The Historic Boston Equal Rights League, Inc.
recent accomplishments
- 1976 Bicentennial Luncheon the unveiling of the bust head of Crispus Attucks at the Boston Historical Society where it still remains today. A most recent plaque given to the Boston Historical Society.
- 1998 BERL received the 1st Cripsus Attucks Coin from the U.S. mint Black Revolutionary War Patriots Foundation, Washington, D.C. ( see web site)
- 2002 1st Book Scholarship Award to Roxbury Community College - Camper-ships given the youth YMCA of Roxbury.
- 2004 1st Century Citywide Spelling Bee of the 21st Century
Support mentoring programs for the youth, homelessness, grand parenting, men, women, Day Care, the elderly, and college alumni initiatives.
The League will help to strengthen and support community life, the Arts, Music, Culture, and Family values for all.
Mission of The Historic Boston Equal Rights League, Inc.
To aid the efforts of African and Native Americans in attaining racial and economic equality in American, through the promotion of educational programs, lectures, historical initiatives, and all that will enhance racial pride. As we enter the 21st century, it is our duty to remind all leaders of all nationalities across the Unite States that they should feel proud to stand up to the challenge of protecting freedom, justice, and equality for all.
Historic Notes on Crispus Attucks
This year 2007 earmarks the 237th anniversary of the tragic death of Cripsus Attucks in what is know as the "Boston Massacre". Crispus Attucks was an African Native man born in Natick Mass. He was from the Native American tribe called the Natick Praying Indian Tribe of Natick Mass. His mother was also from the same tribe and his father an African man.
reflections on William Monroe Trotter (1872-1934)
journalist and civil rights advocate
Harvard-educated newspaper editor William Monroe Trotter, spoke out against the racism of the early 20th century. He is well-remembered, too, for publicly and vehemently denouncing educator Booker T. Washington, who believed African Americans should find ways to "get along"with their white oppressors. In 1901, Trotter helped organize the "Boston Literary and Historical Association"--a forum for militant political thinkers like W. E.B. Du Bois and formed the Boston Equal Rights League.
The same year, he launched a weekly newspaper on race relations, The Guardian, which was an overnight success. Early editions criticized Booker T. Washington on three counts--first, his "unreal" optimism that intolerable racial conditions were actually improving; second, his alliance with President Theodore Roosevelt; and third, his promotion of manual and industrial training for African Americans over traditional forms of education. In 1909 Trotter and Du Bois founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Trotter led a delegation to protest the discriminatory policy against Negro employees in government offices. His greatest feat occurred in 1919, when the Paris Peace Conference was convened. Trotter applied for a passport and was denied. In order to get around the denial, Trotter learned to cook and to reach Europe, he obtained a job on a trans-Atlantic steamer as a second cook. In Paris, he appeared at the conference as a delegate of the National Equal Rights League and as Secretary of the Race petitioners to the Peach Conference. Returning home, Trotter continued all of his efforts in the fight for civil rights.
William Monroe Trotter was a dedicated man to the cause of civil rights for black people worldwide.
