50 years after busing, two sisters confront their trauma in new GBH documentary

In September, 1974 – two days after her 14th birthday – Leola Hampton boarded a school bus that would launch her into the heart of one of the most divisive and defining moments in Boston history: court-ordered school desegregation. She and her older sister, Linda Stark, were bused from their home in the predominantly Black neighborhood of Roxbury into the white, working-class neighborhood of South Boston. They navigated a violent and virulently racist high school experience so scarring that a half-century later, they are only now beginning to discuss it with each other. In a new documentary called “‘Never Cried’: Boston’s Busing Legacy,” produced by GBH News’ Emily Judem and Stephanie Leydon, Leola and Linda, along with their family and experts in local history and trauma, share their story.