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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_Hawkins ★
オーガスタス・ホーキンス
オーガスタス・ホーキンス | |
|---|---|
 | |
| のメンバー 米国衆議院 カリフォルニアから | |
| オフィスで 1963年1月3日～1991年1月3日 | |
| 先行する | エドガー・W。Hiestand (制限付き) |
| 成功する | マキシン・ウォーターズ |
| 選挙区 | 第21区(1963-1975) 第29区(1975-1991) |
| のメンバーカリフォルニア州議会 第62区から | |
| オフィスで 1935年1月7日～1963年1月3日 | |
| 先行する | フレデリック・マディソン・ロバーツ |
| 成功する | トム・ウェイト |
| 個人情報 | |
| 生まれた | オーガスタス・フリーマン・ホーキンス 1907年8月31日 シュリーブポート、ルイジアナ州、アメリカ |
| 死んだ | 2007年11月10日(100歳) ベセスダ、メリーランド州、アメリカ |
| 政党 | 民主党の |
| 配偶者 | ペガ・スミス(1945-1966) エルシー・ホーキンス(1977-2007) |
| 教育 | カリフォルニア大学ロサンゼルス校(BA) |
オーガスタス・フリーマン・ホーキンス(1907年8月31日-2007年11月10日)は、1935年から1963年までカリフォルニア州議会と米国に務めた民主党のアメリカの政治家です。1963年から1991年までの衆議院。彼のキャリアの過程で、ホーキンスは300以上の州法と連邦法を執筆し、最も有名なのは1964年の公民権法のタイトルVIIと1978年のハンフリー・ホーキンス完全雇用法です。彼は教育と失業の終結へのコミットメントで「沈黙の戦士」として知られていた。1]
早期および私生活
ホーキンスはルイジアナ州シュリーブポートで、5人の子供の末っ子で、ニャンザ・ホーキンスとハティ・フリーマンに生まれました。1918年、家族はロサンゼルスに引っ越した。2][3]ホーキンスは1926年にジェファーソン高校を卒業し、1931年にカリフォルニア大学ロサンゼルス校で経済学の学士号を取得しました。[4] 卒業後、彼は土木工学を勉強する予定でしたが、大恐慌の財政的制約はこれを不可能にしました。これは彼の政治への関心と生涯にわたる教育への献身に貢献した。卒業後、ホーキンスは兄と一緒に不動産会社を経営し、政府を学んだ。5] カリフォルニア州議会に勤務している間、ホーキンスは1945年8月28日にペガ・アデリン・スミスと結婚した。スミスは1966年に亡くなり、ホーキンスは後に1977年にエルシー・テイラーと結婚した。6] 議会を引退した後、彼の妻がそれを好み、彼女の2ヶ月後に彼の死までそこに住んでいたので、彼はワシントン地域に滞在しました。[2]
混血の祖先のアフリカ系アメリカ人であるホーキンスは非常に色白で、イギリスの祖父に似ていたと伝えられている。5] 彼の人生を通して、彼はしばしば白人として合格することを拒否したが、単に白人の祖先であると考えられていた。[7][2]
政治的キャリア
州議会
オーガスタス・ホーキンスは、黒人代表が非常に限られていた時代にカリフォルニアで奉仕し、「政治権力を得るための黒人戦略は、白人政治家に投票し、ロビー活動を通じて民主党内で影響力を行使することでした。」[8] ホーキンスとは別に、「ロサンゼルスの黒人には、市、郡、州、または連邦政府に他の政治代表者がいませんでした。」[8]
ホーキンスは、アフリカ系アメリカ人による共和党から民主党へのより一般的な変化の一部でした。9] アフリカ系アメリカ人の大半とは異なり、彼はフランクリン・Dを支持した。1932年のルーズベルトの大統領選挙運動。ホーキンスは、米国全体で非常に人気があったニューディール、特にアフリカ系アメリカ人コミュニティなどの措置を支持した。ルーズベルトは1936年に黒人投票に勝った最初の民主党大統領になるだろう。1934年、ホーキンスは社会主義者であるアプトン・シンクレアのより物議を醸す1934年のカリフォルニア州知事選挙を支持した。シンクレアは負けたが、ホーキンスはサリー・ヘミングスの曾孫であり、トーマス・ジェファーソン大統領であり、カリフォルニア州議会で最初のアフリカ系アメリカ人である共和党のフレデリック・マディソン・ロバーツを破った。ホーキンスは、彼の出発が彼の前のロバーツのような最も上級メンバーである頃には、1935年から1963年まで民主党議員を務めていました。
ホーキンス地区は主にラテン系アメリカ人とアフリカ系アメリカ人だった。議会在任中、彼は「公正な住宅法、公正な雇用慣行法、低コストの住宅および障害保険法、家事労働者に対する労働者補償規定」などの法律を導入しました。[2][5] 教育とともに、雇用と住宅の公正な慣行がホーキンスの主な原因となった。しかし、当時、彼は民主党からこれらの措置に対する支持をほとんど受けてこなれませんでした。9] それにもかかわらず、彼は連邦資金を受け取った建築業者による差別を禁止する公正な住宅法を含むいくつかの措置を可決することができました。[10] ホーキンスはまた、1940年、1944年、1960年の全国大会の代表であり、1944年にカリフォルニア州の選挙人団大統領選挙人でした。1958年、ホーキンスはカリフォルニア州知事に次いで州で2番目に強力な地位であったカリフォルニア州議会の議長になることを求めた。ホーキンスはラルフ・Mに敗れた。ブラウンですが、強力な規則委員会の委員長に任命されました。11][2] ホーキンスが成功していたら、彼はカリフォルニア史上初のアフリカ系アメリカ人スピーカーになっていただろう。ウィリー・ブラウンは1980年にこの偉業を成し遂げるだろう。1962年、ホーキンスはジョン・Fの支持を得て、ロサンゼルス中心部を含む新しく作成された過半数の黒人議会地区を獲得しました[12]。ケネディ、ホーキンスは予備選挙と総選挙で簡単に勝った。選挙後、ホーキンスは「長年の奉仕で議会で最も古い男から議会の新入生にギアをシフトするようなものだ」と述べた。[13]
米国議会
1963年から1991年まで、ホーキンスは議会でロサンゼルス郡南部をカバーするカリフォルニアの第21地区(1963-1975)と29区(1975-1991)を代表しました。ホーキンスは一貫して選出され、民主党に優しい地区の投票の80%以上が選出された。彼はミシシッピ川の西に選出された最初の黒人代表だった。5]
ホーキンスはリンドン・B大統領の強力な支持者だった。ジョンソンの偉大な社会。議会でのキャリアの早い段階で、彼は雇用機会均等委員会を設立した1964年の公民権法のタイトルVIIを含む法律を執筆しました。ホーキンスは公民権の強力な支持者であり、1964年にアフリカ系アメリカ人の有権者登録を提唱するために南部をツアーしました。14]
1965年の議決権法が法律に署名されてから5日後、ワッツ暴動はホーキンス地区で起こった。それは1960年代に最初の人種暴動だった。ホーキンスは議会の同僚に貧困撲滅資金を増やすよう促したが、暴力は容認しなかった。15] 彼の明るい肌と人種間の緊張の高まりのために、ホーキンスは暴動の直後に彼の地区を訪れたときに注意しなければならなかった。[7]暴動は、特に公正な住宅をめぐってグレートソサエティを停滞させました。グレートソサエティの法律の恩恵を受けた黒人は、特に白人の隣に住むことが許された場合、アメリカの「法と秩序」に有害であると非難されました。公正な住宅は依然としてアメリカでは不人気な問題でした。民主党上院議員候補のピエール・サリンジャーは、1964年にリンドン・ジョンソンが反公民権バリー・ゴールドウォーターに対する大統領勝利を破った中で唯一の共和党のピックアップをマークし、この問題でカリフォルニアの共和党のジョージ・マーフィーに敗れた。投票権法が署名された後、オープン住宅改革はグレートソサエティリストの次に見えたが、ワッツ暴動はそれを保留にした。1968年のマーティン・ルーサー・キング・ジュニア暗殺後まで渡されなかった。
ベトナム戦争中、ホーキンスは当初ジョンソン大統領に同意した。1964年、戦争は大社会を弱体化させ、米国は「私たちの生活様式を他の人に課すことはできない」と主張した。[16] 南ベトナムがアメリカの支援なしに生き残るのに十分な安定ではないことが明らかになったとき、ホーキンスは戦争に対する批判を高めた。1970年6月に南ベトナムをツアーした後、ホーキンスと仲間の民主党下院議員ウィリアム・アンダーソンは、南ベトナムの囚人の「残酷で非人道的な扱いを非難する」よう議会に促す下院決議を起草した。[5]アンダーソンとホーキンスは他の9人の議員と一緒に南ベトナムを訪れていましたが、彼らはコンソン島の民間南ベトナム刑務所を訪問した唯一の2人でした。17] 2人の下院議員はまた、ニクソン大統領に刑務所を調査し、「さらなる劣化と死を防ぐ」ために独立したタスクフォースを送るよう圧力をかけた。[18]
ホーキンスは議会ブラックコーカスの創設メンバーであり、最初の任期(1971年から1973年)に副議長を務めました。5][2]ホーキンスは、アダム・クレイトン・パウエル・ジュニア、ビル・クレイ、ロン・デラムズなどの他のアフリカ系アメリカ人のように議会をいじめ説教壇として使用するのではなく、法律に焦点を当てることを好んだため、CBCで重要な役割を果たしませんでした。ホーキンスは、「公民権運動にはより明確な思考と露出症の少ない」が必要だと主張しました。[19] この間、ホーキンスは1906年にテキサス州ブラウンズビルで公の騒乱で誤って告発され、陸軍から除隊した第25歩兵連隊の170人の黒人兵士への名誉除隊を回復することに成功しました。[20] 他のCBCメンバーとは異なり、彼は議題が法律に可決される可能性を高めるために、組織労働や白人民族に協力を求めました。[21] 1980年、ホーキンスはCBCを「85%のソーシャル、15%のビジネス」と批判した。[22]
公民権法のタイトルVIIとは別に、ホーキンスが通過に尽力した法律には、1974年の少年司法および非行防止法、若い犯罪者に特定の保護を提供する法律、1978年の包括的な雇用訓練法、および妊娠に基づく女性に対する差別を防止することを目的とした1978年の妊娠障害法があり、ホーキンスは「アメリカの労働力における真の平等が幻想以上のものであり、妊娠が23][24]ホーキンスは、1977年にミネソタ州の伝説的なヒューバート・ハンフリー上院議員と一緒にホーキンスが後援した1978年のハンフリー・ホーキンス完全雇用法で最もよく知られています。この法案は、米国政府に完全な雇用を提供するという目標を与えた。また、連邦準備制度理事会の議長に経済状況に関する証言を議会に提出しなければならないよう命じた。しかし、ジミー・カーター大統領の机にたどり着く頃には、「法律は明らかに象徴的だった」[25][26][27] ホーキンスは後に、職業訓練パートナーシップ法や1988年学校改善法などの画期的な法律を執筆しました。彼は1984年に下院教育労働委員会の委員長になった。
ホーキンスは、1980年代のロナルド・レーガンとジョージ・Hの大統領時代に達成した相対的な成功の欠如に不満を抱いていた。W。ブッシュ。彼らは1920年代以来最も保守的な大統領であり、彼自身の党のメンバーは右に移動し、ホーキンスの昔ながらのニューディーラーのスタンスを時代遅れと見なしていました。[5] 彼の最大の挫折はジョージ・Hだった。W。1990年のブッシュの公民権法の拒否権は、ホーキンス・ケネディ公民権法とも呼ばれます。マイノリティや女性の雇用慣行を雇用主から従業員に差別する証拠の負担をシフトした前年に行われた6つの最高裁判所の決定を覆しただろう。これは、米国史上公民権法の唯一の成功した拒否権のままです。ホーキンスは1991年に引退した。ブッシュは、ホーキンスの引退後、それほど広範ではない法案、1991年の公民権法に署名するだろう。5]
後世
ホーキンスは1991年にロサンゼルスの自宅に引退し、選出された役人として58年間選挙に負けたことはなかった。彼は残りの人生のためにワシントンD.C.に住んでいた。100歳で亡くなるまで、彼は議会で奉仕した最年長の人物でした。彼は100歳に達した議会で8人目の人物だった。ホーキンスの死は、元アラバマ共和党下院議員アーサー・グレン・アンドリュース(1909-2008)を最古の元下院議員として残した。
レガシー
オーガスタスF。ホーキンス自然公園は、2000年にロサンゼルス南部の高度に都市化された地域に建設されました。28][29] 費用は450万ドルで、主に市、郡、州の債券措置によって資金提供されました。[28] 公園は8.5エーカーを網羅し、自然史と環境解釈展示を含むエヴァンフランケルディスカバリーセンターを備えています。[30]
オーガスタスF.2012年に開校したロサンゼルスのホーキンス高校は、彼に敬意を表して名付けられました。
参照
参考文献
- ウィリアム・L。クレイ、ちょうど恒久的な利益:議会の黒人アメリカ人、1870-1991(ニューヨーク:アミスタッドプレス、Inc、1992):94。
- ^a b c d e f Claudia Luther and Valerie J.ネルソン(2007年11月13日)。ロサンゼルスの黒人議員のパイオニア。ロサンゼルスタイムズ。2021年9月17日取得。none
- サイドズ、ジョシュ(2003)。L.A.都市の限界:大恐慌から現在までのアフリカ系アメリカ人ロサンゼルス。バークレーとロサンゼルス:カリフォルニア大学出版局。p.15。none
- シャーリー・ワシントン、議会の優れたアフリカ系アメリカ人(ワシントンDC:米国議会議事堂歴史協会、1998):39。
- ^a b c d e f g h 事務員のオフィス。「オーガスタス・フリーマン(ガス)・ホーキンス」。議会の黒人アメリカ人。アメリカ合衆国下院。2010年8月4日にオリジナルからアーカイブされました。2010年8月11日取得。none
- ワシントン、議会の優れたアフリカ系アメリカ人、39-40;「ホーキンス、オーガスタス」、現在の伝記、1983年:176-179。
- ^ a b May, Lee (1989年9月28日)「不変のアイデンティティ:そしてアメリカでは、明るい肌の黒人は、人種が依然として多くの人々にとって重要であることを強く認識している」。ロサンゼルスタイムズ。2021年5月5日にオリジナルからアーカイブされました。2010年8月12日取得。none
- ^a b Sides、Josh(2003)。L.A.都市の限界:大恐慌から現在までのアフリカ系アメリカ人ロサンゼルス。バークレーとロサンゼルス:カリフォルニア大学出版局。p.154です。none
- ^a b Sides、Josh(2003)。L.A.都市の限界:大恐慌から現在までのアフリカ系アメリカ人ロサンゼルス。バークレーとロサンゼルス:カリフォルニア大学出版局。p.33です。none
- サイドズ、ジョシュ(2003)。L.A.都市の限界:大恐慌から現在までのアフリカ系アメリカ人ロサンゼルス。バークレーとロサンゼルス:カリフォルニア大学出版局。p.107です。none
- 「まだ議会ポストを求めている、とホーキンスは言う」1958年11月14日、ロサンゼルスタイムズ:6
- グラッドウィン・ヒル、「家の中の8つの新しい席のためにカリフォルニアで戦っている16人の男性」、1962年10月20日、ニューヨークタイムズ:10
- 「黒人、議会に縛られ、州を離れることを嫌う」、1962年11月8日、ロサンゼルスタイムズ:16。
- ドリュー・ピアソン、「黒人下院議員ツアーズサウス」、1964年8月5日、ロサンゼルスタイムズ:A6。
- ピーター・バート、「非難で分断された役人」、1965年8月15日、ニューヨークタイムズ:81。
- オーガスタス・ホーキンス、オーラルヒストリーインタビュー:18。
- グロリア・エマーソン、「アメリカ人は南ベトナムの刑務所で残虐行為を見つける」、1970年7月7日、ニューヨークタイムズ:3;ジョージC.ウィルソン、「S.ベトナム刑務所は「衝撃的」を発見した」、1970年7月7日、ワシントンポスト:A1。
- フェリックス・ベルエア・ジュニア、「ハウスパネルは米国に「タイガーケージ」細胞を調査するよう促す」、1970年7月14日、ニューヨークタイムズ:1。
- 「オーガスタスF.Hawkins," Politics in America, 1989 (Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Inc., 1988): 181.
- ジョン・ドレイファス、「待つことは報われる」、1973年4月19日、ロサンゼルスタイムズ:A3。
- オーガスタス・ホーキンス、オーラルヒストリーインタビュー:20;「ホーキンス、オーガスタス」、現在の伝記、1983年:177。
- ジャクリーン・トレスコット、「コーカス批評」、1980年9月27日、ワシントンポスト:D1。
- 議会記録、下院、第95コング、第2セッション。(1978年7月18日):21435。
- ワシントン、議会の優れたアフリカ系アメリカ人:42-43。
- ジャクリーン・トレスコット、「下院議員の長距離。ガス・ホーキンス;83歳で、公民権の着実なチャンピオンは終わらない戦いから引退している」、1990年10月24日、ワシントンポスト:D1
- エドワード・ウォルシュ、「ハンフリー・ホーキンス対策は大統領によって署名された」、1978年10月28日、ワシントンポスト:A9
- 「大統領は象徴的なハンフリー・ホーキンス法案に署名する」、1978年10月28日、ロサンゼルスタイムズ:17。
- ^a bブラウン、パトリシア・リー(2000年12月28日)。公園はフープだけでなく自然を提供する(2000年出版)。ニューヨークタイムズ.ISSN 0362-4331。2020年10月28日取得。none
- 「提案Oプロジェクト募集、ロサンゼルス市 - 提案O市民監督諮問委員会、p.2005年3月3日」(PDF)。2011年7月26日にオリジナル(PDF)からアーカイブされました。none
- 「ラマウンテン」。ラマウンテン。2013年5月10日にオリジナルからアーカイブされました。none
外部リンク
- アメリカ合衆国議会。「オーガスタス・ホーキンス(id:H000367)」。アメリカ合衆国議会の伝記名簿。none
- C-SPANへの出演
- ロサンゼルス・タイムズの死亡記事
- ボルチモア・サンの死亡記事
- 墓を探すオーガスタス・ホーキンス
- カリフォルニア・オーガスタスFに参加してください。「ガス」ホーキンス
| カリフォルニア州議会 | ||
|---|---|---|
| 先行する | カリフォルニア州議会議員 第62区から 1935年～1963年 | 成功する トム・ウェイト |
| 米国衆議院 | ||
| 先行する | アメリカのメンバー衆議院 カリフォルニア第21選挙区から 1963-1975 | 成功する |
| 先行する | アメリカのメンバー衆議院 カリフォルニア第29選挙区から 1975年～1991年 | 成功する |
| 先行する | 下院管理委員会委員長 1981年～1984年 | 成功する |
| 先行する | 下院教育委員会委員長 1984年～1991年 | 成功する |
| 名誉称号 | ||
| 先行する | 最古の米国代表 (座ってる、または前者) 2003年から2007年 | 成功する |
| ショー | ||
|---|---|---|
| Education and Labor (1867–1883) |  | |
| Education (1883–1947) | ||
| Labor (1883–1947) | ||
| Education and Labor* (1947–) | ||
| Note | * Alternately named Economic and Educational Opportunities in 104th Congress and Education and the Workforce in 105th through 109th and 112th through 115th Congresses. | |
Augustus Hawkins
Augustus Hawkins | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California | |
| In office January 3, 1963 – January 3, 1991 | |
| Preceded by | Edgar W. Hiestand(redistricted) |
| Succeeded by | Maxine Waters |
| Constituency | 21st district (1963–1975) 29th district (1975–1991) |
| Member of the California State Assembly from the 62nd district | |
| In office January 7, 1935 – January 3, 1963 | |
| Preceded by | Frederick Madison Roberts |
| Succeeded by | Tom Waite |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Augustus Freeman Hawkins August 31, 1907 Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Died | November 10, 2007 (aged 100) Bethesda, Maryland, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Pegga Smith (1945–1966) Elsie Hawkins (1977–2007) |
| Education | University of California, Los Angeles (BA) |
Augustus Freeman Hawkins (August 31, 1907 – November 10, 2007) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served in the California State Assembly from 1935 to 1963 and the U.S. House Of Representatives from 1963 to 1991. Over the course of his career, Hawkins authored more than 300 state and federal laws, the most famous of which are Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 1978 Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act. He was known as the "silent warrior" for his commitment to education and ending unemployment.[1]
Early and personal life
Hawkins was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, the youngest of five children, to Nyanza Hawkins and Hattie Freeman. In 1918, the family moved to Los Angeles.[2][3] Hawkins graduated from Jefferson High School in 1926, and received a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1931.[4] After graduation, he planned to study civil engineering, but the financial constraints of the Great Depressionmade this impossible. This contributed towards his interest in politics, and his lifelong devotion to education. After graduating, Hawkins operated a real estate company with his brother and studied government.[5] While serving in the California State Assembly, Hawkins married Pegga Adeline Smith on August 28, 1945. Smith died in 1966, and Hawkins later married Elsie Taylor in 1977.[6] After retiring from Congress, he stayed in the Washington area because his wife preferred it, living there until his death, two months after hers.[2]
An African American of mixed-race ancestry, Hawkins was very fair-skinned and reportedly resembled his English grandfather.[5] Throughout his life, he was often assumed to be of solely white ancestry, though he refused to pass as white.[7][2]
Political career
State Assembly
Augustus Hawkins served in California at a time when black representation was so limited that "the black strategy for gaining political power was to exercise influence within the Democratic Party through voting for, and lobbying, white politicians."[8] Aside from Hawkins, "Los Angeles blacks had no other political representative in city, county, state, or federal government."[8]
Hawkins was part of a more general shift by African Americans away from the Republican and towards the Democratic Party.[9] Unlike the majority of African Americans, he supported Franklin D. Roosevelt's campaign for president in 1932. Hawkins favored measures such as the New Deal, which was wildly popular in the United States at large and the African American community in particular. Roosevelt would go on to be the first Democratic president to win the black vote, in 1936. In 1934, Hawkins supported the more controversial 1934 California gubernatorial election of Upton Sinclair, a socialist. Although Sinclair lost, Hawkins defeated Republican Frederick Madison Roberts, the great-grandson of Sally Hemings and President Thomas Jefferson and the first African American in the California State Assembly. Hawkins would serve as a Democratic member of the Assembly from 1935 until 1963, by the time of his departure being the most senior member, like Roberts before him.
Hawkins' district was primarily Latino American and African American. During his time in the Assembly, he introduced legislation including "a fair housing act, a fair employment practices act, low-cost housing and disability insurance legislation, and workers’ compensation provisions for domestic workers."[2][5] Along with education, fair practices in employment and housing became Hawkins' major causes. He received little support at the time for these measures from the Democratic Party, however.[9]Nevertheless, he was able to get some measures passed, including his fair housing law, which prohibited discrimination by any builders who received federal funds.[10] Hawkins was also a delegate to the National Conventions of 1940, 1944 and 1960 as well as an electoral college presidential elector from California in 1944. In 1958, Hawkins sought to be Speaker of the California State Assembly, which was the second most powerful position in the state, after the Governor of California. Hawkins lost to Ralph M. Brown, but was made chairman of the powerful rules committee.[11][2] Had Hawkins succeeded, he would have been the first African American Speaker in Californian history. Willie Brown would achieve this feat in 1980. In 1962, Hawkins won a newly created majority-black congressional district encompassing central Los Angeles[12] With an endorsement from John F. Kennedy, Hawkins easily won the primary and the general election. After the election, Hawkins remarked, “It's like shifting gears—from the oldest man in the Assembly in years of service to a freshman in Congress.”[13]
U.S. Congress
From 1963 to 1991, Hawkins represented California's 21st District (1963–1975), and the 29th District (1975–1991), covering southern Los Angeles County, in Congress. Hawkins was consistently elected with over 80% of the vote in his Democratic-friendly district. He was the first black representative elected west of the Mississippi River.[5]
Hawkins was a strong supporter of President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society. Early in his congressional career, he authored legislation including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Hawkins was a strong supporter of civil rights, and toured the South in 1964 to advocate for African-American voter registration.[14]
Five days after the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law, the Watts Riots occurred in Hawkins' district. It was the first of many race riotsin the 1960s. Hawkins urged his colleagues in Congress to increase antipoverty funds, but did not condone the violence.[15] Due to his light skin and heightened racial tensions, Hawkins had to be careful when he visited his district shortly after the riots.[7] The riots stalled the Great Society, particularly over the fair housing; blacks who benefited from Great Society laws were blamed as being harmful to the "law and order" of America, particularly if they were allowed to live next to whites. Fair housing was still an unpopular issue in America: Democratic Senate nominee Pierre Salinger lost to Republican George Murphy in California over the issue, marking the only Republican pickup amid Lyndon Johnson's crushing presidential victory over anti-civil rights Barry Goldwater in 1964. Open housing reform seemed next on the Great Society list after the Voting Rights Act was signed, but the Watts Riot put it on hold. It was not passed until after the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
On the Vietnam War, Hawkins initially agreed with President Johnson. In 1964, both insisted that the war undermined the Great Society and that the United States could not "impose our way of life on other people."[16]When it became clear that South Vietnam was not stable enough to survive without American backing, Hawkins increased his criticism of the war. After touring South Vietnam June 1970, Hawkins and fellow Democratic Representative William Anderson drafted a House Resolution urging Congress to "condemn the cruel and inhumane treatment" of prisoners in South Vietnam.[5] Anderson and Hawkins had visited South Vietnam with nine other congressmen, but they were the only two to visit a civilian South Vietnamese prison on Con Son Island, which they described as being akin to “tiger cages.”[17] The two Representatives also pressured President Nixon to send an independent task force to investigate the prison and “prevent further degradation and death.”[18]
Hawkins was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, and served as vice chairman during its first term (1971–1973).[5][2] Hawkins did not play a significant role in the CBC, as he preferred to focus on legislation rather than use Congress as a bully pulpit like other African Americans such as Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Bill Clay, and Ron Dellums; Hawkins argued that there needed to be “clearer thinking and fewer exhibitionists in the civil rights movement.”[19] During this time, Hawkins succeeded in restoring honorable discharges to the 170 black soldiers of the 25th Infantry Regiment who had been falsely accused of a public disturbance in Brownsville, Texas, in 1906, and removed from the Army.[20] Unlike other CBC members, he sought cooperation from organized labor and white ethnics in order to make his agenda more likely to pass into law.[21] In 1980, Hawkins criticized the CBC as "85 percent social and 15 percent business."[22]
Aside from Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, laws that Hawkins was instrumental in passing include: the 1974 Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, a law which provides certain protections to young criminal offenders; the 1978 Comprehensive Employment and Training Act; and the 1978 Pregnancy Disability Act, which aimed to prevent discrimination against women on the basis of pregnancy and of which Hawkins said, “we have the opportunity to ensure that genuine equality in the American labor force is more than an illusion and that pregnancy will no longer be the basis of unfavorable treatment of working women."[23][24] Hawkins is known best of all for the 1978 Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act, which Hawkins sponsored in 1977 alongside the legendary Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota. The Bill gave the U.S. government the goal to provide full employment; it also ordered that the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board must provide Congress with testimony on the state of the economy. However, by the time it made to President Jimmy Carter's desk, "the legislation was clearly symbolic."[25][26][27] Hawkins later authored landmark legislation such as the Job Training Partnership Act and the 1988 School Improvement Act. He became chair of the House Education and Labor Committee in 1984.
Hawkins was frustrated from the relative lack of success that he achieved during the 1980s presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. They were the most conservative presidents since the 1920s, and members of his own party were moving to the right and viewed Hawkins's old-school New Dealer stance as outdated.[5] His greatest setback was George H. W. Bush's veto of the Civil Rights Act of 1990, sometimes called the Hawkins-Kennedy Civil Rights Act. It would have reversed six Supreme Court decisions made in the previous year that had shifted the burden of proof of discriminating hiring practices of minorities or women from the employer to the employee. It remains the only successful veto of a civil rights act in United States history. Hawkins retired in 1991. Bush would sign a less expansive bill, the Civil Rights Act of 1991, after Hawkins's retirement.[5]
Later life
Hawkins retired in 1991 to his Los Angeles home, having never lost an election in 58 years as an elected official. He lived in Washington, D.C., for the remainder of his life. Until his death at the age of 100, he was the oldest living person to have served in Congress. He was the eighth person to have served in Congress that reached the age of 100. Hawkins's death left the former Alabama Republican Representative Arthur Glenn Andrews(1909–2008) as the oldest living former House member.
Legacy
The Augustus F. Hawkins Natural Park was built in 2000 in a highly urbanized area of south Los Angeles.[28][29] The cost was $4.5 million and was financed largely by city, county, and state bond measures.[28] The park encompasses 8.5 acres and features the Evan Frankel Discovery Center, which includes natural history and environmental interpretive displays.[30]
Augustus F. Hawkins High School in Los Angeles, opened in 2012, it is named in his honor.
See also
References
- William L. Clay, Just Permanent Interests: Black Americans in Congress, 1870–1991 (New York: Amistad Press, Inc, 1992): 94.
- ^ a b c d e f Claudia Luther and Valerie J. Nelson (November 13, 2007). "A pioneer for black lawmakers in L.A." Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 17, 2021.none
- Sides, Josh (2003). L.A. City Limits: African American Los Angeles from the Great Depression to the Present. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 15.none
- Shirley Washington, Outstanding African Americans of Congress (Washington, DC: United States Capitol Historical Society, 1998): 39.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Office of the Clerk. "Augustus Freeman (Gus) Hawkins". Black Americans in Congress. United States House of Representatives. Archived from the original on August 4, 2010. Retrieved August 11, 2010.none
- Washington, Outstanding African Americans of Congress, 39–40; “Hawkins, Augustus,” Current Biography, 1983: 176–179.
- ^ a b May, Lee (September 28, 1989). "Mistaken Identities: And in America, Light-Skinned Blacks Are Acutely Aware That Race Still Matters to Many People". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 5, 2021. Retrieved August 12, 2010.none
- ^ a b Sides, Josh (2003). L.A. City Limits: African American Los Angeles from the Great Depression to the Present. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 154.none
- ^ a b Sides, Josh (2003). L.A. City Limits: African American Los Angeles from the Great Depression to the Present. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 33.none
- Sides, Josh (2003). L.A. City Limits: African American Los Angeles from the Great Depression to the Present. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 107.none
- “Still Seeks Assembly Post, Hawkins Says,” November 14, 1958, Los Angeles Times: 6
- Gladwin Hill, “16 Men Battling in California for Eight New Seats in House,” October 20, 1962, New York Times: 10
- “Negro, Congress-Bound, Loath to Leave State,” November 8, 1962, Los Angeles Times: 16.
- Drew Pearson, “Negro Congressman Tours South,” August 5, 1964, Los Angeles Times: A6.
- Peter Bart, “Officials Divided in Placing Blame,” August 15, 1965, New York Times: 81.
- Augustus Hawkins, Oral History Interview: 18.
- Gloria Emerson, “Americans Find Brutality in South Vietnamese Jail,” July 7, 1970, New York Times: 3; George C. Wilson, “S. Viet Prison Found 'Shocking',” July 7, 1970, Washington Post: A1.
- Felix Belair, Jr., “House Panel Urges U.S. to Investigate 'Tiger Cage' Cells,” July 14, 1970, New York Times: 1.
- “Augustus F. Hawkins,” Politics in America, 1989 (Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Inc., 1988): 181.
- John Dreyfuss, “Waiting Pays Off,” April 19, 1973, Los Angeles Times: A3.
- Augustus Hawkins, Oral History Interview: 20; “Hawkins, Augustus,” Current Biography, 1983: 177.
- Jacqueline Trescott, “Caucus Critiques,” September 27, 1980, Washington Post: D1.
- Congressional Record, House, 95th Cong., second sess. (18 July 1978): 21435.
- Washington, Outstanding African Americans of Congress: 42–43.
- Jacqueline Trescott, “The Long Haul of Rep. Gus Hawkins; At 83, the Steady Champion of Civil Rights Is Retiring From a Battle That Won't End,” October 24, 1990, Washington Post: D1
- Edward Walsh, “Humphrey–Hawkins Measure Is Signed by the President,” October 28, 1978, Washington Post: A9
- “President Signs Symbolic Humphrey–Hawkins Bill,” October 28, 1978, Los Angeles Times: 17.
- ^ a b Brown, Patricia Leigh (December 28, 2000). "A Park Offers Nature, Not Just Hoops (Published 2000)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 28, 2020.none
- "Proposition O Call for Projects, City of Los Angeles – Proposition O Citizens Oversight Advisory Committee, p. 3, 2005" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 26, 2011.none
- "Lamountains". Lamountains. Archived from the original on May 10, 2013.none
External links
- United States Congress. "Augustus Hawkins (id: H000367)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.none
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Obituary from the Los Angeles Times
- Obituary from The Baltimore Sun
- Augustus Hawkins at Find a Grave
- Join California Augustus F. "Gus" Hawkins
| California Assembly | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of the California Assembly from the 62nd district 1935–1963 | Succeeded by Tom Waite |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 21st congressional district 1963–1975 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 29th congressional district 1975–1991 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of House Administration Committee 1981–1984 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of House Education Committee 1984–1991 | Succeeded by |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | Oldest living United States representative (Sitting or former) 2003–2007 | Succeeded by |
| show | ||
|---|---|---|
| Education and Labor (1867–1883) |  | |
| Education (1883–1947) | ||
| Labor (1883–1947) | ||
| Education and Labor* (1947–) | ||
| Note | * Alternately named Economic and Educational Opportunities in 104th Congress and Education and the Workforce in 105th through 109th and 112th through 115th Congresses. | |
0:01
the community was just beginning to change in 1934 the community in south central
0:09
the demographics were largely about
0:16
15 to 20 percent black and the rest of it was white
0:23
very very few hispanics and virtually no
0:29
asians it was a rather subtle community
0:35
in that the population was stable the exodus to the city was not
0:42
really at its zenith at that time in 1934 thereabout
0:49
the south central community was pretty well isolated it was beginning to
0:55
change the change was primarily from a white neighborhood
1:02
to a black and uh it was a sprinkling then of white
1:09
as they remain but most of the whites were moving out to the suburbia
1:15
and the blacks who were coming in were primarily
1:21
southerners and
1:26
rather of the lower income group the higher income groups were moving to the
1:33
west side of los angeles it was quite a a community in transition
1:41
the promise of a better life i think sometimes
1:47
those who are attracted to los angeles felt that it was a land of milk and
1:52
honey and obviously they were also running away from things in the deep
1:59
south that is lynchings and bad economic conditions
2:05
segregation in various schools and things of that nature and they
2:11
thought that the west promised them a new life altogether
2:19
the south central area was not a a multicultural
2:24
type of population it was primarily
2:30
those who had older white residents who had uh
2:36
stayed there for a long time and were only dislodged by
2:42
new southern blacks uh as to the chinese
2:47
or the asian population the asian population was concentrated
2:52
elsewhere primarily in downtown los angeles so the very little mixture
2:58
between the asians and the native whites and the new blacks who
3:05
were moving into the area in great numbers well back in 34
3:11
uh as far as a hollywood connection i recall that
3:16
uh i was at that time just graduating from college
3:22
and i had been hired as a delivery boy in a way
3:28
to deliver materials to the studios
3:34
the studios were quite popular of course and my job was
3:39
to deliver to the studios copies of
3:45
acting bits so that the directors could choose a particular character for a particular
3:52
scene and it was a very exciting
3:58
thing for me beside being a job of course that i had an opportunity to go in and out of
4:05
the studios the studios were quite uh discriminatory in a way
4:11
very few blacks were in roles at that time there were one or two
4:18
uh blacks including one outstanding one clarence muse who's a semi director
4:25
and a actor who acted subparts but
4:30
primarily as the best parts were in my opinion not of the
4:37
ideal type the step and fetch it type of acting where
4:42
some humor was provided or they needed some person to act as a servant to one of the
4:48
stars of that time i was not too excited about
4:53
the role of minorities in hollywood at the time
4:59
and i thought that primarily the image that was conveyed of minorities
5:05
in the movies reflected really a a
5:13
a slavery type that is a plantation type and that that did not
5:20
really give us in my opinion any uplift in the community or nationwide
5:28
that blacks were beginning to get into the mainstream of american life was just
5:33
the opposite was pretty obvious that as i was describing hollywood at that time
5:39
it did not to me come across as portraying the type of roles that i thought should
5:46
be portrayed it was ill attempt of the menstrual days of
5:53
if a character happened to be of a prominent type
5:59
it was a white person blackened to make to be
6:05
made into a black in order to portray a role so that we did not have at that time the
6:11
entrance of the lena horne type of a white complexion uh black person
6:19
and uh the the carryover of prejudice and discrimination one must remember
6:26
that california was not at that time a very progressive state there was great discrimination primarily
6:32
against the chinese against the filipino and later against the japanese
6:39
and across the main streets of los angeles one could as one walk down them
6:46
see signs in the windows no colored persons allowed
6:52
we do not cater to to blacks and that was quite quite
6:58
prominent so that bigotry was very heavily displayed in hollywood it
7:03
reflected the times when i had an opportunity to go on a lot
7:10
of times we didn't let me indicate that
7:15
as far as the theaters were concerned there was no discrimination in the theaters that is
7:21
blacks were not confined to the so-called peanut gallery but
7:26
the movies obviously were just beginning to change
7:32
it was very exciting because we could see the first uh
7:37
sound pictures the new technology was just beginning to come through
7:43
al jolson type in the movies was quite an exciting experience and al jolson of
7:50
course was again portrayed the type of a white person blackened up in order
7:56
to provide entertainment and that was quite extensive uh
8:02
the the movies were not uh from an artistic point of view the very best
8:08
but they were a source of enjoyment and a new technology and along with
8:16
the radio which was coming into prominence about that time
8:21
it was exciting new experience for all of us uh i made a
8:28
little uh radio sets on the side as in order to pick up a little extra
8:35
money and we had a little crystal set little rock
8:40
what we call a crystal set and earphones so we're talking about a very very crude
8:46
technologically age the question of whether or not one
8:53
identifies with a a film that seems foreign to that
8:59
individual's culture is a rather exciting one i
9:04
would say that the films of that particular period
9:10
and i'm talking about the 30s uh were more or less looked at from an artistic point of view you you weren't
9:18
really judging it critically philosophically but you went there for entertainment and
9:24
that's about what you got uh as to whether or not it was actually portraying something it was so
9:31
exciting as a new experience that i suspect that one would overlook the
9:36
ideological aspects of it and while it did not portray let us say
9:43
black america as black america was or as we had hoped that it would become was
9:50
not really the the in important thing at that time uh later we became more critical
9:57
of entertainment as such because we could see that it was shaping
10:03
the image of people and influencing uh politically and socially
10:10
american life but in the early days we were thrilled really to see something on
10:15
the screen at the beginning one had very little
10:23
uh thought of the tremendous influence that hollywood would have on
10:30
america and on on the world for that matter uh it was
10:35
seen from a technological point of view uh and uh the acting was the charles
10:42
chaplin type that is you looked at it as a person who's a good actor good actress and so
10:48
on uh it was later that we discovered that not only was acting
10:55
entertainment but that it was also politically motivated that it was
11:01
a means of shaping things uh shaping our lives
11:07
creating lasting influences on people and then it
11:13
became rather controversial and i guess this led to the later
11:22
inquisition in which liberal writers and liberal actors were somehow
11:29
ostracized by hollywood because they were beginning to change american life but at the earlier period of time
11:37
and that was not so the motion picture industry from the viewpoint of employment
11:42
of minorities was not a great source i would say there will be many more
11:48
blacks employed as as caterers on location or
11:54
let us say in more or less the lesser
12:00
occupations custodians preparing actors
12:07
for different scenes of that nature but and as chauffeurs and so on
12:13
so that was only indirect employment that it was not a major source of
12:18
employment for minorities as a matter of fact for even in the case of dramas where
12:26
uh mexican actors were supposed to be featured many times they were not mexican so it
12:34
was not just black it was a cultural
12:39
bias that extended across the spectrum
12:44
the question has sometimes risen that
12:51
why did i uh in a sense become a democrat
12:56
in an area that was highly republican at that time
13:02
and in the 1930s the area that i lived in and that i
13:08
represented lately in congress and earlier in the
13:13
legislative branch of state government uh was just beginning to change
13:19
the the greatest influence i would say at that time
13:24
on myself was that i had struggled to get through school to
13:32
go to college only to find out that i had no better opportunity than
13:38
than one who hadn't gone to school at all and
13:43
to me the situation was that republicanism
13:48
was obsolete for blacks blacks were still republican merely because
13:54
it was a party that had presumably freed the blacks
14:00
out of and and brought them out of slavery but they were being starved to death under the hoover policies of that day
14:08
president hoover uh uh in a sense
14:13
drove blacks out of the republican party into the democratic ranks but that was
14:18
just beginning when i when i decided that i was a candidate for office
14:27
my influence came through my mother who was a democrat and wondered why my dad
14:33
who had lost all of his money in banks closing under the hoover administration
14:40
and when we were thrown without employment and and as a family i had to depend on
14:46
surplus foods and so forth she couldn't understand it and so she shamed my dad
14:52
into becoming a democrat but in a sense she started me out as a
14:59
democrat and uh when i ran for office i ran as a democrat
15:06
during this time there were many erratics i would say in terms of
15:13
departures from normal living in california in that period of time
15:20
that is throughout the 30s we had various movements we had the so-called
15:26
towns and movement to give everyone 200 a month
15:32
and we had the ham and eggs proposition that every thursday everybody was going to
15:37
get a certain sum of money nobody ever asked how these things would be financed
15:44
but they were dreams that people dreamed because times were tough
15:49
hugh long was doing the same thing in the state of louisiana and in california
15:55
we had the rise of an arthur upton sinclair
16:01
he was in effect a socialist and viewed as a socialist not as a democrat
16:07
and was not really accepted in the democratic party but he was a great influence on politics of that day
16:15
and obviously he became the democratic nominee because
16:21
the rest of the democratic candidates were too conservative and too republican-like to make a difference so
16:29
often sinclair really upset the politics of the state and brought on a great uh
16:36
opposition of all of the forces throughout the state uh the established groups the religious
16:43
groups uh the so-called establishment of uh
16:49
the conservative business people and so on and frightened the people so much until
16:56
fortunately or unfortunately depend depending on one's view
17:01
he lost but by sweeping the state with a great movement of that type he did
17:09
get elected a progressive set up in the state that is congressman
17:16
legislative state legislators were primarily elected as a result of this movement
17:23
during the so-called epic movement in california and the
17:29
candidacy of up to sinclair i would conclude that the state was
17:38
shocked and highly motivated in reaction to the type of thing that was done in
17:45
politics at that time utter sinclair was a very believable
17:51
type of individual but he was not a convincing
17:56
politician as such and i think that people were not quite
18:02
ready for the type of statements that were being made and so it was fairly easy
18:09
uh to scapegoat things by uh
18:14
portraying uh upton sinclair as a communist
18:19
or even beyond being a socialist uh and uh people were not quite ready
18:25
for change the minorities who had recently made some gains
18:33
were obviously conservative in trying to to protect those those gains the the
18:40
the role of the minister in certain communities
18:46
was a great influence and by and large
18:51
the organized church's organized religion was heavily against
18:57
ups and sinclair so that was a real force throughout the state
19:03
but the type of things that were circulated is hardly
19:09
believable there was a the whole
19:14
idea of the state was that if upton sinclair was elected
19:19
that california would almost sink into the ocean and i think the propaganda was such that
19:26
eventually it was just too too much to overcome
19:32
there are those who say also that some of the elections uh
19:39
were manipulated in certain areas and i wouldn't doubt at all
19:44
that uh ballot boxes were changed in conservative areas where they could get away with it
19:50
there was a determination that upton sinclair was not going to be allowed to win
19:57
and he didn't but the fortunate part of it was that a lot of good people
20:03
uh rather liberal forward-looking people were elected at that time recall that
20:10
that culvert olson became governor later because he was elected a state senator
20:18
in the sinclair landslide and he built on that and became governor of the state and proved to be a good
20:24
governor in the period of the mid 30s
20:29
when minorities were beginning to get a toehold on the state
20:36
in terms of political office in terms of breaking down discrimination
20:42
in the unions when they were beginning to become
20:47
[Music] judges for the first time and to be integrated into the postal
20:55
service that they were in a sense becoming middle class
21:03
and as such we had a movement that uh blacks are becoming
21:09
more conservative politically and not the type but they they were
21:16
getting a piece of the action and they wanted to protect it and i suspect that many
21:21
uh just becoming a part of the middle class also
21:27
did not enter into the epic movement as such professionals tended not to be
21:35
supporters of the epic movement i recall that my own brother was a
21:40
practicing physician and to him erton sinclair
21:46
favored socialized medicine and i recall that i
21:52
uh went into one of the sinclair headquarters invited to give my own views because i was a
21:59
candidate i indicated that i
22:04
favored a prepaid health insurance but not the socialization of medicine and i
22:10
recall as a result of that i was not supported not endorsed by the epic movement and the primaries after i won
22:17
my primary in the final analysis i was a part of the democratic ticket
22:23
but not in the primary and i think that illustrates the conservative trend that was
22:29
developing at that time for all of those who became democratic nominees were a
22:34
part of the so-called epic ticket in the general election
22:40
and that is the way it came about i was not opposed to the sinclair movement i
22:46
just did not take a real position on it and as i say because of one or two
22:52
issues that i had expressed myself on
22:59
i was not endorsed by upton sinclair in my primary election
23:06
as to whether or not uh um blacks as such
23:12
responded to the up to upton sinclair movement i would say that it was very
23:18
very lukewarm they were just becoming democrats and i think that change was fast enough for
23:26
them for most of them and they weren't about to change from the republican party to the democratic
23:31
party and then overnight they become allied with what was termed a socialist
23:38
movement it was just too shockingly quick i think that in the final analysis
23:46
they voted for the sinclair ticket in the general election but that's
23:52
because they were then becoming strong democrats and their economic conditions made them
24:00
more allied with the new party even though sinclair
24:05
was a part of it than with the older party and consequently i would say that the
24:12
support of sinclair in the black community was lukewarm uh the ministers who exercised quite an
24:19
influence were not pro sinclair
24:24
whether you can phrase it as being anti-sinclair
24:30
i would not go that far i would say that they were
24:35
supporters of the democratic ticket and more amount of splitting that ticket
24:40
than it was a matter of being strongly anti-sinclair
24:47
the black community has never been really scared by socialism and i'm not trying to identify
24:54
necessarily their voting for against the epic movement on the
24:59
basis of the fear of socialism well let me
25:05
state in terms of that particular time and the politics of that particular
25:11
time it was not a separate movement and such but we had several movements
25:17
that coincided uh blacks as such were not
25:22
attracted to the epic movement as such they were never a strong part of it the
25:28
leaders were not let us say involved in the movement
25:34
the movement had very very few minority leaders as such as a part of
25:40
the epic movement but blacks were changing they were becoming democrats
25:46
and the election was not only a an election that featured upton
25:51
sinclair but it featured a lot of other candidates including myself for for example as a democrat
25:58
and i was running as a as a democrat who happened obviously to be on a ticket with mr
26:05
sinclair in the runoff during the epic movement in california
26:12
let me make it clear that i was not actually running as an epic
26:18
candidate i was never a strong epic and no
26:23
particular reason i had no ideological uh objection to most of the program
26:31
i was however a democrat a new new democrat who was running as a democratic
26:37
candidate it was tough for me to convince many of my friends and supporters
26:43
as a democrat that that was the right thing to do but i just happened to be a democrat and i ran
26:50
as a democrat and while i disagreed with one or two things in the epic movement it doesn't
26:57
say it doesn't mean that i was opposed to the whole idea of
27:02
changing things across the state there were many things that needed changing and so it just happened we just happened
27:09
to converge i think one was put into proper perspective
27:14
that that was not the only thing that was happening particularly in the minority community
27:21
minorities was just beginning to break through many barriers
27:27
in those days we had a terrific time to get a black judge uh
27:34
elected the first one in the state uh the first supervisor in in the post office the first woman uh in
27:42
black woman in the post office and so forth now all of these things were happening at the
27:47
same time that the epic movement was happening and so it was not a monolithic
27:52
a monolithic community it was a community that was undergoing a great transition and as such
28:00
the uh uh people i think i think a majority did vote uh democratic and
28:06
consequently uh for the epic ticket and so that the two coincided rather than
28:13
one being the cause of the other during the the epic campaign i i think that
28:19
most of us do recall uh the tremendous pressure that was put on everybody
28:25
throughout the state to oppose uh
28:31
upton sinclair at least the top of the ticket and i recall that
28:37
in business after business throughout industry employers would call their
28:44
employees in just before the election and would tell them now look if upton sinclair is
28:51
elected you're not going to have a job i can recall that in many households
28:58
blacks who were in household service and that was a great number of them we're told now look if mr sinclair is elected
29:07
i won't be able to hire you to continue in employment and that type of pressure
29:13
was throughout the state and that was a tremendous
29:18
disincentive to vote for the top of the ticket
29:24
for a long time african americans were not
29:31
were not the ones who enjoyed the government benefits they
29:37
had been denied this in the deep south and even in the north and and also in
29:44
the west the idea of the government helping them was somewhat foreign
29:50
in 1935 when the social security act was passed i think one must remember that
29:57
the act included not only protection for the elderly but it also
30:03
began uh protection for children for the first time child aid became a reality
30:10
and that was an important part of the act for blacks
30:16
and the act also provided
30:21
help for the disabled and led also to such later programs in
30:26
medicare medicaid and whatnot and these were tremendous benefits to the black
30:32
community which had been denied them even when they were offered to others
30:38
but for the first time everyone enjoyed the benefits of something under the social security act
30:45
and i think that that to blacks it was a great lifesaver
30:52
it's pretty difficult to visualize what uh type of security people didn't have in
30:58
those days instead of social security the elderly were confined to uh what we call then
31:07
the poor houses uh it was uh uh places set aside for the
31:12
elderly where they were in a sense incarcerated in a poor house when they became
31:19
elderly the mental and the mental cases were were actually locked up
31:24
uh those who did not have families
31:30
with the adoption of social security in 1935
31:35
to black americans is almost like the emancipation proclamation something comparable
31:40
or something like the magna carta and the english tradition for the first time blacks considered
31:47
themselves having something which others had and which was guaranteed to them which they
31:54
could not be denied everything that that happened that was good
32:01
uh was somehow denied to uh african americans uh but uh under
32:07
the social security act uh there was no such distinction made and so it was a real breakthrough
32:14
that to them it simply mean meant at that time
32:20
that as they grew older they knew that they would gain this as a matter of right they knew
32:26
that their children under child care which later became the uh afdc
32:33
and medicaid and so forth they knew that this was an opportunity that they could
32:40
pass on to the next generation so it was revolutionary and a great uh great day
32:46
not only in american life but i think an outstanding day similar to the emancipation proclamation among african
32:54
americans at first obviously
32:59
there was this omission that was the omission of domestic workers but
33:05
that that was soon repaired and on the state level we moved to do it
33:11
we moved to get those benefits for domestics on the state level but at that time and
33:19
later obviously domestic service was not as important to
33:24
blacks as other occupations and
33:30
we're getting sort of anticipating a later period when
33:35
domestic service was no longer the major activity or the source of income for
33:41
black americans in 1934 we
33:48
in the state were highly involved in civil rights i would say that we had a civil
33:54
rights movement prior to the year one in the 60s
34:00
i have indicated that there were signs throughout the state
34:07
that indicated that blacks were not welcome in places of public accommodation
34:16
traveling was a problem at first it was directed against the
34:21
chinese orientals who could not ride streetcars in some
34:27
places throughout the state and
34:32
at that time we moved to strengthen our civil rights act we had a civil rights act in california quite early but it was
34:39
not very strong and it was very poorly enforced so we moved to strengthen that
34:45
and i would say that in the period from about 30
34:51
2 to about 40 that the great impetus was in strengthening
34:58
the civil rights act we were not as much concerned with other issues as we were with one great issue
35:05
of civil rights it was my personal hope that as a member of the state legislature we
35:11
could strengthen the act so that we could in effect
35:18
allow minorities to ride undisturbed on streetcars to testify in
35:25
the courts where white persons were concerned in order to break down
35:32
segregation in the schools the schools were highly segregated and also
35:38
we were just starting out to
35:43
strengthen the law which would protect minorities against restrictive covenants
35:49
they couldn't buy in certain neighborhoods because they were restricted i'm often asked
35:55
what motivated me to run for a public office at that time to run
36:00
for the state assembly one i think has to put it into proper
36:06
perspective in the state of california we had one
36:11
official one african american elected official
36:16
and that official happened to come from our community
36:22
the the individual was very conservative he died in the world republican
36:30
who did not really do very much in terms of the needs of the people
36:37
was not concerned about jobs and housing and civil rights and so forth
36:42
but merely because he was black was supported rather
36:48
with great pride by a community that felt that that
36:53
was the only official we had he's ours and we've got to elect him and so a group of us young people having
37:01
graduated from college and without jobs uh
37:06
felt that uh that indicated to the
37:12
to the state and to all forces throughout the state that we were not
37:18
really uh meaningful we had no power we had a had
37:23
a voice that didn't speak for us and so we decided that that individual had to be defeated in order
37:30
to turn things around uh and we supported a candidate in 1932
37:38
in order to defeat that individual the candidate lost because the candidate had really been
37:43
put in by the opposition and so we decided that among this little group of young people
37:51
that we had to put one of our own up and i happened to be selected by that group
37:57
and supported and for that reason uh i ran and happened to be elected in
38:04
that election near the end of the decade of the 30s.
38:09
there was a reaction to the new deal programs
38:14
business interests that had really profited under the new deal
38:21
decided that that it was too revolutionary that in
38:26
some way various activities would be nationalized
38:33
or that the so-called private enterprise would be
38:39
somewhat diminished by national regulations and
38:46
social programs a recession developed that and
38:52
we began to see unemployment again that we had escaped a decade earlier
39:00
and as a result of that the new deal was hard pressed
39:06
to think of new programs mr roosevelt
39:12
persisted however and at first there was an attempt to
39:17
balance the budget when that failed failed to produce the type of economic
39:22
activity that was needed to put people to work mr roosevelt just thought of new
39:27
agencies and kept thinking of new agencies to put people to work to provide for those who were in
39:34
hardship or distressed and so we began to see again
39:39
some of the agencies that were earlier created such as an extension of the
39:45
works progress administration the public works administration and so on and so
39:52
instead of having people idle go on a dole um they we had new agencies
39:58
that created jobs building bridges preparing
40:04
buildings that needed preparing the concept being that they had put
40:09
people to work doing that which would not compete with the private sector.
all of the activity that i've indicated
40:16
that was happening on the national scene was duplicated on a smaller scale within
40:22
the state the state was beginning to develop some huge
40:28
projects which did employ people.
we had to go over to the colorado river
40:34
to get water so that we had to build a transmission line that employed a large number of
40:40
individuals we had to go 300 miles to the high sierras to get a water supply
40:46
for the city so the metropolitan water district became a most important
40:51
thing for the development of southern california and so in terms of
40:56
building flood control getting a water supply irrigating the farms of the various
41:04
valleys individuals were employed and this was a type of work which
41:09
gradually we got minorities into prior to that time many had been sent over the
41:15
mountains what we call the mountains with the ridge route to san francisco in order to pick cotton in the valley
41:22
that was a temporary type of of work harvesting the crops
41:30
thought the the projects were primarily supported by
41:35
taxpayers money the metropolitan water district consisted not only of los angeles but
41:40
every small town in southern california needed a water supply so so the money came from bond
41:47
issues and from the people taxing themselves in order to support them the uh
41:54
the generation of power from the colorado river the old boulder dam
41:59
project as was earlier called was federally supported but it was a
42:05
a regional project localized primarily in california which
42:11
needed the the power more than any of the other states in the southwest but indirectly it was such
42:19
projects as this that kept the people employed as the
42:25
as the work project idea uh became somewhat obsolete i didn't
42:33
employ enough people we began anticipating the arming of the country
42:42
for the uh what became world war ii and so uh
42:47
along with uh uh with such international episodes is mussolini going into ethiopia
42:54
the germans going into uh czechoslovakia and so forth
43:00
there was a great amount of activity started in california because of its
43:05
climate uh in in in preparing for a defense posture
43:13
and that began to employ people and while it was accelerated much more later
43:21
it started about 30 35 between 35 and 40 1940.
43:28
in california we never really marked the close of the new deal
43:33
i would say that we suffered less than the rest of the country
43:38
uh california was a progressive state is much more progressive than even now
43:45
and we were moving ahead in order to anticipate
43:51
and increase prosperity we were beginning through our universities through
43:57
california technology through a stanford university california system
44:04
and such universities to develop outstanding
44:10
products and actually we were on the ver we saw the verge of
44:15
growing technology and in many places we were
44:21
quite advanced now i'm not saying that that kept up but at that time with respect to the rest of
44:28
the country we were doing extremely well agriculture was
44:33
was highly productive we had mechanized reforms we had specialty crops
44:40
and i would say it was to a long time of a leading industry
44:45
the the of course the war effort was more highly developed
44:52
in the 40s rather than in the decade of the 30s but our defense
44:58
industries were developed and in shipbuilding aircraft and and
45:07
allied industries we were ahead of the rest of the country
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