Immigrant children playing on the roof of the Washington School in the West End in 1909. See it larger.
Global Boston is an online exhibit by the Boston College history department on the history of Boston's immigrant communities that includes a look at specific groups and some of the neighborhoods they settled in, as well as a Boston immigration timeline.
Photo by Lewis Hines, from a Library of Congress collection. Also see: Norman Street before it disappeared, to be replaced by the Lindemann Center and history of the Washington School.
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Italians in the North End during the Molasses Flood
By mg
Sun, 03/25/2018 - 3:53pm
For the person who wondered about the focus on Italian immigrant families in narratives of the Molasses flood:
It's important that the molasses flood hurt a lot of people who weren't killed and caused a lot of property damage.
The Most Striking Thing About This Pic
By Oscar Worthy
Sun, 03/25/2018 - 4:45pm
A huge downtown roofdeck with 360 views of the city, harbor and Charles being used for the public benefit of the community.
Rooftop gymnasiums
By Stephmcc
Sun, 03/25/2018 - 10:37pm
You're so right about the remarkable concept of prime rooftop real estate devoted to education-starved immigrants. I was working at Mt. Sinai Hospital last week and had a chance to gaze out across the rooftops north of East 101st St bordering the top of Central Park. Sure enough, there were an array of school rooftops with this same curvilinear fenced-in design and spectacular views. My guess is that rooftop playgrounds must have been cheaper than setting aside parcels of land at ground level. When you look at the little-used roof decks, patios and balconies in many city buildings it makes the idea of public access to spaces like this all the more appealing.
The Vietnamese immigrants
By anon
Sun, 03/25/2018 - 7:54pm
Suffered greatly and had to flee their homeland after suffering torture, murder and rape at the hands of the Viet Cong led by Ho Chi Minh. Unfortunately when they look out their windows in Dorchester they see the Rainbow Swash with a large profile of Ho Chi Minh. I find the profile of Ho a slap in the face to Vietnam veterans and their allies who worked extremely hard to find a better life in America. The profile of Ho is a lot more offensive than a street named Yawkey.
(rolls eyes)
By Waquiot
Mon, 03/26/2018 - 10:08am
Then why did they settle basically next to the gas tanks? I mean, the United States as a whole is a large country, and even in the Boston area there are other places to go (example- where did the Cambodians settle in Massachusetts?)
Profiles
By SamWack
Mon, 03/26/2018 - 12:05pm
If you say you look at that gas tank, and see a profile of Ho Chi Minh, I believe you. It's not because anybody painted it to look like that, though. Do you see the same profile in clouds in the sky? If you don't, you're not looking. The world is full of imaginary faces; you just have to know where to find them.
Myself, I do think that there's a profile on the gas tank, but it's not Uncle Ho, it's Colonel Sanders. Unless they are actually the same person.
Well - not all Vietnam Vets consider it a slap in the face
By Dave-from-Boston
Mon, 03/26/2018 - 1:54pm
If I understand it correctly, it was a protest statement in the early days of the war created by a nun who oppose the war.. Most of us vets have matured and mellowed in our later years. We don't go looking for windmills to tilt at - Much more offended by the overt discrimination, racial animus and misoginy directed at American people (by Americans) then a profile that has been on a gas tank for 40+ years.
There was never, by the way, an inherent hatred of Ho Chi Minh by many, many Vietnamese. I was in country on the day he died and observed large, long, progressions of Vietnamese carrying candles while marching down Pasteur Street. Was a real shocker and changed my mind about the war. Much more hate for Ngo Dinh Diem and the Nguyen Van Thieu administration than Ho.
It was
By SamWack
Mon, 03/26/2018 - 3:36pm
never more than a bizarre conspiracy theory. The woman who painted it denied any such intent, and you have to have smoked some serious shit to see any resemblance. It was dreamed up by people with a grievance who thought everybody who protested against the war, which she did, was a Viet Cong fifth columnist.
Roof urchins.
By anon
Mon, 03/26/2018 - 7:59am
Better or worse than street urchins? Discuss.
Well...
By Irma la Douce
Mon, 03/26/2018 - 12:32pm
I would say roof urchins occupy a higher plain.
I took a look at the site.
By anon
Mon, 03/26/2018 - 11:31am
I took a look at the site. Under Ethnic Groups, they somehow managed to forget Germans. Apparently, they weren't 'ethnic' enough.
Oh, please
By adamg
Mon, 03/26/2018 - 12:30pm
Maybe it's a work in progress? Yes, a piece on the German community in Boston would make a fascinating story, in part to answer the question: What happened to it? I mean, we still have the Deutsches Altenheim in West Roxbury, and the Haffenreffer smokestack in JP, but other than that ...
The site also doesn't pay much attention to Albanians, who have flocked to Roslindale, but I'm not quick to assign some ulterior motive for that.
German-Americans
By Anonyme
Tue, 03/27/2018 - 9:17pm
German-Americans sort of disappeared as a visible ethnic group once the US entered World War 1. From what I understand, they made extra efforts to assimilate and not stand out, as their loyalty was suspect. Often the impetus for recording the history of different populations comes from within, and absent a strong sense of identity, that isn't happening among the descendants of Deutschland. @anon 11:31am your post reminded me: There was a Catholic church on Shawmut Street in the South End serving the German community, and after it closed the German-language service was moved to the cathedral. It was discontinued in 2014. The Faith Lutheran church in Cambridge has German services once a month.
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