{"id":194,"date":"2011-02-22T07:11:00","date_gmt":"2011-02-22T07:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/2011\/02\/%e2%80%9cracism-is-a-god-damned-thing%e2%80%9d-father-john-markoe-s-j-1890-1967-and-the-civil-rights-movement\/"},"modified":"2011-02-22T07:11:00","modified_gmt":"2011-02-22T07:11:00","slug":"%e2%80%9cracism-is-a-god-damned-thing%e2%80%9d-father-john-markoe-s-j-1890-1967-and-the-civil-rights-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/2011\/02\/%e2%80%9cracism-is-a-god-damned-thing%e2%80%9d-father-john-markoe-s-j-1890-1967-and-the-civil-rights-movement.html","title":{"rendered":"\u201cRacism is a God Damned Thing\u201d: Father John Markoe, S.J., (1890-1967) and the Civil Rights Movement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
As a whole, the Catholic Church was slow to get fully involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Whether or not Catholics publicly endorsed segregation, they certainly accepted it in their churches and schools, North and South. (In many cases, Catholic institutions weren\u2019t fully integrated until the 1960\u2019s.) Still, there were exceptions, mainly an informal network of laypeople, priests, and nuns who were long committed to promoting racial justice.<\/div>\n

One of them was a Midwestern Jesuit who led sit-ins, marches, and boycotts long before they made national headlines. Tall and handsome, John Markoe looked like a movie star. His story would make a good movie: lumberjack, football star, soldier, alcoholic, priest, teacher, activist. His biography, a peer noted, \u201creads like fiction.\u201d NAACP leader Roy Wilkins said Markoe \u201cfought the Civil Rights battle long before it became respectable, or even popular.\u201d <\/p>\n

Born in 1890 to a blueblood family whose ancestors included Benjamin Franklin, John Prince Markoe was the son of a prominent Minnesota doctor. At eighteen he was appointed to West Point, but deferred it to work out West on the railroads. In 1910, he entered the military academy, where his friends included Dwight Eisenhower. He played football against Knute Rockne and Jim Thorpe, and was named an honorable mention All American. <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
The Army football team, 1914. John Markoe is in the third row, standing, fourth from left. <\/em><\/div>\n

When he graduated in 1914, the yearbook said: \u201cPossessing unlimited abilities, there is very little which he is incapable of performing.\u201d But he earned his classmates\u2019 contempt when he stood up for Marcus Alexander, the Point\u2019s only African-American cadet. His final class ranking might have been higher, but by senior year he was a full-fledged alcoholic. <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
Cadet Markoe just before he became Second Lieutenant John P. Markoe, Tenth United States Cavalry, 1914. <\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

Lieutenant Markoe was assigned to the Tenth Cavalry, a Black regiment. He welcomed the opportunity, fraternizing with his troops more than was deemed appropriate for a white officer. But nine months after graduation, heavy drinking cost him his commission. He never fully forgave himself. Back in Minnesota, he entered the lumber business and enlisted in the National Guard. In 1916, during the unofficial war against Pancho Villa in Mexico, he regained his commission.<\/p>\n

Down in Mexico, John got letters from his brother Bill, a Jesuit working with African-Americans. They raised his interest, and he started thinking about another kind of life than the army. After his discharge in 1917, Captain Markoe joined the Jesuits in Missouri. He and Bill took a private vow to work for the \u201csalvation of the Negroes in the United States.\u201d (Bill later worked with their cousin John LaFarge, also a Jesuit, for racial justice.)<\/p>\n

As part of his training, John was assigned to St. Louis, a highly segregated city. African-American Catholics were relegated to separate parishes, denied a Catholic education, and banned from Catholic hospitals. (The local archbishop was notoriously racist.) John worked in Black parishes and attended NAACP meetings. In magazine articles, he argued that racism was a moral issue, even a heresy. But his work wasn\u2019t well received by local whites, Jesuits included. <\/p>\n

Ordained in 1928, he was assigned to St. Elizabeth, a Black parish in St. Louis. The work was hard, yielded few results, and some of his fellow priests ostracized him. It took a toll, and after twenty years\u2019 sobriety, he turned to the bottle. On one occasion, it took half a dozen police to drag him out of a bar as he took on the entire clientele. For seven years he stayed at St. Joseph\u2019s Infirmary, Missouri, fighting alcoholism. <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
Father John P. Markoe, S.J., around the year 1930.<\/em><\/div>\n

In 1943, he re-entered the fight. Assigned to St. Malachy\u2019s, another Black parish in St. Louis, he and Bill campaigned to desegregate the Jesuits\u2019 St. Louis University. Father Claude Heithaus, a sociology professor, publicly asked why the school admitted people of all faiths, but rejected Catholics on account of their color. They won the fight, but John was soon sent (\u201cexiled,\u201d some said) to Creighton University, Omaha, where he spent the rest of his days. <\/p>\n

Initially it seemed like his Civil Rights days were finished, but they were really just beginning. In Omaha, segregation was still the rule. It had a NAACP chapter as early as 1912, and in 1919 it witnessed a race riot. Malcolm X was born there, but Klan activity forced his family\u2019s departure. Whitney Young, director of the National Urban League, worked there in the postwar years.<\/p>\n

Markoe\u2019s official assignment was teaching math, but he worked mainly with the DePorres Club (named for a saint of African descent), which he organized to educate the public on race. A decade before these attracted national attention, the club led sit-ins at Omaha restaurants, boycotted companies with discrimination practices, and organized public marches. Markoe was there at every step. One member said, he \u201ckept us going.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCap\u201d (an army nickname) often said, \u201cRacism is a God damned thing. And that\u2019s two words: God damned.\u201d When a Black veteran encountered opposition occupying his new home, Markoe and Whitney Young sat on the stoop for neighbors to see, while DePorres Club members moved the family in. John Howard Griffin, author of the controversial 1961 book Black Like Me, said Markoe was \u201cin the cauldron when most of us were in diapers.\u201d <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
Father Markoe with local Civil Rights activists in 1950\u2019s Omaha. To his right is Mildred Brown, a leading figure in the city\u2019s African-American communuity. <\/em><\/div>\n

By the 1960\u2019s, the Civil Rights Movement was in full swing, and Markoe was a revered figure among Jesuits. He was slowing down, but even in old age, he had many visitors. One priest noted: \u201cThey come from the ghetto most mornings. The poor, the alcoholics, the mentally depressed. Cap offers them what encouragement he can.\u201d As race riots swept America in 1967, the dying priest told fellow Jesuits never to \u201cgive an inch.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Markoe\u2019s funeral Mass, Father Henri Renard, the homilist (and close friend), called him a fearless character who fought for the \u201cthe poor and oppressed.\u201d John Markoe is one of the unsung heroes of the Civil Rights Movement, which is how he wanted it. During the fifty years he dedicated his life to African-Americans, he never sought attention for himself. Like St. Ignatius Loyola, another ex-soldier turned priest, he embodied the Jesuit ideal of \u201cmen for others.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a whole, the Catholic Church was slow to get fully involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Whether or not Catholics publicly endorsed segregation, they certainly accepted it in their churches and schools, North and South. (In many cases, Catholic institutions weren\u2019t fully integrated until the 1960\u2019s.) Still, there were exceptions, mainly an informal network […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1042,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cRacism is a God Damned Thing\u201d: Father John Markoe, S.J., (1890-1967) and the Civil Rights Movement<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As a whole, the Catholic Church was slow to get fully involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Whether or not Catholics publicly endorsed segregation, they\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/2011\/02\/\u201cracism-is-a-god-damned-thing\u201d-father-john-markoe-s-j-1890-1967-and-the-civil-rights-movement.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cRacism is a God Damned Thing\u201d: Father John Markoe, S.J., (1890-1967) and the Civil Rights Movement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As a whole, the Catholic Church was slow to get fully involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Whether or not Catholics publicly endorsed segregation, they\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/2011\/02\/\u201cracism-is-a-god-damned-thing\u201d-father-john-markoe-s-j-1890-1967-and-the-civil-rights-movement.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"McNamara's Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-02-22T07:11:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-mxUpEqmuAXw\/TWOjmA-HY_I\/AAAAAAAAEl0\/1eGKYlESLmA\/s320\/Army+Football+1914.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Pat McNamara\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Pat McNamara\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/2011\/02\/%e2%80%9cracism-is-a-god-damned-thing%e2%80%9d-father-john-markoe-s-j-1890-1967-and-the-civil-rights-movement.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/2011\/02\/%e2%80%9cracism-is-a-god-damned-thing%e2%80%9d-father-john-markoe-s-j-1890-1967-and-the-civil-rights-movement.html\",\"name\":\"\u201cRacism is a God Damned Thing\u201d: Father John Markoe, S.J., (1890-1967) and the Civil Rights Movement\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-22T07:11:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-02-22T07:11:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/#\/schema\/person\/67acddc1dbddb4c13c7e1b7df07f35e7\"},\"description\":\"As a whole, the Catholic Church was slow to get fully involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Whether or not Catholics publicly endorsed segregation, they\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/2011\/02\/%e2%80%9cracism-is-a-god-damned-thing%e2%80%9d-father-john-markoe-s-j-1890-1967-and-the-civil-rights-movement.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/2011\/02\/%e2%80%9cracism-is-a-god-damned-thing%e2%80%9d-father-john-markoe-s-j-1890-1967-and-the-civil-rights-movement.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/2011\/02\/%e2%80%9cracism-is-a-god-damned-thing%e2%80%9d-father-john-markoe-s-j-1890-1967-and-the-civil-rights-movement.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u201cRacism is a God Damned Thing\u201d: Father John Markoe, S.J., (1890-1967) and the Civil Rights Movement\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/\",\"name\":\"McNamara's Blog\",\"description\":\"Insightful, thought-provoking, and stimulating discussion \u2013 Patheos\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/#\/schema\/person\/67acddc1dbddb4c13c7e1b7df07f35e7\",\"name\":\"Pat McNamara\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c3e666dc69dc2dd6d797c06218142620?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c3e666dc69dc2dd6d797c06218142620?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Pat McNamara\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/author\/patmcnamara\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u201cRacism is a God Damned Thing\u201d: Father John Markoe, S.J., (1890-1967) and the Civil Rights Movement","description":"As a whole, the Catholic Church was slow to get fully involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Whether or not Catholics publicly endorsed segregation, they","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/2011\/02\/\u201cracism-is-a-god-damned-thing\u201d-father-john-markoe-s-j-1890-1967-and-the-civil-rights-movement.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u201cRacism is a God Damned Thing\u201d: Father John Markoe, S.J., (1890-1967) and the Civil Rights Movement","og_description":"As a whole, the Catholic Church was slow to get fully involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Whether or not Catholics publicly endorsed segregation, they","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/2011\/02\/\u201cracism-is-a-god-damned-thing\u201d-father-john-markoe-s-j-1890-1967-and-the-civil-rights-movement.html","og_site_name":"McNamara's Blog","article_published_time":"2011-02-22T07:11:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-mxUpEqmuAXw\/TWOjmA-HY_I\/AAAAAAAAEl0\/1eGKYlESLmA\/s320\/Army+Football+1914.jpg"}],"author":"Pat McNamara","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Pat McNamara","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/2011\/02\/%e2%80%9cracism-is-a-god-damned-thing%e2%80%9d-father-john-markoe-s-j-1890-1967-and-the-civil-rights-movement.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/2011\/02\/%e2%80%9cracism-is-a-god-damned-thing%e2%80%9d-father-john-markoe-s-j-1890-1967-and-the-civil-rights-movement.html","name":"\u201cRacism is a God Damned Thing\u201d: Father John Markoe, S.J., (1890-1967) and the Civil Rights Movement","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-02-22T07:11:00+00:00","dateModified":"2011-02-22T07:11:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/#\/schema\/person\/67acddc1dbddb4c13c7e1b7df07f35e7"},"description":"As a whole, the Catholic Church was slow to get fully involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Whether or not Catholics publicly endorsed segregation, they","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/2011\/02\/%e2%80%9cracism-is-a-god-damned-thing%e2%80%9d-father-john-markoe-s-j-1890-1967-and-the-civil-rights-movement.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/2011\/02\/%e2%80%9cracism-is-a-god-damned-thing%e2%80%9d-father-john-markoe-s-j-1890-1967-and-the-civil-rights-movement.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/2011\/02\/%e2%80%9cracism-is-a-god-damned-thing%e2%80%9d-father-john-markoe-s-j-1890-1967-and-the-civil-rights-movement.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u201cRacism is a God Damned Thing\u201d: Father John Markoe, S.J., (1890-1967) and the Civil Rights Movement"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/","name":"McNamara's Blog","description":"Insightful, thought-provoking, and stimulating discussion \u2013 Patheos","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/#\/schema\/person\/67acddc1dbddb4c13c7e1b7df07f35e7","name":"Pat McNamara","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c3e666dc69dc2dd6d797c06218142620?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c3e666dc69dc2dd6d797c06218142620?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Pat McNamara"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/author\/patmcnamara"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mcnamarasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}