Design and Dimensions, 1999-2002

The completion of the "Long Road to Justice" Exhibit in 2000 marked the end of a struggle to create and fund an exhibit that paid homage to the history of African Americans in Massachusetts. From Mum Bet's escape from slavery in 1780 to the forced busing of Boston school children in 1974, the exhibit highlights many of the major events that defined the long process of achieving racial equality. Of particular note are exhibit materials, photographs and research of famous court cases, such as the 1892 Barber Shop cases in which a colored member of the Harvard football team was denied admission into a barbershop and Crawford v. Kent (1957) in which a Boston University student was denied admission to a Fred Astaire Dance Studio because of his race. The exhibit also covers events relating to the Fugitive Slave Law, Sarah Roberts, the first person to sue for admission into public schools in 1948, and Levi Hart, a black teenager shot by a Boston police officer in 1980.

Of particular note are the administrative records for the organization of the exhibit, such as grant proposals, correspondence, budgets, consulting records, design sketches, publicity and support letters from Boston's legal community. Researchers should note that the late nineteenth century documents are facsimiles produced for the "Long Road to Justice" exhibit and are not the original documents.