Mary Vines oral history transcript

Boston (Mass.). Art Commission · July 27, 2018

Transcript of an interview with long time Boston resident Mary Vines. This interview was part of We are Boston: Stories of Hope, Struggle, and Resilience oral history project created in 2018 by poet and Boston artist-in-residence Daniel Johnson. Vines talks about moving to Boston with her husband, raising her family in the Dorchester neighborhood, experiences of racism, the Blue Hill Ave riots after MLK’s assassination, and problems with senior housing. She also discusses her work with Melnea Cass forming the Action for Boston Community Development, being the second black person to serve as the Director of the Suffolk County American Legion Auxiliary, and her jobs as an assistant dietician at New England Medical Center, a substitute teacher, and a voting clerk and warden.