Thomas Wyatt Turner (1877-1978)

Today in 1978 marks the death of scholar and activist Thomas Wyatt Turner. The website nathanelturner.com has the following on him:

The child of former slaves, he grew up in Virginia and studied at Howard University before embarking on an academic career. After teaching high school for several years, he became Professor of Botany at Howard University and also served as Dean of the School of Education. During the summer months, he studied at Cornell University, where he received a doctorates in 1921. (Turner wanted to attend Catholic University, but it was segregated at the time and he was not granted admittance.) From 1924 to 1945, Turner was a professor in the Botany Department at Hampton Institute in Virginia and during this period became the head of the department. Forced to retire in 1945 because of glaucoma, Turner held emeritus professor status until his death in 1978.

A member in the founder (1909) of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Turner served as a leader in the Baltimore and Washington branches and was president of the NAACP Phoebus, Virginia, branch. Throughout the 1920s, Turner was active in the black voter registration movement. he was honored with a NAACP life-time membership.
Dr. Turner was active in Catholic organizations and in societies for the advancement of the Negro. He founded in 1925 the Federated Colored Catholics (FCC), an organization, national in scope, composed of catholic Negroes who placed their services at the disposal of the Church for whatever good they were able to effect in the solution of the problems facing the group in Church and country. As president of the Federated Colored Catholics, Turner published frequent messages to its members in The Chronicle and the Interracial Review. His constant plea was the extension of Catholic Negro higher education.

FCC’s intent was to fight racism and segregation in the Catholic Church and promote racial harmony. Turner was president until 1934. Contrary to his desire, the FCC was forcibly made part of the Catholic Interracial council in 1933. The group lost its focus and power after the mid-1930s, although the organization retained its identity until 1958. Turner, remained a loyal member of the catholic Church. in 1976, the Secretariat of Washington, D.C.’s Black Catholics named its highest award for Turner. the Thomas Wyatt Turner Award has become an annual honor. Turner was also Supreme Color Bearer of the knights of St. John.