Howard Fuller (activist) facts for kids
Howard Fuller (born January 14, 1941) is an important civil rights activist and a strong supporter of education reform. He is well-known for his community work in Durham, North Carolina, with a group called Operation Breakthrough. He also helped start the Malcolm X Liberation University in 1969. Later, in the 1970s, Fuller used the name Owusu Sadaukai and helped organize big celebrations for African Liberation Day. He was a leading voice for Pan-Africanism in the United States.
Years later, Fuller became famous again as a main supporter of school vouchers, which help students attend private schools. He was the superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools from 1991 to 1995. Today, he is a respected professor of education and leads the Institute for the Transformation of Learning at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Howard Fuller's unique way of working made him one of the most important civil rights leaders in North Carolina from about 1965 to 1975. His ideas changed over time, showing many of the different discussions and challenges within the fight for Black freedom in the 1960s and 1970s.
Contents
Early Life and School
Howard Fuller was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, on January 14, 1941. He was the only child of Tom and Juanita Fuller, who were sharecroppers. His parents divorced soon after he was born, and his mother moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to find work. Howard lived with his grandmother for a few years before moving to live with his mother at age seven.
He was raised Catholic and went to St. Boniface Catholic Parochial School for elementary and middle school. He was the only Black student there. He then attended North Division High School. From a young age, Howard showed strong leadership skills. He was also a talented basketball player. His basketball skills helped him get a scholarship to Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin, where he studied sociology. He was part of the first group of students at Carroll that included different races.
Howard Fuller later studied at Case Western Reserve University, earning a Master's degree in Social Administration. He also earned a Ph.D. in Sociological Foundations of Education from Marquette University in 1986.
Howard grew up in neighborhoods that had both Black and white families, and people with different incomes. In his early years in Milwaukee, he lived in the northern Near Downtown area, which was very segregated. One historian, Jonathan Coleman, said that this community had all kinds of people, from factory workers to doctors. He felt that this mix of people, despite segregation, created a strong sense of unity and family.
Because many Black families moved to Milwaukee and white soldiers returned from World War 2, there was a housing shortage. This led to the building of Hillside Terrace, where Howard lived during his childhood. There, he met Black and white children from various backgrounds. Howard said that these experiences made him see all races as equal. He also disliked big differences in wealth, which led him to choose civil rights activism as his career.
Starting His Civil Rights Work
While he was a student at Case Western Reserve University, Howard Fuller took part in his first protest in 1964. This was a sit-in to stop a new school from being built in a mostly Black area of Cleveland. People protested because they believed the new school would be segregated. During this protest, Howard saw a minister get hurt by a bulldozer.
This event likely changed Howard Fuller from a student activist to a more radical Black Power supporter. He said it was "the end of my non-violent career." This meant he no longer believed in non-violence as the only way to make change. It also made him look at the ideas of Malcolm X differently. At first, Howard saw himself as someone who wanted integration, while Malcolm X seemed to support separation. Howard supported Dr. King's idea of "loving the enemy," but Malcolm X talked about "an eye for an eye." After seeing the problems with non-violent protest in Cleveland, Howard found Malcolm X's ideas less scary and more interesting.
Activism in Chicago
After graduating from Case Western Reserve University in 1964, Howard Fuller moved to Chicago. He worked for the Urban League as a community development specialist and for the Congress for Racial Equality as a community organizer. Working closely with Black people in inner-city areas helped his ideas change even more. One historian, Cedric Johnson, noted that Howard's experiences as a social worker in Chicago and the shift in Black public discussions from integration to Black Power helped him become more radical.
Operation Breakthrough and Black Power
Howard Fuller's strong desire for change led him to move to North Carolina in 1965. He took a job as the director of community development at Operation Breakthrough (OBT). OBT was a non-profit group that aimed to fight poverty by helping communities organize and empower themselves. The North Carolina Fund, a state-funded project, provided money to local anti-poverty groups like OBT.
His time at OBT greatly increased Howard Fuller's influence in the civil rights movement in the South. It also made him one of Durham's most important Black leaders. This job helped his ideas develop further by giving him a way to organize communities based on his Black Power beliefs at the time.
As the director of community development, Howard Fuller said his job was "to stir people out of apathy." He did this not by giving big speeches about equality. Instead, he went door-to-door in poor neighborhoods in Durham, NC. He asked residents about their problems and helped them organize around smaller issues that still affected their daily lives, like garbage collection or street lights. George Esser, who led the North Carolina Fund, explained Fuller's approach: "Howard soon showed his strong leadership and his understanding of real community organization. He encouraged people to take charge of their own lives, to organize their neighborhoods, and to demand fair treatment from the City Council or County Commissioners for everyday things like garbage collection, street lights, and street paving."
Howard Fuller explained how he organized people and why his experience at OBT was so important: "It was in North Carolina that I learned everything I know today about politics. I learned most of it from the people I worked with. I started by organizing at the neighborhood level, trying to get streets paved, houses fixed, and get rid of rats. That really shaped my ideas about the need for power."
By getting people involved in activism, even for small things, Howard could then guide them toward bigger goals. George Esser said, "Over time, he built a Black community in Durham that was asking for equal treatment for poor and middle-class Black people." Charles W. McKinney Jr. wrote that Fuller's ability to find and support local leaders was the main reason OBT's efforts succeeded.
Through his work at OBT, organizing protests and rallies in Durham, Howard Fuller gained a reputation as a Black Power activist. By 1968, his reputation was so strong that the Federal Bureau of Investigation began watching his activities.
Malcolm X Liberation University and New Ideas
On October 25, 1969, after a student protest at Duke University, Howard Fuller founded the Malcolm X Liberation University (MXLU). This was a university in Durham, NC, only for Black students. Its goal was to "provide a way for Black Education to be useful to the needs of the Black community and the fight for Black Liberation." The university closed on June 28, 1972, because of disagreements, staff changes, and a lack of money.
The school's lessons were shaped by Fuller's Black Power ideas, as well as his newer beliefs in Pan-Africanism and Marxism. The idea for MXLU started simply, Fuller said, by "taking any subject and putting 'black' in front of it." For example, Black history had to be taught because it wasn't being taught in regular schools. This led to understanding African history, which, combined with ideas about imperialism from the anti-war movement, led to Pan-Africanism. This was like an international version of Black Power. Earlier in 1969, Fuller had said the university would "teach here why we must bring down capitalism," showing his new Marxist beliefs.
MXLU first received money from a Durham non-profit called the Foundation for Community Development (FCD). FCD itself was mainly funded by the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), a government program to fight poverty. Howard Fuller was the director of training at FCD when MXLU received its $20,000 grant.
MXLU faced problems even before it opened. First, people worried that Fuller, as an executive at FCD, was giving money to his own project, which seemed like a conflict of interest. Second, because the government was indirectly funding Fuller's activities through OEO-FCD-MXLU, some saw it as the government supporting violence. Howard Fuller had gained a reputation for this during his OBT days. Historian Charles W. McKinney Jr. wrote that with help from news reports, Howard Fuller became a symbol of "dangerous, government-approved Black radicalism" in the state.
Many historians thought Fuller adopted his Pan-Africanist and Marxist views after visiting Africa in August 1971, where he met Black freedom fighters in Mozambique. However, he had already expressed these ideas in 1969 when talking about MXLU. This means his shift to these beliefs happened gradually during his time at OBT. His Marxist ideas, in particular, made his OBT and MXLU phases different. Before MXLU, Fuller saw differences in wealth and unfairness as mainly caused by racial discrimination. But by 1969, he started to see wealth differences as a separate injustice, where rich people kept poor people down, no matter their race. These new beliefs made Howard enemies among wealthy Black people in Durham. An internal memo from North Carolina Fund staff said, "The city's Black elite were among the most bothered by Fuller."
With more enemies and a scandal over MXLU's funding, North Carolina Republican politicians tried to use this chance to reduce Fuller's influence. South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond asked Dick Cheney, the director of the OEO, to stop funding FCD. Thurmond argued that "funding known militants like Fuller would destroy public confidence in government programs." Cheney agreed, and funding to FCD was stopped. Local Durham Republican officials then suggested continuing funding programs in Durham but through a more moderate leader. They nominated David Stith, another local Black leader who also organized communities and ran anti-poverty campaigns. Stith was also the president of the Southeastern Business College in Durham and had connections in the city's business community. Politicians preferred him because he wasn't linked to the Black Power movement.
However, Howard Fuller quickly regained public support. He strongly criticized Stith for being friends with Abe Greenberg, a Durham landlord who refused to fix his rental properties. Stith, being Greenberg's friend, tried to settle the dispute between the landlord and tenants. But people saw Stith as Greenberg's ally. As a result, David Stith lost credibility, and local Republican leaders had to recommend FCD, and therefore Howard Fuller, to receive the OEO grant.
After the initial funding from FCD, MXLU's main supporter was the Federation of Pan-African Institutions. This was a group of schools focused on Black cultural nationalism, and MXLU was a member. The Federation was mainly funded by the national Episcopal Church. MXLU received one grant from the Church but was denied a second one. This was due to the "struggle between the alternative revolutionary college and members of the state's upper class of Black people." As a result, MXLU could no longer pay for its land lease and closed in 1972.
Howard Fuller's adoption of more radical beliefs caused him many problems and often threatened his influence in Durham and the civil rights movement. Still, he overcame strong opposition and managed to remain important among civil rights supporters. In doing so, he proved himself to be a skilled community organizer, leader, and politician.
Education Reform Today
After MXLU closed, Howard Fuller went through a difficult period. He became involved with the Revolutionary Workers League (RWL), a Marxist group. Fuller took some friends to a two-day conference held by the RWL. There, they were "humiliated, mentally tortured, and physically beaten by other members of the group." This experience shocked Fuller and made him move away from radical beliefs. He then moved back home to Milwaukee.
In Milwaukee, he first worked as an insurance salesman. A year later, he became an associate director of the Equal Opportunity Program at Marquette University. In this role, he helped disadvantaged students get access to the private university.
An important early success in his more moderate education reform work was stopping the Milwaukee School Board's plan to close North Division High School. The plan was to rebuild it as a special school focused on medicine and dentistry.
From 1991 to 1995, Howard Fuller served as the superintendent of the Milwaukee Public Schools. Today, he continues to support changes in the education system. He especially focuses on school choice and argues for reducing the power of teacher's unions. His non-profit organization, the Black Alliance for Educational Options, promotes school vouchers. These vouchers help children from low-income families attend private schools. He is a distinguished professor of education and the founder and director of the Institute for the Transformation of Learning at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
His Ideas and Beliefs
Howard Fuller explored many different ways to help African Americans improve their lives. At various times, he focused on race, poverty, and class differences. In his early Black Power years, he focused on race. During his Marxist phase, he focused on class differences and poverty. Now, he gives all three topics similar attention. However, throughout his career, education and helping Black people have been the main connections between his different ideas and methods. This is clear from his involvement in many education issues, from starting MXLU to his time as superintendent of the Milwaukee school district and his ongoing support for school choice.
In a 1996 interview, he said that in the Black struggle in the South, "there was a lot more unity around race that came into play," suggesting race was more important than class. In another interview from the same year, he said, "So, race is right there. Class is right there. There is nothing quaint or redeeming about being poor," indicating he felt class was at least as important as race. While it's not fully clear how he felt in 1996, it's clear that his priorities changed over his lifetime. However, the fact that his priorities and approaches always centered on helping African Americans through education shows how race, education, poverty, and class are connected. It also highlights the complex nature of racial inequality.
Impact and Importance
Howard Fuller made a significant impact on North Carolina as one of the most important civil rights leaders the state had seen. He was skilled at finding issues that could motivate communities. He would first help them demand solutions for everyday problems, like street paving or getting rid of rats. Once he got people involved and active, it was easier for him to lead them to demand bigger things, like equal legal treatment.
Howard Fuller's career, though sometimes complicated, reflects the history of the civil rights movement itself. Like the movement, Fuller's career had many twists and turns. The same disagreements over methods that led to the assassination of Malcolm X also contributed to the closing of MXLU. The lack of funds that helped close MXLU also forced other civil rights leaders to hold dangerously large gatherings in crowded churches. Howard Fuller changed as the civil rights movement changed, and he often represented different, sometimes conflicting, parts of the movement within himself.
