1938 Southern Conference for Human Welfare meeting

The 1938 Southern Conference for Human Welfare meeting was a landmark political meeting held in Birmingham from Sunday November 20 to Wednesday November 23, 1938. It was organized by the Birmingham-based Southern Conference for Human Welfare. Guests of honor included First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Justice Hugo Black, and Governor Bibb Graves. Also among the 1,200 attendees, a fourth of whom were African-American, were the Works Progress Administration]]'s Aubrey Williams, Mary McLeod Bethone, James Dombrowski, and Virginia Durr.

Proceedings

• Sunday, November 20:
  • 3:00 PM: Registration at the Tutwiler Hotel and motorcade tour of the city, courtesy of the Women's Civic Club
  • 7:30 PM: Open meeting at Municipal Auditorium with an address by Dr Frank P. Graham
• Monday, November 21:
  • 9:00 AM: Registration at Municipal Auditorium
  • 10:00 AM: General session at Municipal Auditorium
  • 11:00 AM: "Credit" session at the Tutwiler Hotel
  • 2:00 PM: "Farm Tenancy" session at Municipal Auditorium
  • 2:00 PM: "Constitutional Rights" session at First Christian Church
  • 2:00 PM: "Education" session at First Methodist Church
  • 7:30 PM: "Labor Relations" session at Municipal Auditorium
  • 7:30 PM: "Prison Reform" session at the Tutwiler Hotel
  • 7:30 PM: "Housing" session at Smithfield Court housing project
• Tuesday, November 22:
  • 9:00 AM: "Suffrage" session at Municipal Auditorium
  • 9:00 AM: "Race Relations" session at First Methodist Church
  • 9:00 AM: "Women Wage Earners" session at the Tutwiler Hotel
  • 9:00 AM: "Freight Rates Differentials" session at the Tutwiler Hotel
  • 2:00 PM: "Youth Problems" session at Municipal Auditorium
  • 2:00 PM: "Labor Relations" executive session at 6th Avenue Presbyterian Church
  • 2:00 PM: "Constitutional Rights" executive session at First Christian Church
  • 7:30 PM: Address by Eleanor Roosevelt at Municipal Auditorium
  • 10:00 PM: "Suffrage" executive session at the Tutwiler Hotel
• Wednesday, November 23:
  • 9:00 AM: "Health" session at Municipal Auditorium
  • 9:00 AM: "Farm Tenancy" executive session at First Methodist Church
  • 9:00 AM: "Child Labor" session at the Tutwiler Hotel
  • 1:30 PM: General session at Municipal Auditorium
  • 7:30 PM: Thomas Jefferson Medal presentation (William E. Dodd presented the medal to Hugo Black)

On Monday, Birmingham Commissioner of Public Safety Bull Connor interrupted the general session at Municipal Auditorium to enforce the city's segregation laws. Proclaiming that the attendees must not "segregate together", he oversaw the relocation of white and African American attendees to opposite sides of the aisle. In a well-remembered act of defiance, Mrs Roosevelt pulled her chair into the middle of the aisle.

References

• Krueger, Thomas A. (1967) And Promises to Keep: The Southern Conference for Human Welfare, 1938-1948. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press
• Woodham, Rebecca (October 31, 2012) "Southern Conference for Human Welfare (SCHW)" Encyclopedia of Alabama - accessed March 11, 2014