In Their Own Words: Anna Cole and Reverend Richard Owens on Community Ties and Activism
In the 1970s, housing activist Anna Cole and Reverend Richard Owens, pastor of the People's Baptist Church, shared their stories with the Boston 200 oral history project.
Reverend Owens and Anna Cole recalled the importance of community ties in Boston's Black community. Community members lived, worked, and worshiped in close-knit neighborhoods. Reverend Owens recalled, "I could practically clap my hands on a Sunday morning and half-fill the church because they all lived around it. They all lived around the church."
Anna Cole, the Chair of the Bromley-Heath Tenant Management Corporation, told a story highlighting the importance of successful housing activism by the tenant community. "We had a busload of tenants and we went down to the regional office of HUD in Boston here. They were so taken by seeing all these tenants coming in. They never anticipated seeing us come in like that. So that's just symbolic of what can happen when people get together and have a legitimate reason," Anna told her interviewer.
Reverend Owens recounted his church community's activism during the civil rights movement. The church members who worshipped together also marched together. "We marched, especially in the days of King. We took part in everything that had to do with trying to bring about a better thing," Reverend Owens remembered.
Reverend Owens also told interviewers about community members who not only marched in Boston, but who also traveled to places like Montgomery, Alabama, to fight for civil rights. "People reacted in conjunction with the people in Montgomery and [the church] was ready to rally... People left here to go down there to the rallies, the marches.... I think we were wide awake to the movement," Reverend Owens recalled.
To read more about Anna Cole and Reverend Owens' memories of community ties and community activism, check out their oral histories.
