Boise

Where You'd Least Expect It

 June 2023

  

The Black Legacy Project travels to Boise, Idaho in June 2023 to highlight the lesser known history of Black Americans and Black and White race-relations in the state. In contrast to the national attention Idaho has gained over the past four decades as a site for White supremacy,  the state has a relatively progressive history when it comes to the treatment of Black Americans. No Black person was ever lynched in Idaho. The state has had integrated schools since 1870. Civil rights legislation was passed in Idaho three years before it was passed nationally. Black folks had homesteading rights in Idaho, a right that was denied to them even in the neighboring state of Oregon. During the same year where race massacres and riots occurred across the nation – most notably in Tulsa, OK in 1921 – Black Idahoans felt safe enough to establish Boise’s historic Black church (St. Paul Baptist Church). This unexpected yet significant history of Black and White solidarity is what draws the Black LP to Boise.  Read more here.