Georgist Conference in Baltimore, Part Five

[ndrosen]

To return to Monday, August 27, in the evening we had the opening reception, officially beginning the Georgist Conference (my previous posts were on the charrette in the afternoon, not strictly speaking part of the conference). Maryland Delegate Clarence “Tiger” Davis spoke, welcoming us to Baltimore. He is black, and a Democrat. He spoke of having obtained some of the best education possible in the country as a teenager attending high school, because blacks couldn’t rise higher than to be schoolteachers. The Latin teacher, for example, also knew Greek and Hebrew; he mentioned the black women mathematicians in “Hidden Figures.” After Sputnik, there was a panic about Americans getting enough education to compete with the Soviets, and either he or his school (I didn’t note down which) tested as being in the top 10% in the country.

He said that the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954 destroyed black institutions. They had had their own businesses and schools, but did not have elected officials; the high school principal was the leader of the community. He spoke of various high school kids from Dunbar High (in DC) who had gone on to distinguished careers.

He is a Democrat, but socially conservative in some ways. Anyway, he welcomed us to Baltimore.

Also, I sat at a table with a Filipino man named Charles Avila, about whom I will have more to say. He had been a seminarian in the Philippines, and had visited Huk rebels in prison. He had known Cesar Chavez and George Meany.

Comments

Davis

[brainwane]

I have learned a fair amount about Black American history of the 20th century -- and expect to learn more -- and I would be curious to know whether Davis perceives that, on balance, the school desegregation caused by the Brown v. Board of Education decision was positive or negative for the Black community.

Is the English Wikipedia article about Davis accurate, as far as you can tell?

Re: Davis

[ndrosen]

The Wikipedia article seems compatible with what Mr. Davis himself said at the conference. I don’t know all of his views; he said that Brown v. Board of Education had harmed the black community in some ways, but I didn’t hear anyone ask him whether he would have preferred for the Supreme Court to uphold segregation.