immigration

Immigrant Rights at the Crossroads

Under the second Trump administration, the country is seeing unprecedented changes in immigration laws and policies. Mass deportation, challenges to birthright citizenship, the potential defunding of sanctuary cities, and many other issues are at stake. To keep abreast of this…

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Watertown

In July of 1630, an English expedition established a colony on the homelands of the Pequossette and Nonantum groups of the Massachusett people. First known as Saltonstall Plantation, Watertown was one of the earliest Massachusetts Bay Colony settlements. While primarily…

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A busy corner on Harvard Street with young people passing by on the street.

Koreans

Corner of Harvard Avenue in Allston, an area often referred to as Boston's "Koreatown" and home of dozens of Korean-owned restaurants, businesses, and the Korean language newspaper, BostonKorea (building center left). Courtesy of Alastair Pike, NBC News.

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Painting of 19th century Waltham showing Boston Manufacturing Company on the banks of the Charles River

Waltham

View of the Boston Manufacturing Company ca. 1816, the first fully-integrated factory in the US that attracted thousands of immigrants to Waltham in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Image photographed by David Bohl, courtesy Gore Place and the…

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Quincy

From the 1820s until the mid-20th century, thousands of skilled immigrant stonecutters found jobs in Quincy's granite industry. Shown here are quarrymen coming up in a "boat" for dinner in the Granite Railway Quarry, ca. 1920-1930. Courtesy Thomas Crane Public…

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Greek Restaurants in Boston

There’s an old saying that “when Greek meets Greek, they start a restaurant.” In Boston at least, this seems to have been true. Along with Jews and Italians, Greeks were one the top three immigrant groups that owned restaurants in…

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Jewish Restaurants in Boston

In 1894, the Boston Globe reported that the city had only one Jewish restaurant, located on Hanover Street in the North End. By the 1920s, however, there were more than three hundred Jewish-owned restaurants across the city, the most run…

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Large restaurant with tablecloths and centerpieces, leather booths, and murals with Italian scenes on the wall.

Italian Restaurants

Postcard showing main dining room of Cafe Bova, a popular downtown Italian restaurant, 1912. Founded by Calabrian-born Antonio Bova in 1907, this cosmopolitan restaurant featured elegant tables, murals of Neapolitan scenery, and live Italian music. Its eclectic menu offered dishes…

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