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Finding Aid to the San Francisco Civic Unity Committee Minutes,
Nov. 9, 1944-April 24, 1946,
SFH 742
SFH 742
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Table of contents
Title: San Francisco Civic Unity Committee Minutes
Identifier/Call Number: SFH 742
Date (inclusive): Nov. 9, 1944-April 24, 1946
Creator:
San Francisco (Calif.). Civic Unity Committee
Physical Description:
3 folders
Contributing Institution:
San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
Abstract: Minutes of committee to study trends in racial prejudice and to make recommendations for improvements.
Physical Location: The collection is stored on site.
Language of Material: Minutes are in English.
The collection is available for use during San Francisco History Center hours.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the City Archivist. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library as the owner of the physical items.
[Identification of item], San Francisco Civic Unity Committee Minutes, (SFH 742), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco
Public Library.
Received by library from mayor's office in 1995.
Processed by Tami J. Suzuki in 2023.
In the fall of 1944, Mayor Roger D. Lapham appointed a civic unity committee of sixteen members to advise the mayor in "smoothing
out any dissensions which might arise because of racial tensions." Maurice Harrison served as chairperson. The volunteers
met regularly in 1944 but not much in 1946. The committee went out of existence with the end of Lapham's term, at the end
of 1947.
Minutes of committee to study trends in racial prejudice and to make recommendations for improvements. The minutes include
notes on letters received and discussed by the committee but not the letters themselves.
At the first meeting (Nov. 9, 1944), the committee discussed the "Hunters Point situation," regarding the police department,
Housing Authority, and African American and white residents and workers. Subsequent topics included a charge by the American
Civil Liberties Union against Southern Pacific Railway of discriminating against African Americans in selling train reservations
(Aug. 8, 1945); the (1943) resignation of Alice Griffith from the Housing Authority (Sept. 12, 1945); and problems confronting
African American (then called Negro) physicians and surgeons and patients requiring hospitaliation (April 24, 1946).
The minutes are arranged chronologically.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
San Francisco (Calif.) -- Civic Unity Committee.
Civil rights -- California -- San Francisco.
Discrimination -- California -- San Francisco .
Discrimination in municipal services -- California -- San Francisco.
Human rights -- California -- San Francisco.