29 Facts About Byron Rushing

Byron Rushing was born on July 29,1942 and is an American politician who represented the Ninth Suffolk district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1983 to 2019.

Byron Rushing moved with his family to Syracuse, New York where he attended Madison Junior High and then Syracuse Central High School, where he graduated in 1960.

Byron Rushing initially moved to Boston in 1960 to attend university, but dropped out in his junior year.

Byron Rushing returned to Boston to work for the Northern Student Movement.

Byron Rushing possesses an honorary doctorate from the Episcopal Divinity School, where he serves as an adjunct professor.

Byron Rushing directed Roxbury Associates which helped to found the Lower Roxbury Community Corporation, one of the first CDCs in the nation, and which began some of the earliest organizing in a black community against the war in Vietnam.

In 1969, Byron Rushing worked for the Center for Inner City Change in Boston.

Byron Rushing became the director of the Urban Change program at the Urban League in 1969.

In 1979, Byron Rushing oversaw the lobbying effort in Congress to establish the Boston African American National Historical Site, a component of the National Park Service.

Byron Rushing led the museum in the study of the history of Roxbury; the museum conducted the archaeological investigation of the Southwest Corridor for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

Byron Rushing stays involved in this work; as a legislator, he sponsored the creation of Roxbury Heritage State Park and occasionally leads walking tours of African American and working-class neighborhoods in Boston and Roxbury.

Byron Rushing wants Massachusetts state pension funds to help improve underdeveloped areas in the state.

Byron Rushing is a spokesman against the restoration of the death penalty in Massachusetts and for a moratorium on executions in the nation.

Byron Rushing leads the effort for size acceptance and anti-discrimination on the basis of height and weight.

Byron Rushing led the Commonwealth's anti-apartheid efforts and was the co-author, with Simon Billenness, and chief sponsor of the Massachusetts Burma law, which was struck down by the US Supreme Court in 2000.

Byron Rushing was the chief sponsor of the health reform law ending pre-existing condition refusals by insurance companies.

Byron Rushing is a chief sponsor of legislation for needle exchange programs and over-the-counter sale of sterile needles.

Byron Rushing advocated for hospitals to establish a set of guidelines to treat victims of violence.

Byron Rushing was a sponsor of establishing a rule to provide "treatment on demand" for substance abuse.

Byron Rushing was running for re-election for State Representative in the Democratic primary scheduled for September 4,2018, against two democratic challengers.

Byron Rushing ran on his progressive record of accomplishment as well as unfinished work regarding gun safety, immigration, criminal justice reform, affordable housing, civil rights, health care treatment, treatment of drug addiction as a health issue not a crime, and neighborhood quality of life issues.

Byron Rushing is married to Frieda Garcia and they both live in Boston's South End in Massachusetts.

Byron Rushing is an active Episcopal layperson and a member of St John's, St James' Church in Roxbury, Massachusetts.

Byron Rushing has been an elected lay deputy to the General Convention since 1973 and was elected Vice-President of the House of Deputies in 2012.

Byron Rushing was appointed to the Boston Public Library Board of Trustees in 2010 by Mayor Thomas Menino to help resolve the budget crisis.

Byron Rushing is a Second Division Chair at the House Leadership and a member of the Rules Committee.

Byron Rushing has given talks on gentrification, the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and suburbanization as a part of a series on structural racism in Boston, Massachusetts.

Byron Rushing was an essential figure alongside Deval Patrick in convincing the black religious community that marriage is a civil right.

In 2014, Byron Rushing was awarded the HistoryMaker Award by The History Project.