South Boston High School was built on Telegraph Hill in Dorchester Heights in 1901. It was the first high school in the SouthBoston neighborhood. During the Boston busing crisis in the 1970s, several racial incidents took place at the school. On September 12, 1974, the first day of school, only 124 students attended. The school anticipated an enrollment of about 1,300. On November 20, several fights broke out in the school. It began when a white male student let a door slam in the face of a black female student. An even more violent incident occurred several weeks later on December 11, when Michael Faith was stabbed by another student. News of his stabbing spread quickly around the neighborhood and by mid-afternoon, about 700 people had surrounded the school to confront the black students at the end of the school day. the students were able to escape when the crowd chased after three decoy buses. In 1975, the Boston School Committee was stripped of most of its control over Boston school integration. Judge W. Arthur Garrity Jr. said that desegregation was not working at South Boston High School and accused the school committee of thwarting his court order. The school was placed into receivership that year under the administration of a district superintendent. South Boston High School continued to receive negative attention for the violence that erupted there in 1974. In 1980, Michael Tierney and Danis Terris founded and launched Mosaic, a publication consisting of autobiographical stories, photographs and poetry from students at South Boston High School. They created Mosaic in response to the desegregation of Boston public schools in the 1970s, and in particular, to the negative media attention South Boston High School and its students received during that time. The students worked with professional writers and photographers, publishing powerful stories and photographs that capture the experience of growing up in Boston. Some stories show students’ experiences with desegregation, but others tell us so much more. Their stories touch upon issues such as divorce, death, foster care and immigrating to the United States. Students used Mosaic as a platform to show others that South Boston High School and its students were much more than what the media portrayed. The school building, now renamed the South Boston Education Complex, houses Excel High School. It is located on 95 G St. South Boston, MA.
