Some fifty years ago, African-American activists in Boston began a program that would go on to impact the lives of countless citizens young and old. Embracing the Civil Rights Movement spirit and demanding fulfillment of the American promise, a neighborhood movement in 1965 evolved into the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity, now the most enduring voluntary school desegregation program in the nation, in 1966. One year later and following numerous public hearings and community debate, the town of Wayland's School Committee voted to join. In the subsequent fall 1968, nine students from Dorchester and Roxbury became our community’s ground-breakers, including eight freshmen and one sophomore, Elliott Francis, who would go on to become Wayland's first METCO graduate in 1971.
Fifty years and thousands of students later, the METCO mission remains largely true to its origins: “[T]o provide students with educational opportunities designed to enrich their academic, personal and interpersonal experiences . . . the METCO experience should provide a strong academic foundation, as well as an environment rich in cultural, educational, ethnic and racial diversity.”
To recognize this important community milestone, the Wayland High School History Project team, largely through our junior US history classes, set out to discover and tell some of the stories. While our website includes scores of documents, newspaper articles, oral history, short documentary films, and interview podcasts, we don’t intend this to be a complete history, but instead offer a slice of a much more complicated half-century of one school's experiences with race.
Kevin Delaney, February 2018
United States History (2019), Attic Archaeology (2018) students
This is Volume X of the Wayland High School History Project. See our other sites at whshistoryproject.org.
Wayland Cable (WayCam) released their video of the April, 2018's Reunion/Open House, which includes a wide array of performances, speeches and much more.
Don't miss Naomi Lathan's WSPN article on Dr. Susan Eaton's visit to WHS. Author of The Other Boston Busing Story, Dr. Eaton spoke as part of our METCO 50th in early February.
Please also check two films featuring Kevin Delaney's (Attic Archaeology), Eva Urban's and Erin Lehmann's US History Timeline Tunnel!
Check out Kay Bassen's African-American History class project
Special thanks to Mark Liddell, Molly Faulkner, Mary Ann Borkowski, Joel Mode, Joanne Schmidt, Mary Barber, Keith Clavenger, Scott Parseghian, Allyson Mizoguchi, Mary Antes, Boston and Wayland METCO families, and above all, our twenty interviewees from across the five decades who came back to share their memories, insights, and wisdom.
Fifty years and thousands of students later, the METCO mission remains largely true to its origins: “[T]o provide students with educational opportunities designed to enrich their academic, personal and interpersonal experiences . . . the METCO experience should provide a strong academic foundation, as well as an environment rich in cultural, educational, ethnic and racial diversity.”
To recognize this important community milestone, the Wayland High School History Project team, largely through our junior US history classes, set out to discover and tell some of the stories. While our website includes scores of documents, newspaper articles, oral history, short documentary films, and interview podcasts, we don’t intend this to be a complete history, but instead offer a slice of a much more complicated half-century of one school's experiences with race.
Kevin Delaney, February 2018
United States History (2019), Attic Archaeology (2018) students
This is Volume X of the Wayland High School History Project. See our other sites at whshistoryproject.org.
Wayland Cable (WayCam) released their video of the April, 2018's Reunion/Open House, which includes a wide array of performances, speeches and much more.
Don't miss Naomi Lathan's WSPN article on Dr. Susan Eaton's visit to WHS. Author of The Other Boston Busing Story, Dr. Eaton spoke as part of our METCO 50th in early February.
Please also check two films featuring Kevin Delaney's (Attic Archaeology), Eva Urban's and Erin Lehmann's US History Timeline Tunnel!
Check out Kay Bassen's African-American History class project
Special thanks to Mark Liddell, Molly Faulkner, Mary Ann Borkowski, Joel Mode, Joanne Schmidt, Mary Barber, Keith Clavenger, Scott Parseghian, Allyson Mizoguchi, Mary Antes, Boston and Wayland METCO families, and above all, our twenty interviewees from across the five decades who came back to share their memories, insights, and wisdom.