A People's History Of The New Boston Summary

Boston is one of the most famous cities in America. The Puritans created Boston as a town in the 1600s. After that, it grew to become a home for the Founding Fathers in the American Revolution. While Boston remains a vital city in America, it has not always enjoyed an expanding population or economic growth. In A People's History of the New Boston, Jim Vrabel argues that a rise of political activism from a myriad of Bostonians turned Boston around in the 1960s-1970s. Vrabel, a former journalist, assistant director for the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services, and executive assistant to the Boston School Committee, uses these events and concurrent primary sources to support his argument. Moreover, Vrabel lived and worked in Boston, thus he

For example, the first chapter describes the horrid state of Boston in 1950. People would say “Boston is a dead city, living in the past. If you want to be successful in any business, get out of Boston” (5). Vrabel explained that the economy declined after World War II because many of the new industries located in cities with cheaper land. Additionally, with no new jobs many middle-class workers fled the city to the suburbs where houses were cheaper, leaving Boston proper with poor immigrant workers. Lastly, Vrabel asserts that Boston’s mayors “cultivated ethnic and class conflicts” (6), which undermined development in Boston. Ultimately, these factors spurred Bostonians to action to change Boston. On November 8, 1949, Boston elected a new mayor, John Hynes. He saw the damage the previous mayor had done in alienating businesses from settling in Boston and worked for change. Hynes did so by “streamlining city government and reducing the waste and corruption” (8). Specifically, he convinced major businesses such as Prudential Insurance to create their headquarters in Boston. This became the first major shift towards Hynes’ idea of a new Boston as he lured influential businesses back in the city, thus weakening the power of the suburbs. The idea of a new Boston continues throughout the

Groups of African-Americans and women fought to prevent destruction of their houses under the Urban Renewal Act of 1949, which gave Boston money to develop its infrastructure. Consequently, this meant older neighborhoods of Boston were slated to get demolished to make way for new residential areas. The Act “rekindled the flame of activism and protest in much of the city” (39). Groups formed such as the Urban Planning Aid and Mothers for Adequate Welfare who fought Boston officials to halt the demolitions and find other ways to improve infrastructure and their lives. Altogether, these acts helped push Boston to become a “a city much more of, by, and for its people,” according to Vrabel.