cover image Southie Won't Go: A Teacher's Diary of the Desegregation of South Boston High School

Southie Won't Go: A Teacher's Diary of the Desegregation of South Boston High School

Ione Malloy. University of Illinois Press, $29.95 (286pp) ISBN 978-0-252-01276-1

In 1974, with the advent of court-ordered school busing in Boston, South Boston High School became the focal point of resistance to the mandated desegregation plan. From a diary she kept while an English teacher in ""Southie'' during the turbulent years between 1974 and 1977, Malloy presents an arresting insider's view and attempts, as well, to balance the public record. The cohesiveness within the factions of South Bostonboth the area's ``greatest strength and greatest weakness''is dramatically conveyed in the violent, brutal confrontations between blacks and resistant whites as conciliators made efforts to implement the plan and police attempted to keep a fragile detente. Malloy recalls this sorry episode in Boston's history and its aftermath, and shows us the verbally and physically abusive daily incidents. Illustrations, excerpts from court testimony and statements of national figures supplement this readable journal. The author now teaches at Boston Latin School, the oldest public school in the U.S. (September 24)