The neighborhood is bordered by the Muddy River, across which you can see Brookline and Boston proper. Dorchester and Franklin Park comprise the neighborhood's other borders though Franklin Park used to be completely within Roxbury. Some time ago, Ferdinand's Blue Store stood with an elevated train cutting through the building.
Although the neighborhood was once racially diverse, in the 1960s more and more African-American families began to call it home. Roxbury is now almost entirely comprised of African-American residents though there is a smattering of a Puerto Rican population up and coming.
The list of notable residents of Roxbury is a long one and comprised of: Malcolm X, Donna Summer, Jimmy Walker and the members of New Edition. What was once a neighborhood of unrest and danger is quickly becoming a beautiful, safe area thanks, in part, to the efforts of its residents. The city now lays claim to being the 'heart of Black culture in Boston'; and rightfully so.