Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, March 1, 2001
News
The Southern Cross, Page 3
Savannah Deanery Council of Catholic Women takes on racism, 1940s-style
W hen Mrs. John Lyons, Jr.,
president of the
Savannah Deanery Council of
Catholic Women, put into
motion a two-part resolution
at the 1943 gathering of the
group, probably no one pres
ent had any idea of the reper
cussions which would follow
the move. Encouraged by
Monsignor T. James
McNamara, rector of the
Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist,
the deanery women hoped to im
prove the Savannah community by
making a rather modest proposal by
today’s standards.
Submitted to Savannah’s city lead
ership on October 25, 1943, the reso
lution, adopted the previous day at
the deanery meeting, read as follows:
“Looking at a lessening of race ten
sion and a demonstration of Christian
and American principles, we the
Savannah Deanery Council of the
Savannah-Atlanta Diocesan Council
of Catholic Women, request the
mayor and board of alderman of our
city:
“One. To take under advisement
the appointment of negro policemen
in the Savannah police department to
serve in those localities that are
exclusively negro or nearly so.
Toward the accomplishment of this
end, we would urge a study of the
police conditions in those Southern
communities where negro policemen
are employed by the municipality.
“Two. We request that serious
study be now given by the post-war
planning committee of our city gov
ernment to better housing for all our
citizens so that police problems
might be reduced, public health
improved and the charm of ‘old
Savannah’ be recaptured. To this end
we urge planning that will take our
negro citizens out of the lanes and
alleys of the city and place them in
certain of the war housing projects
that seem inevitably to be depopulat
ed once the war emergency has
passed. It would seem advisable,
Rita H.
DeLorme
looking to the welfare and pros
perity of our city, that now the
resources of the municipal
health, engineering, building
inspection, fire and police
departments would be
employed in a policy of inte
gration, having as its end an
adequate and an intelligent
planning for the period of
post-war rehabilitation.”
The Deanery placed this
particular little bombshell on the
desk of his honor, Mayor Thomas E.
Gamble, who announced the follow
ing day that he had it under consider
ation and would complete his reply
to it shortly. The Savannah Morning
News of October 25 noted that it was
“understood that the Mayor is sym
pathetically cooperative with the
housing objective.” The newspaper
added that “Discussion of the dean
ery’s resolution as it applied to negro
policemen occupied a prominent
place in the conversations of city
authorities today, and it was unmis
takably clear from the trend of what
was heard that the city government
will not undertake to have any negro
policemen, there being a very defi
nite opinion that the proposal, if car
ried out, would increase racial ten
sion.” The mayor’s upcoming letter
was expected to reflect these conclu
sions and did so.
Having set the movement for
black policemen in motion, the ladies
of the Savannah Deanery, especially
Mrs. Lyons, received a full backlash
of racism. The “racial tensions” men
tioned earlier evolved into unpleasant
phone calls to the deanery president
which caused her to relinquish her
prominent role in the National
Council of Catholic Women in the
interests of her family’s safety. Few
Savannahians would ever be aware
of Monsignor McNamara’s part in
suggesting the controversial resolu
tion. The innovative monsignor,
along with Bishop Gerald P. O’Hara,
Father Daniel J. Bourke and other
members of the clergy, had been
The “Original Nine” black Savannah police officers
stand with their chief (right) in the late 1940s.
present at the deanery meeting that
late October day.
In 1947, when African Americans
did take to the streets as members of
the Savannah Police Department,
racial tensions increased as police
cars received impromptu Ku Klux
Klan decorations at the hand of van
dals. The nine black policemen, who
had been trained in secrecy, met with
epithets and racial slurs as they
patrolled their beats. These pioneers,
known as “The Original Nine,”
included: John A. White, LeRoy
Wilson, William N. Malone, Franks
B. Mullino, Howard L. Davis, Milton
Hall, James Nealy, Alexander Grant
Jr. and Stepney Houston. Eight of
these officers had served in the mili
tary during World War II. William
Day replaced Alexander Grant Jr.,
who left the Police Department 30
days after the officers’ swearing-in
ceremony. There were dense ground
rules for the black policemen who
operated their separate barracks on
Waldburg Street: They could not
mingle with white policemen at the
main barracks. They could not arrest
white people. They could not board a
bus (then segregated) while in uni
form. They, could not use “white”
restrooms or water fountains.
The cadre of black police officers
operated mainly on West Broad
Street (now Martin Luther King Jr.
Blvd.). Many of them later disclosed
that they had felt like quitting the
force, but had been steadied by the
camraderie of their social group, The
Escort Social Club, by prayer ses
sions and by knowledge that what
they were doing would impact on
future generations of African Ameri
cans. Several white officers offered
them encouragement along the way
to acceptance, especially later Chief
of Police Sidney A. Bames. Dogged
ly staying on the job, Savannah’s
first black police officers eventually
won the respect of many, even those
who had initially objected to their
hiring. Their success must have
seemed a special vindication to the
ladies of the Savannah Deanery of
the National Council of Catholic
Women, who had seen their well-
intentioned resolution voted down
four years earlier.
Rita H. DeLorme is a volunteer
in the Diocesan Archives.
Marist Brothers to leave diocese after 81 years
By Gillian Brown
he Marist Brothers, who have served the Dio
cese of Savannah for 81 years, will be closing
their community in Augusta as of June 2001.
Leaving the Augusta area will be five Marists:
Brother James D. Brady, Brother Luke Driscoll,
Brother Francis Klug, Brother Richard Michel and
Brother Joseph Teston.
The decision, made at the meeting of the provin
cial council held in January, was announced re
cently by Brother Leo Shea, FMS, provincial. It
was a difficult choice, he noted, but one that see
med the most practical for the well being of the
brothers, all five of whom are now nearing the age
of retirement.
The closure will bring to an end a remarkable
period of service which began in 1919, when five
earlier brothers, led by Brother Paul Stratonic,
arrived in Savannah at the invitation of Bishop
Benjamin J. Keiley. Savannah Catholics gave them
an enthusiastic welcome. Their famous school at
the southwest comer of Abercom and Charlton
was in operation for twenty years, educating
Catholic boys in first through eighth grade.
The brothers earned universal acclaim for their
work with their students in Savannah, but funding
became a cause for concern during the Depression
years. In 1939, Bishop Gerald P. O’Hara decided
that the school would not be able to reopen. The
last class of 40 students graduated that year in
June, at which time the brothers moved to Augusta
to establish the Marist Boys Catholic High School.
Boys Catholic High School flourished for several
years, closing in 1957 when it merged with Mount
Saint Joseph’s Academy to form the new, coeduca
tional Aquinas High School. The brothers taught at
Aquinas, joining forces with Sisters of Saint
Joseph and increasing numbers of lay faculty
members. By 1993, only one Marist Brother re
mained on the faculty and by 1994 all had moved
on to undertake other fields of work. In recent
years the brothers have worked in social services,
health care and parish ministry in the city of
Augusta.
Brother Francis J. Klug, Director of the Marist
Brothers in Augusta, writing to Bishop Boland at
the beginning of this month, said that the brothers
(Continued on page 11)