The Nation : South Boston Public Housing Integrated

Boston took a step toward integrating its public housing as two black families moved into a project in South Boston, a mostly white neighborhood that was torn by rioting during school desegregation in the mid-1970s. The two single mothers and their children settled into the Mary Ellen McCormack development without incident, becoming the only blacks in South Boston public housing and the first to move into the 1,016-unit facility in a decade, officials said. The women and their families were greeted by Catherine Flynn, the wife of Mayor Raymond L. Flynn. The Flynns live in South Boston. City officials said the move was not part of the mayor’s agreement in June with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to integrate the city’s projects. A housing authority spokesman said the two women were at the top of the city’s emergency housing waiting list.