Boston's Role in America's Founding and Its Struggle to Meet Its Ideals
Boston played a central role in America’s founding. Today, the city continues to grapple with how well it lives up to its founding ideals.
NOTE: If you are short on time, watch the video and complete this See, Think, Wonder activity: What did you notice? What did the story make you think about? What would you want to learn more about?
The New England Patriots’ Super Bowl defeat was a disappointment for fans, but the team's return to the national stage also served as a reminder of the role the Greater Boston Area played in the country’s founding. Judy Woodruff explores that history, as well as some recent turmoil, to ask what it tells us about the country today. It's part of her series, America at a Crossroads.
View the transcript of the story.
Warm-Up Questions
- Why was Boston important in the lead up to the Revolutionary War?
- Who are Denise Pruitt and Moe Gillen, and what are their backgrounds?
- What struggle over liberty and equality were Pruitt and Gillen a part of?
- How did people in Charlestown react to busing into and out of the neighborhood?
- What are some of the problems with Boston schools that busing was meant to address, but that still exist today, according to Kim Janey?
Essential Questions
How do you think the struggle over busing in Charlestown reflects some of the struggles for liberty, equality and self-determination at the heart of the American Independence movement?
Media literacy: Why do you think the producers of this segment chose busing as an historic moment in Boston to compare to the original struggle for independence?
What Students Can Do
With a parent/guardian or other family member, watch the video again and read the exchange below. What do you think it meant to Denise Pruitt that her classmate came to her aid? Why do you think the students inside the school got along so well, according to Pruitt? Talk with your relative about why there is often a contrast between different generations when it comes to racism. Did they ever disagree with their parents or grandparents on issues growing up?
Denise Pruitt: Inside the school, we all got along great.
Judy Woodruff: Denise Pruitt was bused from her home in Dorchester to Hyde Park, where she faced angry white parents as a 13-year-old freshman.
Denise Pruitt: I was walking in from the bus, and one of the women got through the barricade and came right up and spit in my face. And my friend, who was white, was standing at the top of the stairs, came running down, and she got me, and she walked me up the stairs, and she's wiping my face. "I'm so sorry. My grandmother is really rude."
Judy Woodruff: It was her grandmother?
Earline Pruitt, Mother of Denise Pruitt: Yes.
Denise Pruitt: Yes. And she was embarrassed by it.
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Republished with permission from PBS News Hour Classroom.
PBS News Hour Classroom helps teachers and students identify the who, what, where and why-it-matters of the major national and international news stories. The site combines the best of News Hour's reliable, trustworthy news program with lesson plans developed specifically for... See More
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