---

Presenter: William Harris

Faculty Sponsor: Elizabeth McCahill

School: UMass Boston

Research Area: History

Session: Poster Session 2, 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM, 165, D3

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this project was to demonstrate how the imagery of childhood is utilized for propaganda purposes, more specifically using the racially-charged period of Boston’s “Busing Crisis” to imitate both the conservative and liberal political spectrums so recognizable in the United States today. I believe that the linking of children to political issues adds a deeply-personal dimension that incites people more impactfully than statistics or logic ever could, and though this may seem like an obvious argument, it is one that is oft-overlooked by academics due to it’s emotional nature that does not lend itself to being easily-quantified. Historian Victoria Grieve developed a framework of looking at children in cold war propaganda of the 1950s as within the realms of “neutral” or “politicized,” a framework that I wished to apply and develop more on with my own city’s history. My research drew heavily from a number of archival propagandic pieces of the period from both pro- and anti-bussing contingents, demonstrating both the similarities and differences between them. In addition, I make a point of deeply-analyzing the language and design choices of these various sources – some of them are overt in their intentions, while others are a great deal more subtle, a subtly which I believe was both intentional and makes them no less effective.