BOSTON — A 91-year-old woman survived being stabbed multiple times while walking her dog in Franklin Park Tuesday night, according to the Boston Police Department.
That woman is Boston civil rights pioneer Jean McGuire, a source confirmed to the Herald. McGuire was the first Black woman on the Boston City School Committee, according to a biography from Northeastern University. The BPD does not name surviving victims of violent attacks, said Sgt. Det. John Boyle, the department’s chief spokesman.
“In the same week that we lost a 14 yo to senseless gun violence, Jean McGuire, 91 yo for ED of METCO was stabbed at Franklin Park!” former city councilor Tito Jackson tweeted in response to the news. “She fought for our civil rights for years in the face of danger to have a coward stab her at 91.”
She fought for our civil rights for years in the face of danger to have a coward stab her at 91
Officers responded to 25 Playstead Rd., which according to maps winds its way around the Franklin Park Playstead, a meadow area in which outdoor concerts are sometimes held, at around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday night.
The victim was attacked “by an unknown person,” Boyle said, and the assailant appears to be injured in the attack. Boyle did not describe the alleged assailant’s injuries.
The BPD asks that anyone with any information to call detectives at 617-343-4275.
McGuire helped found the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity, or METCO, in 1966.
“Since its founding during the peak of the Civil Rights Movement, the METCO program has enrolled tens of thousands of Boston students of color in predominantly white school districts, creating the opportunity for students in those districts to experience the advantages of learning and working in a racially and ethnically diverse setting,” the program’s website states.
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