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Bostonmassmade and a few other native Black Massachusettans said they moved South (below the mason-dixon line) or move to New York. I don't see too many Black Massachusettans in the south compared to Black New Yorkers/New Jerseyans. I know a lot of Black Bostonians are Caribbean and West African but Boston did have a strong Black American population at one point. Where did they go?
On this site, there are only 3 black posters native to MA including myself that I know of. Stanley-8888, me, and a guy named MassNative28-- something. He's never here anymore and only goes to the MA forum.
Obviously, I left for Maryland.
In my personal circle/extended circle in Maryland I have:
A Jamaican female friend. Born in Miami, moved shortly after birth, and was raised in Boston. Lives in DC.
A Jamaican Male friend was born in Miami. Moved to MA at in elemnetary. Raised in Lynn, MA. DC Area.
A Haitian female Friend born in Boston was raised in Boston. DC Area.
An Afro Venezuelan female friend: Born in Boston, raised in Boston DC Area.
A Black American female born in Milton MA, went to school with me, raised in Milton MA. Lives in Baltimore, a few streets from me.
A Black American Male born in suburban Boston raised in suburban Boston. Lives in Baltimore.
A Black American schoolmate of mine. Raised in Framingham MA. Lives in Maryland DC/Baltimore area.
Other:
A Black American female friend born in South Carolina, raised in Boston, Lives in Atlanta
A Black American male friend born in Cambridge, raised in Boston, Lives in South Carolina
A Black American/Afro Guyanese male best friend of mine born and raised in Boston, moved to LA.
My Black American female cousin moved to New York City
A Barbadian female coworker, born and raised in Boston, moved to Arlington TX at 25.
A Haitian American rapper born and raised in Boston. Moved to Atlanta at 21.
My Black American brother has lived in a few cities but has settled into Harlem.
A Black American friend moved to Georgia when we were 7
*I omitted those leaving for Rhode island*
In contrast, most of the black people I meet who moved to Boston are immigrants or from CT (Waterbury New Haven Hartford), North Jersey, Philadelphia (a lot) NY state and NYC (a lot), Tennesee, and Virginia. I think most Black Americans in Boston have roots in VA NC or SC but most dont move back there permanently in my experience.
Last edited by BostonBornMassMade; 03-15-2022 at 11:23 AM..
I know this is opposite of your question but I figured it could still add to the convo. I'm African American and moved to Boston from Virginia. I'm originally from DC.
This article talks specifically about Blacks who moved from Boston to Atlanta and compares Boston to Atlanta. It should be noted all of these folks moved out of Boston 20+ years ago.
Kyle Wells, 49, grew up in Boston’s Mattapan near the intersection of Morton Street and Blue Hill Avenue. By the end of his senior year at Boston Latin School, he was itching to leave town.
“My kind of high school goal was to move out of Boston,” said Wells, who headed southward to attend Florida A&M University in Tallahassee and then seized a training opportunity in Atlanta. “After that, I never looked back,” he said. “This is my out. I’m gone.”
Wells has fond memories of Boston and “the old neighborhood,” but also remembers the city’s rigid racial boundaries. “When you live there, it’s always a part of where you are. You don’t go to certain spots, like Charlestown and Southie,” said Wells — conceding Boston has evolved since then.
“Atlanta is almost like — we feel like we don’t have to ask to do. You feel empowered. It’s our town,” he said. “Even though I was there for 20 years, I never felt like Boston was my town at all. And I love Boston.”
Scarborough said he applauds Boston’s progress, exemplified by the women of color running for mayor, but feels the city could do more to make itself welcoming to Black people there and to those who moved away.
Morehouse graduate George “Chip” Greenidge, who grew up in Boston’s Mission Hill and in Cambridge, has straddled the Mason-Dixon Line with the help of Delta Airlines for more than three decades. He said he also loves Boston, but his heart is closer to Atlanta.
Greenidge created and runs a nonprofit called Greatest Minds, which is tasked with building the next generation of Black leaders in Boston. Like others interviewed by GBH News, Greenidge left Boston in the 1990s to attend Morehouse, but he’s split his time between both Boston and Atlanta since then. He is now pursuing a Ph.D. at Georgia State University and serving as a visiting fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard’s Kennedy School
In light of the changing political leadership, GBH News asked the Black former residents of Boston in Atlanta if they would consider returning to Boston, permanently.
“No. I don’t even have to think about that,” said Sims Holliman, citing successive Black leadership in Atlanta and the seemingly interminable racial battles over Boston exam school admissions as two examples. Her daughter, now 24, received an excellent public school education she deserved but may have been difficult to obtain in Boston, said Sims Holliman.
“I’m used to my mayor being Black. I’ve gotten used to my daughter graduating from a math science magnet school here," she explained. "There’s just a difference. Here there are certain battles you don’t have to fight.”
“I don’t want it to feel that Atlanta is this idyllic metropolis full of Blackness,” Wells said. “Although it has the outward appearance of being Black, it’s still controlled by central pocketbooks of the biggest tax base. It’s a chocolate city on the outside, but it’s very much got a vanilla center.”
Still, in Atlanta, Wells and other former Bostonians said they feel more cushioned from racism’s impact and take comfort in the thought that they can travel comfortably anywhere they please in the city.
They believe the same cannot be said about Boston, despite the fading of rigid neighborhood boundaries and the city’s changing political leadership.
The author of this story is a Black man from Detroit who moved to Boston in the 1970s to cover racial tensions. He moved back to Detroit and then decided it was "gray" "depressing" and moved back to Boston 2 years later. He has been in Boston for 40+ years now.
I know this is opposite of your question but I figured it could still add to the convo. I'm African American and moved to Boston from Virginia. I'm originally from DC.
You're location says Baltimore-Richmond are you still in Boston, or did you move back to the (greater) DMV?
You're location says Baltimore-Richmond are you still in Boston, or did you move back to the (greater) DMV?
I never changed it. It's been Baltimore-Richmond since I joined. I actually forgot that it was there lol. I am still here. No plans to move from the Boston area in the foreseeable future.
A year ago, the Boston Men’s Dinner Group organized a protest in response to the killing of George Floyd. Dozens of members convened at Faneuil Hall on a sweltering Saturday afternoon, standing in silence while holding signs bearing the names of those killed by law enforcement.
..
The organization aims to draw attendees from around the country to the Boston area for the two-day event. Since 2019, it has helped open Dinner Group chapters in Atlanta, Charlotte and Providence, its first offshoots. The group’s leaders have been in talks with men of color in other cities, including in Los Angeles, about launching more affiliates.
Emerson Foster, a leader of the Boston Men’s Dinner Group and a Takeda human resources executive, sees the conference as an opportunity to showcase a city eager to shed a reputation as a place unwelcoming towards people of color.
“The prevailing wisdom is that every Black person who lives in Boston wants to get out of Boston, and that there are not a great number of us here,” Foster said. “It’s very important, from my perspective, that the broader community understands that there are people of color thriving in the city. Not that we don’t have warts — we do. But there’s a significant community here who loves the city.”
Black business leaders had similar hopes for the annual NAACP conference that was supposed to be held in Boston last year but shifted largely online because of the pandemic. That event, which is now set to be held in Boston in 2023, was expected to draw 10,000 attendees. Foster projected the Men’s Dinner Group conference will draw 400 to 600 attendees, at minimum.
I never changed it. It's been Baltimore-Richmond since I joined. I actually forgot that it was there lol. I am still here. No plans to move from the Boston area in the foreseeable future.
I know this is opposite of your question but I figured it could still add to the convo. I'm African American and moved to Boston from Virginia. I'm originally from DC.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade
most of the black people I meet who moved to Boston are immigrants or from CT (Waterbury New Haven Hartford), North Jersey, Philadelphia (a lot) NY state and NYC (a lot), Tennesee, and Virginia.
I'm shooting 100% thus far. There is also a black man from DC I know working at Hibernian Hall in Roxbury. My elementary PE teacher was also a black man from DC.
I'm shooting 100% thus far. There is also a black man from DC I know working at Hibernian Hall in Roxbury. My elementary PE teacher was also a black man from DC.
Funnily enough, I met a black woman in Waltham that was originally from Chester, Virginia. She was also African American. Said that she originally moved to the area for a job opportunity and that her cousin from Virginia was a professor at Harvard.
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