Restore Our Alienated Rights
Restore Our Alienated Rights (ROAR) was an anti-desegregation busing organization formed in Boston, Massachusetts by Louise Day Hicks in about 1974.[1]
Founding
ROAR was originally organized by Louise Day Hicks as the "Save Boston Committee.[2] The committee was organized to oppose the Racial Imbalance Act and first met in February 1974. Thomas O' Connell, a father from the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston was appointed its first chair. On April 3, 1974, the committee organized a 20,000 person march from Boston City Hall Plaza to the State House. By June of 1974, the committee had changed its name to ROAR.[3]
Purpose
The group's purpose was to fight off U.S. Federal Judge W. Arthur Garrity's court order requiring the city of Boston to implement desegregation busing — an order intended to eliminate de facto racial segregation in its public schools. To supporters, ROAR's purpose was its namesake; i.e., to protect the "vanishing rights" of white citizens. To its many opponents, however, ROAR was a symbol of mass racism coalesced into a single organization. ROAR was composed primarily of women, and its leaders argued that "the issue of forced busing is a women's issue."[4]
Notable Members
- Louise Day Hicks
- Elvira "Pixie" Palladino[5][6]
- Virginia Sheehy[7]
- Francesca "Fran" Johnnene [8]
See also
- African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968)
- Desegregation busing in the United States
- Boston busing crisis
- Louise Day Hicks
Further reading
- Louise Day Hicks papers at the Boston City Archives
- Francesca "Fran" Johnnene papers at the Boston City Archives
References
- ↑ Guide to the Louise Day Hicks records
- ↑ Jeanne Theoharis; Komozi Woodard (1 January 2005). Groundwork: Local Black Freedom Movements in America. NYU Press. pp. 33–. ISBN 978-0-8147-8285-9.
- ↑ http://www.wsc.mass.edu/mhj/pdfs/militant%20mothers.pdf
- ↑ http://www.wsc.mass.edu/mhj/pdfs/militant%20mothers.pdf
- ↑ http://www.wsc.mass.edu/mhj/pdfs/militant%20mothers.pdf
- ↑ Toledo Blade, January 5, 1976, https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gApPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SgIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7301%2C1604935
- ↑ Eugene Eugene Register-Guard - Nov 7, 1974, https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_aNVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NeADAAAAIBAJ&pg=6988%2C1700025
- ↑ http://archives.cityofboston.gov/repositories/2/resources/62