A Case Study of African American Boy Scouts In
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CAMPING APART: A CASE STUDY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN BOY SCOUTS IN NORTHEAST TEXAS A Thesis by WILLIAM C. WILSON Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University-Commerce in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTERS OF ARTS December 2016 CAMPING APART: A CASE STUDY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN BOY SCOUTS IN NORTHEAST TEXAS A Thesis by WILLIAM C. WILSON Approved by: Advisor: Jessica Brannon-Wranosky Committee: Derrick McKisick William Kuracina Head of Department: William Kuracina Dean of the College: Salvatore Attardo Dean of Graduate Studies: Mary Beth Sampson iii Copyright © 2016 William C. Wilson iv ABSTRACT CAMPING APART: A CASE STUDY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN BOY SCOUTS IN NORTHEAST TEXAS William C. Wilson, MEd, MA Texas A&M University-Commerce, 2016 Advisor: Jessica Brannon-Wranosky, PhD The Boy Scouts of America, a Progressive organization, intended to train young men for leadership roles, organized in 1910 and within two years, excluded African American men and boys from joining the youth organization in the South due to legal racial segregation or Jim Crow laws. By the 1930s, the BSA opened membership to African Americans but only according to the local council’s discretion, which the region’s local school segregation plans often determined. In Texas, the NeTseO Trails Council of Paris, Texas, maintained segregation until 1970. African American scoutmasters led segregated troops, which African American donations funded. In the 1960s, scouting in these cities remained segregated, then legal desegregation via an official non-discrimination policy ended de jure segregation in scouting. Yet rather than integrate with white troops, many African Americans abandoned the organization. This thesis evaluates the organization of black scouting, black scouting leadership, and the expansion of black scouting and the development of space for black scouts from 1930 to 1970 in Paris, Texas. This study aims to examine the rise and decline of African American scouting. Scouting membership primarily falls within the middle class. Responsibility for the rise of scout troops in v the 1930s fell on the activism of the black middle class and the desire for trained youth leadership. Once the Civil Rights Act of 1964 overhauled federal law to make public discrimination illegal, scouting steadily declined among African Americans. This study analyzes the Boy Scouts of America’s endeavors to build and maintain black scout troops and the decrease of membership due to the changes to American society, which include methods of school desegregation and the migration of the African American middle class out of segregated neighborhoods. This study evaluates the decline of African American scouting in Paris, Texas. The case study examines the segregated culture, scouting operations, and desegregation of Paris. This study relies on detailed analysis of archival collections including The Archives of the National Scouting Museum and also newspaper articles from The Paris News and other newspapers. In conclusion, by examining primary and secondary documents, this study contributes to the discussion of segregation in the State of Texas and the effects of the Civil Rights movement on de facto and de jure segregation in youth character-building organizations. It is important to note that in no way does this study or its author argue that desegregation was a negative occurrence, but instead seeks to examine the effects this change in social, cultural, and legal practice had on sponsored youth activities affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America in African American communities. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Very special appreciation should be given to Dr. Jessica Wranosky, my thesis advisor, for understanding my need to tell this story and providing me with the tools to complete this work. I would also thank my thesis committee: Dr. William Kuracina and Dr. Derrick McKisick. Further thanks to Dr. Andrew Baker for his advising oral history approaches for this project. I would like to thank Theodore Mathis, Leroy Samuels, and Leon Williams for participating in the oral history interviews and being scouts. Furthermore, special appreciation is given to Linda Hammond, office manager, and David Dean, Scout Executive, of NeTseO Trails Council in Paris, Texas. I would also like to recognize Andrea Weddle and the staff of the James Gee Library Archives at Texas A&M University-Commerce for their assistance in my research. Appreciation is sent to Corey Krazenburg and the staff of the Archives of the National Scouting Museum and the Boy Scouts of America for their assistance in this vast research project. I would especially like to thank my parents, Rick Wilson, for local and BSA history, and Sharon Wilson, for helping with the interviews, plus decades of support and encouragement for my education. I would thank Sandy and Blake Utley, my in-laws, for general support and encouragement. I would also like to remember my other scouting mentors: George Al Wilson, Dr. Henry Sellers, and Lynwood Hogue for my scouting heritage. I especially wish to recognize my daughter, Amelia Caye Wilson, for letting me know when my writing was appropriately boring by falling asleep. Most importantly I would honor my wife and best friend, Brittany, who pushed, encouraged, threatened, and supported my work on this paper because she believes in achieving your goals and dreams. vii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES TABLE 1. African American Populations of Counties in Lone Star Area Council .......................... 9 FIGURES 1. Troop 314 Membership Decline, 1932-1970 ............................................................... 101 2. Troop 300 Membership Decline, 1943-1970 ............................................................... 101 viii LIST OF MAPS MAP 1. Map of Lone Star Area Council, February 1940 ............................................................. 7 ix ABBREVIATIONS OF ORGANIZATIONS BSA - Boy Scouts of America CORE - Congress of Racial Equality GSA - Girl Scouts of America JRF - Julius Rosenwald Fund IRS - Interracial Service LSAC - Lone Star Area Council LSRM - Laura Spellman Rockefeller Memorial Foundation NAACP - National Association for the Advancement of Colored People NeTseO - Northeast Texas Southeast Oklahoma; from NeTseO Trails Council OA - Order of the Arrow SCOTUS - Supreme Court of the United States SCLC - Southern Christian Leadership Conference YMCA - Young Men’s Christian Association x TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF MAPS ....................................................................................................................... viii ABBREVIATIONS OF ORGANIZATIONS ............................................................................ ix CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1 2. “A VERY WISE AND VERY CAPABLE LEADERSHIP” ........................................ 27 3. “A WORTHWHILE THING” ....................................................................................... 57 4. “THE CONTENT OF THEIR CHARACTER” ............................................................ 82 5. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................ 109 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................... 121 APPENDICES ......................................................................................................................... 133 VITA ........................................................................................................................................ 151 1 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION On July 1, 1920, Andrew G. Marple arrived at his office in Paris, Texas as the new Scout Executive of the new Paris first-class council. The council formed in April of 1920 under the guidance of a Boy Scouts of America (BSA) Region IX Region Executive, James Fitch. The new Council Executive Board elected Maury Robinson to Council President and set an annual budget of $5,000 in order to hire a professional scouter. The Paris Council hired Marple from Hays City, Kansas, where he worked as a high school principal, to develop the current volunteer based second-class council into a vibrant organization. Like many early scout professionals, he trained as an educator before joining the BSA. After serving as principal at several high schools around Hays City, he opened a scout troop at his school and became a scout executive. He moved to Paris in 1920 with his wife, Harriet, and five-year-old son, Max.1 When Marple arrived, the new council only served two scout troops within the city of Paris. Marple concerned himself with two priorities: first, to organize the council and its Executive Board made of volunteers and second, to expand scouting throughout the county. His first act as Scout Executive was to set a meeting for the rural boys to join scout troops in five days. The next day near Powderly in North Lamar County, landlord and farmer J.H. Hodges and his son, William, stormed into the Arthur home place to halt the family’s migration to Chicago due to tenant debt. The Arthur family of Scott, Violet, Herman, Irving, Eula, Mary, Millie, Cora, and grandson, Iwy Cannon, rented from the Hodges and they refused to work extra 1 “Boy Scout Executive Has Been Employed To Come To Paris, July 1,” Paris