Columbia Point Walking Tour

This walking tour is intended for Boston Public Schools ethnic studies teachers using the Columbia Point case study. The case study describes the experiences of Black people in the Columbia Point community of Dorchester. We focus our story on the Columbia Point public housing community, built and maintained by the Boston Housing Authority between the 1950s through the 1990s, and replaced by Harbor Point at the Bay, a mixed-income privately managed community that exists through the present day. This case study also addresses two components of the community that were essential to the health and well-being of Columbia Point’s residents: the Dever and McCormack public schools and the Geiger-Gibson Community Health Center. The central theme of the case study is the resilience of Black families as they worked to secure safe and secure housing and access to education, health services, transportation and shopping in the face of segregation, environmental racism and financial neglect.