Special Collections

The Boston Black United Front had many community-wide victories, but the two that may possibly stand out the most are their struggle to compel the Polaroid Corporation to withdraw from Apartheid–enforced South Africa; and the multi-community rejection of the Southwest Expressway.

Polaroid Corporation Chronology¹

1964	Black workers protest to management regarding Polaroid in South Africa.
1968	Black workers again protest to management.
October 5 1970	Fliers are posted by the Polaroid Black Revolutionary Workers (PBRW) throughout the company accusing Polaroid of racism and contributing to Apartheid.
October 1970	Letters are sent by PBRW to Dr. Edwin Land, founder and CEO of Polaroid, stating the following demands: That Polaroid announce a policy of complete and total disengagement from South Africa. That management meet with the entire company to discuss this policy and announce its policy on apartheid publicly in the United States and the Republic of South Africa simultaneously. That Polaroid contribute the profits earned in South Africa to the recognized liberation movements fighting for their freedom.
October 8 1970	Letter sent by United Black Appeal to Polaroid asking for a corporate contribution
October 21 1970	Polaroid issues following statement: “Polaroid has in the past prohibited the sale of its ID System to the South African Government for the use in the apartheid passbook program. We are now discontinuing sale of any Polaroid products including film, directly or indirectly, which might be used in this ID program.
October 26 1970	A group of Black workers at Polaroid call for a worldwide boycott of the company’s products until it ends all sales to South Africa.
October 29 1970	United Black Appeal receives letter from Polaroid Vice President Thomas Wyman who states that “Polaroid makes this contribution in recognition of what we view as important priority needs in the Center City which are not being met today by the Massachusetts Bay United Fund” and a check for $20,000.
December 16 1970	Boston Black United Front calls a Special Community meeting to discuss the contribution from Polaroid and what to do with it.
December 21 1970	Boston Black United Front announces publicly that it will send $10,000 to organizations working for the liberation of Blacks in South Africa and $10,000 to the United Front in Cairo, IL.
January 11 1971	$10,000 given to Arlington Street Church People’s Relief Subcommittee
January 1971	Polaroid announces its Experiment in South Africa. Four employees, black and white, tour South Africa and return with the following suggestions: To continue our business relationship there except for any direct sales to the South African Government. To improve dramatically the salaries and other benefits of the non-white employees of our distributor there. To initiate through our distributor well-defined programs to train non-white employees for important jobs within that company. We would commit a portion of our profits earned there to encourage black education.
November 21, 1977	Polaroid withdraws from South Africa after discovering that its equipment was being used for the passbook ID program.²
Operation Stop / Southwest Corridor Chronology³
1962 - 1969	Roughly 5000 housing units have been destroyed for highway projects around Greater Boston.
Summer 1969	Boston Black United Front contacted Urban Planning Aid of Cambridge to conduct a study on the highway projects’ effect on the surrounding communities, and the possibility of revamping the elevated Orange Line. UPA preformed these studies for free.
August 5 1969	Operation Stop, a committee of Boston Black United Front, erects a “Community Information House” at the intersection of Columbus Avenue and Ruggles Street. The United Front wanted an central location in which to distribute information to the community on what the highway project would do to their community, and what they could do to stop it.
August 7 1969	In an interview with the Bay State Banner, Charles Turner says, “We of Operation Stop say these highways will not be built through our community. The construction of this Community Information House as the fist use of this community land for community purposes demonstrates our position of no more roads over people. This land is ours and we will use it for our own purposes. We stand united with the Greater Boston Committee on the Transportation Crisis, whose members are also fighting the destructive effects of the highway on their communities”.
September 1969	Greater Boston Committee on the Transportation Crisis files legislation "in order to further its aim of accomplishing and integrated and balanced transportation system".
Fall 1969	Governor Francis Sargent assembles a task force to study the Southwest Corridor.
1970	Operation Stop creates the Southwest Corridor Land Development Coalition. Presents the studies conducted by Urban Planning Aid to Governor Sargent, including the mass transit proposal.
February 1970	Governor Sargent calls for a moratorium on all highway projects within the Route 128 belt and assembles the Boston Transportation Planning Review (BTPR).
March 1970	One of the Greater Boston Committee on the Transportation Crisis's bills was before the Massachusetts Judiciary Committee to allow the money collected from the gasoline tax to be used for mass transit as a constitutional amendment.
December 1971	BTPR's Phase II report is released and Governor Sargent alters the Southwest Expressway from an eight-lane to a six-lane highway.
1972	BTPR’s Final Report is released which recommended that the Southwest Expressway project be abandoned. This paves the way for the mass transit project that had been kept alive by all of the community groups involved.
1973	The Southwest Corridor Development Coordinator position is created within the Executive Department of the Commonwealth. Anthony Pangaro, the Coordinator, met with each neighborhood group to begin the long term planning and use of the land originally slated for the Southwest Expressway.
January 1974	Governor Sargent announces the 10-Year Transit Development Program for Greater Boston. Relocation of the Orange Line from South Cove to Forest Hills in a depressed configuration. Includes the provision of approximately 5 new stations from Back Bay to Jackson Square. A replacement service through the South End to Dudley Station. A transit service from Ruggles Street Station of the relocated Orange Line to the area of Dudley Station and continuing to Grove Hall.
Fall 1974	Roxbury Community College Advisory Board recommends the Southwest Corridor site for the new, permanent campus.
June 1975	Governor Michael Dukakis removes the Southwest Expressway / Innerbelt plan from the Federal Interstate Highway System. The appropriated funds were transferred into mass transit projects under the 1973 Federal Highway Act.
1979	Construction begins on the new Orange Line along the Southwest Corridor.
May 4 1987	The new Orange Line opens with 9 new stations and the creation of the 52-acre Southwest Corridor Park.
January 1988	Roxbury Community College opens its new campus on Columbus Avenue along the Southwest Corridor.

Notes

¹United Front: Political Actions and Community Issues/ Polaroid Corporation, Boston Black United Front, SC1, Box 14, Folders 3, 4, & 5, Roxbury Community College, Roxbury MA.

²Republic of South Africa, Department of Foreign Affairs, Press Release by the Permanent Mission of South Africa to the United Nations on the Death of Paul Irish, a leader of the US Anti-Apartheid Movement, http://www.dfa.gov.za/docs/2004/iris0402.htm, 28 April2005.

³United Front: Political Actions and Community Issues/ Operation Stop Southwest Corridor, Boston Black United Front, SC1, Box 14, Folders 1 & 2, Roxbury Community College, Roxbury MA.