Jan. 27, 2012
Former Mayor Kevin White died at 82 on Jan. 27. He's seen here, in 1968, addressing a crowd at Boston Garden before a James Brown concert. (WGBH Open Vault)
BOSTON — A former Boston mayor who led the city for 16 years including racially turbulent times in the 1970s has died. Kevin H. White was 82.
White was a white Irish Catholic Democrat from a family of politicians. He's credited with revitalizing Boston's downtown and seeing the city through court-ordered busing. He protected schoolchildren from violence with federal and state assistance during the period of crisis and in 1976 led a march to protest racial violence.
On April 5, 1968, on the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot, White addressed a crowd at Boston Garden before a James Brown concert.
Watch White's historic speech at WGBH's Open Vault.
