By now, everyone's heard that Governor Patrick's daughter is a n out and proud lesbian. Good (or planned?) timing with the Boston Pride festivities this weekend. There's a full article on Towleroad, one of my favorite bloggers out there.

Currently, civil rights are a Massachusetts hot button, with gay marriage and Jimmy Kelly penatrating the headlines and blog fodder.

Today being Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a day of reflection on civil rights, I present two brief snapshots from Boston's voluminous civil rights history:

First, many people don't know that Dr. King first met Coretta Scott, a New England Conservatory student, during his time pursing a doctorate at BU. While here, he rented a room at 397 Mass Ave, where a small plaque still stands to commemorate his time in the Hub.

Dr. King was assassinated April 4, 1968; eight years and one day later, Boston was drenched in busing-induced racial turmoil, and from a rally at city hall was born an iconic, Pulitzer Prize winning photo: Joseph Rakes, a white student spearing black attorney Ted Landsmark with an American flag.

State Senator William Owens (D-Boston) stated on the WGBH 10 O'Clock News, April 6, 1976:

"People of color are not safe to come here to Boston and we are asking people across the country, of color, to stay away'.

WGBH has archival news casts from that day:

Click here to watch the original report on the vicious Landsmark assault and Senator Owens statements.
Also: Ted Landsmark's press conference.
[Quicktime]

[Note: The WGBH archive contains a treasure trove of old news clips from 1976-1991. I know there are a few people here that will, like myself, get lost for hours there.]

A couple thousand people marched from the First Church in Roxbury to Boston Common today to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Selma March and the Voting Rights Act and to push for re-authorization of the bill, which gave Southern blacks the right to vote unhindered for the first time since Reconstruction. The march also commemorates a similar Roxbury-to-the-Common march led by the Rev. Martin Luther King in 1965 to protest school desegregation in Boston.

The march began with speeches at the church, including one by U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia. In 1965, Lewis, then 23, tried to lead a march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala. to push for voting rights. He and other protesters were beaten by Alabama state troopers and Selma police.

"We must say we will never, ever forget what happened!"

Watch Lewis describe the Pettis Bridge attack (5.5M QuickTime video).

On Sunday, marchers will commemorate the historic civil-rights march from Selma, walking from the First Church in Roxbury to the Common, starting at 1 p.m. More details. Via Philocrites.

Meanwhile, David remembers Rosa Parks:

My children can't imagine what it was like before Rosa Parks. They are appalled when we tell them. ...

Amy: Thank you, Rosa...