The Great
Society, Black Lives Matters, and Mosaic
The building at 41
Piedmont St. (now Mosaic) has a long history of use for neighborhood programs
and progressive causes. This history dates back at least to the 1960s and the
Great Society. Mosaic use of the building for Wellness Testing and the
empowerment of neighborhood people is just the latest iteration. Hopefully it
will not be the building’s last.
The Great Society was
the many government programs aimed at ending poverty and eliminating
inequalities, especially racial inequalities.
The programs came into effect as a result of the old civil rights
movement. Although gutted, the Great Society still exist to some extent as the
social safety net.
The building was
originally used by YMCA as place where in the early 1960s children from the
neighborhood could experience nature in the city. There were stuffed animals on
display, lectures about nature, and travel to the countryside.
Mary Bonina who grew
up across the street at 42 Piedmont St. Remembers the Nature Center.
"I remember the Nature Center from when it was the Nature Center run by
Mr. Bascom who had all sorts of creatures in taxidermy.”
Ms. Bonina went on to
write a prize winning book about her dad who was slowly growing blind, “My
Fathers Eyes”.
Anne (marie) Harreden
was an activist during the 1960s and 1970s. She remembers the Free Breakfast
for Children program that was in the “Piedmont Opportunity Center”. One of the interviewee said that Justice
Clarence Thomas occasionally served eggs and oatmeal to the children.
“I remember
the Piedmont Center well! All kinds of great activities
happened within those
walls. I was not the "manager" of the Free
Breakfast for Children but
certainly worked side by side with others
cooking and serving breakfast to the
kids.’
Ms. Harreden also
talked about organizing Worcester Welfare Rights group with other progressive
people. The Piedmont Center, 41 Piedmont St. is where it met.
“…ready to do battle with social workers downtown. Jill Watts, Malinda
Lusk, Marylou McCarthy and I organized a Worcester chapter and our members met
in that building”
The building and group
have an indirect connection to City Councillor Toomey; Melinda Lusk was her
mother.
The National Welfare
Rights Organization fought for the
welfare rights of people, especially women and children. The organization had
four goals: adequate income, dignity, justice, and democratic participation.
The membership was estimated at 25,000 members (mostly African American women).
My most vivid memory
of 41 Piedmont St. was when I was living around the corner at 16 Castle St.
There was a young black man unjustly beaten by the police. This was a common
occurrence in the 1970s and today.
I was a member of the
Black Coalition Party then. Immediately after the incident we sent out word
that the community should meet at the Piedmont Center. A lawyer friend of ours
Harvey came and took our affidavits about what we witnessed.
Harvey at some later
time became enamored with a lady organizer, Dora, who had five children. They
were married. Even I, in my youth, saw that it was a bad match. Needless to say
the marriage did not last. They were both good people with their hearts in the
right places.
Carolyn Packard worked
at Worcester Housing Information with Dora. Ms. Packard has vague recollections
of the Piedmont Center.
“…this happened at the Housing Information Center on Millbury Street.
I remember going to a building on Piedmont Street for some reason, but can't
remember.”
The Housing Information
Center began as a tenant's rights organizing group and grew in its well-known
location on Millbury Street to provide an array of services including
tenant/landlord housing counseling and elder home repair programming.
The tenants organization
from which the Information Center came was the Worcester Tenants Association that
at one time operated out of a store front on Main St. near Castle called “Your
Place”
Susan Lazaraitis has a
better memories of the Piedmont Center.
“
I remember when the Piedmont Opportunity Center was there and it was a very
active place where hundreds of community members used the space to help folks
all day long......and received lots of help with food stamps; housing issues,
daycare, childcare, health and safety issues in the 'hood. “
Living in Worcester
most of her life Ms. Laizaraitis has been outspoken activist before I came to
Worcester in 1968. She is advocating today the keeping of 41 Piedmont as a
community space, the original intent for the building.
“I
just want to remind you and the rest of Worcester that there is a history to
the building there.....This building has been a "community" use space
for many decades.......and if the city is really selling it.it should not
happen. This space belongs to the community whether it remains as what it is
now or not”
The Piedmont Center,
Your Place, and other organizations were a part of the urban Great Society
known generally as “Model Cities” I thought its moniker of “Bridging the Gap”
was expressive of its purpose.
The Model Cities Program
was an element of U.S. President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society War on Poverty.
In 1966 new legislation led to the more than 150 five-year-long, Model Cities experiments to develop new antipoverty
programs and alternative forms of municipal government.
Ms. Lazaraitis has a
clear memory of Justice Thomas and the Free Breakfast for Children program at
the Piedmont Center.
“After all........it was the Piedmont Opportunity Center. Where
hundreds of folks received services to help and change their lives......It was
a place where I served FREE BREAKFAST Program with Clarence.....and all the
others at that time.....It is a very important space........for the community!"
I worked in the Free Breakfast for Children
program at Our Lady of Fatima Church and I cannot with certainty say I saw
Clarence Thomas at the Church. This program was run by Edward P. Jones who went
on to write a Pulitzer Prize winning novel.
The Free Breakfast for School Children Program was a community service program run by
the Black Panther Party as an early manifestation of the social
mission. Although there was no Black Panther Party
organization in Worcester, there was a group called the Black Coalition Party
of which I was a member.
We helped with the Free Breakfast for Children program
in Worcester.
We in the Black
Coalition Party also worked with the City Health Department to do Sickle Cell Anemia
Testing. One of the testing site was the Piedmont Center.
According to Ms.
Lazaraitis, VISTA, another part of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, had connections
to Piedmont building.
“I remember that the place was an active
community space when I was in the VISTA program in 1967 and later lived with my
VISTA host in a house on Piedmont Street”
VISTA
is an acronym for Volunteers in Service to America and is now also known as
Americorp.
Performing
Arts were located in the Piedmont Center.
“… Leslie Greene. Her nickname was
"Blue"....a fun and brilliant. African -American woman who lived on
Benefit St. She graduated from Clark University and stayed in Worcester for a
while after she graduated and she taught "African Dance Class" there
and had performances…”
Parents met at the
Piedmont Center and an indirect connection to School Committee person Jack
Foley.
“Later, .I think that the city used to hold
Special Education PAC/Parents Action Committee meetings there too....Jack
Foley's wife led those mtgs at one time....”
Mosaic
has continued the long tradition of providing services to those in need and a
meeting place for civil rights advocacy. It provided wellness testing and a
meeting place for BlackLives Matter.
Unfortunately
some City Councillors have been conducting a war on the poor. A war that many
people consider to be racist, at least in terms of the disparate impact it has
Black, Latino, Asian, and other communities.
Anne Harreden laments in her interview about
having to fight the same battles.
“Funny how some things don't ever change with time. Our convictions,
our values, our knowledge of right and wrong. All that remains with us. I hope
the future will not have us fighting the same battles of injustice”
Change
for the better is coming. I think that somehow 41 Piedmont St. or someplace
like it will again be in the center of that change. Value comes from the good work of people and
the people of Worcester will continue to do good work and effectuate social and
economic justice.
