Date of Award

2026

Abstract

This dissertation explores the history of Boston’s civil rights movement through the lives,ideas, and accomplishments of its most influential leaders within what this study terms “Black Athens.” Despite Boston’s reputation as a premier global center of intellect and thought leadership, its Black community has rarely received due recognition for its vital contributions to the city—and particularly to its twentieth-century freedom movement. While many historians have examined the political, social, and cultural dimensions of Boston’s freedom struggle and the broader civil rights movement, few have foregrounded its intellectual history. I argue that this omission has produced an incomplete understanding of both the local and national movement. Drawing on an organic intellectual framework, this dissertation illuminates the distinctive and often overlooked ways that Black intellectuals in Boston contested power. Among their many innovative struggles, the battle over history itself—who tells it, what is included, and how it is disseminated—emerges as the most significant and underappreciated front of Boston’s civil rights movement.

Document Type

Dissertation

First Advisor

Jason Sokol

Second Advisor

Lila Knolle

Third Advisor

Lucy Salyer

Department or Program

History

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

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