Day 280: Parcel C, Boston, Massachusetts
📌APIA Every Day (280) - Chinatown is a nine-block area in the heart of Boston, housing long-time residents, small business owners, and new immigrants alike. Despite its size, the land holds a deep history in which Tufts University is implicated. In early 1993, the Tufts-New England Medical Center (T-NEMC) made an offer to the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) to build a garage complex on a small plot in Chinatown. T-NEMC is the official partnership between Tufts University and the New England Medical Center. In particular, the tract of land known as Parcel C—located in the middle of Chinatown, a former residential neighborhood turned medical-industrial beast—has been shaped by two previous attempts by T-NEMC in 1986 and 1988 to develop and maintain ownership over the land.
Exchanges between T-NEMC and the BRA resulted in ongoing efforts for the Chinatown community to organize for community control of land and resources. The struggle for Parcel C symbolizes the extent to which Chinatown residents and allies were willing to go to protect their community from gentrification and business interests that benefited the expansion of universities. Since Boston is known for its concentration of colleges and universities, community-led fights for Parcel C in the 1990s demonstrate the need for community residents to have institutionalized spaces for their everyday lives. Through methods such as legal advocacy, community organizing, and media campaigns, the community coalition to protect Parcel C succeeded after a year and a half of negotiations with the City of Boston and T-NEMC. In the early 2000s, a community center was established on Parcel C. The center is home to integral community organizations such as the Chinese Progressive Association Boston, the Asian Community Development Corporation, and the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center which continues to serve the interests of the Chinatown resident community.
Community-led efforts since the 1990s have largely driven the preservation of the struggle for Parcel C's history. The Boston Chinatown Community Land Trust with support from various other historical arts and cultural organizations has created a multimedia public art project titled the Immigrant History Trail to preserve and archive Boston Chinatown’s rich history of struggle and community-building against displacement and gentrification. The story of Parcel C is included on the Immigrant History Trail on 38 Ash Street, the address of the community center on Parcel C. These organizations are also driving the preservation of Boston Chinatown histories at large through their programming, direct services, and community advocacy work. Though these efforts are largely community-driven, we reflect on how historic preservation practices can embrace newly established community spaces while recognizing the histories of Chinatown communities across the U.S., which date back to the late 19th century.
Written by Billy Zeng
LEARN MORE:
UMass Boston: The Struggle over Parcel C
Northern University Library: Parcel C Timeline
JSTOR: “To Be or Not to Be” for the Parcel C Garage, 1990-1993
Shaina Lu: Boston Chinatown's Fight for a Community Center
BCNC: Immigrant History Trail Highlights the Legacy of BCNC’s Historic Home
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