From the Common to Cambridge, Boston's compact geography concentrates protest energy into a few square miles of historic ground.
A dark basemap showing the greater Boston area.
The traditional heart of public assembly. Tens of thousands gathered here on June 2, 2020 in one of the city's largest demonstrations.
The map zooms to Boston Common showing rally markers.
The primary march corridor from Roxbury's Nubian Square through the South End to Downtown Crossing — a 2.5-mile route that became the spine of sustained protests in 2020.
The map shows the march route from Nubian Square to Downtown Crossing.
In April 2024, students established a solidarity encampment in Harvard Yard. The occupation lasted 20 days before university administration negotiated its removal.
The map zooms to Harvard Yard in Cambridge.
MIT's Kresge Oval saw parallel encampments and teach-ins. Graduate unions organized walkouts along the Memorial Drive corridor connecting to Harvard across the river.
The map shows MIT and Harvard connected by a route along Memorial Drive.
On April 25, 2024, Boston Police cleared an Emerson encampment on Boylston Street, arresting over 100 — the most significant mass arrest in the city since 2011.
The map zooms to Emerson College on Boylston Street.
The Seaport district became a flashpoint for labor actions as tech and biotech firms expanded. Healthcare workers staged rolling pickets along Summer Street through 2023.
The map shows the Seaport district and Boston Medical Center.
Boston's protest geography traces a network from the historic Common through university campuses to working-class neighborhoods — each site amplifying the others through marches and shared infrastructure.
The map pulls back to show all protest sites and march routes across Boston.