Hassie Benjamin Haith Jr. (born 1942), also known as Boston Ben, is an American activist from Boston, Massachusetts. Haith has been active in anti-crime groups since the 1980s. He is recognized as the founder of the National Juneteenth Celebration Foundation. Haith is also known for creating and copyrighting the Juneteenth flag.
Haith is a grass roots community activist who publicly identifies and critiques racial disparity. [1] [2] [3] He is active in anti-crime activities and he has been critical of law enforcement. Throughout his life he has advocated for investigations of the police. [4] [5]
In 1983, when he was 40 years old, he ran for public office for the first time. Haith ran for the District 7 city council seat, which represented a predominantly African American section of Boston. He described himself as a community activist who also owned an advertising agency with his wife. He ran his campaign out of a tent near Dudley Station Historic District. [6] In 1986, he advocated for black areas of Boston to secede from the city. [7]
In 2008 Haith and others camped out in the empty apartments located in the Lenox Street projects and Orchard Park in Roxbury. The goal of the action was to end the "Stop Snitching" culture by getting neighbors to "drop a dime" when they saw illegal activity. [8]
In April 1985 he also spoke out against a gay couple (two males) who became a foster home for two young boys in Boston. Haith wanted publicity for his run for City Council, so he contacted the editors at the Boston Globe and complained that two young boys were placed with a male couple in his neighborhood. [9] [10] The article had been written by the Boston Globe reporter Ken Cooper. [11] Haith told Cooper that he was "completely opposed...and it was a breakdown of the society and its values and morals." [9] [10] The Associated Press picked up the story, and ultimately, the gay couple lost custody of the children. [12] The publicity led Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis to order the boys removed from the home the next day. [9] [10]
The next month, seven of the nine members of Roxbury Highlands Neighborhood Association Inc., penned an op-ed which was published in the Boston Globe. In the editorial, the members stated that Haith had misrepresented the opinions of his neighbors. They also accused the Globe and reporter Ken Cooper of "...creating the controversy it purports to report". [11]
Haith founded the National Juneteenth Celebration Foundation, and he led the holiday's first Juneteenth flag-raising ceremony in Boston's Roxbury Heritage State Park in 2000. [3] [13] Haith designed the Juneteenth flag in 1997, [14] and in 2000 (after the addition of the text June 19, 1865), he copyrighted the design. [15]
Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the end of slavery. Its name is a portmanteau of "June" and "nineteenth", as it is celebrated on the anniversary of June 19, 1865, when as the American Civil War was ending, Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas. Originating in Galveston, Juneteenth has since been observed annually in various parts of the United States, often broadly celebrating African-American culture.
The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also Massachusetts' Library for the Commonwealth, meaning all adult residents of the state are entitled to borrowing and research privileges, and the library receives state funding. The Boston Public Library contains approximately 24 million items, making it the third-largest public library in the United States behind the federal Library of Congress and New York Public Library, which is also privately endowed. In 2014, the library held more than 10,000 programs, all free to the public, and lent 3.7 million materials.
West Roxbury is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts bordered by Roslindale to the northeast, the village of Chestnut Hill and the town of Brookline to the north, the city of Newton to the northwest, the towns of Dedham and Needham to the southwest, and Hyde Park to the southeast. West Roxbury is often mistakenly confused with Roxbury, but the two are separated from each other by Roslindale and Jamaica Plain.
Roslindale is a primarily residential neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, bordered by Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park, West Roxbury and Mattapan. It is served by an MBTA Commuter Rail line, several MBTA bus lines and the MBTA Orange Line in nearby Jamaica Plain. Roslindale has its own branch of the Boston Public Library, the neighborhood is covered by Boston Police District E-5 in West Roxbury, Boston EMS Ambulance 17 is stationed in Roslindale, and the Boston Fire Department has a station on Canterbury Street which houses Ladder 16, Engine 53 & District Chief 12. Roslindale's original Engine Company 45, was deactivated on April 10, 1981, due to budget cuts. Roslindale was once called the "garden suburb" of Boston. The portion of the Arnold Arboretum south of Bussey Street is located in Roslindale.
Forest Hills station is an intermodal transfer station in Boston, Massachusetts. It serves the MBTA rapid transit Orange Line and three MBTA Commuter Rail lines and is a major terminus for MBTA bus routes. It is located in Forest Hills, in the southern part of the Jamaica Plain neighborhood. Most Providence/Stoughton Line and Franklin/Foxboro Line trains, and all Amtrak Northeast Corridor trains, pass through the station without stopping.
Boston Latin Academy (BLA) is a public exam school founded in 1878 in Boston, Massachusetts providing students in grades 7th through 12th a classical preparatory education.
Byron Rushing is an American politician who represented the Ninth Suffolk district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1983 to 2019. He represented the South End neighborhood of Boston. A Democrat, he was first elected in 1982, before losing his 2018 bid for reelection to Jon Santiago in the Democratic primary.
Roxbury Community College (RCC) is a public community college in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. RCC offers associate degrees in arts, and sciences, as well as certificates. RCC has transfer agreements with Curry College, Northeastern University, Emerson College, Lesley University, and other four-year schools. RCC credits transfer to all public colleges and universities in Massachusetts through the MassTransfer Program.
Jackson Square station is a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Orange Line rapid transit station located on Centre Street near Columbus Avenue in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The station opened in 1987 as part of the Southwest Corridor project. It is served by MBTA bus routes 14, 22, 29, 41, and 44, which operate into an off-street busway located adjacent to the station.
Frederick Gleason was a publisher in Boston, Massachusetts, in the mid-nineteenth century. He is best known for establishing the popular illustrated weekly Gleason's Pictorial, at the time an innovation in American publishing. He has been called "the father of illustrated journalism."
Roxbury Heritage State Park is a history-themed heritage park in the oldest part of Roxbury, a former town annexed in 1868 by Boston, Massachusetts. It is anchored by the Dillaway–Thomas House, a large colonial structure built in 1750 and thought to be the oldest surviving house in Roxbury. The location includes an adjacent 1-acre (0.40 ha) landscaped park with views of the Boston skyline, and is part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston.
Roxbury Memorial High School is a defunct four-year public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades. Originally founded as Roxbury High School, the school was situated at 205 Townsend Street, in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States from 1926 until its closure in 1960.
Clarence "Jeep" Jones was an American community activist who was closely tied to the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston throughout his personal and professional life. Jones was the first African-American Deputy Mayor of the city of Boston. He had a 32-year career with the Boston Redevelopment Authority, serving as the Chairman of the board for 24 years.
Lucy Miller Mitchell was an early childhood education specialist and community activist from Boston who was instrumental in getting the state to regulate day care centers. She is credited with modernizing the day care system in Massachusetts.
Jamaica Plain High School is a defunct four-year public high school that served students in ninth through twelfth grades in the Boston neighborhood of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, United States. The school held its first classes in 1849 and was last located at 144 McBride Street from 1979 until its closure in 1989.
The Juneteenth flag is a symbol for the Juneteenth holiday in the United States. The first version was created in 1997 by activist Ben Haith and that early version was displayed in 1997. The present version was first flown in 2000. The colors and symbols on the flag are representative of freedom and the end of slavery. The date on the flag represents that of General Order No. 3 issued in Galveston, Texas in 1865. Beginning in 2020, many states began recognizing Juneteenth by flying the flag over their state capitol buildings, especially after Juneteenth was declared a federal holiday by President Joe Biden the following year.
Georgette Watson was an American anti-drug activist.
Shurtleff v. City of Boston, 596 U.S. ___ (2022), was a United States Supreme Court case related to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The case concerned the City of Boston's program that allowed groups to have their flags flown outside Boston City Hall. In a unanimous 9–0 decision, the Court ruled that the city violated a Christian group's free speech rights when it denied their request to raise a Christian flag over City Hall.
Joseph Kamau is a former professional long-distance runner from Kenya who finished second in the 1997 Boston Marathon and third in the 1996 New York City Marathon.
Mary Patricia Cunniff Collins is an American who was the First Lady of Boston from 1960 until 1968 during the mayoral tenure of her husband John F. Collins. Collins was considered an active municipal first lady. Collins' activities during her husband's mayoralty included serving a chairwoman of March of Dimes and on the boards of Faulkner Hospital and Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. Collins was also regarded as a key figure in her husband's political campaigns.
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