Unheard Voices: The Absence of Black Media Representation in Boston
Boston is currently undergoing major changes, school closures, neighborhood displacement controversial redevelopment projects and tension between city representatives and residents. Through these changes one thing still remains clear, the Black community is still fighting to be seen and heard in their own city. The city has almost no Black owned or dedicated Black media outlets or news publications left leaving little to no representation for Black and brown residents, especially during a time where neighborhoods and schools are facing new changes. As the city reshapes itself the question becomes whose story is being told and whose story is being erased?
Despite Boston’s large population of Black and brown residents, the city lacks meaningful representation and knowledge through Black owned or Black dedicated newspapers. This absence reflects broader systemic issues, as communities of color continue to face displacement through school closures, housing discrimination and gentrification. Although Boston often promotes itself as a city for all residents, its actions frequently fail to align with this claim. There is a notable lack of awareness and visibility of Black newspapers within Boston’s inner cities.
African Americans make up 19.09% of the population of Suffolk County in Boston, Massachusetts, totaling 149,342 residents as of 2025 (World Population Review, 2025). Many people of color remain in Suffolk County due to affordable housing, diverse school options, public transportation, and other resources. The neighborhoods with the largest African American populations are Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, and Hyde Park.
The last standing Black owned newspaper in Boston is The Bay State Banner, located in the heart of Roxbury. Established in 1965 by Melvin B. Miller, a former civil rights activist, the Banner was created to serve as a news source supporting the social and economic progress of African Americans in Boston and across New England (Bay State Banner, 2023). Miller served as publisher for 57 years before stepping down in March 2023, passing the paper to a new administration (Bay State Banner, 2024).
Despite its historical significance, the Banner remains underrecognized, even within the community it serves. As discussed in the class lecture Mitigating Bias and a Question of Black Press Relevance, the Banner was under Black ownership for nearly three decades, with editorial content produced by Black journalists for a Black audience. Yet, it remains a small publication with limited staff, a one floor office, and minimal advertising. Its funding relies on advertising revenue, print sales, grants, and donations, but like many print newspapers, its long term relevance is threatened. The lack of visibility and recognition of the Banner reinforces the larger pattern: Boston lacks strong media representation for its Black residents.
Historically, only a few Black focused publications have existed in Boston. Besides the Banner, The Boston Courant (1890–1902) and The Boston Colored Citizen (1830) are the only other widely documented publications (Texas History, n.d.; Massachusetts Historical Society, 2024). Just three Black dedicated newspapers over nearly two centuries highlights the limited institutional support for Black voices. This absence raises critical questions: Why is it so difficult to find Black newspapers in Boston? Could political decisions, unconscious biases in education, or even deliberate attempts to marginalize Black residents play a role?
Although the Bay State Banner remains as a consistent resource for Black citizens in the city of Boston, their ability to provide coverage of stories has been limited due to under funding and staffing. According to the U.S. News, the paper had a history of facing financial crises including almost facing closure in 1966 and 2009 alongside multiple bankruptcy scares. With the continuous decline in advertising revenue, Melvin Miller, founder of the Banner, looked for a variety of resources and assistance in order to keep the paper up and running. During the early 2000s, editor Yawu Miller, Miller’s nephew, spent a whole year running the newsroom by himself because the Banner couldn’t afford hiring more professional writers. The shortage of the paper’s financial stability shows that while the Banner produces important coverage on issues that affect the Black and brown community such as education inequality, neighborhood displacement and policing.
With the Bay State Banner struggling to stay afloat, they can not keep up with the level of reporting in comparison to the larger newspapers in the city such as the Boston Globe. The Banner’s survival has been due to community advocacy, resilience and grassroot funding.
Boston’s current leadership has also sparked debate over equity. Mayor Michelle Wu, sworn in November 2021, has received mixed reactions from residents. While her initiatives aim to improve the city, some argue her policies have displaced communities of color. Controversial projects include the renovation and sale of White Stadium and the proposed relocation of the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science (CBS News, 2023a; CBS News, 2023b; CBS News, 2023c).
Boston Public Schools (BPS) has further heightened concerns through school closures and mergers. In 2024, BPS announced plans to close Excel High School, Denver Elementary, and Mary Lyon Pilot High School by the end of the 2025–2026 school year. The district also approved merging Roger Clap Elementary and John Withrop Elementary into Lilla G. Frederick Pilot Middle School, which had already been restructured (WGBH, 2025). Mayor Wu and Superintendent Mary Skipper support these changes as part of a long term facilities plan responding to a 13% drop in student enrollment since 2006. However, these closures disproportionately affect schools with high populations of Black, Latino, and high needs students. Families and educators worry about the destabilizing effects, especially since BPS has yet to provide a clear plan for the impacted communities.
The John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science, located in Roxbury, serves as a historically significant exam school for Black and brown students. According to U.S. News, Hispanic students comprise 36.5% of the student body, and Black students account for 31.3% (U.S. News, n.d.). Mayor Wu’s 2023 proposal to relocate the school to West Roxbury was met with intense backlash (CBS News, 2023d). Critics argued the move would displace students from a majority Black neighborhood to a predominantly white area with limited public transit access, severing cultural ties and reducing accessibility. After months of protests and civic engagement, Mayor Wu paused the plan, keeping the O’Bryant in its original location. While this reversal was seen as a victory for community advocacy, it highlighted ongoing concerns that Boston’s leadership does not fully prioritize culturally relevant spaces for students of color.
My own experience in Boston Public Schools further illustrates these inequities. I attended Lilla G. Frederick Pilot Middle from 2018–2020 and witnessed stark disparities between traditional public schools and the so called “special schools” such as Boston Latin Academy, Boston Latin School, the O’Bryant, and Boston Arts Academy. Public schools often operate with low funding, deteriorating facilities, unsafe conditions, and insufficient resources. Many schools have metal detectors, locked bathrooms, broken ceilings, outdated wiring, rodent infestations, and violence. In contrast, the more prestigious schools serving fewer students of color receive greater investment and support.
At Boston Community Leadership Academy McCormack (BCLA-McCormack), where I attended high school from 2020–2024, these inequalities were impossible to ignore. In 2018, BCLA was promised a new building, but the project never materialized. On the first day of school in 2020, students were told the high school would merge with McCormack Middle School and were gradually phased out, moving each year from the Hyde Park campus to Dorchester. Families were left in the dark as communication broke down, especially after Superintendent Brenda Cassellius stepped down and the building plan was scrapped. Each year, students were shuffled between campuses, teachers were displaced, and overcrowding worsened, clear signs of how broken promises and poor leadership create instability for Boston’s Black and brown students.
When BPS scheduled a meeting to discuss the merger and ongoing delays, Superintendent Skipper did not attend, sending her assistant and two representatives instead. During the meeting, student government leaders voiced frustration over overcrowding, lack of communication, and delayed renovations. Seniors questioned why BCLA had not received a new building, while other schools like BAA received upgrades. Juniors expressed feeling blindsided by the merger and campus changes. Skipper’s team offered sympathy but no concrete solutions. Principal Ondrea Johnston attempted to defend the administration, citing planning and timing as reasons for delays. Students challenged this, asking if the administration could relate to being restricted to half a hallway for junior and senior year while their concerns were dismissed. Despite these responses, students and faculty remained frustrated, highlighting the repeated broken promises by BPS.
White Stadium has been a vital community space for over 75 years, hosting graduations, sports, rallies, and morning walks. Residents of Dorchester, Roxbury, Mattapan, and Jamaica Plain protested Mayor Wu’s renovation and leasing plan, citing environmental harm and loss of community access (CBS News, 2023a; CBS News, 2023b; CBS News, 2023c). Louis Elisa, founding member of the Franklin Park Defenders, stated, “As taxpayers we’re concerned that we’re being neglected, disrespected, and treated as second-class citizens.” City Council member Erin Murphy emphasized the need for equal accountability across neighborhoods. In response, Mayor Wu pledged to plant over 500 trees over several years and provide a $500,000 community fund. Despite these pledges and resident lawsuits challenging the project as unconstitutional, the stadium project continues, illustrating a pattern of the city disregarding community voices in Black neighborhoods.
Media representation of Boston’s Black community remains limited. Local news stations like Boston 25, NBC10 Boston, WCVB, CBS, and major newspapers such as The Boston Globe and Boston Herald rarely cover issues impacting Black neighborhoods like Dorchester, Roxbury, Mattapan, or Hyde Park. While the Globe runs a Black News Hour column led by Tiana Woodard (Boston Globe, n.d.), coverage is inconsistent. Smaller outlets like the Dorchester Reporter and the Bay State Banner report on these issues but have limited reach.
Community advocacy continues despite this neglect. This summer, members of the Massachusetts Senior Action Council marched from City Hall to Boston Common in support of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), due to President Donald Trump who was threatening to cut their benefits. The council also participated in a State House bill session opposing a 33% increase in Massachusetts homeowners’ property taxes. Members wore their uniforms to represent the council while actively engaging in political advocacy, including supporting Mayor Wu’s submission bill on property taxes (Boston City Council, n.d.). Council member Barbra Howard explained that their activism often receives little coverage depending on the specific bill, but local outlets like the Dorchester Reporter and Bay State Banner do sometimes report on their work. Yet major outlets, including the Black News Hour at The Boston Globe, fail to cover such efforts, raising questions about whose voices are amplified in Boston media.
Boston is often perceived as a predominantly white city, leaving outsiders surprised by its large Black population. I love my city and embrace my Blackness, yet it is disheartening to see how Black residents are often overlooked. Rising property taxes, biased curricula, school closures, and gentrification continue to push families out. Black communities in America have long been reduced to their economic value, and Boston reflects this pattern: our voices are silenced, absent from newsrooms, erased from headlines, and excluded from city planning. Political gestures toward equity often feel performative. As families leave due to rising costs and limited opportunities, the risk of cultural erasure grows.
The absence of Black media in Boston is more than a gap in journalism; it is a question of whether Black communities are seen, heard, and valued. Without platforms that reflect their voices, the realities of displacement, inequitable schools, and housing instability remain overlooked or misrepresented. My experience at BCLA-McCormack demonstrates how easily decisions can be made without transparency, leaving students and families silenced. Stronger Black media representation could challenge this erasure by holding leaders accountable and amplifying community voices. If current patterns persist, Boston risks losing not only its Black press but the visibility of its Black communities altogether. The question is no longer if this will happen, but when—and whether the city will act before it is too late.
References
Bay State Banner. (2023, March 29). Melvin B. Miller: A profile in journalism. https://baystatebanner.com/2023/03/29/melvin-b-miller-a-profile-in-journalism/
Bay State Banner. (2024, June 5). In their first year, Banner’s new owners aimed to preserve legacy with their eyes set on growth. https://baystatebanner.com/2024/06/05/in-their-first-year-banners-new-owners-aimed-to-preserve-legacy-with-their-eyes-set-on-growth/
Boston Globe. (n.d.). Tiana Woodard. https://www.bostonglobe.com/about/staff-list/staff/tiana-woodard/
CBS News. (2023a). Opponents of White Stadium project question Mayor Wu’s concerns over Everett soccer stadium. https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/michelle-wu-boston-white-stadium-residents-upset/
CBS News. (2023b). Bos Nation NWSL team signs 10-year lease to play at White Stadium in Boston. https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/mayor-michelle-wu-national-womens-soccer-league-boston-unity-nation/
CBS News. (2023c). Renovation of White Stadium in Boston's Franklin Park to move forward despite lawsuit. https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/white-stadium-renovation-womens-soccer-team-boston-franklin-park-lawsuit/
CBS News. (2023d). Mayor Wu drops controversial plan to move O'Bryant School to West Roxbury. https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/obryant-school-not-moving-west-roxbury-mayor-wu/
Massachusetts Historical Society. (2024, February). You are men as well as they: David Walker’s appeal to colored citizens. https://www.masshist.org/beehiveblog/2024/02/you-are-men-as-well-as-they-david-walkers-appeal-to-colored-citizens/
Texas History. (n.d.). The Boston Courant. https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth523601/
U.S. News. (n.d.). O'Bryant School of Math & Science. https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/massachusetts/districts/boston-public-schools/o-bryant-school-of-math-science-9287
WGBH. (2025, January 7). Boston Public Schools proposes school closures and mergers by end of next school year. https://www.wgbh.org/news/education-news/2025-01-07/boston-public-schools-proposes-school-closures-and-mergers-by-end-of-next-school-year
World Population Review. (2025). Suffolk County population 2025. https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-counties/massachusetts/suffolk-county
City of Boston. (2025, February 3). Mayor Michelle Wu refiles residential tax relief legislation. Boston.gov. https://www.boston.gov/news/mayor-michelle-wu-refiles-residential-tax-relief-legislation
O’Grady, E. (2019). The Bay State Banner: Looking at News Through a Black Lens in Boston. US News & World Report; U.S. News & World Report. https://www.usnews.com/news/cities/articles/2019-12-30/the-bay-state-banner-looking-at-news-through-a-black-lens-in-boston
