Republicans Honor ​“Black Cabinet” Trailblazer

George Logan and a handful of fellow local Republican politicos commemorated Black History Month with a live performance of Bob Marley’s ​“Redemption Song” — and with a lineup of speakers who paid tribute to the late civil rights icon and informal presidential adviser Mary McLeod Bethune.

Logan, a former Hamden state senator who almost unseated Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes in Connecticut’s 5th congressional district in November, played that tune Saturday afternoon during a New Haven Republican Town Committee-organized Black History Month event at the Q House community center at 197 Dixwell Ave. 

He was one of four speakers who spoke about their work while also commemorating Dr. Mary Bethune, a civil rights leader who in the 1930s served in an informal group of advisers to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt known as the ​“Black Cabinet.”

RTC members organized the event in the hopes of both remembering and memorializing Bethune who wore many caps throughout her lifetime, including civil rights advocate, teacher, university president, and leader of various national civil rights organizations.

Saturday’s event was the first of a set of three panels at which the RTC will work to commemorate Black leaders in the state and nation while also discussing issues important to Black New Haveners. 

During the event, attendees heard from Logan, African American History Museum owner Jeffrey Fletcher, state Department of Developmental Services Division Director Jackson Pierre-Louis, and Mount Calvary Deliverance Tabernacle Pastor Robert Smith.

Smith connected Bethune’s work and legacy to that of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., saying that both represented the grit and dedication of Black Americans in the 20th century who moved the United States towards racial justice.

Smith, whose congregation includes a descendant of Bethune, explained that Bethune dedicated her life to winning Black Americans the unfettered right to vote, which was important in winning power during the Civil Rights Movement. 

“They both knew this, and I am saying it, now is the time that we’ve got to come together. Keep working, keep organizing, keep inviting. When we finally come together as a people, we’re going to see strength that we’ve only dreamed,” Smith concluded. 

Attendees also heard from Fletcher who set up an African American History Museum in Stratford after he became interested in documenting the history of African Americans. The museum opened in October 2021 and has had roughly 8,000 visitors. 

Fletcher’s parents grew up in the Carolinas before moving to Colchester, Connecticut during the Great Migration. That’s where they met and raised a family with four children, including Fletcher. 

Fletcher served as a New Haven police officer for almost two decades retiring in 2015. He began the process of putting together the museum after he discovered artifacts that his mother had collected which memorialized Black history in the US. 

“I inherited 230 pieces of paper and other paper objects that my mom collected and I was going to throw it out because I thought it was junk,” Fletcher said at the event. ​“After retirement it hit me that I needed to tell my mom’s story and it was really hard to set up this museum but it finally got done and we’re now open.” 

Fletcher shared with attendees that he had to ​“face many closed doors,” but he finally caught a break with the historic law firm of John W. Sterling. Sterling, who made his riches off of representing the Standard Oil Company, donated $29 million to Yale University leading to the construction of the Sterling Memorial Library and Sterling Law School. 

Sterling’s law firm, Sherman and Sterling LLP, was the first sponsor of Fletcher’s museum. 

“Sterling decided to reach back spiritually, and say, we needed to help this young man and this man out with his mission, his statement and what he’s trying to do. So therefore, they were the first pillar to support what I’m doing,” Fletcher shared.

The firm is also helping Fletcher relocate the museum to Sterling’s 10,000 square-foot house in Stratford which is significantly larger than the current 4,000 square-foot museum. Fletcher added that he hopes Yale will soon reach out to him to partner with his museum. 

Fletcher also walked attendees through various exhibits of the museum which are designed to immerse visitors into the history and plight of African Americans through the last 400 years. 

The exhibit includes a reconstructed hull of a ship that carried enslaved people through the Middle Passage. In this section of the museum, visitors must only rely on their ears and sense of touch in an attempt to mimic the conditions enslaved people had during their forced voyages. 

It also includes artifacts from the 1960s and doors that represent the segregation faced by Black Americans during Jim Crow. Fletcher also has chairs from the Woolworth company in Greensboro where civil rights leaders staged sit-ins at diners to force desegregation. 

Fletcher hopes to increase visitor attendance at the museum and encourages attendees bring students and other school groups. He also shared that many state Democrats had refused to even acknowledge the existence of the museum. 

After Fletcher, Pierre-Louis shared work that his department is doing to help seniors live comfortable lives during and after the pandemic. 

Logan closed out the event sharing why he personally feels it is important to teach Black history. 

“The kid of a friend of mine came home one day and asked his dad if he was a slave,” Logan said. ​“It’s so important for us to teach Black history and highlight it because so many people just don’t know all of our history and they should.” 

Logan added personal experience he had with designing Black History Month curriculums that were successful in schools until principals and superintendents prevented him from coming in to speak with students about Black History Month. 

“Suddenly it became that I didn’t have the credentials and there were privacy issues,” Logan said. ​“We can’t just rely on the government or school to teach our people. It’s our responsibility.”

After the speakers, organizer Anthony Acri told the Independent that he was ​“speechless” from all the talent and dedication he had heard from the speakers. He added that he is excited for future events that the RTC will host to commemorate Black History Month.