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Collection Data
- Description
- The Milton A. Galamision Papers are primarily a collection of the Reverend's sermons. A few personal items, other writings, and clippings complete the collection. The papers have been divided into the following five series: personal papers, writings, broadcasts, church activities, and civil rights activities. The writings series (1953-1987) contains over one thousand sermons which Galamison preached at Witherspoon Presbyterian Church in Princeton, New Jersey, his first church (1947-1948) and Siloam Presbyterian Church. Additionally, there is a copy of Galamison's Master's thesis, "Salvation Themes in the Great Religions," an unpublished autobiographical manuscript, "A Grand and Awful Time." The latter is an account of attempts by African Americans to change the New York City school system, particularly focusing on Galamison's struggles during thirteen years of fighting for integration. Finally, the writings series contains speeches Galamison made, as well as a research file which includes speeches and other printed material he used in writing his articles and speeches.
- Names
- Galamison, Milton A. (Milton Arthur), 1923-1988 (Creator)
- Galamison, Milton A. (Milton Arthur), 1923-1988
- Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
- Siloam Presbyterian Church (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
- United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.
- Dates / Origin
- Date Created: 1947 - 1987
- Library locations
- Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
- Shelf locator: Sc MG 394
- Topics
- African American clergy
- African American preaching
- African American Presbyterians
- African Americans -- Education -- New York (State) -- New York
- African Americans -- Religion
- Discrimination in education -- New York (State) -- New York
- Education -- New York (State) -- New York -- Parent participation
- Religious broadcasting -- United States
- Segregation in education -- New York (State) -- New York
- Sermons, American -- African American authors
- Television in religion -- United States
- Preservation of the Black Religious Heritage Project funded by the Lilly Endowment
- Schomburg NEH Automated Access to Special Collections Project
- Genres
- scrapbooks
- sermons
- Notes
- Content: 15 Archival Boxes
- Biographical/historical: The Reverend Doctor Milton A. Galamison was born in Philadelphia in 1923. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone Galamison, worked for the U.S. Postal Service and as a saleswoman. From childhood Galamison planned to join the ministry. He graduated cum laude from Lincoln University in 1945 and received his Bachelor of Divinity Degree two years later, also from Lincoln University. Princeton Theological Seminary awarded him a Master of Theology in 1949, and in 1961 he received a Doctor of Divinity Degree from Lincoln University. Galamison married Gladys Hunt in 1965. They had one son, Milton A., Jr..
Galamison was ordained by the Presbyterian Church in Princeton, New Jersey in 1947. In that same year he was assigned to the Witherspoon Presbyterian Church in Princeton. The next year, following the death of Reverend George Stark, Galamison was offered a position at Siloam Presbyterian Church in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York. Siloam Church, founded in 1849, is the third oldest African American Presbyterian church in the country.
In 1951 Siloam honored Galamison for his work in the community and in building the congregation. With a membership of five hundred in 1949, Siloam had grown to become the second largest African American Presbyterian church in 1952; by 1963 the church had twenty-two hundred members. Galamison also expanded the church by adding a vocational guidance center, a mental hygiene clinic, tutoring facilities, and a credit union. He was a dedicated pastor to Siloam Church during his forty year tenure, until his death in 1988. In addition, Galamison pioneered in the field of religious broadcasting, was an active participant in the civil rights movement, and authored several articles.
Galamison began appearing on religious television programs in the early 1950s; his oral skills made him popular with television viewers. He believed broadcasting was a modern means of bringing religion and the church staight to the people. Among other shows, he appeared on Dumont Morning Chapel, and Frontiers of Faith.
From 1955 to 1957, Galamison served as chair of the Education Committee of the Brooklyn chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) which fought for integration of New York City's school system. In 1957 he was elected president of the chapter, and served in that capacity for two years. At the end of his term he left the NAACP and founded his own organization, the Parent's Workshop for Equality in New York City Schools. This group presented a series of integration proposals to the New York City Board of Education, none of which were implemented.
In 1963 Galamison organized and chaired the Citywide Committee for Integrated Schools which included the NAACP, the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE), the National Urban League, the Harlem Parents' Committee, and Galamison's Parent's Workshop for Equality. These organizations came together to boycott the New York City public schools in February 1964. Close to five hundred thousand children were absent from school the day of the boycott, nevertheless the Board of Education ignored the Committee's demands for a scheduled plan to desegregate the city's schools. Galamison went on to lead two other boycotts over the next year. Because of these tactics, Galamison was arrested over ten times during the protests, and he lost the support of national civil rights groups which disapproved of his subsequent boycotts and considered him a militant. The Citywide Committee was eventually reduced to grassroots organizations because of this loss of support. Galamison's public image also worsened; the press depicted him as irresponsible and manipulative of the children he used in the boycotts.
In 1967 Galamison founded a new organization called Citywide Coalition for Community Control. This group advocated a decentralized school system in New York City which would allow for community control by encouraging parents to participate in the system. Demonstration schools were set up by the Board of Education with governing boards which were elected by the community and allowed to make hiring and curricular decisions. The result was tension between parents and teachers, and eventually a ten week teacher's strike in 1968. At this time Galamison was appointed to the Board of Education by Mayor John Lindsay; he was later elected to the vice presidency.
Galamison received a grant from the Ford Foundation with which he started SCOPE (School and Community Organization for Partnership in Education). The purpose of this organization was increased integration and raised levels of achievement among African American students. He was also a visiting professor of Education and Urban Studies at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education.
Aside from his struggles with the New York City public school system, Galamison helped to organize a variety of civil rights demonstrations protesting racist hiring practices and other injustices. In 1967 he organized a vocational school, Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) in Brooklyn, a local offshoot of Rev. Leon Sullivan's Philadelphia OIC. Galamison also published articles in magazines such as Freedomways,as well as in religious journals. His articles range from analyses of the New York City school system to discussions of the benefits of religious telecasting. Galamison died at the age of sixty-five, in 1988 following a brief illness.
- Content: The Milton A. Galamison Papers, 1947-1987, are primarily a collection of the Reverend's sermons. A few personal items, other writings, and clippings complete the collection.
- Type of Resource
- Text
- Identifiers
- Other local Identifier: Sc MG 394
- NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b11622284
- MSS Unit ID: 20660
- Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 99e7b490-d07c-013a-67c1-0242ac110002
