Charles S. Johnson, Fisk University, and the Struggle for Civil Rights, 1945-1970 Keith W
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Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2005 Charles S. Johnson, Fisk University, and the Struggle for Civil Rights, 1945-1970 Keith W. Berry Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES CHARLES S. JOHNSON, FISK UNIVERSITY, AND THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, 1945-1970 By KEITH W. BERRY A Dissertation submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2005 Copyright © 2005 Keith W. Berry All Rights Reserved The members of the Committee approve the dissertation of Keith W. Berry defended on Friday, November 4, 2005. ______________________________ Joe M. Richardson Professor Directing Dissertation ______________________________ Maxine Montgomery Outside Committee Member ______________________________ James P. Jones Committee Member ______________________________ Maxine D. Jones Committee Member The office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii This dissertation is dedicated in memory of my grandparents, Arthur and Mildred Green of Gadsden, Alabama. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Numerous individuals assisted me in reaching this point in my educational pursuit. I would like to gratefully thank Arthur and Sylvia Berry; my parents for their love, direction, and expectations. Also, my brother Kevin proved a worthy educational model to emulate, and his confidence in me has been immeasurable. I would like to give special thanks to my wife Sadahri and our sons Rudy and Preston for their patience regarding this endeavor. Additionally, I am very appreciative for the support of the late Ellen White and her husband Bob for allowing me to stay in their home during my research trips to New Orleans. I am indebted to Dr. Joe M. Richardson for his patience and guidance throughout my graduate studies. He helped me refine my dissertation and his efforts on behalf of my educational development cannot be stated briefly. The useful suggestions of Drs. James P. Jones, Maxine D. Jones and Maxine Montgomery, all of whom I highly respect, were greatly appreciated. Additional thanks are due to Anne Marsh whose timely rescue of the specialized typing saved this dissertation. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract.................................................................................................................. vi Introduction........................................................................................................... vii I Uplifting Humanity: The Fisk University Dream...................................................1 II African-American Plenipotentiary: Charles S. Johnson and the Search for Dignity ...................................................................................................................16 III Charles S. Johnson, Fisk and the Post War Era .....................................................33 IV Seeds of Hope: Fisk University and the Race Relations Department...................63 V A Candle in the Darkness: The Race Relations Institutes of Fisk University, 1944-1970 ..............................................................................................................85 VI Freedom’s Progeny: The Civil Rights Revolution and Fisk...............................104 VII Desegregation and Decline: Fisk University’s Struggle for Survival.................133 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................148 Selected Bibliography..........................................................................................151 Biographical Sketch.............................................................................................164 v ABSTRACT This dissertation attempts to examine the role of Charles S. Johnson in his capacity as an activist and his eventual establishment of Fisk University as his base of operation. Fisk University located in Nashville, Tennessee, was founded in 1866 after the American Civil War primarily to educate former slaves, and became a training ground for some of the nation’s most valued civil rights leaders. The programs of the Race Relations Department and the celebrated gatherings of the Race Relations Institutes are highlighted in order to emphasize structured efforts by Fisk to improve racial conditions. The involvement in the local and national struggles of the 1950s and 1960s of select students, faculty, and local Nashville leaders is also detailed in this study. Although Fisk played an important role in providing leadership during the civil rights movement, this is not a history of Fisk or the civil rights movement. It is hoped that this dissertation will shed light upon Charles S. Johnson’s continuous efforts to achieve racial harmony with the help of the Fisk community. vi INTRODUCTION Fisk University located in Nashville, Tennessee, was founded in 1866 after the American Civil War primarily to educate former slaves, and became a training ground for some of the nation’s most valued civil rights leaders. Despite imperfections, Fisk always had an interracial faculty and frequently an interracial board of trustees. This dissertation attempts to examine the role of Charles S. Johnson, Fisk’s first black president, in his capacity as an activist and his eventual establishment of Fisk University as his base of operation. Additionally, the central role Fisk University played in the struggle for equal opportunity during the post World War II era is highlighted. For example, the programs of the Race Relations Department and the celebrated gatherings of the Race Relations Institutes are detailed in order to emphasize structured efforts by Fisk to improve racial conditions. Fisk University has a long tradition of student and faculty activism regarding civil rights and the promotion of better race relations. The involvement in the local and national struggles of the 1950s and 1960s of select students, faculty, and local Nashville leaders is examined. There are generous amounts of scholarship available regarding Charles S. Johnson and Fisk University. Several studies were indispensable in developing this dissertation. Patrick J. Gilpin’s doctoral study at Vanderbilt University entitled, “Charles S. Johnson: An Intellectual Biography,” delivers a trenchant delineation of the intellectual development of Johnson and of his motives. Richard Robbin’s work entitled, Sidelines Activist, follows suit with a strong emphasis on Johnson’s efforts to ameliorate racism in America. Gilpin and Marybeth Gasman collaborated on yet another study of Johnson entitled, Charles S. Johnson: Leadership Beyond the Veil in the Age of Jim Crow, which provides a strong emphasis on Johnson’s creation of the Social Sciences department at Fisk. This work also provides an examination of his numerous studies affecting the field of sociology and race relations, but none of the above deal with Fisk University after Johnson’s death or the Race Relations Department in an extensive way. Books treating the civil rights movement and its participants number in the dozens, but two were specifically useful for this study. John Egerton’s Speak Now Against the Day: The Generation Before the Civil Rights Movement in the South, creates an excellent vii framework of the society in which Johnson lived and worked. Egerton was able to utilize Gilpin’s dissertation and then brilliantly weave Johnson into a broad story of interracial cooperation that is the fabric of America. The examination of Fisk in the 1960s is best described by David Halberstam in his book entitled, The Children. Halberstam’s work is a series of biographical vignettes, weaved together to illustrate the role of student led efforts to create an enduring framework of democracy. Joe M. Richardson’s A History of Fisk University 1865- 1946, is the definitive study of the early development of the institution and its growth in a time of uncertainty, but again does not treat the institution during its later years. Although Leslie Collins’ One Hundred Years of Fisk University Presidents: 1875-1975, gives interesting brief biographical sketches of later Fisk presidents, it is not a study of Fisk struggles for equal rights and desegregation. Katrina Sanders’ dissertation, “Building Racial Tolerance Through Education: The Fisk University Race Relations Institute, 1944-1969,” is a solid study, but underestimates the importance of the Institutes. This study endeavors to combine Charles S. Johnson’s many efforts to improve life for African-Americans, and the activities of Fisk both during his life and after his death. Many depositories were instrumental in the completion of the dissertation. The Charles S. Johnson Papers of Fisk and the Amistad Research Center in New Orleans were especially helpful in allowing a closer view of Johnson’s labors through the years. The American Missionary Association Papers, Herman H. Long Papers and Race Relations Department Papers were all important resources from the Amistad. The Kelly Miller Smith Papers and the Nelson and Marian Fuson Papers at Vanderbilt University were quite useful in later chapters. Additionally, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference Papers and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Papers at the King Center in Atlanta provided an exciting wealth of information that strengthened this work. viii CHAPTER I Uplifting Humanity: