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{{Short description|American religious leader and civil rights activist (1897–1974)}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Stephen G. Spottswood
|name = Stephen Spottswood
⚫
| image = President John F. Kennedy Meets with National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Group.jpg
| alt =
|image = Stephen Gill Spottswood (a).jpg
⚫
|office = Chair of the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]]
⚫
| caption = E. Franklin Jackson and Stephen G. Spottswood representing the NAACP in a meeting with president [[John F. Kennedy]] at the [[White House]]
|term_start = 1961
⚫
| birth_date = July 18, 1897
|term_end = 1975
⚫
| birth_place = [[Boston, Massachusetts]]
|predecessor = [[Robert C. Weaver]]
⚫
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1974|12|01|1897|07|18}}
|successor = [[Margaret Bush Wilson]]
| death_place =
|birth_name = Stephen Gill Spottswood
| nationality =
⚫
|birth_date = {{birth date|1897|7|18}}
| other_names =
⚫
|birth_place = [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], U.S.
⚫
| occupation = Bishop of the [[African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church|AMEZ]], chairman of the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People|NAACP]]
⚫
|death_date = {{nowrap|{{death date and age|1974|12|2|1897|7|18}}}}
| known_for =
|death_place = [[Washington, D.C.]], U.S.
|education = [[Albright College]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br>[[Gordon College (Massachusetts)|Gordon College]] ([[Bachelor of Theology|ThB]])<br>[[Yale University]] ([[Doctor of Divinity|DDiv]])
}}
}}
⚫
'''Stephen Gill Spottswood''' (July 18, 1897 – December 2, 1974)<ref name=aarl /> was a religious leader and [[civil rights]] activist known for his work as bishop of the [[African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church]] (AMEZ) and chairman of the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]] (NAACP).


Bishop Spottswood's papers are currently archived at the [[Amistad Research Center]] at [[Tulane University]] (not [[Dillard University]]).
'''Stephen Gill Spottswood''' (July 18, 1897 - December 1, 1974)<ref name=encyc>{{cite book|work=The Encyclopedia of African-American Heritage|last=Altman|first=Susan|title=Stephen Spottswood|date=1997|publisher=Facts on File, Inc.|location=New York}}</ref> was a religious leader and [[civil rights]] activist known for his work as bishop of the [[African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church]] (AMEZ) and chairman of the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]].


==Early life and family==
== Early life and family ==
Spottswood was born in [[Boston, Massachusetts]] to Mary Elizabeth and Abraham Lincoln Spottswood.<ref name=eaar>{{cite book|work=Encyclopedia of African American Religions|title=Spottswood, Stephen Gill|editor1=Murphy, Larry G.|editor2=Melton, J. Gordon|editor3=Ward, Gary L.|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|pages=721-722}}</ref> He attended [[Cambridge Rindge and Latin School]] and then [[Freeport High School]] in [[Freeport, Maine|Maine]]. He went on to [[Albright College]], [[Gordon Divinity School]], and received a doctorate from [[Yale University]].<ref name=encyc/><ref name=eaar/>
Spottswood was born in [[Boston, Massachusetts]], the only child of Mary Elizabeth and Abraham Lincoln Spottswood.<ref name=aarl>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dwDfwCVbiiUC&pg=PA206|work=African-American Religious Leaders: A-Z of African Americans|last=Aaseng|first=Nathan|title=Spottswood, Stephen Gill|pages=206–207|publisher=Infobase Publishing|date=2003|isbn=9781438107813|access-date=2022-01-04|archive-date=2020-08-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819040016/https://books.google.com/books?id=dwDfwCVbiiUC&pg=PA206|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=eaar>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fxsmAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA721|work=Encyclopedia of African American Religions|title=Spottswood, Stephen Gill|editor1=Murphy, Larry G.|editor2=Melton, J. Gordon|editor3=Ward, Gary L.|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|pages=721–722|isbn=9781135513382|access-date=2022-01-04|archive-date=2020-08-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819074111/https://books.google.com/books?id=fxsmAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA721|url-status=live}}</ref> He attended [[Cambridge Rindge and Latin School]] and then [[Freeport High School (Maine)|Freeport High School]] in [[Freeport, Maine|Maine]]. He went on to [[Albright College]], earning a B.A. in history in 1917; [[Gordon Divinity School]]; and Yale Divinity School, where he earned his doctorate.<ref name=eaar /><ref name=encyc>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_5xQHAAACAAJ&q=editions:D7UnBrAxPyYC|work=The Encyclopedia of African-American Heritage|last=Altman|first=Susan|title=Stephen Spottswood|date=1997|publisher=Facts on File, Inc|isbn=0-8160-3824-4|access-date=2022-01-04|archive-date=2022-01-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220104232716/https://books.google.com/books?id=_5xQHAAACAAJ&q=editions%3AD7UnBrAxPyYC|url-status=live}}</ref>


⚫
== Religious leadership ==
In 1919 he married Viola Estelle Booker. They had five children.<ref name=eaar/>
⚫
Shortly after finishing his undergraduate work, Spottswood was named assistant pastor of the First Evangelical United Brethren Church in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], followed soon after by an appointment with the [[African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church]] (AMEZ).<ref name=eaar /> Between the time he received his Th.B. from Gordon in 1919 through 1936, he served in leadership positions at several churches around the country: First AMEZ Church of Lowell in [[Lowell, Massachusetts]], which he also founded; [[Green Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church|Green Memorial AMEZ Church]] in [[Portland, Maine]]; Varick Memorial AMEZ Church in [[New Haven, Connecticut]]; Goler Memorial AMEZ Church in [[Winston-Salem, North Carolina]]; Jones Tabernacle AMEZ Church in [[Indianapolis, Indiana]]; St. Luke AMEZ Church in [[Buffalo, New York]]; and John Wesley AMEZ Church in [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref name=aarl /><ref name=eaar />


⚫
While in Washington, in 1952, he was elected the 58th bishop of the AMEZ.<ref name=crisis1980 /> He also served in various episcopal districts around the country through the 1950s and 1960s.<ref name=eaar /><ref name=encyc />
⚫
==Religious leadership==
⚫
[[File:President John F. Kennedy Meets with National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Group.jpg|thumb|E. Franklin Jackson and Stephen G. Spottswood representing the NAACP in a meeting with President [[John F. Kennedy]] at the [[White House]]]]
⚫
Shortly after finishing his undergraduate work, Spottswood was named assistant pastor of the First Evangelical United Brethren Church in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]] followed soon after by an appointment with the [[African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church]] (AMEZ).<ref name=eaar/> Between the time he received his Th.B. from Gordon in 1919 through 1936 he served in leadership positions at several churches around the country: First AMEZ Church of Lowell in [[Lowell, Massachusetts]], which he also founded; Green Memorial AMEZ Church in [[Portland, Maine]]; Varick Memorial AMEZ Church in [[New Haven, Connecticut]]; Goler Memorial AMEZ Church in [[Winston-Salem, North Carolina]]; Jones Tabernacle AMEZ Church in [[Indianapolis, Indiana]]; St. Luke AMEZ Church in [[Buffalo, New York]]; and John Wesley AMEZ Church in [[Washington, D.C.]].<ref name=eaar/>


⚫
== Civil rights activism and involvement with NAACP ==
⚫
While in Washington, in 1952, he was elected the 58th bishop and again moved around the country to serve in various Episcopal Districts throughout the 1950s and 1960s.<ref name=encyc/><ref name=eaar/>
⚫
Spottswood joined the NAACP in 1919 and was an active voice for racial equality throughout his adult life.<ref name=crisis1980>{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PSoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA564|title=Stephen Gill Spottwood|journal=The Crisis|volume=87|issue=10|date=December 1980|issn=0011-1422|pages=564–565|last1=The Crisis Publishing Company|first1=Inc|access-date=2022-01-04|archive-date=2020-08-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819181124/https://books.google.com/books?id=PSoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA564|url-status=live}}</ref> Though he would later play a more conventional leadership position, he also participated in a number of public protests, including [[sit-in]]s, [[boycott]]s, and [[picketing (protest)|pickets]], believing that those activities which had economic impact were among the most effective for bringing about change.<ref name=eaar /><ref name=crisis1980 />


⚫
He became president of the NAACP's Washington branch in 1947 and was elected to the national board of the NAACP in 1955, vice-president in 1959, and finally chairman in 1961, a post he held until 1975. He became well known for his harsh criticism of those opposing civil rights issues and of the [[Nixon administration]] in particular.<ref name=tribune72>{{cite journal|journal=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=26 October 1972|title=Spottswood Talk to Be Feature of NAACP Parley}}</ref>
⚫
==Civil rights activism and involvement with NAACP==
⚫
Spottswood joined the NAACP in 1919 and was an active voice for racial equality throughout his adult life. Though he would later play a more conventional leadership position, he also participated in a number of public protests, including [[sit-in]]s, [[boycott]]s, and [[picket]]s. He thought that these activities which have economic impact were some of the most effective for bringing about change.<ref name=eaar/>


=== Keynote address at the 1970 NAACP convention ===
⚫
He was elected to the board of the NAACP in 1955, vice-president in 1959, and finally chairman in 1961, a post he held until 1975. He became well-known for his harsh criticism of those opposing civil rights issues and of the [[Nixon administration]] in particular.<ref name=tribune72>{{cite journal|work=Chicago Tribune|date=26 October 1972|title=Spottswood Talk to Be Feature of NAACP Parley}}</ref>
Spottswood earned a reputation as an outspoken critic of racial injustice and several times attracted press coverage for his political censures. At the 61st annual convention of the NAACP, held in Cincinnati in 1970, the 72-year-old Spottswood delivered a controversial and widely publicized keynote address covering a number of topics. He warned people not to trust [[Racial segregation|segregationist]] [[Alabama]] governor and presidential candidate [[George Wallace]], who had begun to speak of a more positive stance on racial issues.<ref name=blasts /> He also condemned racism in law enforcement, stating that "killing black Americans has been the 20th-century pastime of our police".<ref name=aarl />


At the 61st annual convention of the NAACP, held in Cincinnati in 1970, the 72-year-old Spottswood attracted controversy for his criticism of [[Richard Nixon]] and his administration's treatment of African-Americans, calling it "anti-black."<ref name=crisis>{{cite journal|work=The Crisis|title=In the Nation's Press|date=August 1970|pages=276-282}}</ref> He said it was "the first time since 1920 that the national Administration has made it a matter of calculated policy to work against the needs and aspirations of the largest minority of its citizens."<ref name=caldwell/> In particular he criticized Nixon's cutting of various social programs related to housing, poverty, and equal opportunity, and accused Republicans of seeking to undermine the [[Voting Rights Act]] and desegregation of schools.<ref name=minchin/> On Nixon's anti-busing stance he said "Nixon does not want to abolish busing for the 20 million children bused every day for educational and social purposes. He just wants to keep 2.7 million children from being bused for desegregation purposes."<ref name=blasts>{{cite journal|title=NAACP blasts Nixon policies|date=1 July 1974|work=Star-News}}</ref> He went on to declare that the NAACP, which had traditionally been viewed as being more moderate in its rhetoric, "considers itself in a state of war against President Nixon."<ref name=tuck>{{cite book|last=Tuck|first=Stephen G. N.|title=We Ain't What We Ought to Be: The Black Freedom Struggle From Emancipation|pages=353|publisher=Harvard University Press|date=2010|location=Cambridge, MA}}</ref><ref name=caldwell>{{cite journal|title=N.A.A.C.P. Softens Anti-Nixon Stand|last=Caldwell|first=Earl|date=6 July 1971|work=New York Times}}</ref>
His most prominent criticism was directed at [[Richard Nixon]] and his administration's treatment of African-Americans, calling it "anti-Negro".<ref name=crisis1970>{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PSau77z3kQcC&pg=PA276|journal=[[The Crisis]]|volume=77|issue=7|title=In the Nation's Press|date=August 1970|issn=0011-1422|pages=276–282|last1=The Crisis Publishing Company|first1=Inc|access-date=2022-01-04|archive-date=2020-08-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819181001/https://books.google.com/books?id=PSau77z3kQcC&pg=PA276|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=jet>{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CzgDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA6|title=Uneasy Truce Ends; NAACP|journal=[[Jet (magazine)|Jet]]|volume=38|issue=15|date=16 July 1970|issn=0021-5996|page=6|last1=Company|first1=Johnson Publishing|access-date=4 January 2022|archive-date=30 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930100001/https://books.google.com/books?id=CzgDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA6|url-status=live}}</ref> Spottswood said it was "the first time since 1920 that the national Administration has made it a matter of calculated policy to work against the needs and aspirations of the largest minority of its citizens".<ref name=jet /><ref name=caldwell /> In particular, he criticized Nixon's cutting of various social programs related to housing, poverty, and equal opportunity, and accused Republicans of seeking to undermine the [[Voting Rights Act]] and desegregation of schools.<ref name=minchin /> On Nixon's anti-busing stance, he said, "Nixon does not want to abolish busing for the 20 million children bused every day for educational and social purposes. He just wants to keep 2.7 million children from being bused for desegregation purposes".<ref name=blasts>{{cite journal|title=NAACP blasts Nixon policies|date=1 July 1974|journal=Star-News}}</ref> He went on to declare that the NAACP, which had traditionally been viewed as nonpartisan, "considers itself in a state of war against President Nixon".<ref name=caldwell>{{cite journal|title=N.A.A.C.P. Softens Anti-Nixon Stand|last=Caldwell|first=Earl|date=6 July 1971|journal=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref name=tuck>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aFcfE7BcAgIC&pg=PA353|last=Tuck|first=Stephen G. N.|title=We Ain't What We Ought to Be: The Black Freedom Struggle From Emancipation|page=353|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2010|isbn=978-0-674-03626-0|access-date=2022-01-04|archive-date=2020-08-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818215415/https://books.google.com/books?id=aFcfE7BcAgIC&pg=PA353|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=starnews7572>{{cite news|work=Star-News|title=NAACP, unhappy over Nixon's 'anti-Negro' policies, may oppose President's reelection|date=5 July 1972}}</ref>


Following the convention, he drew "staunch support from the Negro press as a whole" according to ''The Crisis'', which aggregated and republished many of the news pieces, while "there was division among the remainder of the press ranging from hearty approval to disparagement."<ref name=crisis/> Presidential special counsel [[Leonard Garment]] responded to Spottswood's allegations about the Voting Rights Act and school desegregation, calling them "unfair and disheartening."<ref name=minchin>{{cite book|title=After the Dream: Black and White Southerners since 1955|first=Timothy|last=Minchin|pages=64|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|date=2011}}</ref> Fellow AMEZ bishop C. Eubank Tucker said Spottswood's accusations were "both unjustified and unwarranted" and went on to charge the NAACP with receiving funds from the National Democratic Party. The NAACP issued a statement denying Tucker's corruption accusation and speculated about legal remedy while pointing out his longtime "loyalty to the Republican Party."<ref name=thornton>{{cite journal|work=Chicago Tribute|date=4 July 1970|title=Black Bishop: Dems Paying NAACP Heads|last=Thornton|first=Jeannye}}</ref> Spottswood replied to Tucker by calling him a "falsifier," expressing he did not wish to call his associate a liar, and to his other critics he defended his "anti-black" statement, insisting it was "sustained by the record."<ref name=crisis/>
Following the convention, Spottswood drew "staunch support from the Negro press as a whole", according to ''[[The Crisis]]'', which aggregated and republished many of the news pieces, while "there was division among the remainder of the press ranging from hearty approval to disparagement".<ref name=crisis1970 /> Presidential special counsel [[Leonard Garment]] responded to Spottswood's allegations about the Voting Rights Act and school desegregation, calling them "unfair and disheartening".<ref name=jet /><ref name=minchin>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gMvnUeQP46EC&pg=PA64|title=After the Dream: Black and White Southerners since 1955|first1=Timothy|last1=Minchin|first2=John A.|last2=Salmond|page=64|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|year=2011|isbn=978-0-8131-3999-9|access-date=2022-01-04|archive-date=2020-08-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819112108/https://books.google.com/books?id=gMvnUeQP46EC&pg=PA64|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=afroamerican /> Fellow AMEZ bishop C. Eubank Tucker said Spottswood's accusations were "both unjustified and unwarranted" and went on to charge the NAACP with receiving funds from the National Democratic Party. The NAACP issued a statement denying Tucker's corruption accusation and speculated about legal remedy while pointing out his longtime "loyalty to the Republican Party".<ref name=thornton>{{cite journal|journal=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=4 July 1970|title=Black Bishop: Dems Paying NAACP Heads|last=Thornton|first=Jeannye}}</ref> Spottswood replied to Tucker by calling him a "falsifier", expressing he did not wish to call his associate a liar, and to his other critics he defended his "anti-Negro" statement, insisting it was "sustained by the record".<ref name=crisis1970 /><ref name=tribune>{{cite journal|title=Black Bishop: Dems Paying NAACP Heads|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1970/07/04/page/71/article/black-bishop-dems-paying-naacp-heads|journal=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=4 July 1970|last=Thornton|first=Jeannye|access-date=4 January 2022|archive-date=7 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307202707/http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1970/07/04/page/71/article/black-bishop-dems-paying-naacp-heads/|url-status=live}}</ref>


At the following year's convention, Spottswood used his keynote address to soften the NAACP's stance on Nixon, admitting that his administration "has taken certain steps and has announced policies in certain phases of the civil rights issue which have earned cautious and limited approval among black Americans,"<ref name=jet72271>{{cite journal|work=Jet|pages=12-13|title=Education, Jobs, Housing: Big Issues Facing NAACP Confab|date=22 July 1971}}</ref> whom he cautioned should not "live in a vacuum as long as he's President."<ref name=caldwell/> His colleague [[Roy Wilkins]] had previously clarified that in the months following Spottswood's 1970 address, Nixon's policies had been "only 95 percent anti-black."<ref name=afroamerican>{{cite journal|work=The Afro-American|date=30 January 1971|title=Wilkins says Nixon still 'anti-black'}}</ref>
At the following year's convention, Spottswood used his keynote address to soften the NAACP's stance on Nixon, admitting that his administration "has taken certain steps and has announced policies in certain phases of the civil rights issue which have earned cautious and limited approval among black Americans",<ref name=jet72271>{{cite journal|journal=Jet|pages=12–13|title=Education, Jobs, Housing: Big Issues Facing NAACP Confab|date=22 July 1971}}</ref> who, he cautioned, should not "live in a vacuum as long as he's President".<ref name=caldwell /> His colleague [[Roy Wilkins]] had previously clarified that in the months following Spottswood's 1970 address, Nixon's policies had been "only 95 percent anti-black".<ref name=afroamerican>{{cite journal|journal=The Afro-American|date=30 January 1971|title=Wilkins says Nixon still 'anti-black'}}</ref>


== Personal life ==
Spottswood earned a reputation as an outspoken critic of injustice and several times attracted press coverage for his political censures. [[Segregationist]] [[Alabama]] governor and Presidential candidate [[George Wallace]] was another likely target. During the same address which became best known for his words on Nixon, Spottswood also warned people not to trust Wallace, who had recently spoken of a more positive stance on racial issues.<ref name=blasts/>
In 1919 he married Viola Estelle Booker, whom he was with until her death in a fire in 1953.<ref name=aarl /> They had one son and four daughters.<ref name=eaar /><ref name=died /> In 1969 he remarried to Mattie Brownita Johnson Elliott.<ref name=eaar />


Spottswood retired from his position as bishop of AMEZ in 1972.<ref name=aarl /> He died of cancer on December 2, 1974, at the age of 77.<ref name=died>{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DVsDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA12|title=NAACP's 'Mr. Outside' Dies of Cancer at Age 77|date=19 December 1974|journal=Jet|volume=47|issue=13|issn=0021-5996|page=12|last1=Company|first1=Johnson Publishing|access-date=4 January 2022|archive-date=1 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001011251/https://books.google.com/books?id=DVsDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA12|url-status=live}}</ref> After his death, his papers were donated to the [[Amistad Research Center]] at [[Dillard University]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TrIDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA79|title=Miscellaneous Notes|page=79|journal=[[The Negro Digest|Black World/Negro Digest]]|date=January 1976|volume=25|issue=3|last1=Company|first1=Johnson Publishing|access-date=2022-01-04|archive-date=2020-08-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819233226/https://books.google.com/books?id=TrIDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA79|url-status=live}}</ref>
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==References==
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{{reflist}}


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== References ==
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{{NAACP}}
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{{reflist|30em}}


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{{NAACP}}
{{authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Spottswood, Stephen Gill}}
[[Category:1897 births]]
[[Category:1897 births]]
[[Category:1974 deaths]]
[[Category:1974 deaths]]
[[Category:Activists from Boston]]
[[Category:National Association for the Advancement of Colored People activists]]
[[Category:Clergy from Boston]]
[[Category:NAACP activists]]
[[Category:Albright College alumni]]
[[Category:Albright College alumni]]
[[Category:Gordon–Conwell Theological Seminary alumni]]
[[Category:Yale University alumni]]
[[Category:Yale University alumni]]
[[Category:Cambridge Rindge and Latin School alumni]]

Latest revision as of 02:17, 19 February 2024

Stephen Spottswood
Chair of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
In office
1961–1975
Preceded byRobert C. Weaver
Succeeded byMargaret Bush Wilson
Personal details
Born
Stephen Gill Spottswood

(1897-07-18)July 18, 1897
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedDecember 2, 1974(1974-12-02) (aged 77)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
EducationAlbright College (BA)
Gordon College (ThB)
Yale University (DDiv)

Stephen Gill Spottswood (July 18, 1897 – December 2, 1974)[1] was a religious leader and civil rights activist known for his work as bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AMEZ) and chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Bishop Spottswood's papers are currently archived at the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University (not Dillard University).

Early life and family

[edit]

Spottswood was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the only child of Mary Elizabeth and Abraham Lincoln Spottswood.[1][2] He attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and then Freeport High School in Maine. He went on to Albright College, earning a B.A. in history in 1917; Gordon Divinity School; and Yale Divinity School, where he earned his doctorate.[2][3]

Religious leadership

[edit]

Shortly after finishing his undergraduate work, Spottswood was named assistant pastor of the First Evangelical United Brethren Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, followed soon after by an appointment with the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AMEZ).[2] Between the time he received his Th.B. from Gordon in 1919 through 1936, he served in leadership positions at several churches around the country: First AMEZ Church of Lowell in Lowell, Massachusetts, which he also founded; Green Memorial AMEZ Church in Portland, Maine; Varick Memorial AMEZ Church in New Haven, Connecticut; Goler Memorial AMEZ Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Jones Tabernacle AMEZ Church in Indianapolis, Indiana; St. Luke AMEZ Church in Buffalo, New York; and John Wesley AMEZ Church in Washington, D.C.[1][2]

While in Washington, in 1952, he was elected the 58th bishop of the AMEZ.[4] He also served in various episcopal districts around the country through the 1950s and 1960s.[2][3]

E. Franklin Jackson and Stephen G. Spottswood representing the NAACP in a meeting with President John F. Kennedy at the White House

Civil rights activism and involvement with NAACP

[edit]

Spottswood joined the NAACP in 1919 and was an active voice for racial equality throughout his adult life.[4] Though he would later play a more conventional leadership position, he also participated in a number of public protests, including sit-ins, boycotts, and pickets, believing that those activities which had economic impact were among the most effective for bringing about change.[2][4]

He became president of the NAACP's Washington branch in 1947 and was elected to the national board of the NAACP in 1955, vice-president in 1959, and finally chairman in 1961, a post he held until 1975. He became well known for his harsh criticism of those opposing civil rights issues and of the Nixon administration in particular.[5]

Keynote address at the 1970 NAACP convention

[edit]

Spottswood earned a reputation as an outspoken critic of racial injustice and several times attracted press coverage for his political censures. At the 61st annual convention of the NAACP, held in Cincinnati in 1970, the 72-year-old Spottswood delivered a controversial and widely publicized keynote address covering a number of topics. He warned people not to trust segregationist Alabama governor and presidential candidate George Wallace, who had begun to speak of a more positive stance on racial issues.[6] He also condemned racism in law enforcement, stating that "killing black Americans has been the 20th-century pastime of our police".[1]

His most prominent criticism was directed at Richard Nixon and his administration's treatment of African-Americans, calling it "anti-Negro".[7][8] Spottswood said it was "the first time since 1920 that the national Administration has made it a matter of calculated policy to work against the needs and aspirations of the largest minority of its citizens".[8][9] In particular, he criticized Nixon's cutting of various social programs related to housing, poverty, and equal opportunity, and accused Republicans of seeking to undermine the Voting Rights Act and desegregation of schools.[10] On Nixon's anti-busing stance, he said, "Nixon does not want to abolish busing for the 20 million children bused every day for educational and social purposes. He just wants to keep 2.7 million children from being bused for desegregation purposes".[6] He went on to declare that the NAACP, which had traditionally been viewed as nonpartisan, "considers itself in a state of war against President Nixon".[9][11][12]

Following the convention, Spottswood drew "staunch support from the Negro press as a whole", according to The Crisis, which aggregated and republished many of the news pieces, while "there was division among the remainder of the press ranging from hearty approval to disparagement".[7] Presidential special counsel Leonard Garment responded to Spottswood's allegations about the Voting Rights Act and school desegregation, calling them "unfair and disheartening".[8][10][13] Fellow AMEZ bishop C. Eubank Tucker said Spottswood's accusations were "both unjustified and unwarranted" and went on to charge the NAACP with receiving funds from the National Democratic Party. The NAACP issued a statement denying Tucker's corruption accusation and speculated about legal remedy while pointing out his longtime "loyalty to the Republican Party".[14] Spottswood replied to Tucker by calling him a "falsifier", expressing he did not wish to call his associate a liar, and to his other critics he defended his "anti-Negro" statement, insisting it was "sustained by the record".[7][15]

At the following year's convention, Spottswood used his keynote address to soften the NAACP's stance on Nixon, admitting that his administration "has taken certain steps and has announced policies in certain phases of the civil rights issue which have earned cautious and limited approval among black Americans",[16] who, he cautioned, should not "live in a vacuum as long as he's President".[9] His colleague Roy Wilkins had previously clarified that in the months following Spottswood's 1970 address, Nixon's policies had been "only 95 percent anti-black".[13]

Personal life

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In 1919 he married Viola Estelle Booker, whom he was with until her death in a fire in 1953.[1] They had one son and four daughters.[2][17] In 1969 he remarried to Mattie Brownita Johnson Elliott.[2]

Spottswood retired from his position as bishop of AMEZ in 1972.[1] He died of cancer on December 2, 1974, at the age of 77.[17] After his death, his papers were donated to the Amistad Research Center at Dillard University.[18]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Aaseng, Nathan (2003). Spottswood, Stephen Gill. Infobase Publishing. pp. 206–207. ISBN 9781438107813. Archived from the original on 2020-08-19. Retrieved 2022-01-04. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Murphy, Larry G.; Melton, J. Gordon; Ward, Gary L., eds. (2013). Spottswood, Stephen Gill. Routledge. pp. 721–722. ISBN 9781135513382. Archived from the original on 2020-08-19. Retrieved 2022-01-04. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  3. ^ a b Altman, Susan (1997). Stephen Spottswood. Facts on File, Inc. ISBN 0-8160-3824-4. Archived from the original on 2022-01-04. Retrieved 2022-01-04. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  4. ^ a b c The Crisis Publishing Company, Inc (December 1980). "Stephen Gill Spottwood". The Crisis. 87 (10): 564–565. ISSN 0011-1422. Archived from the original on 2020-08-19. Retrieved 2022-01-04. {{cite journal}}: |first1= has generic name (help)
  5. ^ "Spottswood Talk to Be Feature of NAACP Parley". Chicago Tribune. 26 October 1972.
  6. ^ a b "NAACP blasts Nixon policies". Star-News. 1 July 1974.
  7. ^ a b c The Crisis Publishing Company, Inc (August 1970). "In the Nation's Press". The Crisis. 77 (7): 276–282. ISSN 0011-1422. Archived from the original on 2020-08-19. Retrieved 2022-01-04. {{cite journal}}: |first1= has generic name (help)
  8. ^ a b c Company, Johnson Publishing (16 July 1970). "Uneasy Truce Ends; NAACP". Jet. 38 (15): 6. ISSN 0021-5996. Archived from the original on 30 September 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2022. {{cite journal}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  9. ^ a b c Caldwell, Earl (6 July 1971). "N.A.A.C.P. Softens Anti-Nixon Stand". The New York Times.
  10. ^ a b Minchin, Timothy; Salmond, John A. (2011). After the Dream: Black and White Southerners since 1955. University Press of Kentucky. p. 64. ISBN 978-0-8131-3999-9. Archived from the original on 2020-08-19. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
  11. ^ Tuck, Stephen G. N. (2010). We Ain't What We Ought to Be: The Black Freedom Struggle From Emancipation. Harvard University Press. p. 353. ISBN 978-0-674-03626-0. Archived from the original on 2020-08-18. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
  12. ^ "NAACP, unhappy over Nixon's 'anti-Negro' policies, may oppose President's reelection". Star-News. 5 July 1972.
  13. ^ a b "Wilkins says Nixon still 'anti-black'". The Afro-American. 30 January 1971.
  14. ^ Thornton, Jeannye (4 July 1970). "Black Bishop: Dems Paying NAACP Heads". Chicago Tribune.
  15. ^ Thornton, Jeannye (4 July 1970). "Black Bishop: Dems Paying NAACP Heads". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  16. ^ "Education, Jobs, Housing: Big Issues Facing NAACP Confab". Jet: 12–13. 22 July 1971.
  17. ^ a b Company, Johnson Publishing (19 December 1974). "NAACP's 'Mr. Outside' Dies of Cancer at Age 77". Jet. 47 (13): 12. ISSN 0021-5996. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2022. {{cite journal}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  18. ^ Company, Johnson Publishing (January 1976). "Miscellaneous Notes". Black World/Negro Digest. 25 (3): 79. Archived from the original on 2020-08-19. Retrieved 2022-01-04. {{cite journal}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
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