From the Archives

Throughout the 1960s, the clergy of the Church in Oklahoma were known for their activism both in racial inequality and the war in Vietnam. In this the second of three installments on the involvement of Oklahoma Catholics in the civil rights movement, the march in Selma, Ala., and homegrown protests in Oklahoma City and Tulsa had a strong Catholic presence.
 
The March at Selma has been called a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement. On March 7, 1965, 600 marchers led by John Lewis (later Congressman) crossed the Edmond Pettus Bridge and endured brutal attacks by state police. The appalling assaults were seen over news outlets across the country and helped to galvanize support for the cause.
 
Several priests from Oklahoma and some religious sisters participated. The Oklahoma Courier reported: “Oklahomans who have entered the Selma demonstrations include Fathers John Vrana, Edward Kelly, Robert McDole, Lawrence Courtwright, James McGlinchey, Wilmer Bath, Paul Gallatin, J. Paul Donovan, all of Oklahoma City; Father Robert Kropp, Guthrie, Father Don Brooks, Lawton, Father Dan Allen, Marshall, Sisters Pauline Hildegarde, Oklahoma City, and Sister Hermana, Tulsa.” It should be noted that a young Atlanta priest by the name of Father Eusebius Beltran (third Archbishop of Oklahoma City) also was present.
 
Their attendance was not without incident and as Father Brooks stated many years later, “There were times we feared for our lives.” He also informed the congregation at Saint Barbara Church in Lawton that two African-Americans were beaten in a church parking lot after Mass because they had dared to receive communion at a white Catholic church.
 
Father McDole was injured as one of the posse called in to help state troopers, rapped Father McDole on the shins with a billy club. Father Vrana recalled that “the city police apparently had orders to protect these people (the protesters) and to be nice to them. A few were racists, however, and couldn’t hide their feelings. The deputy sheriffs, like in Selma, were all hostile.”
 
Some yelled insulting epithets while others intimidated, mentally at first and later physically. Father Ed Kelly recounted, “they (African-Americans) can’t vote and that’s wrong. It’s a horrible inhuman thing that’s going on down there and we can’t stand by and forget it.”
 
Rev. James Reeb, a Boston Unitarian minister died of a severe beating. In the photo above taken in Tulsa in 1965, a sign being held by a participant recalls his death. The woman on the left appears to be Coretta Scott King and the peaceful procession was several blocks long. Obviously, the Church was represented.
 
The importance of Selma in American history cannot be underestimated and the people of the Church in Oklahoma have much to be proud of as the clergy and religious of the Diocese of Oklahoma City and Tulsa were at the forefront of seeking justice.

Photo: Tulsa March 1965