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                                                   Historical Note

Historical Note

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3. United Black Appeal

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The Boston Black United Front was founded as a power-oriented organization with the goal of developing Boston’s Black Community into a united base of economic and political power, ultimately improving the living conditions of community residents.

1967 saw many riots and uprisings in America’s urban areas, and Boston was no exception. In June of that year the Mothers for Adequate Welfare staged a non-violent sit-in at the Grove Hall Welfare Office that turned violent after the police were unnerved by the surging crowd. A rumor started that a welfare employee inside the building was having a heart attack. The crowd that had gathered around the building tried to get her out the window, but she resisted. The police, who were inside the building, began to move demonstrators away from the exits. Someone began yelling that the police were beating people inside, and chaos ensued.  The police then did begin to use their batons on the crowd and demonstrators who were surging toward them. Community Leaders attempted to calm the situation down and remove Mothers for Adequate Welfare members and Welfare employees from the building.¹ According to the report written by the Commission on Church and Race Relations:

The police, however continued to act with a large show of force which was felt by the community to be an attack upon them and which served to prolong the conflict…Later on in the night a group of tactical patrol policemen assembled in the street in front of Exodus (Operation Exodus Office). They moved up the street firing carbines into the air between 40 and 100 times. This incident greatly increased the tension. It was later described as a mistake by a deputy.²

As a result, when Stokely Carmichael gave his speech at the Roxbury YMCA in December of 1967, people were more then willing to listen and learn. He urged the developments of United Fronts in Black Communities across the nation. Acknowledging that there were differing ideologies among individuals and organizations in the Black Community, he stressed that we spend too much time arguing about our differences. The time had come, he emphasized, for us to examine our common ground; we could build from our strengths. If a United Front were to work, he stressed, both the militants and moderates would have to find a way of coming together. As an example of operational unity, he cited the position taken by Black organizations toward the Vietnam War. Militants oppose the war because they consider it an imperialistic war designed to oppress an independent movement in Asia, and because it makes cannon fodder out of Black men. Moderates oppose the war because it drains resources thus depriving the government of funds that could be used for social programs. However, both militants and moderates can be unified in their opposition to the war.³

The United Front was an umbrella group, consisting of representatives of the various organizations in the community; militant as well as moderate, civil rights as well as social service groups. The United Front was also seen as the framework in which the organization of the large segments of the community still unorganized could take place.⁴

The Boston Black United Front announced a list of 21 “Statement of Demands” in April 1968:⁵

1. As of 12:00 A.M. Monday, April 8, 1968 all white owned and white controlled businesses will be closed until further notice, while the transfer of the ownership of these businesses to the black community is being negotiated through the United Front.

2. Every school in the Black Community shall have an all black staff – personnel, principals, teachers, and custodians.
3. All Police Stations in the Black Community are to be in the command of Black Captains.
4. Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) is to be abolished as an umbrella agency in the Black Community. The anti-poverty program is to be completely controlled in the Black Areas by the Jamaica Plain APAC, SNAP, Dorchester APAC, and the Roxbury-North Dorchester APAC’s.
5. Community control of both Summer Work Programs (14-15 years olds and the 16-21 year olds)
6. All schools within the Black Community are to be renamed after Black heroes. The names will be selected through the United Front.
7. The Black Community is to immediately received control of the BURP and TURN KEY HUD Programs. The contracts should be negotiated with Black owned and controlled housing development corporations, designated by the United Front.
8. The Model Neighborhood Board is to have complete control of the Model Cities Program.
9. The Black Community is to have complete control of all publicly financed housing programs, e.g., Academy Homes, Whittier Street Housing Development, Orchard Park Housing Development, and Elm Hill Housing Development.
10. The South End – Roxbury Boy’s Club is to be administered by Black Directors and Black Staff personnel.
11. The Mayor’s office is to mobilize the Urban Coalition, the National Alliance of Business and the White Community at large to immediately make $100,000,000 available to the Black Community.
12. Contracts for street repair, garbage collection and maintenance in the Black Community are to go to Black Contractors.
13. There are to be established immediately operating School Boards which will have control of hiring staff, (teachers, principals, custodians, etc) and be responsible for all curriculum development.
14. The Patrick T. Campbell Junior High School is to be renamed the Martin Luther King Jr. Junior High School, in addition the present structure to be razed and replaced with a new campus type junior high school.
15. Contracts for repair and maintenance functions by utility companies, e.g., Boston Gas Co., Boston Edison Co., New England Telephones and Telegraph Co. in the Black Community are to be given to Black Contractors or these companies are to have all Black crews working for them in the Black Community.
16. Increase the quota of employment of Black personnel in State and City agencies, departments, divisions, and bureaus.
17. The Black Community must have representatives on the Mayor’s Public Services Board, to be elected by the United Front.
18. Establishment of a local park and recreation department in the Black Community.
19. The planned construction of the Inner Belt and Southwest Expressway are be halted immediately and their continued planning and construction negotiated with the Black Community since both of these highway projects will radically affect the lives of the people in this community.
20. The Black Community must have control of all public, private, and municipal agencies that affect the lives of the people in this community, e.g., City Sanitation, Health, Housing, UCS, Boy’s Club, etc.
21. The South End Urban Renewal Plan is to be halted immediately (the relocation planning and demolition) and the continuation of the Urban Renewal Plan is to be renegotiated with an elected Urban Renewal Committee. 

RESULTS:⁶

1. Businesses in the Black Community are now over 90% owned by minorities.
2. There has been a radical change in the staffing of the schools of the Black Community with a majority being minorities.
3. Both Police area stations in the Black Community are commanded by black captains.
4. Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) was not abolished but ABCD programs for those at or below the poverty level have been expanded.
5. The Black Community now benefits more from Summer Youth Programs.
6. A new school with the proposed name of Joseph Lee was instead named after William Monroe Trotter. The Patrick T. Campbell Junior High School was renamed after Martin Luther King, Jr. Madison Park High School was given the name of a park in the Black Community.
7. Because of HUD (Housing and Urban Development) programs, many independent Black housing developers have evolved.
8. The decisions of the locally elected Model Neighborhood Board were not overruled by the city controlled Model Cities Program.
9. Managements controlled by the Black Community were established for public housing.
10. All Boys and Girls Clubs in the minority community are now directed and staffed by minorities.
11. When the Boston Urban Coalition was shown to be working against the interests of the Black Community, all Black members resigned and it went out of business.
12. The Contractors Association of Boston (CAB) was created to encourage independent contractors qualified and ready to apply for contracts from the City. The City of Boston then gave bids out to minority community contractors to clean up debris left from urban renewal projects. More minorities were hired within the Public Works Department.
13. The struggle for control over hiring of school staffs continues.
14. This was done.
15. The hiring of crews has improved greatly but not as much as anticipated.
16. Great improvement in the hiring of minority public employees but not as much as anticipated.
17. The chair of the Boston Redevelopment Authority Board of Directors is a minority.
18. The Parks and Recreation Department for the whole city is run by a member of the minority community.
19. The Southwest Expressway was stopped.
20. All of these agencies have been headed by minorities except Sanitation.
21. This was done.

At least one of these demands was met immediately by the Greater Boston community. In mid-April 1968, Sheldon Appel and Ralph Hoagland got together and founded FUND, The Fund for Urban Negro Development. By May of 1968 FUND had raised $75,000 and presented a check to the United Front on May 18. By 1970, FUND had increased the amount raised to $575,000 for the United Front. 

FUND’s objectives were: First to give the Roxbury Community access to the private development capital and the consulting skills which it has lacked in its thrust toward social and economic self-help.Second, to bring together those who seek alternatives to the despair and violence which arise in communities where there is no hope for self-improvement. Third, to be a positive educational force within the white community, helping to remove the mutual suspicions which have obstructed progress.⁷

The United Front, in turn, founded the United Front Foundation Inc. (Foundation) late May 1968 as a non-profit corporation. The Foundation was created with ambitious goals that included:

·      To develop programs which would reduce and possibly end poverty conditions in the community.

·      To rehabilitate slum housing and enhance urban environment

·      To promote cooperation and coordination among agencies with similar purposes

·      To reduce the cost of living in the inner city areas.⁸

The Foundation was to oversee the monies raised by FUND and given to the United Front. The funds disbursed to help the programs of community groups were out-right grants to cover operating costs, the funds disbursed for economic projects were loans. In its first two years Foundation granted $218,956 to 19 community groups including Operation Stop, Mothers for Adequate Welfare, Malcolm X Foundation, Montessori Family Center, and the National Center of Afro-American Artists.

The Foundation’s second endeavor was to invest in the community by loaning money to small businesses. In each case, there were no strings attached and no evaluation or follow-up in a systematic way. This part of the plan, however, was not successful, and the Foundation decided to re-organize and shift their focus. In 1969 the Foundation voted to stop disbursing funds and to work towards a more systematic approach. 13 Board Members were elected, each of who had to belong to the United Front.  By 1970 the Foundation had decided to make a major investment of funds in co-operatives and larger community owned profit-making enterprises. The Foundation determined that the best interests of the Black Community were not served by traditional business arrangements.⁹

 In 1970 the Foundation became tax-exempt and could now begin its own fund raising. Due to the lagging support of FUND in the white community and the limited monies coming from Mass Bay United Fund, The United Black Appeal was unveiled in October 1970:

…A campaign to collect a fund to help support all organizations primarily serving Blacks of the Boston Area. When collected, the funds will be held until they can be allocated for health, educational, cultural and social organizations according to criteria approved by the community, under the management of an expanded Foundation representing organizations and individuals selected in community elections held in various districts and sub-areas of Roxbury next year.¹⁰

United Black Appeal’s primary goal was to raise 4 million dollars to re-distribute within the Black Community. During the 1970 – 1971 campaign the United Black Appeal raised $125,000. By 1973, MIT, Harvard, and Northeastern Universities were all allowing UBA to make payroll deductions. One of the first large donations received was from the Polaroid Corporation. After the $20,000 was distributed to South Africa and the United Front in Cairo, IL many community groups called into question Foundation and United Black Appeal’s motives. Their tax-exempt status was also re-examined by the IRS. As part of the reorganization plan the Foundation held community wide elections in June of 1971. They became the New United Front Foundation and changed their policies for giving grants and loans. The organizations were now required to meet specific criteria, submit proposals within a certain time period, and submit detailed financial reports.

In 1969, the Black United Front of Cairo, Illinois requested help from its sister organization in Boston.  The Cairo United Front was conducting a boycott of all white Cairo businesses because of attacks on the black community by white vigilante groups in cooperation with the local police.  The Cairo group requested that the Illinois governor impose martial law but was turned down.  The boycott resulted in five store closings and to the escalation of shootings into the black community by vigilantes and police officers in some cases.  In addition to the violence, the Cairo black community was suffering from increased economic hardship because of the boycott and from lack of food.  The Boston Black United Front organized a community meeting where attendees voted overwhelmingly to support Cairo with a donation of $10,000 which they had received from the Polaroid Corporation.

On March 7, 1970 inside a Boston City Hospital ward Patrolman Walter Duggan shot and killed Franklin Lynch. Duggan was guarding a prisoner from the Charles Street Jail. Lynch was in for a dislocated shoulder, which was in a cast. According to Globe Reporter Robert Anglin who was also a patient and an eye witness:

...Lynch and another patient John Condon had words in the center of the ward. Patrolman Walter Duggan separated them, walked Condon to his bed and left. ...Lynch attempted to push a cart of pans and linens out of the room as a female attendant tried to push it back in. Condon...rose and squared off to fight Lynch as Lynch pulled the towel from his shoulder and swung it at him. Duggan again came between the two, pushing Condon who fell against a bed and slid to the floor, breaking his leg. Duggan then pushed Lynch, turned half around facing away from him, drew his pistol, and raised it to eye level. He aimed it down one end of the ward out my sight. "Get back or I'll shoot" he said. The weapon was not yet pointed in Lynch's direction. He let his gun drop -still rigid- and made a quarter turn toward Lynch. Lynch took a swipe at the gun with his towel and Duggan raised the weapon and fired once, then three times, then once again.¹¹

In the next few days the Boston Black United Front formed the Justice Committee, who then called for a community inquest and people’s court to be held against Walter Duggan. The inquest was held on March 25^th and drew 500 people. After the inquest Leroy Boston, Co-Chair of the Boston Black United Front stated “This will be the first time in the history of Boston’s Black Community that a community trial has been used to bring justice for the death of a Black Man. This is a clear indication that the Black Community of Boston now understands that it cannot expect justice from the same forces that oppress us.”¹²

The “Black People’s Trial” was held on April 9^th with the Judge and Jury drawn from the Community. 700 people crowded into Crown Manor on Warren Street. After eyewitness testimony Duggan was found guilty and sentenced to have his image and name on posters around the city. “Poster Day” was held on May 16, 1970. The community banned together and blanketed the city with poster’s featuring Duggan’s name, address, and photo. The posters read, “This man is a killer. He was tried and convicted by the Black Community Thursday April 9, 1970 for the Murder of Franklin Lynch”. 

In July of 1970, the New Bedford, Mass. black community erupted in riots over strong-arm police behavior, unjust arrests and the unprovoked firing into a crowd by three whites that resulted in the death of a black teenager.  City police, equipped in full riot gear, invaded a local black organizing headquarters and twenty black men were arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder and anarchy.  Three of those arrested belonged to the Boston branch of the Black Panther Party, a member organization of the Black United Front.  Black United Front spokesmen went to New Bedford to investigate along with Boston City Councilor Tom Atkins, who went as a representative of Governor Francis Sargent.  Atkins announced from Black United Front headquarters in Roxbury that an observer from the state police would monitor the workings of the New Bedford police to determine if the state police needed to take over city police functions until calm had been restored.  The New Bedford chief of police had admitted that his force was “out of control.”  In the wake of this crisis, the Black United Front raised legal defense funds for those arrested and helped locals in organizational and community development planning. 

In 1972 the Steering Committee of the Boston Black United Front began to argue among themselves as to what direction the United Front should move in next. The former Office Manager Leonard Durant, now a committee member, urged the Steering Committee to follow the political platform that the United Front had set for itself. Other members insisted that a Political Officer be nominated. By September of 1972 the Boston Black United Front has essentially ceased to exist due to lack of funds, and lack of commitment. The Front had served its purpose, and the members moved on to other organizations within the community.

By 1974, the Foundation was also struggling to raise funds, both for day-to-day functions and to distribute within the community, although the United Black Appeal continued into 1975. By then, however, support has diminished to almost nothing and the Appeal ended without reaching it 4 million dollar goal.