Ben Haith | |
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 Ben Haith in 2023 | |
| Born | Hassie Benjamin Haith Jr. 1942 (age 81–82) Connecticut |
| Known for | Juneteenth flag |
Hassie Benjamin Haith Jr. (born 1942), also known as Boston Ben, is an American activist, social worker, and designer of the Juneteenth flag. Haith has been active in anti-crime groups since the 1980s. He is also the founder of the National Juneteenth Celebration Foundation.
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 Haith spoke out against a gay couple -- two men -- who provided foster care 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 boys were placed with a male couple in his neighborhood. [9] [10] In an article written by the Boston Globe reporter Ken Cooper. [11] Haith said that he was "completely opposed" to gay foster care because "it was a breakdown of the society and its values and morals." [9] [10] The publicity led Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis to order the boys removed from the home the next day. [9] [10] The Associated Press picked up the story, and ultimately, the gay couple lost custody of the children. [12]
The next month, seven of the nine members of Roxbury Highlands Neighborhood Association Inc., penned an op-ed which was also published in the Boston Globe. In the editorial, the members stated that they felt "the need to refute the continued assertions of ... Haith to represent this association or claim our support for his single-minded, divisive crusade against the gay foster parents." They also accused the Globe and reporter Ken Cooper of "...creating the very controversy it purports to report" and called for the Globe to cover "the issue of gay foster placements" with "depth and sensitivity." [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, officially Juneteenth National Independence Day, is a federal holiday in the United States. It is celebrated annually on June 19 to commemorate the ending of slavery in the United States. The holiday's name is a portmanteau of the words "June" and "nineteenth", as it was on June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas at the end of the American Civil War. In the Civil War period, slavery came to an end in various areas of the United States at different times. Many enslaved Southerners escaped, demanded wages, stopped work, or took up arms against the Confederacy of slave states. In January 1865, Congress finally proposed the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution for national abolition of slavery. By June 1865, almost all enslaved were freed by the victorious Union Army, or abolition laws in some of the remaining U.S. states. When the national abolition amendment was ratified in December, the remaining enslaved in Delaware and in Kentucky were freed.
"Combat Zone" was the name given in the 1960s to the adult entertainment district in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. Centered on Washington Street between Boylston Street and Kneeland Street, the area was once the site of many strip clubs, peep shows, X-rated movie theaters, and adult bookstores. It had a reputation for crime, including prostitution.
Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in Massachusetts since May 17, 2004, as a result of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that it was unconstitutional under the Constitution of Massachusetts to allow only opposite-sex couples to marry. Massachusetts was the sixth jurisdiction in the world to legalize same-sex marriage after the Netherlands, Belgium, Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec. It was the first U.S. state to open marriage to same-sex couples.
West Roxbury is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, bordered by Roslindale and Jamaica Plain 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.
Paul Richard Shanley was an American Roman Catholic priest who became the center of a massive sexual abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Boston in Massachusetts. Beginning in 1967, the archdiocese covered up numerous allegations of child sexual assault against Shanley and facilitated his transfers to other states.
Over the course of its history, the LGBTQ community has adopted certain symbols for self-identification to demonstrate unity, pride, shared values, and allegiance to one another. These symbols communicate ideas, concepts, and identity both within their communities and to mainstream culture. The two symbols most recognized internationally are the pink triangle and the rainbow flag.
The Needham Line is a branch of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, running west from downtown Boston, Massachusetts through Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, West Roxbury, and the town of Needham. The second-shortest line of the system at just 13.7 miles (22.0 km) long, it carried 4,881 daily riders in October 2022. Unlike the MBTA's eleven other commuter rail lines, the Needham Line is not a former intercity mainline; instead, it is composed of a former branch line, a short segment of one intercity line, and a 1906-built connector.
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.
Robert Joseph McManus is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who has been bishop of the Diocese of Worcester in Massachusetts since 2004. He was an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Providence in Rhode Island from 1999 to 2004.
Blue Hill Avenue is a 2001 American crime drama film directed and written by Craig Ross Jr., who was additionally its editor and executive producer. Produced by Asiatic Associates, Cahoots Productions and Den Pictures, the film is about young criminals in Roxbury, a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The film stars Allen Payne, Angelle Brooks, Michael Taliferro, William L. Johnson, Aaron D. Spears, Andrew Divoff, Clarence Williams III and William Forsythe. The film's title is derived from Blue Hill Avenue, a major street in Roxbury and Dorchester.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in the U.S. state of Massachusetts enjoy the same rights as non-LGBTQ people. The U.S. state of Massachusetts is one of the most LGBT-supportive states in the country. In 2004, it became the first U.S. state to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, and the sixth jurisdiction worldwide, after the Netherlands, Belgium, Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec.
Tito Jackson is an American politician who was a member of the Boston City Council. He represented council District 7, representing parts of the Roxbury neighborhood and parts of Dorchester, South End, and Fenway. In 2017, he ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Boston against incumbent mayor Marty Walsh. After leaving the Boston City Council, Jackson worked in the cannabis industry. In 2022, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu appointed Jackson to the city's Commission on Black Men and Boys.
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.
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 on June 19, 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.
Donald L. Babets & others vs. Secretary Of Human Services & another, 403 Mass. 230 (1988), known informally as Babets vs. Johnston, was a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial court case relating to Don Babets and David Jean’s struggle to become foster parents as a gay couple. The case resulted in Massachusetts settling the lawsuit by returning to the “best interests of the child policy”, eliminating policies that considered the sexual orientation of potential foster parents when looking at foster placement.
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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