MYTH #5

   The Campbells inspired and led Raleigh’s civil rights movement, and (if we are to believe the August 20 and 24, 2005 editions of the N&O) they, along with the Oval Table Gang “carved and mapped” Raleigh’s civil rights movement. Together they not only formulated the strategies, but also organized, and put into action the forces necessary, tactically and politically, to overturn Raleigh Jim Crow laws, resulting in the opening of Raleigh’s public accommodations to all persons, regardless of race or color. It is to them we owe a nonsegregated Raleigh.

Facts/Discussion

   The above summary is about the only conclusion that anyone can draw from the N&O’s “carved and mapped Raleigh’s civil rights movement” assertions. It represents a combination of myth, fable, fabrication, over-embellishment and overstatement.

   But the N&O reporter probably only wrote what she thought to be the truth, what someone, some Raleigh person(s) must have told her, or led her to believe. She wrote what she has heard over and over again. It has been circulating for years. She summed it up in words that she thought were appropriate in remembering Mrs. Campbell.

   The information is nonetheless grossly misleading. The shame is that we as Raleigh people have allowed this to happen, the misshaping and distortion of a very important part of our history. Several of us in the 50 plus category can recognize the information as flawed. But the message received by the majority of persons now living in Raleigh is that the Campbells and the Oval Table Gang developed the strategies, and planned, organized, and directed the entire civil rights movement in Raleigh, and of course that would include both the school  integration effort, and the efforts to desegregate public accommodations.

   The initial strategies developed and pursued for integrating the schools grew out of discussions between the Holts and their lawyers, Herman L. Taylor and Samuel S. Mitchell, of the Taylor and Mitchell Law Firm. There was also some layperson counsel from political strategist James A. “Jim” Shepard and Rev. Samuel F. Daly.

   After young Bill Campbell’s admission to Murphey School, Sept. 1960, succeeding school integration strategies were also designed by the Taylor-Mitchell Law Firm, since, in order to effect integration, it was necessary to show that certain provisions of the N.C. Pupil Assignment Act enabled the local school board to use race as a controlling standard. The law, as it stood, had to be rendered null and void... had to be shown to be in violation of the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court Brown v. Board decision. Only lawyers could design such a strategy.

   Now, if the Campbells and the Oval Table Gang are to be credited with having worked out the strategy that was used for integrating the schools, doesn’t it stand to reason that there would be some record or documentation, at least a news story, during that period of time, that the school board adopted and used as a guide the strategy developed, presented, and recommended by a citizens group? There is no such record or documentation. Can one imagine the Raleigh City School Board during the 1960's (or the 1970's for that matter) having adopted and implemented a school integration strategy prepared by an African-American citizens group? We have here a classic example of how the public has been misled with fantasy and fabrication.

   The second and most dramatic thrust of Raleigh’s civil rights movement, the effort to desegregate public accommodations, began in February 1960 with sit-ins and picketing at stores in Cameron Village, and downtown on Fayetteville Street by St. Augustine’s College and Shaw University students, most of whom were not Raleighites. The first arrests occurred fairly early in the day at Woolworth’s in Cameron Village, Feb. 12, 1960.

   These demonstrations were conceived, organized, and led by college students, and it was they who “carved and mapped” the strategies, not the Campbells and the Oval Table Gang. The Campbells and the Oval Table Gang, most of whom were probably in their mid-30's at that time, were more than likely at their places of employment, and as with almost all other adults in Raleigh, they did not see this coming; they had no idea these college students had even been thinking about such action.

   It should also be noted that Ralph Campbell, Sr. was not the head of the local NAACP at that time (that happened 10 months later), and June Campbell’s walk did not occur until seven months later.

   Since the Campbells and the Oval Table Gang did not lead or direct either the school integration effort, nor the protests against segregated public accommodations, the two major thrusts of Raleigh’s Civil Rights Movement, why are they always credited with having done so? By all means, let’s give the Campbells, and the Oval Table Gang, and all persons and organizations the credit they are entitled to, but let’s not award credit to anyone for contributions made, or initiatives led by others.

   Motivated by a strong moral imperative to support the students in any way they could, adults began to organize to do so. According to THE CAROLINIAN, Feb. 20, 1960, foremost in leadership of these organized efforts was the Raleigh Citizens Association (RCA), the head of which was Rev. John W. Fleming, not Ralph Campbell, Sr.

   THE CAROLINIAN gave the names of numerous men and women who became engaged early on in efforts to support the students. One of those names was Ralph Campbell, Sr., but there is no indication he occupied a leadership role.

   Who really “carved and mapped” the strategies for desegregating public accommodations, and where did this take place?

   Stories in the Aug. 1960 editions of THE CAROLINIAN indicate that in response to student picketing, sit-ins, boycotts, etc., community and church leaders of both races, RCA and NAACP officials, representatives of merchants associations, and managers from downtown businesses such as Hudson-Belk, F.W. Woolworth, S.H. Kress Company, McLellan Stores, Walgreen Drug Store, and Eckerd, met over a period of some time in an effort to come up with a solution that would be satisfactory to all—to determine what to do and how to go about doing it. These meetings then, were the venue for the development, the carving, of the strategy for desegregating downtown Raleigh. The news stories do not reveal exactly where the meetings were held, perhaps at the mayor’s office, or the offices of the Chamber of Commerce. Certainly,  they were not held in someone’s home. Clearly some of Raleigh’s most experienced leaders, officials, and businesspersons, in terms of negotiating, building consensus, compromising, and working out solutions to complex problems, participated. It is unrealistic to think that the deliberations among this group were guided by the thinking that emanated from one source.

   According to the Aug. 13, 1960 edition of THE CAROLINIAN, earlier in the month Mayor W.G. Enloe appointed a “7-man Permanent Advisory Committee for better race relations,” which included three prominent Negro citizens: “A.E. Brown, Attorney F.J. Carnage, and the Rev. C.W. Ward, all of Raleigh.” Neither of these gentlemen was a member of the Oval Table Gang.

   The second phase of student demonstrations began during the spring of 1963. In informal discussions I held with several St. Augustine’s College alumni, who were students at the time, I was told that these demonstrations were organized and led by members of the campus student government organization, and respected, levelheaded members of the campus Greek-letter organizations. The same is probably true for Shaw University. Persons interviewed did not recall the name Campbell as having anything to do with their efforts. This is particularly interesting as Mrs. Campbell, a St. Augustine’s College employee at that time, was well known on the small campus by many students, and the Campbell name would have been spoken all about the campus frequently if Mr. & Mrs. Campbell had figured prominently in the plans and strategies.

   A key difference between the 1960 and 1963 demonstrations was that the latter included a large contingent of adults, several of whom occupied professional positions, such as college faculty.

   The April, May, and June 1963 editions of THE CAROLINIAN revealed much about who the leaders were in terms of who organized demonstrations and formulated strategies. Ralph Campbell, Sr. was involved in the strategy sessions as local NAACP president, however, there is no indication he occupied a more important position than others. Raleighites of the “50 plus” generation will recognize names of persons involved in strategy sessions, and demonstration organizing, as some of our most highly regarded leaders at that time, including Rev. Charles W. Ward, Rev. Dr. Grady D. Davis, Dr. O.L. Sherrill, Rev. Oscar J. McCloud, and Dr. Charles ‘‘A’’ Lyons. Executive Secretary of the North Carolina Teachers Association (NCTA) then, Dr. Lyons later became chancellor at Fayetteville State University.

   The information given immediately above was extracted from on-the-scene accounts recorded by the local black press, making it clear that the development of demonstration strategies, and/or the organizing and directing of demonstrations, were the province of a group of persons other than the Campbell-Oval Table Gang contingent.

   Strategy sessions were held at locations such as First Baptist Church, Martin Street Baptist Church, the United Church, which stood at the corner of Hillsboro and Dawson; Providence Holy Church, Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, and the old Bloodworth Street YMCA. Some of the private homes where issues and strategies were explored were those of Mr. and Mrs. James A. Shepard, Attorney and Mrs. Samuel S. Mitchell, and Mr. and Mrs. James E. Cofield, Sr.

   According to the May 18, 1963 issue of THE CAROLINIAN the mayor appointed a new “biracial” committee that replaced the old advisory committee established in August 1960. The new group would continue to address issues and develop strategies for bettering race relations. These certainly would include discussions of workable strategies for continuing desegregation of public facilities. The committee was composed of, among others, corporate CEOs, the presidents of the two black colleges, Dr. James A. Boyer, St. Augustine’s College and Dr. Nelson Harris, Shaw University; and also Mr. P.R. Jervay, publisher of THE CAROLINIAN. The list did not include any members of the Oval Table Gang. It is reasonable to conclude that strategies the committee might have developed for desegregating public accommodations were not the result of guidance from the Oval Table Gang.

MYTH #6

   Reference N&O article, “Mrs. Campbell’s Cause,” May 9, 1999. The message: The integration of Raleigh’s schools was an idea conceived and pursued by June K. Campbell... it was her “cause,” and she went on a crusade to make it happen.

Facts/Discussion

   Under Myths #3 and #4 it has already been demonstrated that this, by no stretch of the imagination, was the case. If integration of the schools was Mrs. Campbell’s cause, why did she not pursue six opportunities between 1954 and 1959 to effect that? It appears that in 1960 the Campbells responded to something closely akin to “recruitment,” or “invitation” by the school board, applying when there was virtual assurance that their seven-year-old would be accepted. It should be noted, however, that in this article Mrs. Campbell, herself, clarified a misunderstanding about the photo showing her courageously leading her son past a jeering crowd of white agitators. She explained that the photo does not depict her carrying Bill to school on the first day, but rather, a photo of a day when she had come to pick him up and take him home.

MYTH #7

   Bill Campbell was the only African-American child enrolled in a white school in Raleigh for five years.

Facts/Discussion

   Bill broke the segregation barrier in Sept. 1960. The next year, in Aug. 1961, the school board assigned three African-American students to Needham Broughton High School, and five to Josephus Daniels Jr. High School. All eight of those students attended those schools throughout the 1961–62 school year. From that point on, there were gradual increases in the number of black students attending formerly all-white schools. It was called “token integration,” and was typical of the “go-slow,” stalling tactics used by southern school boards.

CONCLUSION

   The overall purpose of this overview of Raleigh’s civil rights movement for the 1954–1966 time period has been to try to set the record straight, and place local civil rights history in a more correct perspective—in its proper perspective, by separating fiction from fact. Hopefully, I have achieved this objective. Hopefully, the correct, fair, and balanced telling of this very important part of our local African-American history will now be picked up by members of both my and my parents’ generation, and impressed upon our children, grandchildren, protégés, and younger generation members. If this is done, they will obtain a better and more organized understanding of what the movement was composed of, its major thrusts; who the real trailblazers were; who the key leaders, organizers, thinkers, and planners (or strategists) were; the sequence of events, and when those events took place; and how one event linked with, or influenced another, or perhaps had no connection with the other at all. Hopefully, they will be told there were numerous contributors, and in many different ways—some of them major, but not very well known; others very important, but in a small way.

   It is important they learn what degree of ownership youth had in the movement. They also need to know the role of clergy persons. It should be clarified that there was no one locus of control, no “command” or operations center from which one person, chosen or acknowledged as overall leader, and surrounded by operations planners, coordinated and oversaw the entire movement. It did not happen that way, and it was not conducted that way. Further, Raleigh did not have a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Raleigh’s black populace was different from Montgomery’s in how it responded to the first challenges to segregation.

   Finally, the one thing we should always remember when we are imparting information about our, and their, history is that we should give them information that they can later defend... factual, verifiable information. If our younger generations learn only hearsay about their own history, it leaves them vulnerable for exploitation by those who know more about them than they themselves. Not only that, it encourages them to be “jive” and shallow, rather than substantive. There’s too much of that already.

   If those of us who know take care of all these things, then the objective of this letter, the reestablishment of the historical integrity of our hometown civil rights history, will have been achieved.

   What I have written here also serves as a tribute to my mother and father, Elwyna Haywood Holt, and Joseph Hiram Holt, Sr., Raleigh’s First Civil Rights Pioneers.

*‘‘Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing’’

   Text: James Weldon Johnson, 1871–1938

   Music: J. Rosamond Johnson, 1873–1954