South Boston is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, located south of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. It was formerly known as Dorchester Neck. It was here, on Dorchester Heights, during the American Revolutionary War that George Washington placed his cannon and forced the evacuation of the British troops from Boston on March 17, 1776.

During the 1970s South Boston received national attention for its opposition to court mandated school integration by busing students to different neighborhoods (forced busing). In the 1990s, South Boston became the focus for a Supreme Court case on the right of gay and lesbian groups to participate in the Saint Patrick's Day parade. The case (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=U10260) was decided in favor of the sponsors of the parade.

While South Boston was traditionally called an Irish-American neighborhood, it always had a large number of Lithuanian, Polish and Italian citizens. Today South Boston has other ethnic groups moving in. These include new immigrant groups from Asia and Ireland and African Americans.

The City Point area of South Boston has seen a major increase in property values due to it's close proximity to downtown Boston and gentrification. Poorer areas around Andrew Square and the Lower End face a lot of the same problems found in many city neighborhoods including drug addiction and street crime.

External link

1. South Boston Online: South Boston Online (http://www.southbostononline.com)
2. South Boston Tribune: South Boston Tribune (http://www.southbostoninfo.com)
3. South Boston Neighborhood: South Boston Neighborhood (http://www.cityofboston.gov/neighborhoods/general.asp?id=9)
4. Photographs 1890s to 1950s: History of South Boston (http://www.southboston200.com/Scrapbook1890.1950/scrapbook.shtml)