Fall 2022 ACS Meeting Poster - HIST Division
How The Chicago Section Helped "Desegregate" National ACS MEetings
Josh W. Kurutz1,2
1: Historian, Chicago Section ACS, Chicago, IL, United States.
2: Chemistry Dept., University of Chicago Division of the Physical Sciences, Chicago, IL, United States.
PERSPECTIVE:
ACS did not practice segregation at its meetings.
However, before 1958, national meetings were sometimes held in cities that enforced racial segregation in hotels, transport, dining, etc.
ABSTRACT:
National ACS meetings have not been racially segregated themselves, but for a significant fraction of the 20th century they were sometimes held in cities where segregation was legally enforced. Even if all chemists were welcome to congregate at conferences in segregated cities, Black chemists were prohibited from many hotels, restaurants, forms of transportation, etc., severely inhibiting their participation in the professional society.
In 1957, the Spring ACS Meeting was scheduled to be held in Miami, FL, which was racially segregated at the time. Substantive objections to the location were not made in time to change the venue, but interest grew around the country to prohibit ACS from locating meetings in segregated cities going forward.
Taking formal action at the Spring 1957 ACS Council meeting, Chicago Section Councilor Herman S. Bloch introduced a resolution to the ACS Council that would have prohibited ACS from planning future meetings to be located in racially segregated cities. Remarkably, Bloch’s resolution DID NOT PASS! The Council voted only to table the resolution for a later time.
Following that disappointing vote, Bloch led a team of Chicago Section members to conduct a a more forceful effort, including a national survey of race-related attitudes among ACS members, thus capturing a remarkable snapshot of this aspect of chemists' lives in 1957.
This talk will cover the growth in demand to eliminate formally segregated cities as ACS national meeting locations, the actions taken around the nation because of events surrounding the 1957 meeting in Miami, the results of the “straw poll” on race-related opinions conducted by the Chicago Section, and assessment of the efforts' impact.
Lead-up: Nov. 1956
Chicago Section Councilor Herman S. Bloch calls attention to segregation at the Spring 1956 meeting in Dallas, TX, which was then racially segregated.
Chemical Bulletin, Nov. 1956, p.19
Eye on Miami, Spring 1957
The Spring 1957 meeting was scheduled for Miami, FL, which was then racially segregated. ACS members were calling to take action.
1956 Dallas Meeting Segregation
Originally, the conference venue agreed to integrated operations during the meeting. But ownership changed, and the hotel was segregated for the event.
C&EN Jan. 23, 1956, 374
Action at ACS Council, Spring 1956 (Dallas)
Resolution:
“To permit implementation of all the objectives of the meetings of the Society, the Council urges that meeting sites be selected which will permit equal opportunity to all members for free exchange of ideas and information and for common access to public facilities.”
(Introduced by Chair of the Council Policy Cmte.)
Outcome:
The Council did NOT vote on the motion to adopt this policy.
Instead, the Council voted to “table” the motion, postponing decision for later.
Reasoning from one Councilor: “[In order not to offend the Society’s] very gracious hosts…in the South…[who] are sensitive people…[with] a serious problem that they themselves are trying to work out.”
Chemical Bulletin, Nov. 1956, p.19
Action at ACS Council, Fall 1956 (Atlantic City)
Proposal to amend the resolution to read:
“…for common access to all facilities utilized for Society functions.”
(i.e., the policy would only apply to the meeting venue itself, not surrounding hotels, restaurants, transportation, etc.
Outcome:
The Council voted to adopt the amendment, but did NOT vote to accept the resolution. Instead, a “three-to-one” vote “tabled” the measure again, postponing it to the Spring 1957 Council meeting.
Jan. 1957: C&EN publishes segregated hotel listings
C&EN Jan. 14, 1957, p.69
Feb. 1957: ACS Secretary & Staff manage expectations for Miami
C&EN Feb. 11, 1957, p.70
ACS members call for meeting relocation or cancellation
Results:
- It’s too late. The location was set in 1953.
- There’s no time to find a new venue.
- There’s too much committed to cancel.
C&EN Mar. 18, 1957, p.10
Local Sections Take Action
Chemical Bulletin, March 1957, p.5
Action at ACS Council, Spring 1957 (Miami)
New resolution proposed by Chicago Section Councilor Herman S. Bloch:
WHEREAS, the American Chemical Society has an obligation to provide equal services to all its members of equivalent membership status, and, insofar as possible, to afford all of its members equal opportunity to avail themselves of such services, and
WHEREAS, these internal obligations of the Society to its multiracial membership cannot properly be fulfilled in areas wherein legal restrictions or social custom require racial segregation. Now be it
RESOLVED by the Council of the American Chemical Society that the Society refrain from holding national meetings in such segregated areas, and Be it further
RESOLVED that it is the sense of the Council that avoidance of segregated meeting areas should be construed simply as an action necessary to the fulfillment of the Society’s equal obligation to a of its members.”
Outcome:
A vote on the resolution was “tabled” by a “three-to-two” vote of the Council – the resolution was not adopted.
Chemical Bulletin, May 1957, p.5
Herman S. Bloch:
Chicago Section Gathers Data: The “Straw Poll” of 1957
To assess support for desegregation policy, the Chicago Section conducted a nationwide survey of ACS members’ opinions on meetings and segregation.
- Effort started in January, 1957
- National scope, National coordination
- ACS Committee on National Meetings and Divisional Activities was asked to co-sponsor. At Miami, they declined.
- June 1957: Chicago conducted its own national poll of 865 ACS members – 467 responded.
Chemical Bulletin, Sept. 1957, p.15
Results of the Straw Poll on Segregated ACS Meetings:
Additional opinions
Chemical Bulletin, Sept. 1957, p.15
Followup
No apparent action after the straw poll
- Research so far has not uncovered any further Council action
- No further discussions in Letters sections of Bulletin or C&EN
- Speculate –two reasons:
- After Miami, no meetings in segregated cities were scheduled for five years
- Sputnik launched on October 4, 1957, shifting attention
Reflection
Similar calls for action today, based on
- Continuing racial injustice
- LGBTQ rights
- Voting rights
ACS is grappling with this now
- Spring 2023 meeting in Indianapolis
- California has banned state-funded travel to Indiana*
*Indianapolis Star, July 7, 2022: “California bans state-funded travel to Indiana over transgender sports law”
