Powell, Adam Clayton, Jr.

(1908-1972)

   Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Adam Clayton Powell Jr. moved to New York City with his family in 1909. After briefly attending City College, he graduated from Colgate College in 1930 and completed a master’s degree in religious education at Columbia University in 1932. Powell accepted a position as business manager at his father’s church in Harlem and then succeeded his father as pastor in 1937. Using the pulpit and a regular column in the black newspaper, Amsterdam News, Powell was active in mobilizing black protests against discrimination in New York. He was involved in the National Negro Congress, encouraged “Don’t buy where you can’t work” boycotts of white-owned stores, and in 1938 helped found the Greater New York Coordinating Committee on Employment.

   In 1941, Powell became the first black person elected to the New York City Council, and in 1944 he won election as a Democrat— although also with support of the Republicans—to the U.S. House of Representatives to become, with William L. Dawson, only the second black congressman at the time. During World War II, he published the militant paper, People’s Voice, and worked for the Office of Price Administration. A flamboyant and independent man, Powell supported Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 because he felt he had done more for civil rights. In 1960, Powell forced Bayard Rustin to resign from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference because of his homosexuality. However, in 1967 Powell himself was accused of having misused public money for personal gain and was excluded from the House. In 1969, the Supreme Court ruled in his favor, and he returned to Congress, but in 1970 be failed to be renominated.