 South Boston Heights Academy

2.15 Carson Beach

2.16 South Boston Residents for Peace/Tony Flaherty Home

2.17 Seaport Common

Roxbury and Mission Hill 119

2.18 Saint Cyprian's Episcopal Church and Toussaint L'Ouverture Hall

2.19 Franklin Lynch Peoples' Free Health Center

2.20 Saint Mark's Social Center

2.21 Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative

2.22 Mission Main

Dorchester, Mattapan, and Hyde Park 129

2.23 Camp Meigs Playground

2.24 The William Monroe Trotter House

2.25 James Reeb House

2.26 Christopher Gibson School

2.27 Boston Welfare Department, Grove Hall Office/Mother Caroline Academy and Education Center

2.28 Temple Beth Hillel

2.29 Laura Ann Ewing Home/Columbia Point Housing Project

2.30 Columbia Point Health Center/Geiger-Gibson Health Center

2.31 US Armed Forces Recruiting Station and Dorchester District Courthouse

2.32 The Boston Globe Headquarters

2.33 Combahee River Collective

2.34 State Temple Church of God in Christ

Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, and West Roxbury 147

2.35 Brook Farm

2.36 Theodore Parker Unitarian Universalist Church

2.37 Science for the People/Helen Keller Collective

2.38 Southwest Corridor Park

2.39 City Life/Vida Urbana

2.40 Bikes Not Bombs (The Shop)

2.41 William A. Hinton State Laboratory Institute

Allston and Brighton 157

2.42 Nonantum

2.43 Noah Worcester House

2.44 Barry's Corner

2.45 Saint John's Seminary

2.46 Power-One Corporation Factory Site

2.47 Binland Lee House

3 Adjacent Cities 167

Cambridge and Somerville 168

3.1 Ten Hills Farm

3.2 Harvard Indian College/Matthew Hall

3.3 Elmwood

3.4 Ursuline Convent

3.5 Riverside Cycling Club

3.6 Old Mole/The Middle East and Zuzu Restaurant and Nightclub

3.7 Polaroid/ Tech Square

3.8 888/The Women's Center

3.9 Sojourner: The Women's Forum

3.10 Dollars & Sense

3.11 Old Cambridge Baptist Church

3.12 Food Not Bombs

3.13 The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University

3.14 Ray and Maria Stata Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

3.15 Harvard Square Public Toilet

Chelsea and Everett 187

3.16 Chelsea Naval Hospital

3.17 Labor Lyceum

3.18 Chelsea Salt Terminal

3.19 Exxon Mobil Everett Terminal

4 North of Boston 193

Lowell 194

4.1 Wamesit

4.2 Saint Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church/UTEC

4.3 The Voice of Industry and Middlesex Standard

4.4 Saint Patrick Church

4.5 Socialist Hall

Lawrence 202

4.6 Lawrence Experiment Station/Ferrous Site Park

4.7 American Woolen Company

4.8 Franco-Belgian Hall

4.9 North Lawrence Railroad Station

4.10 Jonas Smolskas House

4.11 The Arlington Mills

4.12 Schaake's Block

4.13 The Essex Company Headquarters Compound/Lawrence History Center

4.14 Bread and Roses Housing

4.15 1984 Riot Epicenter

Haverhill 218

4.16 Grand Army of the Republic Park

4.17 Old Haverhill City Hall

Newburyport 222

4.18 William Lloyd Garrison House

4.19 Caleb Cushing Homes Salem 226

4.20 East India Marine Hall/Peabody Essex Museum

4.21 Lyceum Hall

4.22 Pequot Milt/Shetland Industrial Park

4.23 Proctor's Ledge

4.24 The Derby House

4.25 North Shore Community Development Coalition/Punto

Urban Art Museum

Lynn 234

4.26 Town Hall

4.27 Kimball and Butterfield/The Awl

4.28 Frederick Douglass House

4.29 High Rock Tower Reservation

4.30 Lyceum Hall

4.31 River Works/General Electric

4.32 Lynn Woods Reservation

5 West and South of Boston 245

Waltham 246

5.1 Walter E. Fernald State School

5.2 Raytheon Corporate Headquarters

Concord 250

5.3 The Robbins House

5.4 Brister's Hill

5.5 Concord Jail

5.6 MCI-Concord/The Concord Reformatory

Plymouth and the South Shore 255

5.7 Cole's Hill

5.8 Old Country House/1749 Court House

5.9 Plimoth Plantation

5.10 Maypole Hill Park

5.11 Wessagusset Memorial Garden

6 Thematic Tours 263

Native Greater Boston Tour 264

Malcolm and Martin Tour 267

Sacco and Vanzetti Tour 272

Bread and Roses and More Tour 275

The One Percent of Greater Boston Tour 278

The Nature of Greater Boston Tour 282

Acknowledgments 289

Bibliography 293

Credits 299

Index 303

Editorial Reviews

"Think you know all about Boston? Think again. 3 local co-authors comb through centuries of Greater Boston’s history to discover untold stories from underrepresented communities. . . . Not your average guidebook."

GBH

"This book makes history intimate, showing how we must be constantly vigilant against every attempt at depriving us of a quality of life worth working for. Reading this book should inspire and hopefully empower. It does more than scratch the surface."

Socialism and Democracy

"A new kind of guidebook to Boston and surrounding towns . . . [that's] less Lonely Planet and more Howard Zinn. . . . Instead of giving an overview of the Freedom Trail and introducing readers to the hot restaurants and hotels of Boston, this guide uncovers the forgotten stories of radicals and activists hidden in every neighborhood and suburb." 

HUBHistory

It’s a timely, intelligent, and necessary guide, one that deepens our understanding of where we live now and reminds us of the power that regular citizens have to work against powers and systems that are, now as then, in urgent need of change.

Boston Globe

"One of our favorite books of 2020."

New England Historical Society