Civil Rights leader Jean McGuire is expected to survive after she was stabbed multiple times in a Boston park earlier this week.
Local authorities said that McGuire, 91, was in stable condition Wednesday, just a day after what described as a random attack at around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday in Franklin Park, CBS Boston reports.
McGuire, who made history as the first Black woman to be elected to the Boston School Committee, sustained “non-life-threatening” injuries in the incident, police told the outlet.
She was stabbed after parking her car and entering the park with her dog.
Bailey, McGuire’s dog, came to the rescue by helping to fight off the assailant, her sister, Jeriline Brady-McGinnis, told the outlet.
“I’m glad she’s the strong woman she is because she’s a very physical person, takes care of herself really well. There is no nicer person in the world. This is a woman who would do anything for anybody. This woman doesn’t see color, she sees people and for this to happen to her,” Brady-McGinnis said. “She has a huge history, well known, not only in Massachusetts, but other places. … Jean is loved by hundreds and hundreds of people.”
Although McGuire — who was the longest serving director of desegregation program METCO — has spent decades walking in the area, her sister said she “won’t be walking alone again.”