September 12, 1974: The Boston Busing Crisis Begins

September 12, 1974: The Boston busing crisis begins, a well-meaning attempt to desegregate the city’s public schools. Shuttling black students from Roxbury into South Boston High School provokes a repulsively racist reaction from the local Irish families – from the parents and older siblings, not so much the students directly affected.

In the years after the American Revolution, Boston was the center of the American movement for the abolition of slavery. William Lloyd Garrison published his newspaper The Liberator there. One of the most famous all-black units of the American Civil War was the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, whose memorial is across Beacon Street from the "new" State House. As recently as 1955, Boston had a role to play in the Civil Rights Movement: Martin Luther King Jr. earned his doctorate of divinity at Boston University.

But times changed. In the 1960s, fans jammed the Boston Garden to see the all-white Boston Bruins, no matter how bad they were; while the building was half-empty for the integrated Boston Celtics, until the Playoffs, then the Boston fans became front-runners as the Celtics won 11 NBA Championships in 13 years. Celtics star Bill Russell publicly described Boston as a "racist city."

The Boston Red Sox were the last Major League Baseball team to integrate, with Pumpsie Green in 1959. The Bruins actually had a black player first, Willie O'Ree, in 1958. But the Red Sox also had Earl Wilson, the 1st black pitcher to pitch a no-hitter in the American League, in 1962; and Russell was named head coach in 1966, making him the 1st black head coach in major league sports (unless you count Fritz Pollard in the fledgling NFL in 1920). So the record is mixed.

On June 21, 1974, in the case of Morgan v. Hennigan, federal Judge W. Arthur Garrity Jr. ruled that Boston's public schools had to be desegregated. It made him a target of racists' hatred for the rest of his life, but he didn't care: He knew what the law was, and he carried it out.

When the buses with black students arrived at previously all-white South Boston High School on September 12, egged on by former City Councilwoman and Congresswoman Louise Day Hicks, white parents -- not kids, parents -- threw rocks at the buses. The intent may have been to make the drivers turn the buses around, rather than to harm the kids -- but can we really be sure with people like this?

The black kids were harassed both inside and outside the school. Finally, the black parents called on the one man who might have been able to reach the white people of "Southie": Senator Ted Kennedy. But when he pleaded with them to leave the black students alone, they threw rocks at him. One woman yelled out, "You're a disgrace to the Irish!" Ted, for all his faults, had too much class to yell back, "You're a disgrace to the Americans!"

The harassment continued into the 1975-76 schoolyear. On April 5, 1976, Ted Landsmark, a 29-year-old civil rights attorney, went to City Hall to assist minority contractors in getting opportunities in the construction industry. There was a protest against the busing going on, and two of the white protestors saw Landsmark, knocked him down, and broke his nose.

A photo was taken, but what the picture seemed to show was not what was actually happening. One of the anti-busing protestors, James M. Kelly, looked like he was holding Landsmark's arms to make him an easier target. In fact, he was helping Landsmark up. Kelly, a South Boston High School graduate, was elected to the City Council in 1984, and served until his death in 2007.

The other major figure in the photo was Joseph Rakes. Looking more like a 1960s San Francisco hippie than a 1970s Boston racist, he had brought an American flag to the protest, and he was waving it. But the photo made it look like he was trying to stab Landsmark with the pointed end of the flag's pole.

Rakes later claimed he was simply waving the flag at Landsmark, and there is no video to either back up or dispute his claim. But even if this were true, it seemed to be sending a message: "This is my flag, and represents me and my people, not you and your people."

Stanley Forman of the Boston Herald American took the photograph that appeared to show Rakes trying to stab Landsmark, and it made the next day's front page. It became known as "The Soiling of Old Glory," and it took the sails out of the busing protests. These white Bostonians, so proud of their patriotism, began to see that they were taking it too far.

Garrity lived until 1999, Hicks until 2003. Both remained solidly behind their positions. But Garrity was right, and Hicks and the Southie parents were wrong.

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September 12, 1974 was a Thursday. This was also the day that Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia was deposed in a Communist military coup, and the day Brian Clough was fired as manager of English soccer team Leeds United after 44 tumultuous days. I have separate entries for those events.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 3-0 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Mike Wallace -- no relation to the CBS journalist of the same name -- makes his only start of the season, and goes 7 2/3rds innings. allowing just 3 hits, outpitching Hall-of-Famer Jim Palmer. Dick Tidrow completes the 4-hit shutout, and Wallace advances to 7-0 on the season. Other than this one season, he was little more than a journeyman pitcher.

Bobby Murcer, Lou Piniella and Elliott Maddox each got 2 hits for the Yankees. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The New York Mets lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 12-5 at Shea Stadium. The night before, the Cardinals had beaten the Mets in 25 innings. There may have been some carryover, as Bob Gibson outpitched Jon Matlack, who nonetheless had 2 hits and 2 RBIs in his own cause.

John Milner hit a home run for the Mets, but Reggie Smith went 3-for-5 with a home run and 4 RBIs for the Cards. Ted Simmons also went 3-for-5, albeit with no RBIs. As for 2 future Mets, Joe Torre went 0-for-5, and Keith Hernandez did not reach base as a pinch-hitter.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Chicago Cubs, 2-1 at Jarry Park in Montreal.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-4 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Mike Schmidt and Del Unser hit home runs for the Phils. Willie Stargell went 2-for-2 with 3 walks.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 3-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Bill Lee outpitched Jim Perry. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-5. This game, and the Yanks' win over the O's, meant that the day ended with the Yankees leading the American League Eastern Division by 2 1/2 games over the Sox, and 3 over the O's. The Sox had led for most of the season, but went into one of their occasional late-season tailspins. Ultimately, the Orioles would win the Division, by 2 games over the Yankees and 7 over the Red Sox.

* The Cincinnati Reds swept a doubleheader from the Atlanta Braves, 9-6 and 6-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Over the 2 games, Pete Rose went 3-for-8 with a walk, and Johnny Bench went 2-for-7 with 2 home runs, a walk and 6 RBIs. Hank Aaron, having already become baseball's all-time home run leader, went 0-for-5 in the opener, and did not play in the nightcap. Darrell Evans homered for the Braves in both games.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 9-7 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Tom Veryzer won the game with a home run in the bottom of the 10th inning. It was the 1st home run of his career. He would hit 14. Al Kaline, in his last month as an active player, went 1-for-4. Rookie Robin Yount did not get into the game for the Brewers.

* The Texas Rangers and the Chicago White Sox were tied 2-2 after 6 innings at Comiskey Park in Chicago, when it was called due to rain. It was never made up.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins, 2-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Ken Holtzman outpitched Bert Blyleven. Reggie Jackson went 0-for-4. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-4. Rod Carew did not play.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros, 4-1 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Dave Winfield entered the game as a defensive replacement, and did not get to bat.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, 11-0 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Al Downing pitched a 2-hit shutout. The Dodgers got no home runs, but Bill Russell went 3-for-5 with 4 RBIs, and Ron Cey went 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs.

* And the California Angels and the Kansas City Royals were not scheduled.