George Raymond
George Raymond | |
---|---|
Born | Chester, Pennsylvania, U.S. | May 10, 1914
Died | May 9, 1999 | (aged 84)
Resting place | Haven Cemetery, Chester, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Occupation(s) | President of the Chester, Pennsylvania, branch of the NAACP |
George T. Raymond (May 10, 1914 – May 9, 1999) was an American civil rights leader from
Early life and education
Raymond was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, and graduated from
Raymond worked at multiple odd jobs and finally landed at the Chester Boys Club, joined the NAACP and began his career in the civil rights movement.[3]
Career
Raymond became the leader of the Chester branch of the NAACP in 1942 and began to implement programs to end racial discrimination.[4] He partnered with J. Pius Barbour, the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Chester and together they adopted a gradualist approach to civil rights.[5]
In 1945, Raymond and the Chester branch of the NAACP successfully desegregated movie theaters, restaurants, hotels and other businesses in Chester through non-violent protests and the threat of legal action.[6]
In 1953, the
In 1955, Raymond and the NAACP desegregated public housing run by the Chester Housing Authority.[8]
In 1958, Raymond purchased a house in the borough of Rutledge, Pennsylvania, in majority white Delaware County. The day before he was to move in, a fire burned down the house.[9] After the fire, the township attempted to exercise eminent domain and claim Raymond's property as a site for a new town hall. Raymond threatened legal action and the township backed down. The house was rebuilt and Raymond took residence in the house in 1959.[10]
In 1964, the Chester school protests led to a month long series of almost nightly protests initiated by Stanley Branche and the Committee for Freedom Now against the Chester School Board de facto segregation of schools. The protests were marked by violence and police brutality which caused James Farmer to dub Chester the “Birmingham of the North,” in reference to the harsh treatment of protesters in Birmingham, Alabama, around the same time.[11][12] Raymond presented the school board with a list of 10 demands including teacher transfers, transportation of students to schools in other neighborhoods, hiring blacks for supervisory positions and hiring more black secretaries.[13] Over six hundred people were arrested over a two-month period of civil rights rallies, marches, pickets, boycotts and sit-ins.[14]
Death and legacy
Raymond died of heart failure on May 9, 1999, and was interred at Haven Memorial Cemetery.[15]
Raymond was presented the Freedom Award by Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.[16][when?]
In 1991, the George T. Raymond award was established in his honor by the NAACP.[15]
Three scrapbooks created by Raymond of newspaper clippings, booklets and photographs chronicling the Chester civil rights movement throughout the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s are available online at the Wolfman Digital Collections at Widener University.[17]
References
Citations
- ^ McLarnon 2002, p. 297.
- ^ McLarnon 2002, p. 302.
- ^ McLarnon 2002, p. 303.
- ^ McLarnon 2002, p. 305.
- ^ Mele 2017, p. 50.
- ^ McLarnon 2002, p. 307.
- ^ McLarnon 2002, p. 308.
- ^ McLarnon 2002, pp. 306–307.
- ISBN 978-1-4236-0527-0. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
- ^ McLarnon 2002, p. 310.
- ^ "Birmingham Civil Rights". National Park Service. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
- ^ "African American residents of Chester, PA, demonstrate to end de facto segregation in public schools, 1963–1966". www.nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
- ^ "RIOTS MAR PEACE IN CHESTER, PA.; Negro Protests Continue – School Policy at Issue". The New York Times. 26 April 1964. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
- ^ Mele 2017, p. 95.
- ^ a b Raftery, Kay. "George T. Raymond Sr., 84, leader in civil-rights effort". www.digitalwolfgram.widener.edu. Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
- ^ McLarnon 2002, p. 341.
- ^ "Chester—George Raymond Papers". Retrieved 14 July 2018.
Sources
- McLarnon, John M. (2002). ""Old Scratchhead" Reconsidered: George Raymond & Civil Rights in Chester, Pennsylvania". Pennsylvania History. 69 (3): 297–341.
- Mele, Christopher (2017). Race and the Politics of Deception: The Making of an American City. New York University Press. ISBN 978-1-4798-6609-0.
- Sigmond, Carl E. (29 August 2011). "African American residents of Chester, PA, demonstrate to end de facto segregation in public schools, 1963–1966". Retrieved 13 July 2018.