South Boston High School was a public
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
located in
South Boston
South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. South Boston, colloquially known as Southie, has undergone several demographic transformati ...
,
, United States. It was part of
Boston Public Schools
Boston Public Schools (BPS) is a school district serving the city of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest public school district in the state of Massachusetts.
Leadership
The district is led by a Superintendent, hired by the ...
. The school closed in 2003, and its former facility is currently occupied by
Excel High School (Massachusetts).
History
South Boston High School was built on Telegraph Hill in
Dorchester Heights
Dorchester Heights is the central area of South Boston. It is the highest area in the neighborhood and commands a view of both Boston Harbor and downtown.
History
Dorchester is remembered in American history for an action in the American Rev ...
in 1901. It was the first high school in the South Boston neighborhood.
During the
Boston busing crisis
The desegregation of Boston public schools (1974–1988) was a period in which the Boston Public Schools were under court control to desegregate through a system of busing students. The call for desegregation and the first years of its implemen ...
in the 1970s, several racial incidents took place at the school. On September 12, 1974, the first day of school, only 124 students attended. The school anticipated an enrollment of about 1,300.
On November 20, several fights broke out in the school. It began when a white male student let a door slam in the face of a black female student.
[Malloy, Ione. Southie Won't Go: A Teacher's Diary of the Desegregation of South Boston High School. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986.]
An even more violent incident occurred several weeks later on December 11, when Michael Faith, a white male student, was stabbed by another student, a Black male.
[Bassett, Edward W. "Boston Schools Close after Stabbing, Protests." The Bryan Times, December 12, 1974. Accessed May 19, 2015. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NMAwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-VEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1013,6329269.] News of his stabbing spread quickly around the neighborhood and by mid-afternoon, about 700 people had surrounded the school to confront the black students at the end of the school day.
the students were able to escape when the crowd chased after three decoy buses.
In 1975, the
Boston School Committee
Boston Public Schools (BPS) is a school district serving the city of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest public school district in the state of Massachusetts.
Leadership
The district is led by a Superintendent, hired by the ...
was stripped of most of its control over Boston school integration. Judge
W. Arthur Garrity Jr. said that desegregation was not working at South Boston High School and accused the school committee of thwarting his court order. The school was placed into receivership that year under the administration of a district superintendent.
South Boston High School continued to receive negative attention for the violence that erupted there in 1974. In 1980, Michael Tierney and
Danis Terris founded and launched Mosaic, a publication consisting of autobiographical stories, photographs and poetry from students at South Boston High School.
The school building, now renamed the South Boston Education Complex, houses Excel High School.
It is located on 95 G St. South Boston, MA.
Notable alumni
*
James "Whitey" Bulger
James Joseph "Whitey" Bulger Jr. (; September 3, 1929 – October 30, 2018) was an American organized crime boss who led the Winter Hill Gang in the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts, a city directly northwest of Bos ...
, mobster (did not graduate)
*
Forrester Blanchard Washington
Forrester Blanchard Washington (1887–1963) was an American pioneer in social work.
Early life and education
Washington was the first of four children born to John Washington and Lucy Wily Washington in Salem, Massachusetts in 1887. His location ...
, Social Worker, Professor, Civil Rights Activist
["South Boston Education Complex (formerly South Boston High School)." Boston Public Schools. Accessed May 19, 2015. http://bostonpublicschools.org/Page/131.]
*
John Ferruggio
John Joseph Ferruggio (July 6, 1925 – June 19, 2010) was an American in-flight director who led the evacuation of Pan Am Flight 93, which was hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. There were no fatalities among the pl ...
, in-flight director who led the evacuation of
Pan Am Flight 93
In September 1970, members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacked four airliners bound for New York City and one for London. Three aircraft were forced to land at Dawson's Field, a remote desert airstrip near Zarqa, ...
*
Raymond Flynn
Raymond Leo Flynn (born July 22, 1939) is an American politician who served as 52nd Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts from 1984 until 1993. He also served as United States Ambassador to the Holy See from 1993–1997.
Flynn was an All-American c ...
, Mayor of Boston
*
John Kerrigan, Acting Mayor of Boston, Boston City Council
*
Stephen Lynch, U.S. Congressman
*
Bill McColgan
William J. McColgan (died April 30, 1973) was an American sportscaster.
A native of Boston, McColgan graduated from St. Margaret's School and South Boston High School. After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he attended Curry College. ...
, sportscaster
*
Joe Moakley
John Joseph Moakley (April 27, 1927 – May 28, 2001) was an American politician who served as the United States representative for Massachusetts's 9th congressional district from 1973 until his death in 2001. Moakley won the seat from incumbent L ...
, U.S. Congressman
*
Kevin Weeks
Kevin Weeks (born March 21, 1956) is an American former mobster and longtime friend and mob lieutenant to Whitey Bulger, the infamous boss of the Winter Hill Gang, a crime family based in the Winter Hill neighborhood in Somerville, Massachuset ...
, mobster
References
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Colonial Revival architecture in Massachusetts
Defunct schools in Massachusetts
Educational institutions established in 1901
High schools in Boston
Public high schools in Massachusetts
South Boston
1901 establishments in Massachusetts
2003 disestablishments in Massachusetts