Reginald Armistice Hawkins: The Voice of Charlotte 

Subject

Reginald Hawkins; Civil Rights; Charlotte

Description

Hawkins the Presbyterian minister was raised in Beaufort, North Carolina, and was born on Armistice Day. But he attended school in Charlotte and made his home there. He earned his dental degree from JCS University. Rev. R. A. Hawkins, also known as “Hawk,” had four charming children with Catharine Richardson. He ran as the first person of color to do so for governor of his state. He worked very hard to integrate Charlotte’s businesses and educational institutions. He served as a military leader throughout the Second World War.

Parenting

His parents believed that Reginald hated and opposed injustices, thus, he began his activism while he was just a senior in high school. He took part in the protests and boycotts as a member of the high school student council. In 1943, he was in charge of the demonstration against the discriminatory employment practices of the US Postal Service.

C. Douglas Airport

Hawkins put forth a lot of effort in his line of work while denouncing the corruption that prevailed at the time and made it clear that unfair practices were responsible for the violation of national law. His comprehension gave organizers of the revolutionary sit-in demonstration against segregated services at C. Douglas Airport in 1954 a solid foundation on which to act.

Civil Right Career

During his time, he supported the equality of blacks and whites. He effectively used the media to inspire Americans, particularly blacks, to support his civil rights efforts. He supported the idea that the only guaranteed way to advance was to engage dogmatists in an open argument. He did a great job of enforcing this conviction. In 1957, he once escorted a black girl named Dorthy Counts to a Charlotte high school where white students predominated.

Mecklenburg 

Mecklenburg Country School was founded as a result of this action. Despite receiving taunts and even spit on several occasions, his activities made him a well-known civil rights fighter in Charlotte. He spearheaded student boycotts in the struggle for black students’ equal rights, advising them to remain home rather than enroll in a school with a low ranking. He left the NAACP because of its principles, and then founded the Mecklenburg Organization for Political Affairs (MOPA).

Black Parents Protest

In 1961, he started speaking up for a group of parents who were upset about the ongoing prejudice in Charlotte’s schools. The old building was renamed Irvin Avenue Middle School and only offered to black pupils, while Harding High’s white students received a new facility. In order to discredit the municipality and force the school authorities to address the issue, he staged a very public protest and pegged the school in the middle of a world trade fair.

Profession

Restrained integration strategies characterized Charlotte’s political alliances between black and white leaders. In contrast to Hawkins’ direct and aggressive activities, which sought a quick change in the existing system, He succeeded in uniting Charlotte Memorial Hospital in 1962 after being forcibly barred from working there. A year later, he was sentenced to prison for allowing many colored students who were said to have failed reading and writing tests, despite the fact that such tests had been deemed to be unlawful and culturally biased. After being freed, he continued to fight.

Professional Struggle Intensified

In 1963, Hawkins made the motion that the slowness of the process would not be tolerated by Blacks. They also won’t settle for minimal effort. The time for black people’s freedom, he claimed, is now. While several of his friends and contemporaries demanded legal remedies, he backed up his demands with a variety of tactics and tools to support change, including civil disobedience and court battles. Hawkins turned refused admission in the white-only Dental Society of North Carolina as well, but after he challenged this injustice, a federal court decreed that he be granted membership in the group in 1966.

Politics

In 1968, it was clear that he was interested in the governor’s position. He focused on inequality and scarcity in that campaign, delighting people all around the country. The Movement for Black Students was started in Chapel Hill, where his son attended school, and there was a very high level of student inclusion. He gained a lot of friends and a lot of enemies because of his passion, but he lost the election. In 1972, he ran for office again but lost in the primary. However, the movement supporting his candidacy encouraged North Carolinians to isolate his group. His entire life was devoted to promoting and supporting the integration of blacks and whites. even though several attempts on his life have been attempted. Despite his lack of political success, he continued to advocate for equal rights in his talks.

Friendship with Martin Luther King Jr.

They were good friends despite the fact that they were both clergy in their own religious groups. Their shared beliefs are the foundation of their friendship. Both were activists, and Martin Luther King Jr. kept advancing the cause of equal rights even after he was killed. It is known that Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had intended to support him in 1968 because of their relationship. Martin Luther was murdered on that day as well.

Conclusion

In addition to serving, Hawkins also a priest also assisted the cleric of Graham City United Presbyterian Church. He passed away in the city of Charlotte at the age of 83. He was preceded in death by his wife Catherine, a former student at J. C. S. University, and his four children: Bibi, Abdullah Salim, Wayne, and Lorena. In his epitaph captioned “The Charlotte Observer”, he wished to be remembered for having sparked a movement and for having put up a change and braveries in his community.

Creator

The Black Male Archives Team

References

 “Dr. Hawkins and Truth.” The Daily Tar Heel, April 23, 1968, accessed February 28, 2018, https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073228/1968-04-23/ed-1/seq-2/.

Dr. Reginald A. Hawkins, interview by Melinda H. Desmarais, June 11, 2001, interview OHHA0077. Accessed October 13, 2021, https://repository.charlotte.edu//islandora/object/uncc:138.

Richardson, Michael B. “’Not Gradually…But Now’: Reginald Hawkins, Black Leadership, and Desegregation in Charlotte, North Carolina.” The North Carolina Historical Review 82, no. 4 (July 2005). Retrieved from https://nothcarolinahistory.org>re..

Wright, Emiene. “The Militant Dentist: Dr. Reginald Hawkins.” Creative Loafing Charlotte, February 6, 2013, accessed February 28, 2018, https://clclt.com/charlotte/the-militant-dentist-dr-reginald-hawkins/Content?oid=3003665.

Publisher

Preservation Media

File

Oral History Interview

In this interview, Dr. Reginald Armistice Hawkins discusses his significant involvement in the African American Civil Rights Movement nationally, within the state of North Carolina, and in Mecklenburg County. Mr. Hawkins candidly describes his experiences during the era of segregation, as well as his activities as a political activist when he was a student at Johnson C. Smith University during the early 1940s, and after his return to Charlotte to practice dentistry in 1948. As a member of the local NAACP, and as the organizer of the Mecklenburg Organization on Political Affairs (MOPA), Mr. Hawkins was closely involved with local political protests for many years. He discusses his role in advocating for school integration during the period following Brown v. Board of Education. He also highlights his involvement in the landmark Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education case, which introduced integration through busing in Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools. Mr. Hawkins also describes the reprisals he experienced in response to his activism. Of particular note were bomb attacks on his and other local black leaders’ homes in 1965. Mr. Hawkins describes his involvement with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the local response to Dr. King’s tragic assassination in 1968. He closes the interview by stressing the impact that black women had on the civil rights movement, and the significance of his local political action group, MOPA.(Source: UNC Charlotte Atkins Library Special Collections)

https://goldmine.charlotte.edu/index/render/object/pid/uncc:138/parentPID/uncc:cr