User:Stewart150/sandbox

Dr. Arthur Mayo was born in 1936 near Southend, Boston. According to Dr. Mayo, his mother, Doris Mayo- a second generation Nova Scotian, was born in 1912 and moved to Boston from Everett in the 1890s. Arthur Mayo's father was born in 1902 and his family moved to Boston also in the same time as Arthur Mayo's mother's family in the 1890's. The Mayo family lived in multiple locations, all over Boston but predominantly towards the south side. In 1940 the family finally settled in the Lenox Project upper Roxbury. According Dr. Mayo, the projects were "very homogenous" and were populated predominantly by second and third generation "Bostonians". As this was before the civil rights movement, discrimination was at large, in accordance to Mayo, and it was very difficult for African-Americans to get jobs in trades or banks etc. As a result the black populous were mostly in the upper lower class or lower middle class brackets. The male figures used to work in the munition factories. While the mothers would either did not work and took care of the household or they worked as domestic help. As stated by Dr. Mayo in his interview with Northeastern University, due to the presence of "concerned management" who would properly maintain the neighborhood and as they were all new facilities, it was a privilege to live in the projects. There were places for kids to play, a swimming pool and organized community events. Doris Mayo, Arthur Mayo's mother, use to be the leader of the Girl Scouts and used to organise weekly event such as movie nights, dance nights among many others. All in all it was a very healthy community with no involvement of drugs in the area, according to Dr. Mayo. However, the bad and the ugly were not too far from the project Dr. Mayo resided in. In accordance with the interview, the occasional disturbance would be caused by people outside of the area who would have a little too much to drink. It was quite known, even by the younger generations that just a few blocks from the Lenox Project towards the junction of Massachusetts Avenue and Columbus Avenue, called the "no mans land", was not a pleasant place due to criminal activities.

According to Dr. Arthur, the Twelfth Baptist Church on Shawmut Avenue was an intergal part of the community. Mayo had the pleasure of witnessing the church under two ministers. Reverend Hester was the leader until 1952, "a very distinguished minister from the South". After Reverend Hester Reverend Michael Haynes took over. Dr. Mayo has a lot of memories of Reverend Haynes due to his active leadership role in the community. Mayo describes the reverend as an "urban activist, community organiser, socially concerned and motivating". Under his leadership the church became the centre of the community. Not only did the church have the normal events of sunday school, choir and sporting activities but it also focused on education. Dr. Mayo stated that, under the leadership of Rev. Haynes there was an educational club in the name of Pi Kappa Kappa. It was formed to motivate young people within the area to go to school, pursue further education and eventually form their own careers.