This maxim reflects the bond between writer Tom Dent and his library at Amistad.
Girls in the “Muner” club: a comic book takes on school integration
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Natalie Midlo was a nurse, wife, and mother who was active in the Temple Sinai Sisterhood and the National Council of Jewish Women. Her involvement with local and national civil rights organizations led to her activism in the areas of civil rights and school desegregation. Midlo was actively involved in the Save Our Schools group, which sought to fight against the demand by some residents to close public schools rather than allow them to integrate.
As an activist, Natalie Midlo collected plenty of material relating to the Civil Rights Movement. Her collection contains correspondence, bulletins, newspaper clippings, and sermons that reflect her civic activism and support of civil rights and school desegregation. A unique component of her collection, though, is what she collected that represented the other side - material that is anti-integrationist, anti-Semitic, and/or anti-communist in nature. The material in her collection shows how organizations like the Citizen’s Council, the Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission, and others tried to proselytize their message through letter campaigns, “informational” brochures & posters, and even through comic books geared toward children.
In one particular circular sent out by the Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission, a letter explains that there are attempts to destroy the tradition of the “American Way of Life.” They request that Dr. Midlo (Natalie Midlo’s husband) place their supplementary comic book, “We the people…,” in the hospital reception room to encourage others to learn about these attacks on their traditions.
The comic book starts out innocently enough, a boy tells his father about the secret “Muner” club he has formed with his friends and the father uses it as an analogy to explain the U.S. Constitution. The father quickly jumps to the real issue - federal judges are forcing schools to integrate. This mandate is equated to being forced to allow girls in the son’s boys-only club. The father even accuses “those same people in Washington” of wanting to promote fair employment standards by suggesting that employers “can’t pick their own employees.” The blame for this overreach is placed on power-hungry politicians and subversive communists. With its brightly-colored pages and specious analogy, the booklet was likely intended for children to read as they waited for to see the doctor.
The comic book stood out to me because the argument seemed illogical. As someone who grew up in a diverse school, I had never given any thought to people who would be against integration. The thought of it being up for discussion was from a bygone era. So when I came across this booklet that tries to compare integration with communist subversion, it sounded ridiculous, but it offered a look inside the mind and rationale of segregationists. It completely snakes around the reality of unequal schooling in Louisiana and turns it into an attack on tradition, namely the exclusionary tradition of private clubs. The connection between public schools and private clubs is not made in this short booklet, but there is a call to action to prevent further change to the “American way of life.”
You can read the comic book in its entirety below:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BapADKqjUBv
Images are from the Natalie Midlo collection. Amistad Research Center’s website, newsletters, and blogs may not be reproduced without permission.
#LouisianaStateSovereigntyCommission #Desegregation #Education #Schoolintegration
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Kathe Hambrick is the Founder and former Executive Director of the River Road African American Museum (RRAAM), established in 1994 as Louisiana’s first African American Museum. She is a past President of the national Association of African American Museums (AAAM). She served as the Chief Curator and Director of Interpretation for the West Baton Rouge Museum for four years. Hambrick was born in New Orleans and spent half her life in California where she received an undergraduate degree in English and a minor in African American Studies from California State University Long Beach.
Hambrick is a Public Historian with a passion for collecting, preserving and interpreting history for diverse audiences. Her thirty-one-year career as a museum professional includes expertise in program development, interpretative planning, curation, grant writing, fundraising, and board governance. She led the effort to preserve three slave cemeteries and six historic buildings in Ascension Parish.
She is considered an expert on the history and culture of African Americans in communities along the Mississippi River. Kathe Hambrick’s interviews include local, national, and international media, the BBC Learning Channel, CBS Morning News, National Public Radio, and the New York Times. The consulting firm, 2PRESERVE was established by Hambrick in 2021 to provide cultural resources and guidance to corporations, museums, cultural centers, government agencies, and faith-based organizations.
Throughout her 31-year career, Kathe has curated over one hundred exhibits, including The Rural Roots of Jazz, African Influences on Louisiana Cuisine, Creole Du Monde, and The Square Collection which featured original art by Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, Richmond Barthé, and Tina Allen. Her most recent exhibit is the GU272 of Ascension: The Jesuit and Episcopal Connection to Slavery.
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Kathe Hambrick is the Founder and former Executive Director of the River Road African American Museum (RRAAM), established in 1994 as Louisiana’s first African American Museum. She is a past President of the national Association of African American Museums (AAAM). She served as the Chief Curator and Director of Interpretation for the West Baton Rouge Museum for four years. Hambrick was born in New Orleans and spent half her life in California where she received an undergraduate degree in English and a minor in African American Studies from California State University Long Beach.
Hambrick is a Public Historian with a passion for collecting, preserving and interpreting history for diverse audiences. Her thirty-one-year career as a museum professional includes expertise in program development, interpretative planning, curation, grant writing, fundraising, and board governance. She led the effort to preserve three slave cemeteries and six historic buildings in Ascension Parish.
She is considered an expert on the history and culture of African Americans in communities along the Mississippi River. Kathe Hambrick’s interviews include local, national, and international media, the BBC Learning Channel, CBS Morning News, National Public Radio, and the New York Times. The consulting firm, 2PRESERVE was established by Hambrick in 2021 to provide cultural resources and guidance to corporations, museums, cultural centers, government agencies, and faith-based organizations.
Throughout her 31-year career, Kathe has curated over one hundred exhibits, including The Rural Roots of Jazz, African Influences on Louisiana Cuisine, Creole Du Monde, and The Square Collection which featured original art by Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, Richmond Barthé, and Tina Allen. Her most recent exhibit is the GU272 of Ascension: The Jesuit and Episcopal Connection to Slavery.
Kathe is the author and co-author of several books:
Kathe Hambrick is the Founder and former Executive Director of the River Road African American Museum (RRAAM), established in 1994 as Louisiana’s first African American Museum. She is a past President of the national Association of African American Museums (AAAM). She served as the Chief Curator and Director of Interpretation for the West Baton Rouge Museum for four years. Hambrick was born in New Orleans and spent half her life in California where she received an undergraduate degree in English and a minor in African American Studies from California State University Long Beach.
Hambrick is a Public Historian with a passion for collecting, preserving and interpreting history for diverse audiences. Her thirty-one-year career as a museum professional includes expertise in program development, interpretative planning, curation, grant writing, fundraising, and board governance. She led the effort to preserve three slave cemeteries and six historic buildings in Ascension Parish.
She is considered an expert on the history and culture of African Americans in communities along the Mississippi River. Kathe Hambrick’s interviews include local, national, and international media, the BBC Learning Channel, CBS Morning News, National Public Radio, and the New York Times. The consulting firm, 2PRESERVE was established by Hambrick in 2021 to provide cultural resources and guidance to corporations, museums, cultural centers, government agencies, and faith-based organizations.
Throughout her 31-year career, Kathe has curated over one hundred exhibits, including The Rural Roots of Jazz, African Influences on Louisiana Cuisine, Creole Du Monde, and The Square Collection which featured original art by Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, Richmond Barthé, and Tina Allen. Her most recent exhibit is the GU272 of Ascension: The Jesuit and Episcopal Connection to Slavery.
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