HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 1
“In the Interest of the Colored Boys”: C. J. Atkinson, William T. Coleman and the
Extension of Boys’ Clubs Services to African American Communities, 1906-1931
Introduction
On Tuesday morning, May 1, 1928, Frank Callen, an African American Superintendent
of the Boys’ Club of Savannah, came to the podium and stood before a sea of his white
colleagues at the 22nd Annual Convention of the Boys’ Club Federation in Birmingham,
Alabama. Convention advertisements called boys’ workers to the “Sunny South” through tales
of fried chicken, hot biscuits served with the nectar from Alabama clover, and a region called
Dixie that was “twice as nice as paradise.” The Federation had selected Birmingham as the site
for its inaugural convention in the South to kickoff their efforts to expand the number of Clubs
into the South. Since its inception in 1906, the Clubs within the Federation had provided
services to white, immigrant boys in the urban northeast; however, the number of Clubs in
African American communities had risen over the last six years.1
Looking up from his notes, Callen, a college-educated man, presented “A Colored Boys’
Club’s Adventure.” The specifics of his 15-minute message are now lost, but it was reported that
he “voiced a new racial standpoint.” In a modest tone, he told of his work with “colored boys”
and its impact on the Savannah, Georgia community. After making a series of points regarding
the development of self-sufficiency and trade skills among his Club members, Callen “was
greeted with rounds of applause.” Magazine reports of Callen’s speech contend that he embodied
“a splendid example of the possibilities of Club work among colored boys.” The Boys’ Worker
Round Table account concluded, “The fine reception given this address at the first Boys’ Club
Convention held in the South was interpreted by Southern delegates as being prophetic of a new
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 2
day”—an apparent readiness of conservative, southern Club professionals to accept African
Americans in the Federation. 2
This paper will explore how African American boys’ club workers, their Clubs as well as
their service to African American youth gained legitimacy within the Boys’ Club Federation,
now Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA).3 Specifically, what facilitated a predominantly
urban, northeastern organization to begin opening Clubs for African American boys and hiring
African American professionals? What factors led to these Clubs and their professional
leadership being legitimized among their peers? This research suggests that the impetus for local
community leaders to establish Boys’ Clubs for African American boys and hire African
American professionals stemmed from the harsh conditions faced by large numbers of youth
drawn to urban North by the Great Migration Yet, it was the success of these local, African
American professionals, specifically, William T. Coleman, that caught the attention of the
national office, specifically C. J. Atkinson, who, in turn, pushed for the recognition and growth
of these Clubs.4
The establishment of BGCA was an outgrowth of the early 20th century progressive
agenda for childhood as well as its vision of the power of education. This agenda represented a
response to the harsh conditions facing urban, immigrant youth, the contemporary ideology of
reform and the belief that education could successfully address social ills. Says Robert Halpern,
in his history of after-school programs for low-income children: “The idea of transforming
working class children’s out-of-school time from a source of risk to a source of opportunity was
rooted generally in the optimism and reform spirit of the Progressive Era, and specifically in
their evolving view of children.” The Progressive agenda for childhood sought to mold children
in schools and in their communities. This agenda included child health services, tenement
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 3
reform, child labor reform, compulsory school, childcare and recreation spaces for play.
Progressive reformers desired to ensure that youth were off the streets, in school, and under
control. In the process, compulsory schooling and enforceable child labor laws created the
demand and opportunity for after-school programs; however, the work and effectiveness of the
programs were an extension of progressive education in schools.5
Generally speaking, progressive education was “progressivism in education” or the
comprehensive use of schools to improve or change the lives of individuals. For those early
reformers, progressive education would be inclusive of: (1) broadening the programs and
functions of school; (2) applying new pedagogical research in the classroom; (3) tailoring
instruction to the array of children in the classroom; and (4) having a “radical faith that culture
could be democratized without being vulgarized.” For progressives, education in its broadest
definition and application had the power to transform the habits, behaviors and morality of
individuals and communities. In so doing, reformers advocated school lunches, vacation schools
and school nurses to address critical needs enabling students to focus on class work.
Administrative progressives used the science of testing and measurement to “sort and train
students to fit in the existing order.” Schools offered curricula suited for their students’
capabilities and perceived potential; students were given tailored education plans that placed
them in classes with limited academic content and focused on vocational training. 6
Reformers used parallel means to address the leisure time of urban youth. Similar to the
curricula and pedagogy in classrooms, reformers utilized children’s desire to “play” as the
pedagogy of the after school time. Reformers promoted the creation of “…rural clubs
[organized] by county agents of the United States Department of Agriculture for farm youth;
Federated Boys’ Clubs for urban, working class youth; and the junior department of the YMCA
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 4
and then the Boy Scouts for the sons of the middle class.” Urban playgrounds with paid staff
members were organized and led by the leaders of the Playground & Recreation Association of
America (PRAA). Children, specifically poor, immigrant and working class children needed
supervised play. Thus, youth were encouraged to play, but in specific ways and under specific
conditions. Properly supervised play could not only inculcate good behaviors, but also suppress
negative ones. In 1916, Superintendent A. I. Decker of the Fredonia, Kansas schools, in his
essay in The Playground, “ wrote, “Children should be taught to play as carefully as they are
taught to read, cipher and spell…The instruction in games should be as detailed…as that given in
arithmetic.” In so doing, professional “play efficiency engineers” structured activities to imbue
middle class American values and subdue unwanted cultural values and behaviors. Similarly,
the YMCAs and Boys Clubs infused vocational guidance and training as ways of leading young
people in appropriate jobs. Thus, this “progressive” form of after-school education utilized this
embedded curriculum to reduce delinquency, build patriotism and protect the future of the
country. 7
Conditions of Urban, African American Youth Following the Great Migration
When white, largely immigrant boys were selling newspapers on the streets of the urban
north in the early 1860s, the majority of their African American cohorts resided in the south and
faced dramatically different realities; however, the “Great Migration” established the
unavoidable presence of black children in northern and Midwestern urban centers. Their
presence, particularly in the backyard of the Boys’ Club Federation’s national office, generated
some thoughts (among the more progressive-minded staff) of extending services; however, I
contend that the severe, social conditions faced by migrating African Americans—poor housing,
challenging school environments and the lack of recreational facilities—were the true catalyst for
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 5
local leaders to open Boys’ Clubs in African American communities.
For over a century, the migratory patterns and periods of African Americans to the
Northeast, Midwest, and West and to cities have been documented in numerous monographs,
pamphlets, journal articles, dissertations and books. These cited works represent various
intellectual perspectives on “sources, causes and consequences” of the streams of migration
between 1916 and 1970.8 Important to this paper is an understanding of the consequences of
early migration patterns on school-age, African American youth, specifically in New York,
Philadelphia and Chicago. Home to early Boys’ Club organizations, these cities, by the mid1920s, became the epicenters of “colored” Boys’ Clubs in the national organization.
By 1920, approximately 500,000 African Americans moved from rural communities to
northern cities with another million to follow in the next decade. This mass movement
dramatically affected the populations of New York, Chicago and Philadelphia. In 1910, there
was no city in the United States with 100,000 African American residents. By 1920, New York,
Chicago and Philadelphia were three of six cities that had African American populations
numbering more than 100,000; in fact, these three cities had the largest urban African American
population in the country. From 1910-1920, Chicago’s African American population grew from
44,103 to 109,458; Philadelphia’s population grew from 84,459 to 134,229; and New York’s
population grew from 91,709 to 152,467. Despite the start of the Great Depression, African
Americans continued to pour into the urban North. By 1930, Chicago had an African American
population of 233,903; Philadelphia increased to 219,599; and New York’s African American
population had grown to 327,706.9
New York
Philadelphia
Chicago
1920
13,214
14,271
9,759
1930
34,527
28,424
25,734
Percent Growth
161%
99%
164%
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 6
Table 1: Growth in the number of African American
Children, 7-15 years old, Attending Public Schools
Concurrently, the number of African American youth in northern cities dramatically
increased. Most African American children migrated to northern cities with parents and relatives;
some parents sent older children to live with older siblings and “extended kin;” other teenagers
could have come on their own. Regardless of their means of travel, these young people
dramatically changed the landscape of northern cities. From 1920-30, the total population of
African American youth, 7 to 15 years old, grew by 4.7%, from 2.2 to 2.3 million. Within this
group, the percentage of youth who attended school increased by 19.3%, from 1.6 to 1.96
million. Whereas southern states had five times the number of black youth than northern states,
the number of these youth attending school in the South increased by 12%, while the number of
similar youth attending northern schools increased by 81% (from 173,000 in 1920 to 315,000 in
1930).
New York, Philadelphia and Chicago reflected these growth patterns; by 1930, these
three cities had the largest population of African American youth with 35,999, 29,832 and
25,694, respectively. Exemplifying this local growth, the number of youth, 7-15 years old,
attending school swelled in the 1920s by 161% in New York (from 13,214 to 34,527); 99% in
Philadelphia (from 14,271 to 28,424); and 164% in Chicago (from 9,759 to 25,734). James
Anderson concludes that the “rapid growth of the urban black youth population, culminating as it
did on the eve of the Great Depression, created a very real social crisis in cities across the
nation.” 10
Although migrants took significant risk in hopes of finding better wages, schooling for
their children and relief from southern racial strife, the social conditions that migrant families
with children encountered were especially stifling. Migrants, individuals as well as families,
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 7
faced poor and inadequate housing, insufficient public services and racial conflicts. Due to a
sheer lack of preparation for early migrants, there was a considerable lack of housing. Given
their limited resources, most migrants moved into older neighborhoods. As migration continued,
there were fewer options for housing. And what was available was of poor quality.
Families took in boarders to make ends meet; individual migrants slept in whatever space
was available—a room, an attic or half of a bed. Whereas predominantly white neighborhoods
tolerated early clusters of African American families, the influx of large numbers of migrant
families became a “tipping point” in these same communities. Regardless of the neighborhood,
migrant families were charged comparably higher rents than white families; they faced
increasing racial animosity, neighborhood covenants as well as other tactics to impede
movement to other neighborhoods. Moreover, their overpriced, rental units were less likely to
been repaired. One result of these housing practices was the clustering of large numbers of
African Americans into racially identifiable enclaves. 11
Although these African American children did receive better school facilities, textbooks
and equipment as well as better qualified teachers, the vast differences in northern and southern
public schools exacerbated more than it helped the education of African American youth. These
young people, many of whom had irregularly attended rural, southern schools, faced difficulty in
the more regimented northern schools. To complicate matters, this population explosion
coincided with the progressive reform of northern schools. As the migration peaked in the
1920s, progressive reformers had begun district-wide intelligence testing to provide the
“appropriate” education and vocational guidance for its students. Although over 95% of all
African American youth in Chicago, New York and Philadelphia attended school, they scored
poorly on these exams, were placed in classrooms with significantly younger students or
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 8
segregated into classes for “subnormal” students. Black youth were labeled as “retarded,” “lazy,”
“indifferent” or “slow” and placed in vocational training classes to direct them to appropriate
jobs. Although the desire for an education enabled these students to endure these embarrassing
and uncomfortable settings, over time, it became clear that a high school diploma did not
improve their chances for an existing job, nor enable them to get better jobs. As these youth
turned 15, the attendance rates of northern youth decreased significantly; many became truant
and/or dropped out before obtaining a high school diploma. Henri concludes, “[T]hey felt
inferior and tended to become ‘incorrigibles,’ then truant, and finally juvenile delinquents.”12
As the number of northern, black families grew, white families fled and public services in
these neighborhoods were reduced or eliminated. Thus, urban, African American children grew
up in communities that lacked sanitation services, parks and adequate police and fire protection.
In fact, there was not just the lack of law enforcement, but also, the use of law enforcement to
concentrate vice within the African American community. “They are the ‘Negro quarters’,”
wrote Eugene Kinckle Jones, president of the National Urban League, in 1928, “and
consequently neither force nor merit attention…In northern cities, these Negro neighborhoods
have become a dumping ground for the vicious and demoralizing agencies of the city…” This
centralization of crime in densely packed communities, complicated by overcrowded, poorly
ventilated houses, provided an incubator of juvenile delinquency. With a large percentage of
black families requiring two parents in the workforce, there was also limited supervision of
youth during the day or after school. Thus, these adolescent youth, some truant or dropouts from
school, flooded the streets in search of work or money. 13
With multiple obstacles in their path, these young people were highly susceptible to
negative influences. Thus, this period witnessed significant increases in urban African American
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 9
juvenile delinquency rates. Many youth were detained for school truancy; others for various
minor offences. A 1927 New York Times article reported that the juvenile delinquency among
African Americans had double between 1919 and 1925. African American boys and girls
represented 4.2% of all cases (while only representing 2.7% of the population). “Whereas the
most common charge against white boys is theft that against Negro boys is disorderly conduct.
The second offense in importance among Negro boys is desertion of home, whereas among
white boys, it is burglary.” V.P. Franklin, in his study of schooling in Philadelphia, found
similar records. He noted that, African Americans constituted 16% of Philadelphia’s juvenile
delinquency rate in 1920, 23% in 1930, 37% in 1935 and 43% in 1940. Similarly to New York,
African Americans represented only 7.4% of the population in 1920 and 11.3% in 1930.14
Whereas many White social scientists considered this criminal behavior genetic in origin,
African American social workers linked these behaviors to “crime-ridden” communities, lack of
privacy at home, working parents, lack of home supervision and excessive idle time. Moreover,
African American social workers attributed these statistics to the lack of recreational facilities in
urban African American communities. In fact, newspaper accounts and research reports
document the lack of access to playgrounds, public recreation centers and private youth
development organizations. Halpern, in history of after school programs, concluded, “One group
that after school programs hardly reached was African American children. Practices nonetheless
varied from city to city, and sponsor to sponsor. New York agencies, for example, were
somewhat open to integration, Chicago agencies less so.” Henri noted in her history of the
migration: “The average black child or grownup had no wholesome way of spending leisure
time; parks, playgrounds and other public facilities were closed to them...” In a 1928 article,
Forrester B. Washington provided a comprehensive analysis of the availability of recreational
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 10
facilities to African Americans. Of the public recreational facilities in 40 northern cities, 66% of
their playgrounds, parks, recreation centers, beaches and swimming pools “practiced some form
of segregation with Negroes.” With regards to private social and recreational services, like
settlement houses, YMCAs, or Boy Scouts, the majority of these organizations had segregation
policies. Grossman, in his study of Chicago, noted that school playgrounds were available to
African American youth during school hours; however, black youth faced retribution from gangs
of white youth if they ventured back after school. Thus, the expansion of recreation facilities
wasn’t simply an issue of social justice, but a means of self-protection.15
Christopher J. Atkinson and the Resurrection of the Boys’ Club Federation
While African Americans began to migrate to urban settings in the North and South, the
newly established Federated Boys’ Club began to flounder. The new organization lacked an
experienced executive, suffered from internal disagreement as well as inadequate funding. To
make matters worse, in 1914, the Federated Boys’ Club faced two crushing blows from the
deaths of two of its leaders. When Frank A. Day, a Boston banker and the organization’s
primary financier died in January 1914, the new organization faced significant financial
problems. When Jacob Riis died on May 26th of the same year, the organization lost its public
face. Yet, in the same year, the Federated Boys’ Club found a new leader—one who would
change the course of their organization. His name was Christopher J. Atkinson.16
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 11
Figure 1 Christopher J. Atkinson (Courtesy of Boys & Girls Clubs of America)
Atkinson, known as “C.J.,” was born on a farm located near Cowansville, Quebec,
Canada in 1858. He was a man of small stature, but was known for his immense personality. By
the early 1900s, Atkinson had a face aged with wisdom, balding head, triangular goatee, bushy
mustache, wiry glasses and thick eyebrows that characterized his distinctive look. Whereas his
appearance gave the impression of a man of aristocratic nature, Atkinson had a jovial and
inviting personality that enabled him to build relationships with men and women across every
social stratum. Atkinson, a lifelong bachelor, devoted his 56-year career of service to the field of
“boys work.” From 1875 to 1914, Atkinson served in numerous capacities and created several
organizations that addressed the needs of boys in Canada. As a teenager, he began work with
boys as a Sunday school teacher in a Congregational Church. After a brief stint creating a chain
of small newspapers, Atkinson, in 1891, moved to Toronto to accept a position with a public
industrial school for delinquent boys. For the next 22 years, he established and led a string of
boys’ work organizations in Canada. While leading the Boys’ Dominion in Toronto, Atkinson
became intrigued in 1906 with the newly formed Federated Boys’ Club. So interested was
Atkinson that he toured 29 Boys’ Clubs across the United States and reported his findings to the
Federation’s 1912 Convention in Cleveland. In 1913 in Philadelphia, he was elected 2nd Vice
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 12
President of the Board of Directors. Ironically, in 1914, the Board hired him as their next
Executive Secretary. 17
When Atkinson joined the Federated Boys’ Club, the organization was in dire straits.
With little money in the bank, board members had accepted an alliance with the National
Playground Association. Beginning his duties on September 10, 1914, Atkinson packed up the
organization’s Boston office; and four weeks later, moved the Federation’s headquarters to the
National Playground Association offices (also referred to as the Playground and Recreation
Association of America) in the Metropolitan Building in New York City. Consequently, the once
burgeoning Federation had been reduced to a desk within the New York office of the National
Playground Association.18
Soon thereafter, Atkinson embarked on a Federation-wide tour. The purpose of the tour
was to grow the membership, build relationships and energize local boards of directors.
Campbell noted that Atkinson’s personality enabled him to make quick friends among Federated
Clubs’ superintendents and influence their local operations. Atkinson had a subtle strategy for
making “substantial friendships.” With every visit to a Boys’ Club, he met with local staff and
their boards, praised their efforts and made some helpful recommendations. Through such
encouragement, he endeared local staff to him, but also demonstrated how an association with
the national organization would benefit them. In so doing, Atkinson promoted the national
organization by selling himself—“a man of broad experience and helpful suggestions.” 19
Important to this discussion of African American youth was Atkinson’s vision for the
Federated Clubs. Atkinson saw an entirely new organization—one that extended the reach and
definition of boys’ work. This organization, renamed the Boys’ Club Federation in 1915, was
something Atkinson believed should be open to all organizations who engaged in work with
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 13
boys. He believed that such work extended across ethnicities as well as geographic borders. In
so doing, by the 1920s, the Boys’ Club Federation became international in scope.20 In defining
this service model, C.J. Atkinson appropriated the term, "underprivileged," to distinguish the
service population of the Boys' Club Federation from other competing organizations.
Dividing a circle into three, different sized, pie-shaped segments, Atkinson would write
the figures, 4, 30 and 66. And in so doing, he described his informed, yet anecdotal perspective
of the demographics of boys in America: Four percent of boys are born with “silver spoons in
their mouths.” They are “the over-privileged.” Thirty percent represents “privileged” boys—
those who have good homes and opportunity for success in life. Sixty-six percent represent “the
underprivileged boys.” With few support systems in their lives, Atkinson believed that these
boys had the greatest need; they represented the “field of service for the Boys' Club Federation.”
Over time, this term caught on and established the uniqueness of the organization’s service
market. Although never universally accepted, it did draw "rounds of applause" when Atkinson
described it. 21
For Atkinson, “underprivileged,” referred to all boys who met this criteria, regardless of
race, nationality or creed. And a Boys’ Club, thought Atkinson, was the solution for boys—
especially immigrant boys. In these Clubs, boys’ workers would engage youth to “build
character for citizenship.”22 Moreover, in an era of political and social discord over European
immigration, this solution for boys could be a strategy for rebuilding an organization. A. C.
Campbell noted that in late 1914, Atkinson recruited one of his first board members, William E.
Hall, through the idea that Boys’ Clubs were the solution for America’s immigrant youth.
Leaning back in a borrowed chair in his cramped quarters at the National Playground
Association, Atkinson drew a verbal picture of these boys for Hall. He described youth in the:
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 14
“steaming, sweating struggling cities…[within] the great areas of congested population…
masses of people of all nations…[in] their dark and dismal dwellings [surrounded by] the
places of pleasure and dens of iniquity…in foul and ill-smelling streets where amid
honking horns and cursing truck men, there dodged in their adventuresome play a myriad
of fun loving, but thought provoking boys.”23
After drawing Hall into the sights, smells and temptations of these urban boys, Atkinson gently
asked Hall:
“These boys who today play in the streets are the custodians of tomorrow. With them
rides the destiny of the nation. Who will teach these boys, so many of foreign parentage,
the American way of life? Who will train their hands to properly power our industry?
Who will build in them strong and forceful character to defend American ideals? The
possibilities of the Boys’ Club are beyond calculation.” 24
After the conversation, Hall, “an intensely patriotic and devoted American,” remarked, “He sold
me completely on what it would mean to America if every city had one or more Boys’ Clubs.”
So sold was Hall that he joined the BCF board of directors in 1915 and served the national
organization until 1954. Of 41 years on the board, Hall served as president for 38.25
During the next decade, Atkinson and Hall partnered to rebuild the national organization
and its board of directors. Hall’s board recruitment, grounded in his fateful 1914 encounter with
Atkinson, captured the support of bankers, industrialists and statesmen across the country. When
asked, “Why a Boys’ Club?” Hall would answer:
“What is the most important problem facing the United States?...The real problem which
in importance transcends all others is whether the United States can assimilate the hordes
of aliens that are now within her borders…We who are in this Boys’ Club Movement are
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 15
firmly convinced that the greatest Americanization agency is the Boys’ Club…Akin to
this great problem is the problem of constructively employing the thousands of boys
turned out by our public schools each year. One of the most dangerous tendencies of
modern times is that of encouraging the pupils…to seek and train for the so-called “white
collar” jobs…Upon us in a larger measure rests a responsibility of guiding these
boys…into a position for which he is suited by inclination, natural bent and ability…The
Boys Club has forty different kinds of vocational classes. One of the greatest favors one
can do for a boy is to encourage him to learn a trade.” 26
Hall would conclude by saying that “building character for citizenship is the God given job of
the Boys’ Club Federation.” Moreover, the “highest and most glorious of all causes, the making
of men, challenges us.”27
While Hall focused on the board, Atkinson sold the strategy for youth development.
Unlike their parents, Atkinson argued that “boy(s) seemed to have very little concern as to where
his Boys’ Club pal and playmates had been born, the color of his skin, the dialect or
imperfections of his language, or the church he might attend.” In a Boys’ Club located in
“blighted, unassimilated, underprivileged areas of American cities, especially where newly
arrived aliens had segregated and nursed the wrongs which had driven them from their native
lands,” Atkinson believed that those boys could be taught the desirable attitudes and behaviors
by the same [Boys’ Club] process [and], “after a decade of such training, there would be no
disturbing distinction of race or creed and a powerful youth movement would… revitalize the
American tradition of liberty, equality and justice for all.” Atkinson’s philosophy set a high bar
for an after-school program; but it also reflected the nativist feeling of his day. From all
indications, Atkinson was not a racist; however, there are few primary sources to confirm this
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 16
assessment. Atkinson’s pitches reflected the contemporary desire for the Americanization of
boys who were not native-born and were white. From his logic, racial, religious or ethnic
differences were challenges to “the American tradition of liberty, equality and justice;” however,
Boys’ Clubs had the ability to mitigate these differences and ensure the safety of the republic.
Given Atkinson’s belief in the potential influence of Boys’ Clubs on despised immigrants,
Atkinson must have felt that these same Clubs could have similar effects upon a group of black
migrants from the South.28
The Emergence of William T. Coleman: Race Man and National Boys’ Club Leader
From the establishment of the Federated Boys’ Clubs until 1920, African American youth
were served by local Clubs in two general ways: 1) as a minority member of existing Clubs
serving a predominantly white community, or 2) as a member of an all-African American Club.
Relatively little is known about services to African American youth in “integrated” Club
settings; however, there are records of three traditional Boys’ Clubs serving African Americans
during this period: West Side Colored Boys Club (New York, NY), Boys’ Welfare Association
(New York, NY), and the Wissahickon Boys’ Club (Philadelphia, PA). Although by 1924 the
two New York Clubs had closed, the Philadelphia Club remains open today. The expansion of
these African American Boys’ Clubs was the result of William T. Coleman’s image as an
African American superintendent and the successful programs of the Wissahickon Boys’ Club.
Both of these results lent credibility to the idea of additional African American professionals as
well as the desire for similar Clubs in the Federation. 29
William Thaddeus Coleman, Sr. was born in November 1892 in Baltimore, the third of
five children born to Louis and Bessie Coleman. From all accounts, Coleman grew up in a
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 17
middle class home—in relation to other African Americans living in Baltimore in the late 1800s.
The 1900 Census reports that Coleman’s father was a waiter and his mother was a housewife. 30
“And my father…his father [Coleman, Jr.’s grandfather]…was a head [waiter]—he was more
than a waiter at the Baltimore—‘Hotel Baltimore,’ which was by far the best hotel in Baltimore
and pretty successful…and my Grandmother Coleman was very close friends to the Murphy’s
[John H. Murphy, Sr. and his wife] that owned the [Baltimore] Afro-American [newspaper].”
remembered Coleman’s son, William T. Coleman, Jr. And, it was his family’s middle-class
relationships that would be critical to Coleman’s exit from Baltimore following a juvenile
prank.31
Very little is known about Coleman’s early years in school. According the 1900 Census,
Coleman lived at 2006 Division Street in the 15th Ward of Baltimore. Different from many
southern cities, Baltimore’s free black population attended school since the early 1800s.
Following the Civil War, African Americans attended schools operated by the Baltimore
Association and the Freedman’s Bureau; however, in 1867, Baltimore’s public school system
took control of these schools, maintained the racial segregation across the district, decreed that
fewer grades be taught in black schools and prohibited African Americans from teaching in any
school, black or white. By the time Coleman was born in 1892, the Baltimore City Council had
overturned the ban on African American teachers; however, it is likely that Coleman, Sr.
experienced few African American school teachers in grammar school due to the protracted pace
of hiring black teachers. Different from most southern schools, Baltimore boasted three schools
for advanced education: the Baltimore Colored High School, Baltimore Normal School, and the
Colored Polytechnic Institute. By the time Coleman had completed the 8th grade and was
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 18
prepared to go to high school, Polytechnic had merged with the Colored High School. During
his initial year of high school, an incident changed the course of Coleman’s life.32
According to William Coleman, Jr., a teenage prank changed the course of his father’s
life. Coleman, Jr. remembered,
“He [Coleman] was in the tenth grade. And when the kids would come home from
school, they would pass the Chinese laundry, and they would say, ‘Ching-Ching Chinaman.’ And the Chinese guy got mad at them, and threw an iron at the boys who were
yelling. It didn’t hit them. My father picked it up and threw it back at him and broke the
window. According to my Grandmother Coleman, every policeman in Baltimore was
looking for my father.”
Grandmother Coleman asked her friend, Mrs. Murphy, to call the president of Hampton Institute.
According to Coleman, Jr., Hampton’s principal responded, ‘Certainly. Send him down.’ Thus,
Coleman, Sr. began his tenure at Hampton as a 10th grader. Returning to the story of his father’s
expedited entrance into Hampton, Coleman, Jr. remarked about his father, “I always thought that
[was] one reason why he had such a commitment to kids who get in trouble…He had two
wonderful expressions…’There’s no such thing as a bad boy, just a boy caught doing something
wrong.’ ‘And the other one was, ‘A boy is a diamond in the rough; add character, and you’ll
have a jewel.’ 33
Records from Hampton Institute (now, Hampton University) confirm Coleman, Sr.’s
attendance and matriculation. Excerpts from the student newspaper cite Coleman’s work in the
Cabinet Making Department. Thus, Coleman graduated at age 18 from Hampton as a “finished
cabinet maker” in 1910. Coleman continued his studies at Hampton, graduating in 1912 from
Hampton’s Teachers’ College. With two trades to his credit, the 20-year old Coleman moved to
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 19
Charlotte, North Carolina, to take a position in St. Michael’s Training and Industrial School.
During his initial year as a teacher, Coleman saw an advertisement for the opening at the
Wissahickon Club. Having developed an interest and concern for boys, Coleman applied for the
position. 34
Wissahickon had previously hired two superintendents. Clarence R. Whyte was hired in
1907 as a part-time superintendent. When Whyte resigned in the fall of 1912 to be a principal of
a Philadelphia school, he was replaced by a 21- year-old, Club alumnus, Shirley McCard. With
the hiring of McCard, Wissahickon’s Board sought full-time leadership. Thus, McCard became
Wissahickon’s first full-time superintendent— the first African American in the country to hold
such a post. In July 1913, McCard died suddenly of pneumonia.35 Coleman, still not quite 21,
was one of 20 applicants for McCard’s position; and, on October 8, 1913 he was hired to lead the
Wissahickon Boys’ Club. Although he was not the first African American superintendent in the
Federation, Coleman’s legacy would dramatically change the organization.36
Figure 2 William T. Coleman (Courtesy of Boys & Girls Clubs of America)
As an adult, Coleman was a slender-built man with light brown skin, clean-shaven with
an angular mustache and neat, closely cropped hair. At about 5’ 10”, he was a dapper dresser
and bore a stately demeanor. Surviving pictures display a physically fit man in a well-tailored,
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 20
tan, pin-striped suit with a matching vest, conservative black shoes and pocket watch. According
to Coleman, Jr., “It was unthinkable that we’d go more than three blocks from home without
being properly dressed”—that is without a tie. Coleman was an articulate man who could
engage people of all ages and levels of society. With young people, he knew how to relate them,
but didn’t befriend them. Members knew that he advocated for them; yet, they knew he would
also discipline them. Among neighbors and community members, his level of commitment to
local youth enabled him to recruit people to work for him for little or no money. As an
organizational leader, his ability to manage a predominantly white board of directors and
withstand blatant racial animosity for over 40 years is suggestive of his ability with cross-cultural
dialogue.37
Figure 3 Wissahickon School Club circa 1913 (Courtesy of the Germantown Historical Society)
From 1913-26, Coleman’s Wissahickon Boys’ Club, became the most prominent of the
early “colored” Clubs.38 As one of the original 53 organizations in the Federated Boys’ Club, the
Wissahickon Boys’ Club (originally called the Penn School Club) was founded in 1903 by
Quaker philanthropist, John T. Emlen.39 In a 1953 historical account of the Wissahickon Club,
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 21
Coleman explained that the Club was the result of a Quaker Sunday School held for Colored
Children at the Germantown Boys’ Club.40 Similarly, in a letter to Albert J. Kennedy in 1946,
Emlen wrote that he was induced to begin teaching in the Quaker Sunday School after he
graduated from college in 1900.
“After three or four years of teaching in the Sunday School, several of us felt very
strongly that there was a large part of the life of the Negro boys that was not being met by
church or day school, or Sunday School, or by their families—namely, the Recreational
part. We therefore started a Boys’ Club…”
So moved by the youth work, Emlen traveled to New York in 1904 to attend Union Theological
Seminary and live in a Quaker-run settlement for Negroes (mostly likely, the New York Colored
Mission).41 Upon the suggestion of Robert Ogden (president of Hampton’s Board of Trustees),
Emlen spent a year at Hampton Institute teaching students and refining his thinking on serving
the African American community. Upon his return to Germantown in 1907, he reorganized the
Penn School Club, merged it with Pulaskitown Kindergarten program and renamed the
organization, the Wissahickon School Club. During this year, he not only reorganized the Club,
but also founded the Armstrong Association (now the Philadelphia Urban League).42
From 1913-1926, Coleman transformed this small club into an institution. When
Coleman arrived, Wissahickon had a small facility and membership of approximately 265 youth.
In 1919, the Club purchased an adjoining property for approximately $10,000.43 In 1922, the
Club completed a $31,000 campaign to purchase a three-story house and construct a
gymnasium.”44 In 1923, Camp Emlen, a 27-acre summer camp, was opened. Given to the Club
by Mr. and Mrs. John T. Emlen, the camp had a private lake for boating, fishing and swimming,
a playground, recreation hall, mess hall and other buildings; all electrically lighted. Employing
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 22
about seven staff members, Camp Emlen could accommodate over 500 boys.45 Thus, the June
1926 edition of The Southern Workman, cited Coleman’s work saying: “The superintendent of
the Wissahickon Boys’ Club of Philadelphia…recently visited Hampton. This club, starting with
a small membership, has developed under the able management of Mr. Coleman, into one of the
largest and most progressive clubs for colored boys in the country.”46
Coleman was frequently quoted in the Boys’ Worker Round Table between 1918 and
1923.47 In these quotes, Coleman did not provide the “black perspective” or a representative
view of Clubs serving African American youth. He portrayed himself as a knowledgeable,
experienced leader in the Federation. In very subtle, yet obvious ways, Coleman advocated a
perspective of self-help, racial pride and community-based economic development. For
example, his April 1922 update was one of many that discussed the fundraising of “the Boys” of
the Club. Raising $500 and presenting it to the Club’s boards, Coleman notes: “When little,
ragged street urchins make such a sacrifice, it is a wonderful incentive to even as active a Board
of Managers as ours.”48 In Eugene Beaupre’s Boys’ Worker Round Table article, entitled,
“Negro Boys’ Activities at Wissahickon,” Coleman stated his specific purpose in running a
Boys’ Club: “teach them to help themselves.”49
Taken as a whole, Coleman demonstrates the complexity of African American leadership
in this period. Coleman pitted his personal beliefs against a “proper” public perception; he
balanced the critical needs of his Club members with the implementation of programs acceptable
to the Club’s philanthropic base. He worked diligently to improve Club programming and win
awards gracefully among racially intolerant colleagues. He engaged pro-integration volunteers
while maintaining a self-help ideology that fostered racial pride and uplift among his members.
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 23
Coleman’s leadership epitomized these complex negotiations, tempered with a unique ability to
move fluidly and effectively within both white and black communities.
Figure 4. 1911 Carpentry Class at the Wissahickon Boys' Club (Courtesy of the Germantown Historical Society)
Ultimately, Coleman’s rise to a national stage came from his consistent winning of
national recognition for program excellence. Demonstrating his acumen for industrial education,
the Wissahickon Club won year after year. Starting with an unlikely showing at the Federation’s
1919 Convention in Chicago, Coleman and Wissahickon began receiving both local and national
coverage. On July 19th, the Philadelphia Tribune ran a story entitled, “William T. Coleman
Wins First Prize at Convention.” After detailing the numerous prizes, the story concludes, “So
great was the showing made by the Wissahickon Club and its methods that one of the largest
magazines in the country devoted to boys’ work and boys’ clubs gave the Club a six-page write
up.” The professional journal, Work with Boys, did publish, “A Club for Colored Boys,” an
article on the success of the Wissahickon Club with seven additional pages of pictures. With
inference of racial equality, the writer concludes:
“And what a splendid Club it is. Many thousands of white boys would be lucky were they
to be the beneficiaries of a Club as this…The excellence of this particular work is chiefly
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 24
due to a personality. Mr. Coleman is the directing genius. And a truly remarkable club
has he organized.”
The Philadelphia Tribune published similar stories in 1920 and 1921. Beginning in 1921, the
Chicago Defender published articles on Coleman’s participation at the Boys’ Club Federation’s
Annual Conference. These articles not only recognized his achievements at the conferences, but
described him as a leading “Race social worker…a young man of high culture…and extreme
refinement.” In a June 25, 1921 article, entitled, “Boys’ Club Winner in National Competition,” it
stated:
“At the annual conference of the National Federation of Boys’ Clubs held at Binghamton,
[New York]. 145 Clubs were represented. The only Race club having members there was
the Wissahickon School Club…Its representative took three first, one second and three
third prizes.”
In 1923, the Chicago Defender published a summary of the annual conference and related the
triumphs of the Wissahickon Club with words of race pride:
“The Wissahickon Boys’ Club was the only Colored institution represented to champion
the cause of the Race boys…That the boys are taking advantage can be seen by the large
number of prizes won in competition with the best white boys’ clubs in the land.”
Even the New York Times contributed to Coleman’s fame. In 1923, a small article, entitled,
“Urges Teachings of Trades,” quotes part of Coleman’s address to the Middle Atlantic Division
of the Federation. In this address, Coleman’s demonstrates his dual interest in industrial
education and classical education. Says Coleman, “Every boy should be taught a trade,
regardless of whether he intends to get a classical education.” In 1925, two additional articles
that appeared in the New York Amsterdam News and the Pittsburgh Courier tell of his success.
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 25
Demonstrative of the contents of both articles, the Courier’s article was entitled, “Wissahickon
Boys’ has High Standard.”50
To be sure, the rise of William T. Coleman in the second decade of the 20th century was
not a surprise. His Hampton education, his racially conservative philosophy and demeanor, his
ability to engage interracial relationships successfully and even his lighter skin tone made him
more prone to success in that social and political climate. Being educated at Hampton, he bore a
social seal of approval. With a philosophy emphasizing self-help, racial pride and economic
development, Coleman’s organizational strategy was in line with the prominent social ethics of
other Race men of his day. Being able to engage socially with white men and tolerate, but not
accept, racial bigotry was reflective of the genius of George Washington Carver and was critical
for effective career development. Finally, Coleman’s subtle, yet clear, appreciation for racial
uplift allowed him to develop young people to their highest potential without drawing the
attention of critics.
Toward a More Inclusive Organization: The Incident at Indianapolis
For its African American migrants, the North was supposed to offer a “new day.”
Unfortunately, this ”Promised Land” held its share of subtle – and not so subtle – racist practices.
With fewer African Americans in the late 19th century North, there was little call for rigid laws
and social practices; however, the migration of African Americans to the North coincided with a
resurgence of Nativism and a new scientifically-based racism. Throughout the 1920s, America
struggled with its uncomfortable diversity. African American migrants and European immigrants
tested America’s commitment to “E pluribus Unum.” Could this diversity mixture of religions,
countries of origin, languages, skin tones and customs be molded into one America?” Who was
American? Who could be an American? 51
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 26
The Boys’ Club Federation found its own trial in this realm at the 1922 BCF annual
convention. At the opening dinner, a racial incident forced the Federation to grapple with its
views on race in America. Seemingly an insignificant incident, it cast light on the farsightedness
of the organization’s executive secretary and the varying perspectives on race among the board
of directors and local superintendents. More importantly, this incident led to a series of new
organizational policies regarding opportunity for African American boys and the acceptance of
African American professionals. On May 9, 1922, the Indianapolis News published an article
about the 16th Convention of the Boys’ Club Federation in that city, entitled, “Negro Delegates
At Dinner of White Men and Women Cause Conference Problem.” It described the discomfort of
white attendees in the presence of two African American delegates and several African
American boys at the Convention’s opening dinner. In the opening paragraph, the article
contended that the presence of “Negro delegates” would “serve to confront the organization with
the question…whether Negroes are to be taken into the Clubs and sessions of the Federation on
equal parity with white people...”52
More importantly, the article provided significant insight to the conflicting beliefs on race
that enveloped the Federation. Henry Lawrence, the president of the conference hotel, stated that
“the Negroes” were seated without his knowledge or consent. When the chairman of the
conference logistics committee, Walter Jarvis, was asked whether the Federation placed African
Americans on the same social level as whites, Jarvis responded, “No sir, absolutely not…Once
per year, they meet with whites because there are only two colored Clubs in the Federation and
we couldn’t organize a separate conference for them…The Negroes will not be at any other
conference entertainment whatever. They will be at sessions only.”53
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 27
When C. J. Atkinson was asked the same question, Atkinson provided the beginnings of a
pragmatic race policy for the Federation,
“We create no social levels…[However,] there is quite a difference between a conference
and a social gathering. We pick our own companions at social gatherings…but at a
conference of this nature, it is different…We realize it is quite a problem…It is a question
we are going to take up with the colored people themselves.”
Atkinson concludes his response with a personal statement of his belief on race.
“Of course, personally, coming from Canada where colored people are so much more
readily accepted than they are here, I have not the feeling against them some have…I
don’t think the color rule should apply at a public conference discussing a welfare
matter.”
Upon finding William E. Hall, the president of the Federation’s Board of Directors, Hall
attempted to duck the question. “Wait. I don’t think that is a fair question. What were Mr.
Atkinson’s views?” After hearing Atkinson’s views, Hall’s response indicated his variance with
Atkinson’s perspective, “Well, I won’t answer the question. I’ll confirm what Mr. Atkinson
said.” 54
An unresolved question from this event and the resulting news story is: Who were the
two “Negro” delegates? Evidence leads to Coleman as being one of them. First, Coleman had
been a regular conference attendee. Previous conference reports list him as the only delegate
known to be of African American descent. Secondly, a conference picture from the Indianapolis
News captures the Negro youth delegation. Reading the list of names and cities of origin,
Philadelphia and New York are the only listed cities that had a “colored” Club.
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 28
This newspaper article, found in an archived folder, was a chance discovery. Not
mentioned in other newspaper or organization accounts, this event is a catalyst for the
organization’s incremental steps toward racial inclusion. This event is suggestive of an
emerging, yet unrecorded conversation on race among local professionals and the national
leadership. Prompted by the Indianapolis incident, the beliefs of Atkinson and Hall—although
different—shaped a new era in race relations in the Boys’ Club Federation; however, it would
not be the last confrontation at a national convention.
From 1922 to 1925, Atkinson and the Board of Federation struggled to define an
organizational policy that not only recognized the need to serve African American children, but
also to hire and train African American professionals. On October 24, 1922, just five months
after the Indianapolis convention, the Federation’s board of directors made its first decisive move
by voting to create a Colored Department and establish a policy “to promote Club facilities for
Colored Boys.”55 Unfortunately, such a department never materialized; but, in 1923, Federation
efforts to promote and track participation of African American Clubs took the form of adding a
“(C)” beside the names of “colored” Clubs in the Federation’s annual roster of member
organizations.
After a decisive move forward in late 1922, another racial incident at the 1923 annual
conference suggests that the progressive actions of the Federation’s board were not reflected at
the local level. A May 19, 1923 story in the Chicago Defender entitled, “Jim Crow at Boys’
Club Conference” told of another incident where conference organizers attempted to bar William
Coleman from being seated as a delegate. In this account, a historically black newspaper, the
Chicago Defender, detailed the “black” perspective of the incident. At the 1923 conference, held
at the New Willard Hotel in Washington, DC, the Defender reported that the 31-year-old
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 29
Coleman “quietly but manfully stood his ground.” Coleman, described as a “prominent Race
social worker leading the strong Wissahickon Boys’ Club,” immediately contacted his board
president, John T. Emlen. Seemingly prepared for such an event, Emlen “rushed to Washington
and took an unequivocal stand as to Mr. Coleman’s right to sit as a delegate.” Invoking
Atkinson’s articulated race policy, Coleman was allowed to be seated as a delegate, but could not
attend the social functions of the convention.56
Later that year, Atkinson and the Federation seemingly used this incident to formally
establish a policy regarding the participation of African Americans in subsequent Federation
conventions. On October 24, 1923, the Board voted to recognize the necessity of African
American delegates at annual Federation conventions:
“… Therefore, the Boys’ Club Federation’s Board of Directors agrees that no Convention
meeting be held in any cities or in any building in any Convention city where such
privileges are not accorded the Negro delegates.”57
Exhibiting his honed diplomatic skills, Atkinson had now crafted a Washingtonian compromise.
Similar to Booker T. Washington’s social contract offered at the Atlanta Exposition in 1895, the
Federation’s version stated that annual conventions would be kept “open” by granting “full
privileges of attending sessions;” however, social events would remain segregated. This policy
was summarized in a 1933 Journal of Negro Education article that stated,
“Interracial attitudes within the membership of a Boys’ Club are altogether a matter of
local custom. Boyhood draws no such social lines as are familiar and trying to
adults…This, however, is a matter that the local club with its entire autonomy must
determine for itself and not a matter of policy for the National Organization.”
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 30
By keeping associations segregated or at least a matter of local custom, Atkinson provided for
the inclusion of African Americans, but maintained their ability to reach more conservative,
white audiences. 58
Atkinson did not stop with these new provisions for African Americans in the Federation.
In early 1926, he pressed the board for passage of another resolution. Instead of a “Colored
Department,” Atkinson now discussed the addition of a field secretary responsible for this work;
however, the board had reservations about the longevity of existing “colored” Boys’ Clubs.
Given the number and tenure of such organizations in the Federation, the board suggested that “a
year or two should be given to prove the effectiveness of the Colored Clubs in Savannah and
Chicago before a Colored Field Worker was permanently engaged.”59
Yet on March 4, 1926, the board of directors reversed its decision and voted to approve
the hiring of William T. Coleman as a part-time “Field Secretary, Colored Work,” charged with
the promotion and extension of Colored Boys’ Clubs. This decision, the result of four years of
systematic change, recognized the need for Clubs for African American boys, as well as the
value of hiring African American professionals. Thus, in March 1926, C. J. Atkinson stood
before the 20th Annual Convention and formally announced this new direction:
“The Colored Boys in the United States constitutes a problem that falls so directly within
the purview of the Boys Clubs Federation and its definition of ‘under-privileged,’ that it
is particularly gratifying to report a direct move to meet it. Through the generosity of the
Board of Directors of the Wissahickon Boys’ Club, Philadelphia, its Superintendent, with
a background of 15 years of practical experience, is released for a portion of his time to
do field work for the Federation in the interest of Colored Boys.”.”60
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 31
William T. Coleman’s Leadership and Expansion of Colored Boys’ Clubs
A May 1926 article in the Philadelphia Tribune indicates that Coleman was already
working as a consultant for the Federation before his official appointment.61 While announcing
his impending appointment to the national office, the article also discussed Coleman’s recent
southern trip to Charleston, Savannah, Hampton and Tuskegee Institutes as well as “an extended
tour of the West,” including Chicago, later that month. Commenting on his impending
appointment, Coleman stated, “I feel immensely encouraged. It makes me fairly itch to get out
and do something constructive not for my race alone, insofar as the boys are concerned, but for
the opposite race also.” Similar to Atkinson, Coleman saw the interracial play of boys as both a
solution to discrimination as well as a critical component in the development of men. “The
gradual elimination of caste and race feeling might be attributed directly to…the spirit of
comradeship promulgated during play hours between the boys of two races—the manhood of
tomorrow.”62
When Coleman joined the national office of the Federation, there were four other
“colored” Clubs on its books in addition to Wissahickon: Boys Club of Savannah, Sharp Street
Memorial Community House (Baltimore), Wendell Phillips Settlement House (Chicago) and the
South Side Boys’ Club in Chicago. Following his appointment, Coleman traveled extensively to
open new Clubs, enhance the services of existing ones and train their African American
professionals. In Atkinson’s address to the 1927 Annual Convention, he reported that Coleman
had visited 18 cities in 12 states. “He has assisted the clubs for Colored boys in perfecting their
programs and has cultivated several new fields that promise an early fruitage.”
Thus, the number of African American Clubs grew incrementally over the years. The
1926 and 1927 Yearbooks noted the addition of three Clubs: Frederick Douglas Community
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 32
House (Toledo, Ohio), Charleston (S.C.) Boys’ Club and the Benezet House Boys’ Club
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). In 1928, the Phyllis Wheatley Center Boys Club in Greenville,
South Carolina, joined the Federation. Two northern Clubs were added in 1929: Hudson
Avenue Boys’ Club in Brooklyn, New York, and the Bayonne Boys’ Clubs in Bayonne, New
Jersey. Three New York City Clubs joined the Federation in 1930. The Snyder Avenue Branch
of the Flatbush Boys’ Club and Community Center opened in Brooklyn, New York; New York’s
historic Children’s Aid Society added two sites: the Columbus Hill Club Neighborhood Center
and the Utopia House Children’s Center. Finally, the Boys’ Department of the Dixwell
Community House, New Haven, Connecticut, as well as the Boys’ Department of Goodman
Guild House in Columbus, Ohio, joined the Federation in 1931.63
Growth in the number of Clubs and the expansion of these Clubs was due, in large part,
to the technical support of William T. Coleman. In almost every article on African American
Boys’ Clubs, Coleman’s name is attributed to its success. Coleman, not only provided program
and organization support, but assisted these Clubs in providing their staff with the best training
the Federation offered. A 1929 News Bulletin, entitled, “Clubs for Colored Boys Are Swinging
into Line,” stated that the Federation was fortunate to have Coleman, “whose wide experience,
educational background and marked ability, particularly qualify him for his task.” A 1931 article,
“Clubs for Colored Boys Widen Service in 10 Cities,” summarized Coleman’s work. Fourteen
colored Boys’ Clubs in 10 cities had opened. These Clubs had an aggregate membership of 6,000
and facilitated a general reduction of juvenile delinquency in their respective neighborhoods.64
Coleman not only left a physical legacy of his work, but an intellectual one as well. His
passions, theories and wisdom are recorded in a number of newspaper accounts, as well as
articles penned by Coleman himself. For example, Coleman told the New York Amsterdam
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 33
News: “I do not concede that the Negro is ‘criminally inclined.’ I feel that—to a great degree—
Negro crime is magnified…[B]ecause of prejudice and ignorance on the part of the Negro, he is
made to pay the price.” In 1930, Coleman published an article in The Southern Workman on the
need for more Boys’ Clubs for African American boys. In this article, Coleman called on “Race
men”—the “Talented Tenth” in the African American community—to underwrite, lead and
support these Clubs. Wrote Coleman,
“Thoughtful colored citizens who are successful must think seriously of [his] so-called
undesirable brother. They may succeed in building up wonderful enterprises, but it is
possible that their worldly goods may be put in jeopardy if an illiterate Negro commits a
crime that kindles racial strife. Therefore, if only for self-preservation, it behooves those
who have made the mark to reach down and lend a hand to a weaker brother.”
Interestingly, his rationale for action was not that the criminal acts of their “weaker, undesirable
brother” would affect them directly, but the actions of these “weaker brothers” against the white
community could result in these middle class African Americans losing all they have worked for.
The solution, argues Coleman, is the engagement of the African American middle class with the
young men within their community. Furthermore, Coleman posited that stopping juvenile crime
and building character was one of the most effective ways to “better the race.” Explained
Coleman, “A community that directs the spare time of its boys insures its manhood.” 65
Conclusion: Who Will Harvest the Corn?
In conversations with his Field Secretary, Alexander Campbell, Atkinson exhibited his
faith in the power of boys’ work, by saying, “Today, we plant seed corn. Who knows what we
will harvest or who will gather it?” In Coleman’s 42 years and Atkinson’s 56 years of boys’
work, they planted the seeds of a diverse organization where approximately two-third of its
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 34
membership would be minority; however, neither Coleman nor Atkinson saw the harvest of their
labor. Both faded into obscurity. Atkinson retired in 1931 and died in 1935. In 1945, Atkinson’s
service was remembered in a letter from David W. Armstrong who served as Executive Director
of Boys’ Clubs of America from 1941-56: “He laid the foundation upon which this organization
was built.…Few men, if any, have done so much for the “underprivileged” boys of
America…[H]is life was one of devotion and sacrifice to them. Now, this organization is his
only legacy. ” In 1931, Coleman returned to full-time work in Philadelphia; however, no records
explain his abrupt return to Wissahickon.66 Regardless, Coleman remained a celebrated leader,
locally and nationally. Albert Brealand, who was born in 1913 and joined the Wissahickon Club
in 1920, still remembers the man he calls his “role model.”67
He could have been a preacher, teacher, a whole lot of things…He was a leader…He not
only knew how to deal with children…He knew how to deal with grown ups. And, he
also knew how to deal with the “whites” [spoken in hushed tone]…He didn’t take
everything they told him. He fought back. He said, ‘I want this [for the Club].’ And, ‘I
want that [for the Club].’…This is what made him a great leader.”68
Over the next 30 years, the Philadelphia Tribune documented Coleman’s numerous national and
local awards. In 1955, he retired, but the tributes continued; in 1961, the Professional
Association of Boys Clubs of America presented Coleman with the “Golden Achievement
Award” honoring his dedicated service to youth.
Even with the death of Atkinson and the return of Coleman to Philadelphia, the number
of “colored” Boys’ Clubs continued to grow rapidly during the 1930s. Between 1931 and 1940,
“colored” Clubs in Harlem and Buffalo, New York, Birmingham, Alabama, Wilmington, North
Carolina, Akron and Dayton, Ohio, Nashville, Tennessee, Pittsburgh and York, Pennsylvania,
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 35
were opened. And, the pace continued into the 1940s. Yet, the organization, as a whole, still
struggled with issues of race, ethnicity and national origin. The early voices of Atkinson and
Coleman established the opportunity for change, but did not live to see the fruition of their ideas.
And, in January 1967 when Coleman closed his eyes for the final time, the second of these early
icons gracefully passed away in body and in national memory. 69
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HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 37
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"Clubs for Colored Boys Are Swinging into Line." Boys' Club Worker News Bulletin, March 15,
1929, 1.
"Clubs for Colored Boys Widen Service in Ten Cities." Boys Club Federation News Bulletin,
March 15, 1931 March 15, 1931.
"Coleman Quits Wissy Club Post." Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001), 1955, 1.
Coleman, William T. "More Boys' Club Needed." The Southern Workman (Courtesy of the
Hampton University Archives) LIX, no. 7 (1931).
"The Colored High School." Afro-American (1893-1988), 1899, 1.
"Colored Real Estate Dealer of Germantown Makes Successful Deal for Rich White
Corporation." Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001), 1919, 5.
Farrar, Hayward. The Baltimore Afro-American, 1892-1950, Contributions in Afro-American
and African Studies,. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1998.
Franklin, V. P. The Education of Black Philadelphia : The Social and Educational History of a
Minority Community, 1900-1950. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1979.
Gates, Henry Louis, and Cornel West. The Future of the Race. 1st ed. New York: A.A. Knopf :
Distributed by Random House, 1996.
"Germantowners Want Wissy Playground Named for J. T. Emlen." Philadelphia Tribune (19122001), 1958, 16.
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 38
Gottlieb, Peter. "Rethinking the Great Migration: A Perspective from Pittsburgh." In The Great
Migration in Historical Perspective: New Dimensions of Race, Class & Gender, edited
by Joe William Trotter, 68-82. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991.
"Graduates and Ex-Students." The Southern Workman LV, no. 6 (August 1926): 286.
"Graduates and Ex-Students." The Southern Workman XLIII, no. 3 (1914): 1.
"Graduates and Ex-Students." The Southern Workman XLVIII, no. 10 (November 1919): 512.
"Graduates and Ex-Students." The Southern Workman XLII, no. 3 (1913).
Grossman, James R. Land of Hope : Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great Migration.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989.
Hall, William E. 100 Years and Millions of Boys: The Dynamic Story of Boys’ Clubs of America.
New York: Farrar, Strauss and Cudahy, 1961.
———. "Twenty-Five Years of Progress: Annual Message—a Review and Challenge." Boys'
Worker Round Table, June 1931 1931, 172-3, 80.
Halpern, Robert. Making Play Work : The Promise of after-School Programs for Low-Income
Children. New York: Teachers College Press, 2003.
Hardy, Charles Ashley, III. "Race and Opportunity: Black Philadelphia During the Era of the
Great Migration, 1916-1930. (Volumes I and Ii)." 9007353, Temple University, 1989.
"Harlem Conditions Called Deplorable." New York Times (1923-Current file), 1927, 17.
Henri, Florette. Black Migration : Movement North, 1900-1920. 1st ed. Garden City, N.Y.:
Anchor Press, 1975.
Higham, John. Strangers in the Land; Patterns of American Nativism, 1860-1925. New
Brunswick, N.J.,: Rutgers University Press, 1955.
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 39
Hine, Darlene Clark. "Black Migration to the Urban Midwest: The Gender Dimension, 19151945." In The Great Migration in Historical Perspective: New Dimensions of Race, Class
and Gender, edited by Joe William Trotter, 127-46. Bloomington: Indiana University
Press, 1991.
Howard, Young. "Colored Schools in Maryland." Afro-American (1893-1988), 1915, 4.
Jacobson, Matthew Frye. Whiteness of a Different Color : European Immigrants and the
Alchemy of Race. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1998.
"Jim Crow at Boys' Club Conference." The Chicago Defender (National edition) (1921-1967),
1923, 1.
Jones, Eugene Kinckle. "Problems of the Colored Child." Annals of the American Academy of
Political and Social Science 98 (1921): 142-47.
Keith, Charles C. "A Brief History of Boys' Club Work." Boys' Worker Round Table, March
1918 1918.
Klapper, Melissa R. Small Strangers : The Experiences of Immigrant Children in America, 18801925, American Childhoods Series. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2007.
Marks, Carole. Farewell--We're Good and Gone : The Great Black Migration, Blacks in the
Diaspora. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989.
Mjagkij, Nina. Light in the Darkness : African Americans and the Ymca, 1852-1946. Lexington,
Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, 1994.
"Negro Delegates at Dinner of White Men and Women Cause Conference Problem." The
Indianapolis News, May 9, 1922.
"Old Timers Honor William T. Co Leman for 42 Years of Service." Philadelphia Tribune (19122001), 1965, 14.
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 40
Osofsky, Gilbert. Harlem: The Making of a Ghetto; Negro New York, 1890-1930. 2d ed, Harper
Torchbooks, Tb 1572. New York,: Harper & Row, 1971.
Painter, Nell Irvin. The History of White People. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010.
Pilz, Jeffrey J. "The Beginnings of Organized Play for Black America: E.T. Attwell and the
Praa." The Journal of Negro History 70, no. 3/4 (1985): 59-72.
""A Quest for Understanding"." The Journal of Negro Education 2, no. 2 (1933): 224-52.
Ravitch, Diane. "A Different Kind of Education for Black Children." The Journal of Blacks in
Higher Education, no. 30 (2000): 98-106.
———. The Great School Wars : A History of the New York City Public Schools. Johns Hopkins
University Paperbacks ed. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.
Rowan, Edward L. To Do My Best : James E. West and the History of the Boy Scouts of
America. 2nd ed. Exeter, NH: Publishing Works : Distributed by Revolution Booksellers,
2007.
Special to The New York, Times. "Urges Teaching of Trades." New York Times (1857-Current
file), 1923, 21.
Tyack, David B. The One Best System : A History of American Urban Education. Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1974.
United States. Bureau of the Census., and Charles Edward Hall. Negroes in the United States,
1920-1932, The American Negro, His History and Literature. New York,: Arno Press,
1969.
United States. Bureau of the Census., Zellmer R. Pettet, and Charles Edward Hall. Negroes in the
United States, 1920-32. New York,: Greenwood Press, 1969.
"W. T. Coleman, Sr. Lauded." Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001), 1961, 3.
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 41
Washington, Forrester B. "Recreational Facilities for the Negro." Annals of the American
Academy of Political and Social Science 140, no. ArticleType: primary_article / Issue
Title: The American Negro / Full publication date: Nov., 1928 / Copyright © 1928
American Academy of Political and Social Science (1928): 272-82.
Weiss, Nancy J. The National Urban League, 1910-1940. New York,: Oxford University Press,
1974.
""Wild Bill" Back." Afro-American (1893-1988), 1928, 20.
"William T. Coleman Wins First Prize at Convention." Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001), 1919,
1.
"William T. Coleman, Sr. Funeral Friday Morning." Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001), 1967, 1.
Williams, Robert. "Philadelphians." Afro-American (1893-1988), 1940, 9.
"Wissahickon Boys' Club Has High Standard." The Pittsburgh Courier (1911-1950), 1925, 7.
"Wissahickon Boys' Club in Exhibition Is This City." The New York Amsterdam News (19221938), 1925, 5.
"A Wissahickon Boys Club." Social Forces 5, no. 1 (1926): 117.
"Wissahickon Boys Club Takes Seven Awards at the Boys Work Conference." Philadelphia
Tribune (1912-2001), 1921, 2.
"Wm. T. Coleman Receives Signal Appointment." Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001), 1926, 1.
1
"22nd Annual Convention at Birmingham Big Success," Boys Club Workers News Bulletin May 15, 1928, 3;
"22nd Annual Convention at Birmingham, Ala.," Boys' Workers Round Table, Summer 1928, 3, 24.
2
"22nd Annual Convention at Birmingham, Ala.," 24; "22nd Annual Convention at Birmingham Big Success,"
Boys Club Workers News Bulletin, May 15, 1928 1928, 3.
3
Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA), established in 1906, has its roots in local Boys’ Clubs beginning as early
as 1860. An urban, northeastern organization, early Boys’ Clubs served predominantly poor white youth, the
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 42
children of immigrant mill workers and other members of the emerging industrial class. Thus, few African
Americans were served by these early Boys’ Clubs. The first boys’ clubs were established in the midst of rapid
urbanization of the northeastern cities, the political and social outreach of the Social Gospel movement. From 1860,
boys’ clubs were loosely defined collections of local organizations that focused on working with boys. BGCA’s
organizational history documents a subset of these local Clubs. Within BGCA’s organizational history, the first
formal Boys’ Club was opened in 1860 in Hartford, Connecticut by three women, Elizabeth Hamersley and sisters,
Mary and Alice Goodwin. Stymied by Civil War, similar organizations cropped up in the Northeast between 1870
and 1900. By the later part of the 19th century, several prominent local Clubs began calling for the establishment of
a “central bureau” for the coordination and expansion of this work. After a few unsuccessful attempts toward a
national organization, 53 local Boys’ Club organizations met in Boston on May 18, 1906 and formed the Federated
Boys’ Clubs (FBC). Having few operating dollars, no executive secretary was hired; however, they elected a
competent board and executive committee with prominent reformer, Jacob Riis as the first president. For the next
eight years, the FBC managed its operations under the same structure and from the same office in Boston. Although
there were local Boys’ Clubs in every region of the country, the FBC was still predominantly a northeastern
phenomenon. Similarly, their diversity only spanned the range of northern and southeastern European immigrants.
Early records suggest minimal engagement of African American residents.
4
William E Hall, 100 Years and Millions of Boys: The Dynamic Story of Boys’ Clubs of America (New York: Farrar,
Strauss and Cudahy, 1961), 1-10; R. K Atkinson, The Boys’ Club (New York: Association Press, 1939), 22-32.
A significant amount of the organization history that I draw upon is taken from an unpublished history by
Alexander. C. Campbell. Hired by the Boys’ Club Federation in 1919, Campbell had intimate knowledge of the
organization and key players, as well as its foundations, transitions and philosophical perspectives. This manuscript
was completed around 1957. Alexander C. Campbell, "The A. C. Campbell Paper: The History of the Boys' Club
Movement: 1856-1956," (Atlanta, GA: Boys & Girls Clubs of America, 1957), 54-55, 74-79; "20th Annual
Convention of the Boys' Club Federation," Boys' Worker Round Table 1926; "Clubs for Colored Boys Widen
Service in Ten Cities," Boys Club Federation News Bulletin, March 15, 1931 March 15, 1931.
5
Michael E. McGerr, A Fierce Discontent : The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870-1920
(New York: Free Press, 2003), 77-115; Robert Halpern, Making Play Work : The Promise of after-School Programs
for Low-Income Children (New York: Teachers College Press, 2003), 9-20; Allen Freeman Davis, Spearheads for
Reform : The Social Settlements and the Progressive Movement, 1890-1914 (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers
University Press, 1984), 40-59, 60-83; Arthur Stanley Link and Richard L. McCormick, Progressivism, The
American History Series (Arlington Heights, Ill.: Harlan Davidson, Inc., 1983), 67-84; David Nasaw, Children of
the City : At Work and at Play (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), 34-37; Melissa R. Klapper, Small
Strangers : The Experiences of Immigrant Children in America, 1880-1925, American Childhoods Series (Chicago:
Ivan R. Dee, 2007), 55-107; Campbell, "Campbell Paper."
6
David B. Tyack, The One Best System : A History of American Urban Education (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press, 1974); Harvey A. Kantor, "Vocationalism in American Education: The Economic and Political
Context, 1880-1930," in Work, Youth & Schooling: Historical Perspectives on Vocationalism in American
Education, ed. Harvey A. & Tyack Kantor, David B. (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1982);
Lawrence A. Cremin, The Transformation of the School; Progressivism in American Education, 1876-1957, [1st ed.
(New York,: Knopf, 1961); Diane Ravitch, "A Different Kind of Education for Black Children," The Journal of
Blacks in Higher Education, no. 30 (2000); James R. Grossman, Land of Hope : Chicago, Black Southerners, and
the Great Migration (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989); Diane Ravitch, The Great School Wars : A
History of the New York City Public Schools, Johns Hopkins University Paperbacks ed. (Baltimore, Md.: Johns
Hopkins University Press, 2000), 161-242; V. P. Franklin, The Education of Black Philadelphia : The Social and
Educational History of a Minority Community, 1900-1950 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1979).
7
Tyack, The One Best System : A History of American Urban Education, 177-216; McGerr, A Fierce Discontent :
The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870-1920, 77-115; Halpern, Making Play Work : The
Promise of after-School Programs for Low-Income Children, 9-20; Klapper, Small Strangers : The Experiences of
Immigrant Children in America, 1880-1925, 55-107.
8
Kimberley Louise Phillips, "Heaven Bound: Black Migration, Community, and Activism in Cleveland, 1915-1945"
(9308998, Yale University, 1992); Joe William Trotter, The Great Migration in Historical Perspective : New
Dimensions of Race, Class, and Gender, Blacks in the Diaspora (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991);
Nicholas Lemann, The Promised Land : The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America, 1st ed. (New
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 43
York: A.A. Knopf, 1991); Carole Marks, Farewell--We're Good and Gone : The Great Black Migration, Blacks in
the Diaspora (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989); Grossman, Land of Hope : Chicago, Black
Southerners, and the Great Migration; Charles Ashley Hardy, III, "Race and Opportunity: Black Philadelphia
During the Era of the Great Migration, 1916-1930. (Volumes I and Ii)" (9007353, Temple University, 1989); Peter
Gottlieb, Making Their Own Way : Southern Blacks' Migration to Pittsburgh, 1916-30, Blacks in the New World
(Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1987); Joe William Jr Trotter, "The Making of an Industrial Proletariat: Black
Milwaukee, 1915-1945" (8109519, University of Minnesota, 1980); Nell Irvin Painter, Exodusters : Black
Migration to Kansas after Reconstruction, 1st ed. (New York: Knopf, 1977); Peter Gottlieb, "Making Their Own
Way: Southern Blacks' Migration to Pittsburgh, 1916-30" (7809551, University of Pittsburgh, 1977); Richard
Walter Thomas, "From Peasant to Proletarian: The Formation and Organization of the Black Industrial Working
Class in Detroit, 1915-1945" (7619258, University of Michigan, 1976); Florette Henri, Black Migration : Movement
North, 1900-1920, 1st ed. (Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Press, 1975); Gilbert Osofsky, Harlem: The Making of a
Ghetto; Negro New York, 1890-1930, 2d ed., Harper Torchbooks, Tb 1572 (New York,: Harper & Row, 1971);
Allan H. Spear, Black Chicago; the Making of a Negro Ghetto, 1890-1920 (Chicago,: University of Chicago Press,
1967); Gunnar Myrdal, Richard Mauritz Edvard Sterner, and Arnold Marshall Rose, An American Dilemma; the
Negro Problem and Modern Democracy (New York, London,: Harper & brothers, 1944); Chicago Commission on
Race Relations., The Negro in Chicago; a Study of Race Relations and a Race Riot (Chicago, Ill.,: The University of
Chicago Press, 1922); Emmett Jay Scott, Negro Migration During the War, Preliminary Economic Studies of the
War ... (New York etc.: Oxford University Press, 1920); W. E. B. Du Bois and Isabel Eaton, The Philadelphia
Negro; a Social Study, Publications of the University of Pennsylvania. Series in Political Economy and Public Law,
No. 14 (New York,: B. Blom, 1967); Carter Godwin Woodson, A Century of Negro Migration (Washington, D.C.,:
The Association for the study of negro life and history, 1918).
9
James R. Grossman, Land of Hope : Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great Migration (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1989), 3-4; United States. Bureau of the Census. and Charles Edward Hall, Negroes in the United
States, 1920-1932, The American Negro, His History and Literature (New York,: Arno Press, 1969), 55; Carole
Marks, Farewell--We're Good and Gone : The Great Black Migration, Blacks in the Diaspora (Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 1989), 1-3,121-2; Florette Henri, Black Migration : Movement North, 1900-1920, 1st ed.
(Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Press, 1975), vii-viii, 51, 68-9, 83; Diane Ravitch, The Great School Wars : A History
of the New York City Public Schools, Johns Hopkins University Paperbacks ed. (Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins
University Press, 2000), 241-2; Charles Ashley Hardy, III, "Race and Opportunity: Black Philadelphia During the
Era of the Great Migration, 1916-1930. (Volumes I and Ii)" (9007353, Temple University, 1989), 130-36; Peter
Gottlieb, "Rethinking the Great Migration: A Perspective from Pittsburgh," in The Great Migration in Historical
Perspective: New Dimensions of Race, Class & Gender, ed. Joe William Trotter (Bloomington: Indiana University
Press, 1991), 3-4; Darlene Clark Hine, "Black Migration to the Urban Midwest: The Gender Dimension, 19151945," in The Great Migration in Historical Perspective: New Dimensions of Race, Class and Gender, ed. Joe
William Trotter (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991), 127-8.;
10
Phillips, "Heaven Bound: Black Migration, Community, and Activism in Cleveland, 1915-1945", 44; United
States. Bureau of the Census., Zellmer R. Pettet, and Charles Edward Hall, Negroes in the United States, 1920-32
(New York,: Greenwood Press, 1969), 55, 210-12, 21-2; James D. Anderson, "The Historical Development of Black
Vocational Education," in Work, Youth & Schooling: Historical Perspectives on Vocationalism in American
Education, ed. Harvey & Tyack Kantor, David B. (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1982), 199.
11
Marks, Farewell--We're Good and Gone : The Great Black Migration, 145-51; Henri, Black Migration :
Movement North, 1900-1920, 84-5, 104-5; Grossman, Land of Hope : Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great
Migration, 123-8, 29-30; Phillips, "Heaven Bound: Black Migration, Community, and Activism in Cleveland, 19151945", 148-56; Hardy, "Race and Opportunity: Black Philadelphia During the Era of the Great Migration, 19161930. (Volumes I and Ii)", 130-36; Franklin, The Education of Black Philadelphia : The Social and Educational
History of a Minority Community, 1900-1950, 3-28; H. Donald Henderson, "The Effects of the Negro Migration on
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 44
the North," The Journal of Negro History 6, no. 4 (1921): 436-7; Gottlieb, "Rethinking the Great Migration: A
Perspective from Pittsburgh," 73; Osofsky, Harlem: The Making of a Ghetto; Negro New York, 1890-1930, 105-23.
12
Grossman, Land of Hope : Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great Migration, 246-58; Henri, Black Migration
: Movement North, 1900-1920, 124, 325-31; V. P. Franklin, The Education of Black Philadelphia : The Social and
Educational History of a Minority Community, 1900-1950 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1979),
29-59; David B. Tyack, The One Best System : A History of American Urban Education (Cambridge, Mass.:
Harvard University Press, 1974), 217-29; Diane Ravitch, "A Different Kind of Education for Black Children," The
Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, no. 30 (2000): 98-102; James D. Anderson et al., Work, Youth, and
Schooling : Historical Perspectives on Vocationalism in American Education (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University
Press, 1982), 197-206.
13
Henri, Black Migration : Movement North, 1900-1920, 99, 121-24; Eugene Kinckle Jones, "Problems of the
Colored Child," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 98(1921): 142-47.
14
Henri, Black Migration : Movement North, 1900-1920, 124; "Harlem Conditions Called Deplorable," New York
Times (1923-Current file) 1927; Franklin, The Education of Black Philadelphia : The Social and Educational
History of a Minority Community, 1900-1950, 176.
15
Henri, Black Migration : Movement North, 1900-1920, 41, 114-5; Robert Halpern, Making Play Work : The
Promise of after-School Programs for Low-Income Children (New York: Teachers College Press, 2003), 36;
Grossman, Land of Hope : Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great Migration; Chicago Commission on Race
Relations., The Negro in Chicago; a Study of Race Relations and a Race Riot in 1919, The American Negro, His
History and Literature (New York: Arno Press, 1968), 271-97; Forrester B. Washington, "Recreational Facilities for
the Negro," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 140, no. ArticleType: primary_article /
Issue Title: The American Negro / Full publication date: Nov., 1928 / Copyright © 1928 American Academy of
Political and Social Science (1928): 274-5.
16
Alexander C. Campbell, "The A. C. Campbell Paper: The History of the Boys' Club Movement: 1856-1956,"
(Atlanta, GA: Boys & Girls Clubs of America, 1957), 34-44; Charles C. Keith, "A Brief History of Boys' Club
Work," Boys' Worker Round Table, March 1918 1918, 7.
17
. Campbell, "Campbell Paper," 46.The history of Atkinson’s early life and work history comes from a variety of
documents. The primary sources were presentations given at Atkinson’s Memorial Service by A. C. Campbell
(BCF); Boy Scouts of America’s longtime, Chief Scout Master James West, and E.D. Otter. Otter’s memorial,
entitled, “Atkinson of Broadview” provides the most comprehensive biography of Atkinson. This presentation was
given on April 14, 1935; The quote from David Armstrong comes from a letter to Taylor Statton of the Toronto
YMCA dated, March 30, 1945.
18
Keith, 7; Campbell, 42-3,46
19
William E Hall, "Twenty-Five Years of Progress: Annual Message—a Review and Challenge," Boys' Worker
Round Table, June 1931 1931, 172-3, 80; Campbell, "Campbell Paper," 48-49.
20
Ibid, 80. He traveled to England, Holland, Belgium, Germany, France and Italy at his own expense to promote
Boys’ Clubs. Affiliate Boys’ Clubs from all of these countries including China and India were given membership
with the Federation.
21
Campbell, "Campbell Paper," 59-61.
22
Ibid., 63.
23
Ibid., 54-55.
24
Ibid., 55.
25
Ibid., 55, 170.
26
Ibid., 76-78.
27
Ibid., 78.
28
Ibid, 59-61, 78-9
29
Starting in 1923, the Boys’ Club Federation’s annual yearbooks identified these Clubs with a “C” (Colored) beside
the name of the branch or organization. “Colored” Clubs, like these early ones, appeared and disappeared due to
local issues of sustainability and/or reorganization of these Clubs. Whereas a few were exclusively a Boys’ Club
operation, most “Colored Clubs” were simply an affiliated boys’ department of a neighborhood settlement house .
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 45
U.S Department of Commerce and Labor Bureau of the Census, “Twelfth Census of the United States 1900, 5th
Prescient; Baltimore Maryland.” 11 June 1900
31
Secretary William T. Coleman, Jr., interview by author, July 15, 2006, Washington, DC
32
Hayward Farrar, The Baltimore Afro-American, 1892-1950, Contributions in Afro-American and African Studies,
(Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1998), 29-30; "Baltimore's Excellent School Facilities," Afro-American (18931988) 1908; "The Colored High School," Afro-American (1893-1988) 1899; Young Howard, "Colored Schools in
Maryland," Afro-American (1893-1988) 1915.
33
William T. Coleman, Jr., interview by author, July 15, 2006, Washington, DC; The story of Coleman’s entrance
could not be verified by external sources; however, a December 1, 1928 article in the Baltimore Afro-American,
entitled, “’Wild Bill’ Back,” details that Coleman, Sr. was known as “Wild Bill” when he was growing up in
Baltimore. It also noted that he left Baltimore at 15 years old for Hampton Institute. ""Wild Bill" Back," AfroAmerican (1893-1988) 1928.
34 Robert Williams, "Philadelphians," Afro-American (1893-1988) 1940; "After 40 Yrs. Wbc Head Finds 'Pace Gets
Tough'," Germantown Courier (Courtesy of Quaker & Special Collections of Haverford College) 1953; "Graduates
and Ex-Students," The Southern Workman XLII, no. 3 (1913); Eugene Beaupre, "Negro Boys Activities at
Wissahickon," The Southern Workman LVII, no. 9 (September 1929).. At the 40th Convention of Boys’ Clubs of
America, Coleman was honored with a 35-Year Medal of Service from the Boys’ Clubs Professional Association.
In Coleman’s brief biography in the award program, it states, “…was a teacher of manual training before entering
the profession of boys’ work. His interest in and concern for boys led him into the Movement…”
35
Jane Campbell, "Club's Good Work for Colored Boys," in Newspaper Cuttings (Philadelphia, PA: Courtesy of the
Germantown Historical Society, 1909).
36
"Graduates and Ex-Students," The Southern Workman XLIII, no. 3 (1914): 191. In its March 1914 edition, The
Southern Workman highlighted the recent hire of Coleman as Superintendent of the Wissahickon Club As noted
early, Coleman, in 1953, completed an organizational history for Boys’ Clubs of America. On this form, he listed
his hire date as October 8, 1913.
37
William T. Coleman, Jr. interviewed by author on 15 July 2006
38
"A Club for Colored Boys," Work With Boys: A Magazine of Methods XIX, no. 3 (May-June 1919); "Graduates
and Ex-Students," The Southern Workman XLVIII, no. 10 (November 1919); "A Wissahickon Boys Club," Social
Forces 5, no. 1 (1926).
39
John T. Emlen devoted his life-time to improving conditions for African Americans in Philadelphia. Born in 1879,
Emlen was a graduate of Haverford College and the University of Pennsylvania. After college, Emlen taught at
Hampton Institute for two years. Upon his return to Philadelphia, he not only founded the Wissahickon Club in 1905
but also co-founded the Armstrong Association in 1907 (which became the Philadelphia chapter of the National
Urban League in 1957). "50 Year Youth Work Career Is Halted by Death," Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001) 1955;
"Germantowners Want Wissy Playground Named for J. T. Emlen," Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001) 1958.
40
Ibid. The following historical account was included in a report submitted by William T. Coleman in 1953. In
preparation of the 50th Anniversary of the Boys’ Clubs of America, each Club was asked to complete a form on the
history of their organization.
41
The New York Colored Mission was established by Quakers after the Civil War under the name, the African
Sabbath School Association. In its earliest configuration, it provided religious tracts, temperance information,
Bibles, and religious instruction to African Americans in New York. As the African American populations grew
toward the end of the 19th century, the Sabbath Association transitioned into a social service agency. When Emlen
arrives in 1904, the Mission ran an employment agency, a nursery, and a boys’ club among many other service to
the African American community. Gilbert Osofsky, Harlem: The Making of a Ghetto; Negro New York, 1890-1930,
2d ed., Harper Torchbooks, Tb 1572 (New York,: Harper & Row, 1971), 55; Nancy J. Weiss, The National Urban
League, 1910-1940 (New York,: Oxford University Press, 1974), 13.
42
Emlen-Jones Paper. Quaker & Special Collection. Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania.
43
"Colored Real Estate Dealer of Germantown Makes Successful Deal for Rich White Corporation," Philadelphia
Tribune (1912-2001) 1919; "Graduates and Ex-Students," 191.
30
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 46
44
"Building, Improvements and Endowments: Evidence of Progress from the Field Nothwithstanding Close Money
Market," Boys' Worker Round Table January 1921, 14.
45
Beaupre, "Negro Boys Activities at Wissahickon," 413-4. (Courtesy of the Hampton University Archives).; "Boys'
Clubs Assets Steadily Growing," Boys' Worker Round Table January 1923, 22.
46
"Graduates and Ex-Students," The Southern Workman LV, no. 6 (August 1926): 286. (Courtesy of the Hampton
University Archives)
47
"Boys' Club News Culled from Many Sources," Boys' Worker Round Table October 1920, 30; "Boys' Club News
Culled from Many Sources," Boys' Worker Round Table April 1923, 30; "Building, Improvements and
Endowments," Boys Worker Round Table January 1921, 14-5; "Around the Table," Boys' Worker Round Table MidSummer 1923, 12; "Around the Table," Boys' Worker Round Table Autumn 1923, 11.
48
“"Boys' Club News Culled from Many Sources," Boys' Worker Round Table April 1922, 28.
49
Eugene Beaupre, "Negro Boys' Activities at Wissahickon: The Leading Colored Boys' Club of the B.C.F.," Boys'
Worker Round Table, Autumn 1928, 35.
50
"William T. Coleman Wins First Prize at Convention," Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001) 1919. "A Club for
Colored Boys," 98-9. "Baseball-Our Sports-Baseball," Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001) 1920.; "Wissahickon Boys
Club Takes Seven Awards at the Boys Work Conference," Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001) 1921. "Boys' Club
Winner in National Competition," The Chicago Defender (National edition) (1921-1967) 1921; "Boys' Club Wins
Prizes," The Chicago Defender (National edition) (1921-1967) 1923. Times Special to The New York, "Urges
Teaching of Trades," New York Times (1857-Current file) 1923. "Wissahickon Boys' Club in Exhibition Is This
City," The New York Amsterdam News (1922-1938) 1925; "Wissahickon Boys' Club Has High Standard," The
Pittsburgh Courier (1911-1950) 1925.
51
Matthew Frye Jacobson, Whiteness of a Different Color : European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1998), 38-90; Nell Irvin Painter, The History of White People (New
York: W.W. Norton, 2010), 245-90; Melissa R. Klapper, Small Strangers : The Experiences of Immigrant Children
in America, 1880-1925, American Childhoods Series (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2007), 3-17; John Higham, Strangers
in the Land; Patterns of American Nativism, 1860-1925 (New Brunswick, N.J.,: Rutgers University Press, 1955),
264-99.
52
"Negro Delegates at Dinner of White Men and Women Cause Conference Problem," The Indianapolis News May
9, 1922.
53
Ibid
54
Ibid
55
Federated Boys’ Club, “Executive Secretary’s Report to the Board of Directors of the Boys’ Club Federation,”
Minutes of Meeting of the Board of Director of 24 October 1922
56
"Jim Crow at Boys' Club Conference," The Chicago Defender (National edition) (1921-1967) 1923.
57
Federated Boys’ Club, “Executive Secretary’s Report to the Board of Directors of the Boys’ Club Federation,”
Minutes of Meeting of the Board of Director of 24 October, 1923
58
""A Quest for Understanding"," The Journal of Negro Education 2, no. 2 (1933).
59
Federated Boys’ Clubs, “Executive Secretary’s Report to the Board of Directors of the Boys’ Club Federation,”
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Director of February 1926
60
"20th Annual Convention of the Boys' Club Federation," Boys' Worker Round Table 1926.
61
The BCF was not unique among national youth organizations in its efforts toward inclusion. Although
segregated, African American YMCAs had served black boys since the mid-1850s, matching funds from
philanthropist, Julius Rosenwald, led to the opening of 24, full-service YMCAs in African American communities
between 1913 and 1933. These full-service buildings, many still open today, dramatically increased the activities
attractive to black boys. Similarly, the Boys Scout of America, founded in 1910, had African American troops and
troop leaders as early as 1911. Employing a similar strategy to the BCF, there was no active recruitment of African
American scouting. For African Americans who sought participation, the unofficial policy called for adherence to
“local custom;” however, in 1925, Boys Scout of America established an “Interracial Committee” primarily for the
purpose of expanding scouting in the African American community. Finally, the Playground and Recreation
HEQ MS 2344 3rd Round / 47
Association of America (PRAA) began its expansion of its service model in 1919. Organized in 1906 in New York,
the PRAA did not engage in work in the African American community until the onset of World War I. Charged by
the federal government to provide recreational activities to service men and women, the PRAA, through its War
Camp Community Services (WCCS), determined that it had to establish separate facilities for African Americans in
the armed forces. To facilitate work with African American soldiers, PRAA hired Earnest T. (E.T.) Attwell to
organize these facilities and services. Following the War, Attwell was retained as Field Secretary for the Bureau of
Colored Work (BCW). Through the BCW, Attwell organized city leaders and philanthropists to build playgrounds
in urban, African American communities across the United States. Additionally, he trained and provided
consultations to African Americans who managed these facilities.Nina Mjagkij, Light in the Darkness : African
Americans and the Ymca, 1852-1946 (Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, 1994); Edward L. Rowan, To
Do My Best : James E. West and the History of the Boy Scouts of America, 2nd ed. (Exeter, NH: Publishing Works :
Distributed by Revolution Booksellers, 2007); Jeffrey J. Pilz, "The Beginnings of Organized Play for Black
America: E.T. Attwell and the Praa," The Journal of Negro History 70, no. 3/4 (1985).
62
"Wm. T. Coleman Receives Signal Appointment," Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001) 1926.
63
"Clubs for Colored Boys Widen Service in Ten Cities," Boys Club Federation News Bulletin, March 15, 1931
March 15, 1931. Each year, the Boys’ Club Federation published a yearbook listing all member organizations, their
addresses, their Superintendent and board president. The new “colored” Clubs, listed in the text were noted in the
1927 Boys’ Clubs Federation Yearbook, 1928 Boys’ Clubs Federation Yearbook, 1929 Boys’ Clubs of America
Yearbook, and 1930 Boys’ Clubs Federation Yearbook.
64
“"Clubs for Colored Boys Are Swinging into Line," Boys' Club Worker News Bulletin March 15, 1929; "Clubs for
Colored Boys Widen Service in Ten Cities."
65
William T. Coleman, "More Boys' Club Needed," The Southern Workman (Courtesy of the Hampton University
Archives) LIX, no. 7 (1931): 302-3, 4; Henry Louis Gates and Cornel West, The Future of the Race, 1st ed. (New
York: A.A. Knopf : Distributed by Random House, 1996), 133-58.
66
After a review of BGCA’s records and personal interviews, there is no specific mention of why Coleman returns
to Philadelphia; however, the correlation of Coleman’s resignation as field secretary and Atkinson’s retirement seem
to be connected. My hypothesis is that a number of conditions may have led to a personal decision on Coleman’s
part. First, Atkinson, with his engaging personality and racially tolerant attitude, was a palatable employer;
however, Atkinson’s replacement, William Hall was not as tolerant. Secondly, the organization’s 1931 revenue had
dropped by 25% due to the Depression. Given that Coleman was contracted through the Wissahickon Club, his
contract may not have been renewed.
67
Campbell, "Campbell Paper," 80; "C. J. Atkinson, 76, Boys' Lead, Dies," New York Times (1857-Current file)
1935. The primary source is a presentation at Atkinson’s Memorial Service entitled, “Atkinson of Broadview” from
a member, E.D. Otter. This presentation was given on April 14, 1935; The quote from David Armstrong comes
from a letter to Taylor Statton of the Toronto YMCA dated, March 30, 1945;
68
Albert Brealand, interview by author, October 22, 2009, Philadelphia, PA
69
"Coleman Quits Wissy Club Post," Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001) 1955. "W. T. Coleman, Sr. Lauded,"
Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001) 1961. "Old Timers Honor William T. Co Leman for 42 Years of Service,"
Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001) 1965. "William T. Coleman, Sr. Funeral Friday Morning," Philadelphia Tribune
(1912-2001) 1967.