cambridge

Harvard was conducting its sedate commencement exercises in 1970 when a young community activist from a nearby section of Cambridge mounted the stage, bullhorn in hand, with 20 other protesters.

Porchia Willis was one of 130 single parents randomly chosen in September 2021 to participate in the city’s experiment on what happens when you simply give money to low-income residents with no strings attached.

On the night of Sept. 2, 1903, national black leader Booker Taliaferro Washington delivered a short but uplifting address to young black Cantabrigians on the importance of saving, purchasing property and going into business. Invited by then-third Assistant U.S. District Attorney William Henry Lewis, Washington spoke at Mt. Olive Baptist Church (now known as the Massachusetts Avenue Baptist Church).