The battle for freedom begins every morning: John Hervey Wheeler, civil rights, and New South prosperity

Winford, Brandon Kyron

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March 14, 2023

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Winford, Brandon Kyron
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of History

Abstract

This dissertation examines the battle for racial and economic equality between the 1930s and 1960s through the life of banker-lawyer John Wheeler. It argues that Wheeler's New South prosperity vision consistently demanded full citizenship rights in order to obtain economic power for African Americans. More importantly, it served as a catalyst and an overall reminder to whites that the welfare of the entire region was forever bound to the economic plight of its black citizens. At the peak of his career, Wheeler was North Carolina's most prominent black leader and arguably the most influential civil rights figure in the South. He received presidential appointments under Kennedy and Johnson and was elected president of the Southern Regional Council, an organization that gained notoriety through meticulous research and publications about the movement. Wheeler was based in Durham where he became Mechanics and Farmers Bank president, which was one of the largest black-owned institutions in the country. He headed the Durham Committee on Negro Affairs, a powerful political organization in the state. In a career that spanned five decades, Wheeler shrewdly confronted racism, which placed blacks in a perpetual state of economic inferiority rooted in Jim Crow segregation. In the 1950s and 1960s, Wheeler focused intently on equality of opportunity in education, employment, housing, politics, and public accommodations. A key component became the idea of freedom of movement, which he equated to unrestricted access to resources on the path to a completely integrated society; he also viewed this as critical to New South prosperity. As his access to political power increased, Wheeler compelled government agencies to hire qualified black professionals, while also pushing for their inclusion in policymaking decisions. He believed that blacks had to help implement non-discriminatory policies and be among the group charged with interpreting new laws. As a behind-the-scenes negotiator, he coordinated an expansive network of resources, which he effectively used to achieve many of his civil rights and economic objectives. By exploring Wheeler's unique sphere of black leadership, this work captures the larger relationship between black institution, their connections to political and economic power, and ultimately the brokering of the civil rights movement.

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