Bruce W. Klunder
Bruce W. Klunder | |
---|---|
![]() Klunder in 1954 | |
Born | Greeley, Colorado, U.S.[1] | July 12, 1937
Died | April 7, 1964 | (aged 26)
Cause of death | Crushed to death |
Resting place | Church of the Covenant, Cleveland, Ohio[1] |
Education | |
Occupation(s) | Minister, activist |
Years active | 1955–64 |
Organization | Congress of Racial Equality |
Movement | Civil rights movement |
Spouse | Joanne Lehman[1] |
Children | 2 |
Bruce W. Klunder (July 12, 1937 – April 7, 1964
Death
Klunder frequently did picket duty, demonstrating for
On the afternoon of April 6, 1964, about 100 demonstrators threw themselves at the wheels and treads of bulldozers, power shovels, trucks and mobile concrete mixers to prevent the school from being built. A power shovel operator watched as six people—including a woman five months pregnant—leapt into a ditch and stretched out prone just beneath the shovel's jaws. Police officers tried to disperse the demonstrators, but many came out of the muck fighting. Twenty-one were arrested that day, and two were injured.[5]
The next day, April 7, Klunder and a larger group of approximately 1,000 demonstrators returned to the site of the school. Already awaiting them were dozens of Cleveland police officers. Moments later, Klunder, two women, and another man dashed across the school lot toward a bulldozer. Three of them flung themselves into the path of the steel treads. Klunder lay down behind the machine. The driver, John White, 33, stopped when he saw the three in front. He looked around but did not see Klunder, and he backed up. When he finally stopped the vehicle, Klunder was dead.[5]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/31/Death_of_Bruce_Klunder.jpg/220px-Death_of_Bruce_Klunder.jpg)
Aftermath
Klunder's death ignited angry confrontations that devolved into "rock-throwing, car-smashing disorders".[7] Cleveland police eventually used tear gas to disperse the crowds, which numbered more than 3,500 protesters.[7] The Plain Dealer reported that "police ... were forced to use tear gas bombs to scatter crowds that would not clear out of the neighborhoods. ... Thirteen persons, including eight policemen, were injured in the fighting. Twenty-six persons, including women, were arrested and jailed."[8][9]
The next day, demonstrators formed a silent memorial in front of the Board of Education Building in downtown Cleveland. Funeral services for Klunder were held at the Church of the Covenant. Eugene Carson Blake, stated clerk of the United Presbyterian Church, delivered the eulogy and 1,500 people attended.[1][10] Klunder's death polarized the Cleveland community. Some saw his death as an inevitable result of the breakdown of law and order. Others viewed his activism as an act of love.[2]
Klunder is one of the 41 individuals listed as civil rights martyrs at the national Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama.[11]
In 2013, the Stephen E. Howe Elementary School on Lakeview Road, whose construction sparked the protests, was torn down and long-time Cleveland residents were interviewed about its history. Rev. E Theophilus Caviness of the Greater Abyssinia Baptist Church was at the scene in 1964; he told The Plain Dealer: "Every time I pass that school, it's sacred ground. It's a sacred location to all of us who were here and saw what the struggle was all about."[9][12]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Klunder, Bruce W.". The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. July 17, 1997. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
- ^ a b Heuser, Fred. "Stories from Our Past: Presbyterians and the Struggle for Civil Rights" (PDF). Presbyterian Church USA. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 5, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
- ^ Staff (April 8, 1964). "Demonstration Victim Former OSU Student". Corvallis Gazette-Times. p. 2. Archived from the original on April 11, 2024. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
- ^ a b "Klunder, Bruce W." Case Western Publishing. January 31, 2019. Archived from the original on January 19, 2021. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
- ^ a b c "We Are Dedicated". Time. April 17, 1964. Archived from the original on May 6, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
- ^ "KLUNDER, BRUCE W. | Encyclopedia of Cleveland History | Case Western Reserve University". January 31, 2019. Archived from the original on January 19, 2021. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
- ^
- ^ Barmann, George J. (April 8, 1964). "City's Worst Rights Violence Erupts After Minister's Death" (PDF). The Plain Dealer. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 17, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
- ^ a b O'Donnell, Patrick (August 31, 2013). "Elementary school whose construction in 1964 led to demonstrations and the death of a protestor will be torn down". The Plain Dealer. Archived from the original on April 11, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
- ^ "Stephen E. Howe Elementary – The Fight for Equal Schools". Cleveland Historical. Archived from the original on April 24, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
- ^ "Civil Rights Martyrs". Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived from the original on May 9, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
- ^ Nutile, Alaina (September 3, 2013). "The Cleveland School Where a Minister Was Once Run Over by a Bull Dozer Will Be Torn Down". Cleveland Scene. Archived from the original on March 10, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
External links
- Klunder, Joanne (June 1964). "My Husband Died for Democracy". Ebony.
- "Letters to the Editor concerning 'My Husband Died for Democracy'". Ebony. Johnson Publishing Company. August 1964.
- "Rev. Bruce Klunder". Southern Poverty Law Center.
- "Widow Protests". National Governors Conference
- "Convener: Establishing a Groundbreaking Interracial Forum". The Cleveland Foundation. – information about the Businessmen's Interracial Committee on Community Affairs, an organization formed in the wake of Klunder's death and supported by the Greater Cleveland Associated Foundation, which merged into the Cleveland Foundation