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MacArthur Grants

Description: Callie Crossley reports on three local recipients of the prestigious MacArthur Foundation Fellowships. Crossley notes that mathematician David Mumford, community organizer Muriel Snowden, and MIT professor Eric Lander are three of the thirty-two national winners of the Fellowships. Interview with Mumford about his work in mathematics. Crossley reviews Snowden's community activism. Interview with Snowden about her community work and her future plans. Crossley's interview includes photos of Snowden and footage of Snowden with colleagues. Interview with Lander about his work. mapping the generic patterns of certain hereditary diseases. Crossley's report includes footage of Lander and MIT graduate students in his laboratory.
1:00:07: Visual: Footage of David Mumford (mathematician) solving a problem on a blackboard in a classroom. Callie Crossley reports that Mumford uses mathematics and computers to explain vision. V: Footage of Mumford being interviewed by Crossley in his office. Mumford talks about the complex calculations which underly vision. Mumford says that computers can be used to advance scientific understanding of the role of these calculations. Shot of a print of an abstract design, held of Mumford's lap; of Mumford speaking to Crossley. Crossley reports that Mumford is one of 32 national and 3 local winners of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship; that recipients s are chosen by an anonymous committee. V: Shot of another print of an abstract design held by Mumford. Footage of Mumford saying that he received the news of the Fellowship on his birthday. Footage of Mumford sitting in front of a computer. He talks about the abstract design which is taking shape on the screen. Shot of the design on screen. Crossley reports that MacArthur Fellows receive a monetary grant over a five-year period; that Mumford won $305,000. V: Footage of Mumford saying that the money from the Fellowship will allow him the flexibility to explore new areas in his work. Footage of Muriel Snowden (community organizer) talking about her work with young people. Snowden sits at a table with a small group. Crossley reports that Snowden has been a community organizer in Boston for 35 years. V: Footage of Snowden saying that she does not like to think of herself as retired; that the money from the MacArthur award will give her a "new beginning." Shots of black and white photos of Muriel and Otto Snowden; of Muriel Snowden with city officials; of Snowden with John F. Kennedy (former US President). Crossley reports that Muriel Snowden founded Freedom House in Roxbury with her husband Otto in 1949; that Snowden has advocated city programs to eradicate racial bias; that Snowden has pushed for greater educational opportunities for minority youth. V: Footage of Snowden saying that her husband and colleagues share much of the credit for her work; that she wants those people to share in the honor of being awarded the MacArthur Fellowship. Shots of Snowden sitting at a table with a small group of people. Crossley reports that Snowden will use her $375,000 award to travel and to write a book about desegregation in Boston. Crossley reports that there was an air of subdued excitement at the Whitehead Institute at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology); that Eric Lander (MIT) is the fourth Whitehead Institute employee to win a MacArthur Fellowship. Crossley notes that Lander and his team of MIT graduate students have created a computer program to map the genetic patterns of certain hereditary diseases. V: Shot of the Whitehead Institute; of Eric Lander in his laboratory; of two MIT graduate students who work with Lander. Footage of Lander working in the laboratory. Lander takes fluid from a bottle with a pipette. Crossley notes that Lander is a mathematician and an assistant professor at the Harvard Business School. V: Footage of Lander being interviewed by Crossley. Lander talks about studying families with genetic diseases to track down the causes of these diseases. Lander says that he has strayed from the study of mathematics in recent years. Lander talks about trying to track down and analyze data about genetic diseases. Crossley notes that Lander will put his award of $205,000 in the bank for future use. V: Shot of Lander talking to a graduate student. Crossley notes that MacArthur Fellowships have been called "genius awards." V: Footage of Lander saying that the awards should not be called "genius awards."
Collection: Ten O'Clock News
Date Created: 06/16/1987

September in July

Description: Evening Compass special features updates and information on the court-ordered busing for integration of Boston schools. Opens with footage of Racial Harmony Now Committee in WGBH studio. Ed Baumeister introduces news topics and gives a brief history of civil rights in Boston and segregation facts. Racial Harmony Now Committee holds an in-studio meeting to discuss community involvement in busing, school integration and education. Roy Covell (Boston Police Department) reports on police efforts to ensure the safety of students. John Kerrigan discusses his opposition to busing in Boston. John Kerrigan (Chairman, Boston School Committee) and Kathleen Sullivan (Boston School Committee) discuss the court order by Judge Garrity and the implementation of the state plan to integrate Boston schools in September. Greg Pilkington reports on the on-going hearings to determine a long-term remedy for integrating Boston schools. Eric Van Loon (lawyer for the plaintiffs, Morgan v. Hennigan) comments on the court ruling and the on-going hearings. Judy Stoia reports on MBTA proposals to cover busing needs. Members of the Citywide Education Coalition are in the studio to answer calls from parents and give information on neighborhood groups working with schools on the transition to the state racial balance plan.
0:45:53: Visual: Introduction to Compass Weekly: September in July, a special broadcast on the court-ordered plan to achieve racial balance in Boston schools. Parents and concerned citizens are in the studio to talk about how parents can get involved in the schools. Ed Baumeister explains that the show will give an update on the court order, report on reaction to the order and provide information on neighborhood groups working with schools on the transition to the court-ordered plan. Volunteers from the Citywide Education Coalition are in the studio to answer phone calls from parents, and to give them information on groups in their neighborhoods. 0:48:33: Baumeister gives a brief history of civil rights in Boston. Baumeister says that Boston was a center in the movements for racial justice and public education in the nineteenth century; that Boston had a reputation as a "liberal" city with a good civil rights record in the twentieth century. V: Shots of Post Office Square; of the old Public Latin School; of a local park; of mixed race schoolchildren. Baumeister says that African Americans have played a significant role in the history of Boston and the nation; that Boston was found to have been segregating its schools in the 1960s. Baumeister reports that African Americans live in the city of Boston while the suburbs of Boston are primarily white. Baumeister notes that a federal court declared in 1974 that the city's schools were deliberately segregated. Baumeister notes that the Boston School Committee has been fighting the state's Racial Imbalance Act since 1965; that the decision by Judge Garrity was delivered 15 months after the start of the Morgan v. Hennigan trial. V: Shots of gravestones in historic cemetery; of a plaque commemorating Boston Massacre; of the Robert Gould Shaw memorial). Panoramic shots of the Boston skyline. 0:53:41: V: Judy Stoia sits in the studio with the Education Committee from Racial Harmony Now, a Dorchester group working to ease the transition into the racial balance plan. She is quiet while they hold a meeting: one member mentions the efforts of Chuck Williams (teacher at South Boston High School) to further communication between students at South Boston High School and Girls' High School; another member talks about expanding efforts to go door-to-door in Dorchester to talk about the advantages of school integration; another member talks about the need to focus on education instead of race; the group's Youth Committee has made efforts to bring African American and white students together; the second member suggests that the group sponsor a gathering of parents at the YMCA; another member makes additional suggestions to ease the transition for students who will be bused to new schools. 0:59:54: V: Stoia talks to Roy Covell (Boston Police Department) about the police department's efforts to work with community groups and to create a community task force. He says that the police department's top priority is the safe transport of students to and from the schools. A member of the Racial Harmony Now group asks Covell about traffic patterns around the schools and crosswalks for schoolchildren. 1:04:09: V: Ed Baumeister interviews Kathleen Sullivan (Boston School Committee) and John Kerrigan (Chairman, Boston School Committee). Baumeister asks Kerrigan about the Committee's efforts to appeal the federal court decision. Kerrigan talks about his visit to Senators Kennedy and Brooke in Washington D.C.; he says that the decision places an "unfair burden" on the city of Boston. Sullivan advocates a metropolitan plan to integrate schools in the city and the suburbs. Bullard asks about an alternative busing plan presented by the School Committee to the court. Sullivan and Kerrigan defend the School Committee's record on school integration. Bullard asks them about the Lee School District and feeder patterns to Boston High Schools. Kerrigan talks about the problems of "white flight" and crime at English High School. Baumeister asks if School Committee will assume a leadership role in the coming school year; Kerrigan responds that the School Committee will assume leadership on safety issues but that he will not encourage parents to allow their children to be bused under the state plan. 1:22:30: V: Members of Racial Harmony Now discuss negative media coverage of the school integration issue. One member suggests organizing gatherings of white and black families whose children will be attending school together. Another member suggests that the gatherings focus on how to improve the schools. Several members mention interracial gatherings between Roxbury and South Boston parents at Freedom House. 1:27:34: V: Baumeister encourages parents to call the studio to find out about neighborhood groups working with schools on the transition to the racial balance plan. Shots of phone operators and the members of Racial Harmony Now in the studio. 1:28:50: V: Greg Pilkington reports on latest hearings held by Judge Garrity in Federal Court to determine a long-term integration remedy for the Boston schools: Garrity admitted the Boston Teachers' Union and the Administrators' Union as parties to the suit with limited participation; the Home and School Association was refused as a party to the suit, but might appear later as a friend of the court; Judge Garrity refused the Boston School Committee's attempts to have the City of Boston named as co-defendant in the case. 1:31:38: V: Baumeister encourages parents to call the studio. Baumeister talks to Eric Van Loon (attorney for plaintiffs, Morgan v. Hennigan). Van Loon says that a metropolitan busing plan is impossible until the Supreme Court decides the Detroit school desegregation case (Milliken v. Bradley). Baumeister asks if the plaintiffs would support a metropolitan integration plan in Boston. Pilkington asks Van Loon about the court hearings for a long-term integration remedy: Van Loon advocates the recruiting of African American teachers and administrators; Van Loon says the plaintiffs would support modification of the state plan, or a new plan, if the result were a greater number of integrated schools in Boston. 1:40:26: V: Stoia reports on new bus routes for Boston schoolchildren under the state Racial Balance plan: school opening times will be staggered so that the MBTA can use buses on more than one route; MBTA general manager Joseph Kelly says that there is little time to arrange for busing by private contractors; the state pays transportation costs for students bused over 1.5 miles; the city pays for students bused under 1.5 miles; exact bus routes are not yet available. 1:42:09: V: Baumeister sits in the studio with Racial Harmony Now. He encourages parents to contact the Citywide Education Coalition. Baumeister signs off and the credits roll.
Collection: Evening Compass, The
Date Created: 07/09/1974