Boston officials are weighing whether to delay the release of a long-awaited report examining discrimination experienced by Black residents in the city since 1940.
The report was prepared by Northeastern University experts and was intended to be released alongside a separate Tufts University study examining slavery and its lasting impact on Boston from the 17th through the 20th centuries.
Publication of the Tufts report was halted after concerns emerged about the accuracy of Kerri Greenidge’s 2022 book, The Grimkes. The work came under scrutiny in July, when scholars cited alleged factual inaccuracies in an article published by The New York Times.
The Boston reparations task force is now considering holding back the Northeastern study until a replacement for the Tufts research can be commissioned, The Boston Globe reported. No allegations have been made that the Northeastern report itself contains inaccuracies.
“Why put the cart before the horse? Why release part two when you haven’t seen one yet?” task force member Antonia Edwards said, according to the newspaper. “Originally we were going to combine the reports… so why don’t we just give a complete package to the community?”
There is currently no clear timeline for completing a new study. Both original reports were expected to be finished and made public by 2023.
The delay has drawn increasing criticism, particularly because the city paid $500,000 for the research.
“Certainly it was our hope that we would have something to present for discussion [by now],” chairman Joseph D. Feaster said Thursday. “But unfortunately something happened that is beyond our control. Hopefully we will be able to get back on track.”
The Boston reparations task force, chaired by Joseph D. Feaster, is considering delaying a Northeastern University report on the city’s history of slavery and discrimination
A commission has called for Boston to provide $15 billion to African Americans whose ancestors were impacted by slavery
The task force has not formally voted to postpone the report, although most members have indicated they would support doing so, according to The Globe. It also remains uncertain whether the task force can make that decision independently or whether the mayor’s office will have the final authority.
In a joint statement, Tufts and the City of Boston said: “The City and the University have reluctantly come to a decision to cancel the contract for the first volume of the report.
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“The faculty member who had been leading the project is no longer employed by the University. The University has been unable to identify a replacement researcher with the subject-matter expertise necessary to deliver a report meeting the standard that the City and the University both expect.
“Tufts has returned the full contract value to the City. The funds will be redeployed to support other Task Force priorities.”
Our News Outlet has contacted the mayor’s office, the task force, Greenidge and Northeastern University for comment.
In 2024, the Boston People’s Reparations Commission called on the city to provide $15 billion in reparations.
The commission said the money should be invested “monetarily and through public policy that will be in effect for Black Bostonians for generations.”
The commission’s leader, Reverend Kevin Peterson, told WCVB in 2024 that although the group was seeking $15 billion, the sum was “not enough” because “every life is incalculable.”
A Tufts research report was not released after Kerri Greenidge, pictured, faced allegations that her 2022 book contained inaccuracies
In addition to seeking $15 billion from the city, the commission has discussed the possibility of a separate $50 million contribution from Boston’s predominantly white churches.
The commission says the enslavement of Africans in Boston began in 1638, creating what it describes as a lasting “legacy of social, political, economic and cultural injustice.”
“At one point during the city’s history, one in 10 Boston residents were enslaved people who were linked to the trans-Atlantic slave trade,” the organization says on its website.
Some members of Boston’s Black community are now seeking reparations for the enduring effects of discrimination, inequality and systemic disadvantage.
They say their goal is to “effectively address the harm inflicted through the enslavement of Blacks in Boston and generations of systemic oppression.”
