HUB History - Our Favorite Stories from Boston History

Dr. Russ Lopez joins us this week to discuss his recent book, The Hub of the Gay Universe: An LGBTQ History of Boston, Provincetown, and Beyond. Russ called in from a vacation in California to talk about Puritan attitudes toward sin and sodomy, the late 19th century golden age for LGBTQ Boston, the tragic toll of the AIDS crisis, and the long fight for marriage equality.

Please check out the transcript and full show notes at: http://HUBhistory.com/167/

And support the show on Patreon. The Hub of the Gay Universe

Dr. Russ Lopez has a background in urban planning, studying cities, neighborhoods, and the links between the urban environment and public health. He teaches at the Boston University School of Public Health, and he’s published three books related to that field. When he’s not busy studying, teaching, and writing about public health, he researches the history of Boston. The Hub of the Gay Universe is the third book he’s published in this area, following Boston’s South End: The Clash of Ideas in a Historic Neighborhood and Boston 1945-2015: The Decline and Rise of a Great World City. His new book traces the LGBTQ history of Boston and Provincetown from the moment the Pilgrims first encountered Provincetown in 1620 to the referendum that put trans rights on the ballot in 2018.

Keep up with Dr. Russ Lopez on his website, and follow @RussOnHarrison on twitter.

This week’s event Sarah’s Long Walk for Equality, a throwback to episode 162, where I discussed the 1849 Supreme Judicial Court case that formed the legal basis for school segregation. On February 1st, a Ranger from the National Park Service will be appearing at the Mattapan branch of the BPL to discuss that very case, Roberts v Boston. Here’s how the library website describes the event:

Since its founding, Boston has had a strong focus on public education, but not everyone had access to the same education. A young girl of color, named Sarah Roberts, forced Bostonians to acknowledge this inequality when she and her father sued the City of Boston because of the evident inequity in the Public Education System.

If you missed our show about Roberts v Boston, and you want to learn how a case meant to end segregation in Boston Public Schools backfired and created the legal framework for Jim Crow, you’ll want to check out this talk. It’s scheduled for 1pm on Saturday, February 1st, and it will be held at the Mattapan library on Blue Hill Ave.