Event

Confronting Economic Injustice: The Story of Parcel C

Thursday, April 28, 2022 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM EST
At MHS

Michael Liu, Author of Forever Struggle: Activism, Identity and Survival in Boston's Chinatown; David Moy, Hyams Foundation; Lydia Lowe, Chinatown Community Land Trust; Carolyn Chou, Asian American Resource Workshop; Moderated by Margaret Woo, Northeastern University School of Law

Boston’s Chinatown has long been the physical, economic, and cultural center for Chinese immigrants. Chinatown has also long fought for community control of affordable housing and economic justice. Join us for a conversation about the story of Parcel C, Chinatown’s success in fighting against institutional expansion and reclaiming this parcel for community use.

Register to attend online

Developed by the Northeastern University School of Law Criminal Justice Task Force, Confronting Racial Injustice is a free series hosted by the Massachusetts Historical Society. More information about the series and a list of our co-sponsors can be found here.

Online Event

Upcoming Events

Social Reform and Identity Formation in the 17th Century - A Panel Discussion
Social Reform and Identity Formation in the 17th Century - A Panel Discussion
Hybrid / NOTE: times are shown in EST
Tuesday, April 1, 2025 5:00 PM - 6:15 PM EST
This panel investigates forms of social control in 17th century New England. Arthur George Kamya’s paper examines the regulation of distilled liquor in 17th century Massachusetts Bay Colony, exploring how authorities navigated competing moral, economic, and security imperatives. Initially targeting a cross-section of colonists, liquor laws evolved to focus on servants, Native Americans, and eventually African Americans. The colony's approach shifted from moral censure to pragmatic revenue generation, with officials using fines and licenses to fund government operations. Kamya’s study illuminates how alcohol regulation became a tool of social control, state-building, and the construction of racial hierarchies in colonial New England, offering insights into the complex interplay between commerce, governance, and identity formation in early America. As discussed in Alice King’s work, Connecticut adopted a notable strategy towards certain Indigenous populations during the initial decades of settlement, attempting to control and exploit Native communities by turning them into colonial tributaries who would provide essential supplies, wampum, and military aid. King’s paper considers the evolution of tributary politics at the end of the seventeenth century after the Dominion of New England and Glorious Revolution had destabilized colonial authority and left colonists vulnerable to attack by French and Native forces, including the Wabanaki Confederacy during King William’s War, 1689-1697, when Connecticut leaders sought to raise soldiers for New England’s defense from these historic tributary communities.
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