Block, Upload, Automoderated users, edit, move, protect, rollback
57,799
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Created page with "{{Infobox person | name=Emmitt James Douglas (President of the Louisiana chapter of the NAACP, 1966-1981) | birth_date=October 14, 1926 | birth_place=Newellton, Tensas Parish<..."
{{Infobox person
| name=Emmitt James Douglas
(President of the Louisiana chapter of the NAACP, 1966-1981)
| birth_date=October 14, 1926
| birth_place=Newellton, Tensas Parish<br> [[Louisiana]], [[United States|USA]]
| death_date=March 25, 1981 (aged 54)
| death_place=New Roads, Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana
|death_cause=[[Heart attack]]
|spouse= Audrey Marie Daisy Douglas (1920–1991; married, 1949-his death)<br>
'''Children''':<br>
Kordice Majella Douglas
|religion=[[Roman Catholic]]
|party=[[Democratic Party|Democrac]]
|alma_mater=Tensas Rosenwald High School<br>
[[Xavier University of Louisiana]]}}
'''Emmitt James Douglas''' (October 14, 1926 – March 25, 1981) was an [[African- American]] [[business]]man from New Roads, [[Louisiana]], who served as president of his state's [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]] chapter from 1966 until his death.
==Background==
Douglas was born in [[rural]] Newellton in northern Tensas Parish in northeastern Louisiana to Samuel Frederick Douglas and the former Fannie Rose Armstrong. He was educated at the [[Segregation|segregated]] since defunct black schools in Newelltonn|and from Tensas Rosenwald in St. Joseph, Louisiana, now known as Tensas High School. He was a classmate of Andrew Brimmer, later the first African American named to the board of governors of the [[Federal Reserve System]], appointed by [[U.S. President]] [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]. The institutions closed in 1970, when Tensas Parish public schools were desegregated.
Brimmer then attended the historically black [[Roman Catholic]]-affiliated Xavier University in [[New Orleans]]. Thereafter, Douglas entered the [[United States Army]], in which he reached the rank of master sergeant. From 1950 to 1952, he was stationed in [[Anchorage, Alaska|Anchorage]], [[Alaska]], and [[Fort Worth]], [[Texas]]. Thereafter, he was a letter carrier for the [[U.S. Postal Service]] and a salesman for Southern Barber and Beauty Supply Company in [[Baton Rouge]].
On July 24, 1949, in New Roads, he wed the former Audrey Marie Daisy (1920–1991), daughter of farmer Thomas Daisy (1898–1975) and the former Lillian Pourclau (1897–1985). The Douglases had one child, Kordice Majella Douglas (born 1955).<ref name=lahist>{{cite web|url=http://www.lahistory.org/site21.php|title=Douglas, Emmitt Jame|publisher=''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography'' (lahistory.org)|accessdate=November 11, 2019}}</ref> Kordice Douglas is a graduate of the [[Harvard Law School]]<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=CSoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA103&lpg=PA103&dq=emmitt+douglas+of+louisiana+naacp&source=bl&ots=QulNVj68IM&sig=FYAEuE478gqM6TZ1ZBEqseP-Pp4&hl=en&ei=Hl4KTaD2FY-p8Abr4KCfAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&sqi=2&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=emmitt%20douglas%20of%20louisiana%20naacp&f=false|title=Emmitt J. Douglas|publisher=''The Crisis'' (NAACP newspaper)|date=March 1980|accessdate=December 16, 2010}}</ref> and practices law in Baton Rouge.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kordice.com/|title=Kordice M. Douglas|publisher=kordice.com|accessdate=December 16, 2010}}</ref>
==NAACP activities==
Douglas was active in [[liberal]] [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] politics at a time when his party dominated most of his native state. He headed the New Roads NAACP from 1965 to 1981 and served on the national board of the organization from 1967 to 1981. [[Governor]] [[Edwin Edwards]] appointed Douglas to the Prison System Study Commission. He served in 1975 on the Commission on Judicial Compensation for City, Parish, and Municipal Courts. He was a member of the St. Augustine Catholic Church in New Roads, where he resided from 1949 until his death. He had lived in New Orleans from 1942 to 1946 and in Baton Rouge from 1946 to 1949. He was a district manager for Standard Life Insurance Company and Supreme Life Insurance Company and the proprietor of Douglas Barber and Beauty Supply Company and Douglas Fine Foods Grocery, both in Baton Rouge.<ref name=lahist/>
Douglas pushed to accelerate school desegregation, a gradual process completed in all sixty-four parishes by August 1970, including Douglas' native Tensas Parish, which is predominantly African American. In 1970, Douglas was arrested when he attempted to dine at an all-white establishment in Baton Rouge. The incident occurred six years after passage of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]]. Douglas retained as his attorney Murphy Bell, also a former NAACP state president.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/19937054.html?index=1&c=y|title=Civil-rights attorney Murphy Bell, 87, dies|publisher=''The Baton Rouge Advocate''|date=June 14, 2008|accessdate=December 16, 2010}}</ref>
In 1976, Douglas quarreled at the national NAACP convention in [[Memphis]], [[Tennessee]], with executive director [[Roy Wilkins]], who postponed his planned retirement from the organization by an additional year. Wilkins criticized certain board members as having conducted a "campaign of vilification" against him, questioning his integrity, health, and competence. Wilkins had threatened lawsuits against the offenders. Douglas took a microphone and rebuked Wilkins: "I resent allegations against board members unless they are named."<ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,914269,00.html#ixzz18J2S8yj2|title="Races: A Leader's Dissonant Swan Song," July 12, 1976|publisher=''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''|date=July 12, 1976|accessdate=December 16, 2010}}</ref>
Douglas died at the age of fifty-four of a heart attack at New Roads General Hospital.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/26/obituaries/emmitt-douglas.html|title=Emmitt Douglas obituary|publisher=''[[The New York Times]''|date= March 25, 1981|accessdate=December 16, 2010}}</ref> He and his wife are entombed at the St. Augustine Catholic Church Mausoleum in New Roads.<ref name=lahist/>
Douglas is honored by the naming of the Emmitt J. Douglas Park on Tenth Street in New Roads.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/45968697.html|title=Emily Holden, "Discussion on litter leads class to act|publisher=''The Baton Rouge Advocate''|date= May 25, 2009|accessdate=December 16, 2010}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas, Emmitt}}
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:Democrats]]
[[Category:Liberals]]
[[Category:Catholics]]
| name=Emmitt James Douglas
(President of the Louisiana chapter of the NAACP, 1966-1981)
| birth_date=October 14, 1926
| birth_place=Newellton, Tensas Parish<br> [[Louisiana]], [[United States|USA]]
| death_date=March 25, 1981 (aged 54)
| death_place=New Roads, Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana
|death_cause=[[Heart attack]]
|spouse= Audrey Marie Daisy Douglas (1920–1991; married, 1949-his death)<br>
'''Children''':<br>
Kordice Majella Douglas
|religion=[[Roman Catholic]]
|party=[[Democratic Party|Democrac]]
|alma_mater=Tensas Rosenwald High School<br>
[[Xavier University of Louisiana]]}}
'''Emmitt James Douglas''' (October 14, 1926 – March 25, 1981) was an [[African- American]] [[business]]man from New Roads, [[Louisiana]], who served as president of his state's [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]] chapter from 1966 until his death.
==Background==
Douglas was born in [[rural]] Newellton in northern Tensas Parish in northeastern Louisiana to Samuel Frederick Douglas and the former Fannie Rose Armstrong. He was educated at the [[Segregation|segregated]] since defunct black schools in Newelltonn|and from Tensas Rosenwald in St. Joseph, Louisiana, now known as Tensas High School. He was a classmate of Andrew Brimmer, later the first African American named to the board of governors of the [[Federal Reserve System]], appointed by [[U.S. President]] [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]. The institutions closed in 1970, when Tensas Parish public schools were desegregated.
Brimmer then attended the historically black [[Roman Catholic]]-affiliated Xavier University in [[New Orleans]]. Thereafter, Douglas entered the [[United States Army]], in which he reached the rank of master sergeant. From 1950 to 1952, he was stationed in [[Anchorage, Alaska|Anchorage]], [[Alaska]], and [[Fort Worth]], [[Texas]]. Thereafter, he was a letter carrier for the [[U.S. Postal Service]] and a salesman for Southern Barber and Beauty Supply Company in [[Baton Rouge]].
On July 24, 1949, in New Roads, he wed the former Audrey Marie Daisy (1920–1991), daughter of farmer Thomas Daisy (1898–1975) and the former Lillian Pourclau (1897–1985). The Douglases had one child, Kordice Majella Douglas (born 1955).<ref name=lahist>{{cite web|url=http://www.lahistory.org/site21.php|title=Douglas, Emmitt Jame|publisher=''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography'' (lahistory.org)|accessdate=November 11, 2019}}</ref> Kordice Douglas is a graduate of the [[Harvard Law School]]<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=CSoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA103&lpg=PA103&dq=emmitt+douglas+of+louisiana+naacp&source=bl&ots=QulNVj68IM&sig=FYAEuE478gqM6TZ1ZBEqseP-Pp4&hl=en&ei=Hl4KTaD2FY-p8Abr4KCfAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&sqi=2&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=emmitt%20douglas%20of%20louisiana%20naacp&f=false|title=Emmitt J. Douglas|publisher=''The Crisis'' (NAACP newspaper)|date=March 1980|accessdate=December 16, 2010}}</ref> and practices law in Baton Rouge.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kordice.com/|title=Kordice M. Douglas|publisher=kordice.com|accessdate=December 16, 2010}}</ref>
==NAACP activities==
Douglas was active in [[liberal]] [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] politics at a time when his party dominated most of his native state. He headed the New Roads NAACP from 1965 to 1981 and served on the national board of the organization from 1967 to 1981. [[Governor]] [[Edwin Edwards]] appointed Douglas to the Prison System Study Commission. He served in 1975 on the Commission on Judicial Compensation for City, Parish, and Municipal Courts. He was a member of the St. Augustine Catholic Church in New Roads, where he resided from 1949 until his death. He had lived in New Orleans from 1942 to 1946 and in Baton Rouge from 1946 to 1949. He was a district manager for Standard Life Insurance Company and Supreme Life Insurance Company and the proprietor of Douglas Barber and Beauty Supply Company and Douglas Fine Foods Grocery, both in Baton Rouge.<ref name=lahist/>
Douglas pushed to accelerate school desegregation, a gradual process completed in all sixty-four parishes by August 1970, including Douglas' native Tensas Parish, which is predominantly African American. In 1970, Douglas was arrested when he attempted to dine at an all-white establishment in Baton Rouge. The incident occurred six years after passage of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]]. Douglas retained as his attorney Murphy Bell, also a former NAACP state president.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/19937054.html?index=1&c=y|title=Civil-rights attorney Murphy Bell, 87, dies|publisher=''The Baton Rouge Advocate''|date=June 14, 2008|accessdate=December 16, 2010}}</ref>
In 1976, Douglas quarreled at the national NAACP convention in [[Memphis]], [[Tennessee]], with executive director [[Roy Wilkins]], who postponed his planned retirement from the organization by an additional year. Wilkins criticized certain board members as having conducted a "campaign of vilification" against him, questioning his integrity, health, and competence. Wilkins had threatened lawsuits against the offenders. Douglas took a microphone and rebuked Wilkins: "I resent allegations against board members unless they are named."<ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,914269,00.html#ixzz18J2S8yj2|title="Races: A Leader's Dissonant Swan Song," July 12, 1976|publisher=''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''|date=July 12, 1976|accessdate=December 16, 2010}}</ref>
Douglas died at the age of fifty-four of a heart attack at New Roads General Hospital.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/26/obituaries/emmitt-douglas.html|title=Emmitt Douglas obituary|publisher=''[[The New York Times]''|date= March 25, 1981|accessdate=December 16, 2010}}</ref> He and his wife are entombed at the St. Augustine Catholic Church Mausoleum in New Roads.<ref name=lahist/>
Douglas is honored by the naming of the Emmitt J. Douglas Park on Tenth Street in New Roads.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/45968697.html|title=Emily Holden, "Discussion on litter leads class to act|publisher=''The Baton Rouge Advocate''|date= May 25, 2009|accessdate=December 16, 2010}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas, Emmitt}}
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:Democrats]]
[[Category:Liberals]]
[[Category:Catholics]]