Activist Gopen built legacy by organizing

Vidya Rao

Martin Gopen was more than just an activist. He was a leader, a thinker and a visionary. For decades Gopen worked tirelessly to make changes in the community in the realms of affordable housing and fair hiring practices, among many other things. At the age of 71, Gopen passed away last month after a 20-year battle with Parkinson’s disease.

Gopen, a nearly lifelong South End resident, worked with Mel King, who was running the New Boston Urban League, to organize workers. He has also been credited with helping to get more people of color hired for state construction jobs and as police officers.

“[Gopen] not only was one of the architects of effective action in the construction industry in Massachusetts, he really played a key role in crafting policies that are now in law,” Michael Kane, executive director of the National Alliance of Housing and Urban Development Tenants, told the Boston Globe. “Thousands of people owe their jobs to Mr. Gopen.”

Organizing in mostly black and Latino communities in the 1960s and and 1970s, Gopen, the son of immigrant Russian-Polish Jews, worked side-by-side with community members and was able to earn their respect, no small feat considering the severe racial tensions of the time. Gopen even wrote a column for the Banner, and used his position to vocalize community needs, getting bus service to Route 128 so that city people had transportation to their jobs.

Through the 1980s Gopen worked as a fair housing planner for the Boston Housing Authority and at the Boston Fair Housing Commission. Among other awards, Gopen was honored with the Community Church of Boston’s Sacco-Vanzetti Award for his efforts. Staying true to his humble personality, Gopen declared that he was “not worthy of it.”

Despite his passing, Gopen’s legacy and life’s work will not be forgotten. A memorial service is planned for his remembrance at the South End Community Center in September.