Today’s illustration is a photo of Betty Wise at the time of her arrest for participating in an anti-discrimination protest. The photo is a press photo, dated September 16, 1963, possibly from the Boston Herald.
The police arrested three demonstrators for staging a “sit-in” in the office of a Dorchester real estate company, the G. V. Wattendorf Real Estate Co., at 544 Washington Street. The three included Betty Wise of Brookline, who appears in the photo. The others were Peter Filene, 23 of Cambridge and Robert Phillips, 24.
If the Herald published an article, it has not been found, but The Boston Globe described the protest as “The demonstration was the first over racial discrimination in Dorchester, and the first demonstration on private property.”
The protesters alleged that a woman of color, Alma Williams, inquired about apartments and was told they had nothing. Betty Wise went into the office a few minutes later and was told there were several apartments available.
The staff of the real estate office disputed the statement.
The protestors remained in the office past the closing time, and an attorney for the real estate company telephoned the police. The protestors were asked to leave, and when they did not, the police arrested them for trespassing.
Earlier in the month, the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination had ruled in another case that Wattendorf had practiced discriminate, and the firm was warned to cease operations. When the case involving Alma Williams came before the Commission, Wattendorf said that she had not filled out an application, and that no one is shown an apartment without filling out an application. Judge Sgarzi of Suffolk Superior Court ruled in June 1964 that Wattendorf had discriminated in not accepting an application from Mrs. Williams, but that the evidence did not support a finding that discrimination was practiced generally by the firm.
In later court actions on other cases, Wattendorf seems to have won on technicalities, such as claiming he did not know what his agents were doing.