Maceo Conrad Martin

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Maceo Conrad Martin Sr.
M. C. Martin.jpg
Born
Maceo Conrad Martin

(1897-06-18)18 June 1897
Danville, Virginia, U.S.
Died28 September 1971(1971-09-28) (aged 74)
OccupationBanker
Civil Rights Activist
Spouse(s)Elaine Lavinia Henderson Martin (m. 1932, died 1932)
Children4
Relatives

Maceo Conrad Martin Sr. (18 June 1897 – 29 September 1981) was an American banker and civil rights activist.

Early life and family[]

He was born on 18 June 1897 in Danville, Virginia.

His father Romey Orlando Martin, a farmer and teacher, and 21 other African American men founded the Savings Bank of Danville on September 8, 1919.

His brother Martin A. Martin (1910–1963) became a prominent civil rights attorney and law partner of famed civil rights attorney, Oliver Hill, and on May 31, 1943 the first African American to serve as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, although he would quit after about a year and return to his civil rights work, including leading the Danville NAACP office and later defending the Martinsville Seven.[1][2][3]

Career[]

After graduating from Virginia Union University (during which he interned at a Richmond Bank), he began working for the Savings Bank of Danville as an assistant cashier, and rose to become the institution's fourth president in 1952, and continued as chairman of the board until 1970.[4] During his tenure, the well-run institution reopened as the Danville Savings and Trust Company in April 1933 during the Great Depression, became "First State Bank" in 1953, and now as "Movement Bank" is now Virginia's oldest African American-owned financial institution.[5] He also became President of the National Bankers Association.[6]

Personal life[]

He married Elaine Lavinia Henderson Martin (1896–1932) and they had three children including:[7]

  • Maceo Conrad Martin Jr. (born 1923). Enlisted in the U.S. Army on 15 October 1943. On 14 May 1946, he graduated from the Tuskegee Pilot Cadet Program's Class SE-46-B, Single Engine Section.[8][9] After leaving military service started working for Danville's First State Bank. As of 2020 he resided in Valley Village, California.[7]
  • Edwina Martin (1925–2020), after receiving a bachelor's degree from Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina and M.S.W. from Atlanta University became the first African American juvenile court probation officer in Greenville, South Carolina, one of three black women who successfully graduated from the U.S. Air Force Officer's Candidate School at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas in 1953, and upon her retirement in 1985, Cuyahoga County, Ohio's commissioners acknowledged her decades of service in the Cleveland metropolitan area.[7]

He remarried and had a daughter:

  • Paula Martin Smith (born 1947), helped to desegregate Danville's public schools as a 10 year old girl. After receiving a bachelor's degree from Bennett College, she began teaching in Pittsylvania County's public schools, and Danville Community College after earning a Master's in science education from the University of Virginia.[10]

Civil Rights activist[]

In 1948, he and his family embarked on a vacation to Staunton River State Park. As expected, Park authorities denied the Martins entry to the state park based on their race. The Martins consulted the prestigious Richmond, Virginia-based civil rights law firm of Hill, Tucker and Robinson, led by Oliver Hill. Hill's firm filed a civil suit against the Commonwealth of Virginia under the “separate but equal” doctrine. The suit alleged that Staunton River State Park's policy only allowed white citizens to use its facility, with no accommodations for African Americans.

The Virginia Department of Conservation and Development first responded by converting a segregated African-American/"Colored Only" recreation area into a state park facility: the "Prince Edward State Park for Negroes" (now the Twin Lakes State Park (Virginia)). In 1949, Virginia Governor William Tuck allotted $195,000 to create 6 housekeeping cabins, an expanded swimming area, expanded parking, a bathhouse, and concession stand.[11]

Opened to the general "Colored Only/African-Americans Only" public in June 1950, Prince Edward State Park for Negroes became the Commonwealth of Virginia's eighth state park and the only pre-Civil Rights Era state park for African-Americans.[12] African Americans from across the mid-Atlantic states visited the park for its swimming, recreation, camping and dancing.[3] In 1995, Virginia erected a marker to acknowledge his lawsuit's contribution to desegregating the park.[13]

During his tenure, his bank bailed out protesters during Danville’s 1963 civil rights movement. Critical of police conduct towards demonstrators, he served as the only African American on a special seven-man grand jury formed during Danville's 1963 civil rights demonstrations and filed the sole dissent to protest the protesters' indictments. Moreover, his bank posted bond for all 20 jailed demonstrators.[6][5]

Later life[]

He died on 29 September 1981, at the age of 84.

References[]

  1. ^ "Martin A. Martin Joins Staff of U.S. Attorney General Biddle". Encyclopedia Virginia.
  2. ^ "Martin Armstrong Martin - SamePassage". 20 August 2020.
  3. ^ a b "In the Interest of Justice". Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation.
  4. ^ "Hard Work and Self-Reliance: banker's advice on Problems". Danville Register. 22 May 1971. p. 9.
  5. ^ a b Michael Paul Williams (26 February 2013). "Danville bank's history is safe and secure at U.Va". Richmond Times Dispatch.
  6. ^ a b "First State Bank". The Historical Marker Database.
  7. ^ a b c "Edwina Martin". Legacy.com.
  8. ^ "List of Tuskegee Airmen". Tuskegee University.
  9. ^ "Tuskegee Airmen Pilot Roster". CAF Rise Above. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  10. ^ John Crane (21 February 2017). "Danville's own Rosa Parks tells experience as 10-year-old in segregated city". Danville Register & Bee.
  11. ^ "Maceo Conrad Martin" (PDF). Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation.
  12. ^ Christen Miller (19 February 2019). "History of a Pre-Civil Rights Era State Park".
  13. ^ Department of Historical Resources (1995). "Prince Edward State Park for Negroes". Historical Marker Database. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
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