Uplifting Voices: The Impact of Community Advocacy
Rev. Milton Galamison and Vivian Casey. 1964. Courtesy CORE NYC.
The Honorable John H. Stroger, Jr. (1929-2008) was the first elected African American president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners and the Cook County Board and Forest Preserve District. In his interview, Stroger reflected on his community's strong commitment to education and advancement: “ Yeah, well I know for about my hometown, in a direct way, that those people, even people who my father's generation, you didn't get the same type of training and education we had, they were committed to try to make us better and--and I know that the teachers, and if John were to one day share with you one of his father's books, who would explain what happened in his life, which is similar to what happened in my life, you could graphically see it through the book reading that those people really tried to make our lives better.”[1]
Calvin Giles is an Illinois state politician. Giles spoke about how his community is extremely important to him, and how he tries to give back and connect with them in any way he can: “And what I try to do; what I spend a lot of my time is to connect the Austin Community that African American Community to the State [of Illinois], to the legislature and what I mean right now if you were to go down the street and ask any Jane Smith off the bus stop or someone if you go to their house and you ask them what does your State Representative do? What does the Legislature do? How does that affect your home?... In my district one of the biggest tasks is educating is to be able to educate the people exactly what this particular office means to the community and that is a huge task within itself.”
Civil rights lawyer Randolph Michael McLaughlin supported and advanced my hometown when he defended a group of activists called the Yonkers Thirteen: “it was a packed courtroom every day. 'Cause we were alleging they had no right to arrest these men, they didn't do anything wrong, you couldn't even identify them. It was tried to a judge because it was a low level charge and eleven of them were either acquitted by the judge, dismissed and no charges proffered. The two leaders were forced to continue with the trial. And the judge then found them both guilty of a misdemeanor. One did community service, and he sentenced them, he sentenced them both to community service.” [2]
The New York Times Archive January 19, 1988, Section B, Page 1
In 1998, Andre J. Hornsby. served as superintendent of the Yonkers, New York Public School system. He also tried to support the Yonkers’ community by attempting to restructure the implementation plan for schools to help improve achievement for minority women: “When the board hired me, I had already reviewed the educational improvement plan, and I told them well the plan had good research base components. It had a tremendous amount of flaws in it, the implementation was wrong. And I told them if they would, if the courts would allow me to change the plan, I would take the job, if they would not allow me to change the plan, I would not take the job. And the reason why is because I didn't believe you should waste some good money and not do what was necessary to improve achievement for minority children.”[3]
Further in the interview, Hornsby also stated, “Because they had collaboratively developed this plan [Education Improvement Plan II (EIP II)] with the teachers union, with parents in the community and they felt that the plan that they had put together was the right plan. Based on the money that was available for the window of time that they knew this plan would exist. On the other hand, I, I believe something very different. I believe that knowing that the City of Yonkers [New York] was against the school system in the lawsuit, we were in opposite ends.” [4]
Yonkers Board of Education curtessy of yonkerspublicschools.org
Civil rights activist Ann Walker participated in the Freedom Rides and the campaign to desegregate Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. Walker explains how while Yonkers schools, while they were desegregated in 1986, still had segregation issues until 2003: “I was surprised--I was surprised. Yeah, I was very surprised. And where we lived in Yonkers [New York] was a big country segregated town. They were still fighting the, the--what is it the--for the schools to be integrated, they were still fighting against that. I guess maybe the year--'til the year before we left, that was 2003.”[5]
The Freedom Riders curtesy of illinois.pbslearningmedia.org
This just goes to show that even though there has been work done, we still have much more that we can do. Through these narratives, we can celebrate hometowns as crucibles of resilience, activism, and the quest for equity.
Citations:
The Honorable Calvin Giles (The HistoryMakers A2000.051), interviewed by Adele Hodge, August 9, 2000, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 2, story 2, Calvin Giles talks his goals for his community
Randolph Michael McLaughlin (The HistoryMakers A2005.130), interviewed by Shawn Wilson, July 29, 2005, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 2, tape 8, story 9, Randolph Michael McLaughlin recalls representing school desegregation activists in Yonkers, New York
Andre J. Hornsby (The HistoryMakers A2004.250), interviewed by Racine Tucker Hamilton, December 7, 2004, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 4, story 4, Andre J. Hornsby describes moving to the Yonkers Public School District
Andre J. Hornsby (The HistoryMakers A2004.250), interviewed by Racine Tucker Hamilton, December 7, 2004, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 4, story 5, Andre J. Hornsby describes the conflict over his new implementation plan at Yonkers Independent School District in Yonkers, New York
Ann Walker (The HistoryMakers A2010.055), interviewed by Larry Crowe, June 24, 2010, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 4, story 4, Ann Walker describes her experiences of discrimination in Yonkers, New York
