Joseph Gelders facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Joseph Gelders
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Gelders in 1936
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| Born | November 20, 1898 |
| Died | March 1, 1950 (aged 51) San Francisco, California, US
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| Alma mater | University of Alabama |
| Occupation | Physicist, antiracist, civil rights activist, labor organizer, communist |
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Joseph Sidney Gelders (born November 20, 1898 – died March 1, 1950) was an American physicist. He later became a dedicated activist who fought against racism and for civil rights. He also worked to help workers organize into unions and was a communist, meaning he believed in a different kind of economic system.
In the mid-1930s, Gelders worked as a leader for the National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners. This group helped people who were unfairly treated because of their beliefs. In September 1936, Joseph Gelders was attacked and badly hurt by members of the Ku Klux Klan. This happened because he was working to improve civil rights and help workers.
After he recovered, Gelders continued his important work. He helped start two major groups: the Southern Conference for Human Welfare and the National Committee to Abolish the Poll Tax. He worked closely with other activists like Lucy Randolph Mason and Virginia Foster Durr. Sadly, the injuries he got from the attack in 1936 led to his death on March 1, 1950.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Joseph Gelders was born on November 20, 1898, in Birmingham, Alabama. His family was of German-Jewish background. His mother was Blanche Loeb, and his father, Louis Gelders, owned a restaurant and worked in real estate. Joseph had an older sister, Emma Gelders Sterne, who became a writer.
Gelders studied at the University of Alabama and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He later returned to Birmingham and worked different jobs. In 1929, he went back to the University of Alabama. He earned both a bachelor's and a master's degree. After graduating in 1930, Gelders taught physics at the university for five years. He also led the physics laboratory there.
Fighting for Justice
While teaching at the University of Alabama, Gelders saw how workers were being treated unfairly. He became interested in helping workers organize into unions. During the Great Depression, he joined the Communist Party. A major event that pushed him into activism was a 1934 strike by ore miners. Several Black miners died during this strike.
Gelders and his wife, Esther, started a weekly discussion group for students. In 1935, he helped students write a petition against a state bill that would stop people from speaking out. In May 1935, Gelders went to a meeting about civil liberties in Monteagle, Tennessee. He was deeply affected by stories of people being beaten and illegally raided.
In August 1935, he joined the National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners (NCDPP). This group worked to protect people's rights. In late 1935, Gelders left his university job to work full-time for civil liberties. He moved to New York City to be the secretary of the NCDPP. He also set up a committee in Alabama to help with the Scottsboro Boys case. This was a famous case where nine young Black men were wrongly accused.
A Dangerous Attack
On September 23, 1936, at night, Joseph Gelders was walking home in Birmingham. He was kidnapped and severely beaten with a leather strap. The attackers read and made fun of his documents about the Scottsboro Boys case.
After news of the attack spread across the country, people were very upset. The Governor of Alabama, Bibb Graves, ordered a police investigation. Police found four suspects, and Gelders identified three of them. Some reports say the attackers were members of the Ku Klux Klan. Even with more investigations, no one was ever charged for the attack. A police detective privately noted that powerful people would prevent convictions.
Continuing the Fight
In 1938, Gelders traveled to Hyde Park, New York. He met with U.S. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He shared his idea for the Southern Conference for Human Welfare (SCHW). With their support, the conference was open to people of all races. It discussed important topics like social justice and improving race relations.
Lucy Randolph Mason, a lobbyist, helped Gelders start the SCHW. Gelders also got support from important union leaders. Eleanor Roosevelt attended the first SCHW meeting on November 20, 1938. After this meeting, a new organization was formed, and Gelders became the executive secretary of its Civil Rights Committee. In this role, he focused on ending poll taxes in the United States.
Gelders and civil rights activist Virginia Foster Durr were key figures in the movement to get rid of the poll tax. Poll taxes made it harder for many people, especially poor people and African Americans, to vote. In 1941, Gelders and Durr led the creation of the National Committee to Abolish the Poll Tax (NCAPT).
Their different backgrounds helped them work well together. Gelders had experience organizing workers in the steel industry. Durr came from a well-known Southern family and had many connections. They both believed that ending the poll tax was a necessary step to make the Democratic Party in the South fairer. They wanted to defeat the powerful group of rich landowners and factory owners who kept many Southern citizens from voting and kept them poor.
Military Service
Joseph Gelders served in the U.S. Army during both World War I and World War II. He first joined the army on July 2, 1918, during World War I. He was honorably discharged in November 1918, after the war ended. He did not see any fighting.
During World War II, Gelders joined the army again on March 30, 1942. He served as a technical sergeant in the Signal Corps. He was honorably discharged on July 24, 1944.
Family Life
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Joseph Gelders married Esther Josephine Frank on November 19, 1919. Esther worked for the National Youth Administration, a government program. They had two daughters.
Their older daughter, Marge Frantz, became an activist and a feminist. She was one of the first teachers to offer women's studies courses in the United States. Their younger daughter, Blanche Hartman, became a Sōtō Buddhist teacher.
Joseph Gelders passed away on March 1, 1950, in San Francisco. The injuries he suffered from the attack in 1936 eventually led to his death. He was buried on March 7, 1950, at the Golden Gate National Cemetery.
Images for kids
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Gelders in 1936
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Gelders recovering in a Clayton, Alabama, hospital
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Esther Josephine (née Frank) Gelders and daughters c. 1936
