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Charles McDew
Charles "Chuck" McDew (June 23, 1938 – April 3, 2018) was an American civil rights activist. After attending South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, South Carolina, he became the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from 1960 to 1963. His involvement in the movement earned McDew the title, "black by birth, a Jew by choice and a revolutionary by necessity" stated by fellow SNCC activist Bob Moses.
Charles Frederick McDew was born in Massillon, Ohio, on June 23, 1938, to Eva (née Stephens) and James McDew. He was one of five children. Mcdew's mother worked as a nurse and his father, who had been a chemistry teacher in South Carolina, had become a steel worker after Ohio schools refused to hire him. According to McDew's autobiography, he believed that his birth date was notable because he was born on the day that boxer Joe Louis defeated Max Schmeling for the heavyweight championship of the world. McDew was convinced by his elders that he was destined to do something great or good for the "Negro" race. McDew also referred to himself as a "race baby", an ideal that had never been defined to him by family members, but one that he believed he was expected to define for himself as his future unfolded. "I had a charge to do something for the race. It was never specified what I would do for the race, but it was expected that I would do something to help the colored race to move ahead".
McDew grew up in a family who talked little about the advancement of civil rights. Though there was little talk on that topic, McDew displayed his first example of community organizing when he was only in the eighth grade. Protesting the rights of religious freedom, McDew stood up by protesting against discrimination toward the Amish at the age of 13.
As he got older, McDew hoped to avoid going to work in the steel mills by winning a football scholarship to college. Due to an auto accident he was no longer able to play football so his father requested that McDew go to the South to experience his "own culture" to expand his ideas of what work he could do. Upon arrival at his father's alma mater, South Carolina State University, Charles thought that his father was "the most brilliant man alive". Never having seen so many "pretty black girls", McDew instantly knew he chose the right college.
During his first Thanksgiving on campus, McDew decided to travel with his roommate, Charles Gatson, back to the area where Gatson had family because it would be cheaper than going back to Ohio and the schools closed during these holidays. During their vacation, the two of them, and some others, went to a party. McDew responsibly decided to be the designated driver, but on their way home, they were pulled over by a police officer. Not knowing how to address an officer in the South different than in the North, McDew answered the officer's questions with a bit too much sass. This led to the beating and first arrest of Charles McDew. The next day, McDew was on his way to the train station to head back to school The Jim Crow carriage for the black people was filled, so McDew sat down in the white carriage. Being told he was to go sit in the luggage carriage, he refused, which led to the second arrest of Charles McDew. The third arrest occurred when he and a fellow Massillon resident, Mike Hershberger, went to play handball at the YMCA in Columbia, S.C. They were arrested for attempting to integrate the Y.
The day he finally got back to South Carolina, McDew was walking to his dorm though a park. Being unfamiliar with segregation, the park McDew walked through happened to only be open to white people on this particular day, which led to another arrest.
These events were said to be the beginning of McDew's inspiration towards the Movement and McDew's general distaste for the Southern way of life.
In March 1960, not long after the first Greensboro sit-ins organized by students in North Carolina, McDew helped to lead a major protest against segregation in Orangeburg. Together with his co-leader Thomas Gaither, a student at Claflin College, McDew was one of some 1,000 students from South Carolina State University and Claflin who marched downtown to protest segregated stores. The marchers were brutally attacked by firemen and police officers, who turned firehoses on the students and arrested close to 400, confining many of them outdoors in a stockade used to hold cattle. McDew was among the marchers who was arrested.
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Charles McDew
Charles "Chuck" McDew (June 23, 1938 – April 3, 2018) was an American civil rights activist. After attending South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, South Carolina, he became the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from 1960 to 1963. His involvement in the movement earned McDew the title, "black by birth, a Jew by choice and a revolutionary by necessity" stated by fellow SNCC activist Bob Moses.
Charles Frederick McDew was born in Massillon, Ohio, on June 23, 1938, to Eva (née Stephens) and James McDew. He was one of five children. Mcdew's mother worked as a nurse and his father, who had been a chemistry teacher in South Carolina, had become a steel worker after Ohio schools refused to hire him. According to McDew's autobiography, he believed that his birth date was notable because he was born on the day that boxer Joe Louis defeated Max Schmeling for the heavyweight championship of the world. McDew was convinced by his elders that he was destined to do something great or good for the "Negro" race. McDew also referred to himself as a "race baby", an ideal that had never been defined to him by family members, but one that he believed he was expected to define for himself as his future unfolded. "I had a charge to do something for the race. It was never specified what I would do for the race, but it was expected that I would do something to help the colored race to move ahead".
McDew grew up in a family who talked little about the advancement of civil rights. Though there was little talk on that topic, McDew displayed his first example of community organizing when he was only in the eighth grade. Protesting the rights of religious freedom, McDew stood up by protesting against discrimination toward the Amish at the age of 13.
As he got older, McDew hoped to avoid going to work in the steel mills by winning a football scholarship to college. Due to an auto accident he was no longer able to play football so his father requested that McDew go to the South to experience his "own culture" to expand his ideas of what work he could do. Upon arrival at his father's alma mater, South Carolina State University, Charles thought that his father was "the most brilliant man alive". Never having seen so many "pretty black girls", McDew instantly knew he chose the right college.
During his first Thanksgiving on campus, McDew decided to travel with his roommate, Charles Gatson, back to the area where Gatson had family because it would be cheaper than going back to Ohio and the schools closed during these holidays. During their vacation, the two of them, and some others, went to a party. McDew responsibly decided to be the designated driver, but on their way home, they were pulled over by a police officer. Not knowing how to address an officer in the South different than in the North, McDew answered the officer's questions with a bit too much sass. This led to the beating and first arrest of Charles McDew. The next day, McDew was on his way to the train station to head back to school The Jim Crow carriage for the black people was filled, so McDew sat down in the white carriage. Being told he was to go sit in the luggage carriage, he refused, which led to the second arrest of Charles McDew. The third arrest occurred when he and a fellow Massillon resident, Mike Hershberger, went to play handball at the YMCA in Columbia, S.C. They were arrested for attempting to integrate the Y.
The day he finally got back to South Carolina, McDew was walking to his dorm though a park. Being unfamiliar with segregation, the park McDew walked through happened to only be open to white people on this particular day, which led to another arrest.
These events were said to be the beginning of McDew's inspiration towards the Movement and McDew's general distaste for the Southern way of life.
In March 1960, not long after the first Greensboro sit-ins organized by students in North Carolina, McDew helped to lead a major protest against segregation in Orangeburg. Together with his co-leader Thomas Gaither, a student at Claflin College, McDew was one of some 1,000 students from South Carolina State University and Claflin who marched downtown to protest segregated stores. The marchers were brutally attacked by firemen and police officers, who turned firehoses on the students and arrested close to 400, confining many of them outdoors in a stockade used to hold cattle. McDew was among the marchers who was arrested.
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