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| 45 2 The Neighborhoods Despite their proximity and geographic similarities, South Boston and East Boston are distinctive neighborhoods that have been largely shaped by different histories of immigration. South Boston is best known as a tightly bonded and defended Irish American neighborhood, whereas East Boston is best known as a receiving neighborhood that has integrated various waves of immigrants. Because these two neighborhoods are distinctive, they have provided different contexts for the integration of Latin American immigrants. This chapter describes the historical development of the neighborhoods that set the stage for the integration of Latin Americans into public housing. The histories of the two neighborhoods are linked to the broader history of Boston.1 Both neighborhoods sit within a few miles of downtown Boston but separated from it, bordering the Atlantic Ocean and barricaded by several lanes of federal and state highways. As seen in diagram 3, Boston Harbor, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Chelsea River surround most of East Boston, and the neighborhood is partitioned into three sections by Route 1A, which carries traffic to northern suburbs and states. South Boston is not different in this aspect. On one side, it is cut off from the rest of Boston by the Four Point Channel and Route 93; the other side borders Dorchester Bay. Over the last 200 years, both neighborhoods have grown in surface area as a result of massive landfilling. South Boston has virtually doubled since 1836. Its development continues today with the building of a new convention center and a third harbor tunnel in Boston’s South Bay area. This new tunnel is part of the Big Dig, the largest public works project in the history of the United States. The harbor tunnel, named after Ted Williams, links the Massachusetts Turnpike in South Boston to Logan International Airport in East Boston. Fueled by Logan’s growth, the expansion of East Boston has been even more dramatic than that of South Boston, with the neighborhood growing to six times its original size. Landfilling in East Boston began in 1833 by joining five islands (Sweetser 1888). The airport began on a beach in the 46 | The Neighborhoods early twentieth century and expanded with filling over mudflats and more islands after World War II. By 1976, the airport represented two-thirds of the land in East Boston. While East Boston and South Boston share some geographic similarities , each neighborhood has been largely defined by its own distinct history of immigration. South Boston was annexed in the early nineteenth century after a bridge connected the port of Dorchester to Boston. At first, Protestant families moved into the area. Later, it was embedded with Albanian, Lithuanian , and Polish communities. But Irish immigrants who sought refuge from discrimination at the hands of the Protestant elite have defined South Boston since the late nineteenth century. This community gained significant political power, Mafia-style cultural capital, and notoriety for mobilizing against the court-ordered desegregation of public schools in the late 1970s, the courtordered desegregation of public housing in the late 1980s, and the right of homosexuals to participate in the Saint Patrick’s Day parade in the 1990s. These efforts to protect South Boston’s homogeneity defined it as a defended neighborhood. In the last two decades, gentrification has transformed the population in parts of South Boston. East Boston, on the other hand, has been a gateway neighborhood since the 1800s. Irish Catholics, including the Kennedys by the second half of the nineteenth century, replaced the first Protestant residents. In its heyday, East Boston made maritime transportation history and brought commerce, along with thousands of immigrants, to Boston. By the early twentieth century, Italian Americans replaced the Irish, who had followed the Jews. Although maritime transportation eventually waned, East Boston’s gateway remained open. The neighborhood is now home to Logan International Airport, and more than 20,000 passengers pass through it each day. This gateway function fosters a transitional and heterogeneous neighborhood. A few East Boston neighborhoods have also experienced gentrification in recent decades. South Boston When one surfaces from the Andrew Square T station on the Red Line of the Boston area subway in South Boston, one sees Route 93 to the left and an intersection of several streets. There are many people; some are minorities who are waiting for buses that leave from Andrew Square.2 The square is at the border of Dorchester and Roxbury, which are largely minority neighborhoods , and Route 93, which cuts off the neighborhood from the...

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