Boston Civil Rights Pioneer Jean McGuire Stabbed In Franklin Park

JAMAICA PLAIN — A Boston civil rights pioneer was injured Tuesday night in a stabbing in Franklin Park, according to police and media reports.

The sister of Jean McGuire, the first Black woman to be elected to the Boston School Committee, told WCVB McGuire was stabbed while walking her dog at the park Tuesday night.

Boston police said the stabbing happened around 8:30 p.m. in the Playstead area of Franklin Park along Pierpont Road. Police said the victim was stabbed multiple times, but was taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

"Preliminary investigation reveals that the suspect may have been injured during this attack. Detectives are urging anyone that was in the area during that time and may have witnessed this incident or observed anything suspicious to contact Area B-2 detectives," Boston police said Wednesday morning.

Apart from her service in Boston Public Schools, McGuire was appointed executive director of METCO in the early 1970s. The program allowed Boston students to attend schools in local suburbs as part of a wide desegregation effort, and METCO still operates today with Boston students attending classes in 30 suburbs as far away as Sudbury, Marblehead and Foxborough.