By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., December 16, 2020 – My Facebook friend Lurma Rackley posted the following on her Facebook page that I decided to publish in BAHAMAS CHRONICLE in order to share a tribute paid to her late mother, Gloria Blackwell Rackley, who is one of the individuals featured in the 2021 South Carolina African American History Calendar:
“This month marks the 10th anniversary of my sweet and beautiful mother’s death. My sister, Jamelle, my brothers Harrison and Daniel, and I miss her deeply. Serendipitously, the South Carolina State Department of Education included our mother in the South Carolina African American History Calendar (issued each year since 1989) for 2021 and gave us copies in December. Gloria Blackwell Rackley is featured on the September page — a fact that delights my first granddaughter because that’s her birth month (while Mama was born in March). This calendar broadened my knowledge of my home state’s history, and I highly recommend it for anyone who finds inspiration in the stories of those who paved the way for future generations.”
HERE IS THE FEATURE ON GLORIA BLACKWELL RACKLEY
Gloria Blackwell Rackley, a courageous civil rights leader, was born in Little Rock, S.C. in 1927. She earned her bachelor’s degree at Claflin College, her master’s at South Carolina State College, and a doctorate from Emory University.
In the 1950s, she, her husband Jack Rackley, and their two young daughters, became involved in the Civil Rights Movement in Orangeburg. She had previously engaged in voter registration drives with her parents in Dillon County, where she worked as an elementary school teacher. The segregated system made some teachers reluctant to participate in the NAACP-led Movement in South Carolina because they relied on white school boards to renew their teaching contracts. Dr. Rackley won a lawsuit on their behalf in the 1960s guaranteeing the same rights to contracts that white teachers held.
By 1961, she was an NAACP local leader and a target of the white power structure that declined to renew her husband’s contract at S.C. State and declared her unfit to be a teacher. Her firing led to student demonstrations of support for her. Dr. Rackley served as a field organizer for the NAACP, counseled college-aged NAACP members, walked picket lines, and was arrested with other protesters, including her daughter, Lurma. She was a member of the steering committee of the Orangeburg Movement that worked for civil rights and economic justice.
With the NAACP’s attorney Matthew Perry, Dr. Rackley filed Rackley v. Tri-County Hospital after being arrested for sitting in the “whites only” waiting area seeking care for her daughter Jamelle’s injured finger. The lawsuit succeeded in integrating the hospital.
After passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Dr. Rackley moved to Virginia and taught English at Norfolk State College. Next, she taught at American
International College in Springfield, M.A., at Emory University in Atlanta, G.A., and at Clark College (now Clark Atlanta University), where she remained until retirement in 1994. Dr. Rackley died in Peachtree City, G.A. in 2010.
THE CALENDAR WAS INTRODUCED WITH THIS LETTER
Dear Students, Educators, and Friends,
The South Carolina Department of Education and our esteemed community partners proudly present to you the 2021 South Carolina African-American History Calendar. This calendar pays homage to outstanding individuals who have made an extraordinary impact on our state and nation. Their achievements will be used by South Carolina educators to celebrate African American history in the classroom.
The 2021 calendar features the Jenkins Institute. Formerly known as the “Jenkins Orphanage,” this establishment was founded in Charleston by the late Reverend Daniel Joseph Jenkins in December 1891. What started as a simple act of kindness from a husband and wife taking in four orphans eventually turned into a musical empire that today has inspired some of the most famous African-American talents ever known.
The 2021 calendar honorees’ commitment to improving the lives of others through their respective areas of expertise is admirable. With each page you turn, you will be reminded of the legacies they have left to inspire future generations.
It is my hope that communities and students, the next generation of leaders, will be motivated by these individuals as we continue to work together to improve the quality of life for all South Carolinians.
Molly M. Spearman
State Superintendent of Education
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Lurma Rackley is an accomplished writer and editor currently living in Atlanta, Georgia. When I was New Editor of the Washington Informer in the 1980s, she was D.C. Mayor Marion Barry’s Press Secretary.)
