{"id":1791,"date":"2010-02-28T06:56:24","date_gmt":"2010-02-28T06:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"\/yorktownsquare\/2010\/02\/28\/russell-chapman-york-civil-rig\/"},"modified":"2012-08-22T06:16:27","modified_gmt":"2012-08-22T10:16:27","slug":"russell-chapman-york-civil-rig","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yorkblog.com\/yorktownsquare\/russell-chapman-york-civil-rig\/","title":{"rendered":"About pioneer W. Russell Chapman: ‘He was the swing vote … but he couldn’t be swayed’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\nW. Russell Chapman was appointed to the York City School Board in 1967, the first black person to fill a seat on that board. Background posts: Thackston Park area connects to York’s past<\/a> and Civil rights heroes stand out at Bradley exhibit<\/a> and York’s West Princess Street in 1950s: ‘I knew there was something special about that area’ <\/a>.<\/strong>
\nLast night, I told a story about York City School Board member W. Russell Chapman’s<\/a> vote on a crucial issue – at a meeting moved to his home so he could make the vote – four days before his death in 1971.
\nSomeone made the point at the memory-filled evening, “Reflections of Greatness,
\na Journey Through West Princess Street,”<\/a> that the story shows that you can make a difference no matter now old you are, even on your deathbed.
\nGood point.
\nEnjoy the story, based on newspaper accounts, about Russell Chapman, one of the community’s leaders in the middle part of the 20th century. See what lessons you can draw from it:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

York City School Board member W. Russell
\nChapman was homebound, battling
\ncancer in January 1971.
\nHis vote was needed as the school
\nboard was mulling a controversial busing plan
\nto achieve racial balance in city schools.
\nThe school board pondered how to include
\nChapman, sick in bed at his 135 S. Queen
\nSt. home, which doubled as his business, a
\nfuneral home.
\nPreviously, Chapman had provided the
\nswing vote in making Martin Luther King Jr.’s
\nbirthday a holiday in city schools.
\nHis position on busing was expected to be
\nthe deciding vote as well.
\n“He was the swing vote in several issues,
\nbut he couldn’t be swayed,” school board
\npresident Ralph F. Runkle would later say.
\nHe made up his own mind, Runkle said,
\nafter listening to all sides.
\n+++
\nChapman, a Cornell-trained chemist and
\noperator of the mortuary in York that served
\nthe black community, was appointed to the
\nschool board in 1967 to replace H. DeForest
\nHardinge. Two years later, he gained election
\nas a Democrat, the top vote getter.
\nHe thus became both the first appointed
\nand elected black school board member, a pioneering member of York’s black
\ncommunity in gaining public office. Blacks slowly gained key public and private posi\u00b4
\ntions<\/a> in the next 40 years, culminating in the
\nelection of Kim Bracey, York’s first black
\nmayor<\/a>.
\nChapman is among the 18 York residents
\nspotlighted on the mural “Civil Rights Heroes
\n— Barrier Breakers.”<\/a> Their achievements on
\nthe civil rights front ranged from the early
\nyears of the 20th century until today.
\nThey are current and former residents,
\nsome living and some who have passed on,
\nwho fought the good fight for civil rights, de\u00b4
\nploying a variety of styles and approaches.
\nThey are people like Maurice Peters<\/a>, who
\njumped in the Boys Club Pool to protest the
\ncity’s ban of blacks there in the late 1940s.
\nAnd David M. Orr Sr., <\/a>who paid for a
\nSpringettsbury Township home with cash
\nafter the white owner refused to sell to a
\nblack man.
\nAnd the aged Ettie Lambert<\/a>, who led the
\nsinging as protesters marched on York City
\nHall in the 1960s.
\nStephanie Seaton, of the York City Human
\nRelations Commission, explained the mural
\nand the heroes who grace its canvases before
\na gathering at the York County Heritage Trust
\non Saturday.
\n+++
\nThe city school board included W. Russell
\nChapman by moving its meeting on
\nbusing to his home.
\nThere the board deliberated, as members of the
\npublic looked on.
\nChapman monitored discussions from a
\nchair at the top of the stairs.
\nWhen it came time for action on busing,
\nChapman spoke up: “I’m voting for it.”
\nIt was the deciding vote.
\nFour days later, Chapman died of a heart
\nattack at York Hospital.
\nHis death came on Martin Luther King Jr.’s
\nbirthday. A holiday in York City schools.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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