Civil Rights Must Begin at Home-October 17, 1968

Challenging local residents to examine their own community, Kenneth P. Guscott, president of the Boston chapter of the NAACP, addressed roughly 100 members and guests at a meeting of the Norwood Human Rights Commission last night. Guscott asserted that anyone genuinely interested in furthering civil rights in the United States must first question why fewer than 20 Black families resided in Norwood, and once determining the facts, “they should do something about it.”

The meeting, organized with assistance from local correspondent Mrs. Eileen B. Sullivan, brought together community members to confront issues of housing, education, and equal opportunity in suburban Massachusetts.

Examining Suburban Housing and Integration

Guscott outlined a variety of potential factors behind the small percentage of Black residents in suburban towns, noting that while some Black individuals exhibited reticence to move into predominantly white communities, younger generations were proving far more willing to act, take chances, and face the unknown.

These young Black individuals, he predicted, would serve as the primary catalysts for integration. “They want to participate” in American society, Guscott stated, arguing they should be actively encouraged rather than “contained by society.”

Turning his focus to white suburbanites, Guscott urged residents to examine why panic often accompanies the prospect of having a Black neighbor. Calling the necessity of legislating open housing and basic rights “outright ridiculous,” Guscott emphasized that Black Americans should have enjoyed those fundamental rights all along without the need for federal or state mandates.

Educational Disparities and State Scholarships

Addressing systemic inequalities in education, Guscott highlighted the stark disparities in funding and academic preparation between urban and suburban school systems. Citing per-pupil expenditures—noting that per-pupil costs stood at $325 in Boston compared to between $600 and $700 in Newton—he argued that urban school children were forced to compete unequally for state higher education funding.

Guscott pointed to state scholarship data to underscore the imbalance:

• State Scholarship Program: For the preceding five years, the state awarded approximately $500,000 annually in competitive scholarships.
• Identifiable Recipients: In that entire span, Guscott claimed that only one identifiable Black person had managed to secure such a scholarship.

To rectify the disparity, Guscott announced that the NAACP planned to lobby the Massachusetts Legislature in the upcoming session. The organization would push for separate funding pools for urban and suburban scholarship applicants alongside a proposed expansion of state scholarship allocations to $5 million annually.

Employment, Union Practices, and National Unity

Beyond housing and education, Guscott urged Norwood residents to examine local industrial hiring practices and labor unions, noting that union rules were frequently structured to benefit insiders while excluding minority applicants. Highlighting a successful summer initiative by the NAACP that placed Black college graduates into corporate positions across the Greater Boston area, he encouraged local industry to open doors for managerial roles.

Concluding his remarks, Guscott emphasized that Black Americans sought constructive integration rather than the destruction of society. Warning that the nation’s salvation depended on resolving its human rights challenges, he expressed confidence in the younger generation’s ability to achieve true equality.

Addressing critics who questioned the vitality of the civil rights movement, Guscott concluded by noting that the NAACP boasted 450,000 members across 1,800 branches nationwide, with record-high enrollment figures slated for the upcoming annual meeting in January.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger