Massachusetts Rock Against Racism records

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Massachusetts Rock Against Racism (RAR) came together at a time when the City of Boston and its surrounding areas were rocked by racism. This was especially focused on the youth population as court-ordered desegregation and busing intensified problems. RAR’s name came from a movement started in England in the mid-1970s, and the Massachusetts-based group was organized and cofounded in the Boston area in 1979 by a group of volunteers consisting of musicians, radio announcers, and educators, including Reebee Garofalo who was at that time an assistant professor in the College of Public and Community Service (CPCS) at UMass Boston. Designed to confront issues of racism in the Boston area, RAR used popular music and mass media as educational tools to address race relations for high school kids and the community. RAR carried out its mission through presentations to high school students, concerts and festivals, broadcast and TV productions, workshops, performances, community screenings, and with print and media coverage. The Massachusetts Rock Against Racism records include more than 80 videos of a range of RAR-produced concerts, performances, panel discussions, and other programs and events. In this digital collection, videos are organized by video production/film, with any unedited and source footage produced as part of a production/film collected within the record for that production/film.