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Gloria Blackwell
Gloria Blackwell, also known as Gloria Rackley (March 11, 1927 – December 7, 2010), was an African-American civil rights activist and educator. She was at the center of the Civil Rights Movement in Orangeburg, South Carolina during the 1960s, attracting some national attention and a visit by Dr. Martin Luther King of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Her activities were widely covered (and criticized) by the local press.
Arrested for sitting in the "whites only" area of the regional hospital when her daughter needed emergency treatment, Blackwell sued and won, ending its segregation. After being fired by the city's white school board in economic retaliation, she sued the board and won in 1962. She left the state in the 1960s, teaching at colleges and universities. She earned a doctorate at Emory University in 1973, and taught at Clark Atlanta University for 20 years.
Gloria Thomasina Blackwell was born in Little Rock in Dillon County, South Carolina, the second of three children and the only girl, to Harrison Benjamin Blackwell (born 1889), a barber, and Lurline Olivia Thomas Blackwell (born 1895), a teacher at the Little Rock Colored School and musician at the Methodist church. Her brothers were Harrison and LeGrand. Her father was a businessman and barber. Her mother was a school teacher, pianist, choir director, community volunteer and daughter of Methodist minister Rev. LeGrand Lee Thomas. Gloria's maternal granduncle S. J. McDonald was active with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), established in 1909. Methodist minister. Blackwell attended Mather Academy in Camden, South Carolina and graduated high school in Sumter, South Carolina in 1943. At the age of 16, she enrolled at her mother's alma mater, Claflin College in Orangeburg.
In 1944, Blackwell left college to marry James "Jimmy" Becknell. They had three daughters and lived for a time in Detroit, Michigan, and Chicago, Illinois, where many blacks migrated from the South during the Great Migration. The marriage ended in divorce. Blackwell lost her eldest daughter at the age of 5 in a car accident, which left the mother with a scar on her face. She returned to live in Orangeburg near her family with her two small daughters.
Blackwell completed her degree at Claflin, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in 1953. When she married again, her second husband, Larney G. (Jack) Rackley, a professor at South Carolina State University, adopted her daughters, Jamelle and Lurma, giving them his surname. Blackwell continued with graduate study, receiving a Master of Arts degree in education from South Carolina State University. She later returned to university for additional graduate education, earning a doctorate in 1973 in American studies from Emory University in Atlanta.
Blackwell became an elementary school teacher in Orangeburg, teaching third grade. Like the rest of the state, the city had segregated public schools. Whites used economic retaliation to try to suppress civil rights activism in the 1960s and fired Blackwell in 1964. She challenged the action in a civil suit and won restoration to her job, but she and her husband decided to leave the area. Later Blackwell moved to Virginia for a job teaching English at Norfolk State College, now Norfolk State University. From 1968 to 1970, she directed African-American studies at American International College in Springfield, Massachusetts. After completing her doctorate, in 1973 Blackwell began teaching at Clark Atlanta University. She continued there for her remaining academic career until retirement in 1993.
Blackwell became active in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s, which in Orangeburg was based in the congregation of the Trinity United Methodist Church. Protestors always prayed before going to a demonstration. Blackwell had long been involved with the church, having been president of the Methodist Youth Fellowship on the state level even before entering Claflin as a student; it was a Methodist-founded college. Later, she volunteered and recruited for the NAACP, eventually becoming central in what became known as the "Orangeburg Freedom Movement." She became an officer in the local NAACP.
In October 1961, Blackwell was arrested for sitting in the whites only waiting area of Orangeburg hospital with her daughter Jamelle, whom she had taken to the emergency room for an injured finger. She had been directed to the "colored" waiting area, a pile of crates and a space next to a soda machine. Blackwell returned to the whites-only area; she was arrested. She was defended in court by Matthew J. Perry, whose defense of her was so vigorous that he was charged with contempt of court and briefly jailed. Blackwell and her daughter filed a civil lawsuit, Rackley v. Tri-County Hospital, against the officials of the hospital, asserting that the operation of separate facilities violated her constitutional rights. Blackwell won her suit, the criminal case was dropped, and the facility was integrated at a time when the state still had segregated public facilities. The Orangeburg case attracted national attention and activist Dr. Martin Luther King visited the city.
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Gloria Blackwell
Gloria Blackwell, also known as Gloria Rackley (March 11, 1927 – December 7, 2010), was an African-American civil rights activist and educator. She was at the center of the Civil Rights Movement in Orangeburg, South Carolina during the 1960s, attracting some national attention and a visit by Dr. Martin Luther King of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Her activities were widely covered (and criticized) by the local press.
Arrested for sitting in the "whites only" area of the regional hospital when her daughter needed emergency treatment, Blackwell sued and won, ending its segregation. After being fired by the city's white school board in economic retaliation, she sued the board and won in 1962. She left the state in the 1960s, teaching at colleges and universities. She earned a doctorate at Emory University in 1973, and taught at Clark Atlanta University for 20 years.
Gloria Thomasina Blackwell was born in Little Rock in Dillon County, South Carolina, the second of three children and the only girl, to Harrison Benjamin Blackwell (born 1889), a barber, and Lurline Olivia Thomas Blackwell (born 1895), a teacher at the Little Rock Colored School and musician at the Methodist church. Her brothers were Harrison and LeGrand. Her father was a businessman and barber. Her mother was a school teacher, pianist, choir director, community volunteer and daughter of Methodist minister Rev. LeGrand Lee Thomas. Gloria's maternal granduncle S. J. McDonald was active with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), established in 1909. Methodist minister. Blackwell attended Mather Academy in Camden, South Carolina and graduated high school in Sumter, South Carolina in 1943. At the age of 16, she enrolled at her mother's alma mater, Claflin College in Orangeburg.
In 1944, Blackwell left college to marry James "Jimmy" Becknell. They had three daughters and lived for a time in Detroit, Michigan, and Chicago, Illinois, where many blacks migrated from the South during the Great Migration. The marriage ended in divorce. Blackwell lost her eldest daughter at the age of 5 in a car accident, which left the mother with a scar on her face. She returned to live in Orangeburg near her family with her two small daughters.
Blackwell completed her degree at Claflin, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in 1953. When she married again, her second husband, Larney G. (Jack) Rackley, a professor at South Carolina State University, adopted her daughters, Jamelle and Lurma, giving them his surname. Blackwell continued with graduate study, receiving a Master of Arts degree in education from South Carolina State University. She later returned to university for additional graduate education, earning a doctorate in 1973 in American studies from Emory University in Atlanta.
Blackwell became an elementary school teacher in Orangeburg, teaching third grade. Like the rest of the state, the city had segregated public schools. Whites used economic retaliation to try to suppress civil rights activism in the 1960s and fired Blackwell in 1964. She challenged the action in a civil suit and won restoration to her job, but she and her husband decided to leave the area. Later Blackwell moved to Virginia for a job teaching English at Norfolk State College, now Norfolk State University. From 1968 to 1970, she directed African-American studies at American International College in Springfield, Massachusetts. After completing her doctorate, in 1973 Blackwell began teaching at Clark Atlanta University. She continued there for her remaining academic career until retirement in 1993.
Blackwell became active in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s, which in Orangeburg was based in the congregation of the Trinity United Methodist Church. Protestors always prayed before going to a demonstration. Blackwell had long been involved with the church, having been president of the Methodist Youth Fellowship on the state level even before entering Claflin as a student; it was a Methodist-founded college. Later, she volunteered and recruited for the NAACP, eventually becoming central in what became known as the "Orangeburg Freedom Movement." She became an officer in the local NAACP.
In October 1961, Blackwell was arrested for sitting in the whites only waiting area of Orangeburg hospital with her daughter Jamelle, whom she had taken to the emergency room for an injured finger. She had been directed to the "colored" waiting area, a pile of crates and a space next to a soda machine. Blackwell returned to the whites-only area; she was arrested. She was defended in court by Matthew J. Perry, whose defense of her was so vigorous that he was charged with contempt of court and briefly jailed. Blackwell and her daughter filed a civil lawsuit, Rackley v. Tri-County Hospital, against the officials of the hospital, asserting that the operation of separate facilities violated her constitutional rights. Blackwell won her suit, the criminal case was dropped, and the facility was integrated at a time when the state still had segregated public facilities. The Orangeburg case attracted national attention and activist Dr. Martin Luther King visited the city.