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| The Hotel Wade Hampton, location of the 1960 MAA meeting in South Carolina U of SC, South Caroliniana Library |
The hashtag #DisruptJMM was used a lot on social media to publicize "disruptive" actions at the 2020 Joint Mathematical Meetings that drew attention to issues facing groups historically underrepresented in math. I think the idea first appeared and was strongly promoted in Piper Harris's post on the AMS Blog inclusion/exclusion.
As far as I can tell, nobody used the #DisruptJMM hashtag to raise awareness of the history of the professional societies (the AMS and MAA), and their meetings were impacted by racial segregation. As I mentioned in a footnote of my Notices article, being able to participate in professional meetings was a major concern for African American mathematician in the 1950s and 1960s.
A very basic and practical concern was access to food and lodgings. African American had to worry about whether they could make hotel reservations since many hotels, especially in the South, were racially segregated. Once at a meeting, they might not be able to eat with their white colleagues since restaurants too were often racially segregated.
There were also more subtle concerns: African Americans might be excluded from leadership positions or passed over as invited lecturers, for example because of concerns of offending local segregationist politicians.
Atlanta University issue a press release about the protest. The release was publicized in the Atlanta Constitution newspaper and Jet Magazine.
How did the MAA report on this event? Here's the report in the August-September issue of the American Mathematical Monthly:
As far as I can tell, nobody used the #DisruptJMM hashtag to raise awareness of the history of the professional societies (the AMS and MAA), and their meetings were impacted by racial segregation. As I mentioned in a footnote of my Notices article, being able to participate in professional meetings was a major concern for African American mathematician in the 1950s and 1960s.
A very basic and practical concern was access to food and lodgings. African American had to worry about whether they could make hotel reservations since many hotels, especially in the South, were racially segregated. Once at a meeting, they might not be able to eat with their white colleagues since restaurants too were often racially segregated.
There were also more subtle concerns: African Americans might be excluded from leadership positions or passed over as invited lecturers, for example because of concerns of offending local segregationist politicians.
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| Sit-in protest at a segregated lunch counter in Columbia, SC on February 16, 1961 From the Richland Library |
How these fears played out is illustrated by what happened at the 1960 MAA meeting of the Southeastern section. At the meeting, a group of mathematicians from Atlanta University left the meeting in protest because the hotel refused to provide the African Americans among them with accommodations. Separate hotel accommodations were not the only indignity experienced by the African American participants. They also were unable to eat with their white colleagues as most of the restaurants in the area refused them service (lunch counter sit-ins had started in March, but downtown businesses in the city wouldn't fully desegregate until 1962).
Atlanta University issue a press release about the protest. The release was publicized in the Atlanta Constitution newspaper and Jet Magazine.
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| An announcement of protest against MAA meeting in Jet Magazine From Jet Magazine, April 21, 1960 |
How did the MAA report on this event? Here's the report in the August-September issue of the American Mathematical Monthly:
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| Report from the American Mathematical Monthly |
No mention that the AU group left in protest! In fact, the report goes on to list the talks given at the meeting, and among them is purportedly the following:
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| Abstract from the report in the American Mathematical Monthly |
According to the press release, Dr. Shabazz never gave this talk, and he was quite upset about this fact. None of the African American mathematicians in the Southeast would have had input into how this report addressed the AU protest because none of them were MAA officers. Certainly Dr. Shabazz would have wanted it reported that he didn't give his talk.
The handling of the 1960 MAA meeting is especially striking in light of the fact that the MAA had passed an anti-discrimination resolution almost a decade earlier. In response to a request from mathematicians at Fisk University, the MAA had passed a resolution affirming the organization's "steady intention to conducts its scientific meetings...so as to promote the interests of Mathematics without discrimination."
The organizers of the 1960 MAA meeting did not display much intent in conducting the meeting in a manner that avoided racial discrimination. We can get some insight into the organizers thoughts from a 1981(!) account by the U of SC Department Chair, who was one of the organizers. The Chair writes that the meeting was moved from the university campus to a local hotel "so that if any blacks showed up, the hotel, not the University, would have to handle the matter." I read this to mean that the Chair was primarily worried about having to deal with controversy, and he had little interest in facilitating African Americans participation or fulfilling the MAA's anti-discrimination resolution.
The Chair's language, "handle the matters", also obscures the issue. What exactly was the matter? Allowing participation by African Americans wasn't as big a deal as the Chair's language insinuates.
No laws were in danger of being broken. State laws made is illegal for U of SC to hire African Americans as professors or admit them as students, but African Americans weren't banned from campus. For the entire 20th century, African Americans worked on campus in jobs like janitor or maintenance worker. For example, the photo below depicts African American cooks who worked at the university. African Americans alive in the 50s say they weren't allowed on campus, but what they presumably mean is that they weren't welcome on campus except as menial workers.
The handling of the 1960 MAA meeting is especially striking in light of the fact that the MAA had passed an anti-discrimination resolution almost a decade earlier. In response to a request from mathematicians at Fisk University, the MAA had passed a resolution affirming the organization's "steady intention to conducts its scientific meetings...so as to promote the interests of Mathematics without discrimination."
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D. Baylis Shanks was one of the organizers of the 1960 MAA meeting
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The Chair's language, "handle the matters", also obscures the issue. What exactly was the matter? Allowing participation by African Americans wasn't as big a deal as the Chair's language insinuates.
No laws were in danger of being broken. State laws made is illegal for U of SC to hire African Americans as professors or admit them as students, but African Americans weren't banned from campus. For the entire 20th century, African Americans worked on campus in jobs like janitor or maintenance worker. For example, the photo below depicts African American cooks who worked at the university. African Americans alive in the 50s say they weren't allowed on campus, but what they presumably mean is that they weren't welcome on campus except as menial workers.
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| African American cooks on the University of South Carolina campus in 1919 From the 1919 Garnet and Black Yearbook |
The situation with the Hotel Wade Hampton was similar. Unlike some states, South Carolina did not have any laws requiring the racial segregation of hotels. The Hotel Wade Hampton excluded African Americans purely as a matter of hotel policy. All in all, I find the organizing committee's actions pretty shameful.
Who were the mathematicians from Atlanta University that left in protest? Of course, they included Dr. Shabazz who had planned to deliver a talk. Shabazz is a well-known mathematician and educator who passed on a few years ago. Many readers probably know about him, and if not, you should at least read his Wikipedia page.
One other professor was there: Subhash C. Saxena. Dr. Saxena left Atlanta University in 1964 to move to Northern Illinois University. Dr. Shabazz had left Atlanta that year, so this was a natural time for Saxena to leave. He worked at a few different places before ending up at Carolina Coastal University in 1973, where he worked until he retired. Carolina Coastal has honored Dr. Saxena in a number of ways, for example by holding a math contest named after him.
The other people from Atlanta University were graduate students: William E. Brodie and James D. Vineyard. I haven't been able to find much information about them. I couldn't find Brodie listed in Atlanta University records, so he may not have been a student there (Dr. Shabazz also mentored students at other universities, I think). In a later interview, Dr. Shabazz said that Brodie taught at Florida A & M.
Vineyard was from Springfield, Illinois and had been an undergraduate at Blackburn College. He graduated from Atlanta in 1961 with a master's thesis on "Field equations of general relativity." He appears to have died in San Francisco on March 31, 1987.
Vineyard was one of the few (maybe the only?) white student in the Atlanta University Math Department, so he must have had an unusual and interesting experience. If anybody know about these people, please let me know!
Who were the mathematicians from Atlanta University that left in protest? Of course, they included Dr. Shabazz who had planned to deliver a talk. Shabazz is a well-known mathematician and educator who passed on a few years ago. Many readers probably know about him, and if not, you should at least read his Wikipedia page.
One other professor was there: Subhash C. Saxena. Dr. Saxena left Atlanta University in 1964 to move to Northern Illinois University. Dr. Shabazz had left Atlanta that year, so this was a natural time for Saxena to leave. He worked at a few different places before ending up at Carolina Coastal University in 1973, where he worked until he retired. Carolina Coastal has honored Dr. Saxena in a number of ways, for example by holding a math contest named after him.
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| Subhash C. Saxena From Carolina Coastal University |
Vineyard was from Springfield, Illinois and had been an undergraduate at Blackburn College. He graduated from Atlanta in 1961 with a master's thesis on "Field equations of general relativity." He appears to have died in San Francisco on March 31, 1987.
Vineyard was one of the few (maybe the only?) white student in the Atlanta University Math Department, so he must have had an unusual and interesting experience. If anybody know about these people, please let me know!
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| James Vineyard From Springfield High School Yearbook (1955). |
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