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THE VULCAN SOCIETY

A HISTORY OF THE NEGRO IN THE NEW YORK CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT

by Captain Clifford H. Goldstein

On April 1, 1952, Battalion Chief Wesley Williams retired from the New York Fire Department. The same day, Fire Marshal Robert O. Lowery sifted the evidence of a recent arson case. Each man's thoughts were preoccupied with what the future held in store for the other and, the past they had shared together. In 1940 Chief Williams had called together some fifty Negro firemen for the purpose of uniting them into an organization. The thoughts that pervaded this assemblage were the same thoughts that set fire to the spirits of another assemblage on July 4, 1776: "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness...and for the support of this Declaration, with the firm reliance on Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor."

Negro firemen had been denied certain inalienable rights. In 1940 they were assigned menial jobs in the firehouse, they were not assigned the tasks of driving or operating the tiller on ladder trucks; they were given beds next to the toilets, beds solely for their use; they were ostracized at the dinner table and if they turned their backs, salt or some foreign substance was often dumped into their food. Count the many ways Negroes were humiliated thirty years ago—the same pattern appeared in the Fire Department. Mind you, this was no initiation lark to test the courage and stamina of the recruit; this was psychological terror: relentless, remorseless, impassionate.

The twinkle of shiny steel in his eyes, Chief Williams reminisced. "It was a fight for survival in those early days, survival with dignity. We organized the Vulcan Society to declare our independence of the ancient tyranny. Many white firemen considered the presence of a Negro in the company a social stigma."

Until 1938 there was only a handful of Negroes in the Fire Department: exactly four (4) in 1936. It was about this time that the Fire Department embarked on a great expansion and personnel, an expansion made necessary by the shortening of the workday. And depression-era ambitious young Negroes, who in a time of a healthy economy would have turned to the professions, turned to the Fire Department for employment.

At first, when Negro firemen experienced psychological tyranny and emotional brutality, Chief Williams visited their respective officers and tried to enlist their aid through moral persuasion. It must be stated some few Negroes enjoyed official support from their officers, and moral support—though often tacit—from their brother firemen. But soon the task of ambassador without portfolio became physically impossible for Chief Williams. Hence the call to organize.

"I felt," Chief Williams recalled, "the men must organize and fight their battles themselves." "I was the only officer at that time and did not want the weight of my office to overshadow the will of the body. With this in mind, I decided never to hold an office in the newly formed organization."

Perhaps not officially, but in reality Chief Williams was the guiding light and chief counsel of the Society. In many respects, as did the patriots in 1776, those early Vulcans had to pledge, "lives, fortune and sacred honor." They faced a climate in which the national conscience for fair play for the Negro had not been aroused. There were no civil service organizations to which they could turn for redress of their grievances.

The Chief elaborated. "I had served my twenty years and was eligible for retirement. But most of the others risked even more drastic mistreatment and even the possibility of trumped up charges that could lead to financial penalty, perhaps dismissal. Remember, it was depression time. Jobs were hard for anyone to get; for the Negro just about impossible."

In one of those ironies of human affairs with which history is rife, the formation of the Vulcan Society found official blessing at Fire Headquarters and damnation in some sections of the Negro community. Some authorities were glad "those boys have their own organization." Implicit in this stand was the assumption that Negroes would not seek their full rights. On the other hand, some Negroes felt that Negroes in civil service should not form separatistic organizations.

"I'd like to point out here," The Chief interjected, "we had 100% support from the Negro Press."

The fledgling Vulcan Society was taken lightly by the Fire Department hierarchy because the Vulcans were so few comparatively—never was the will of the few so grossly underestimated by the many. Had the many kept an open mind, they would have realized that the very name Vulcan symbolized a mighty force.

Vulcan derived from the Latin Vulcanus, is in Roman Mythology the God who presided over Fire and the forging of metal. With a physical courage that equaled their moral courage, the Vulcans helped our Fire Department establish a reputation that is legendary the world around. Those early Vulcans annealed their spirits with the bright, tough metals of determination.

The first significant victory over bigotry was the defeat of the proposed plan for segregating all Negroes in a few firehouses. And just four years after its founding, the Vulcans appeared before the City Council in December 1944 to protest the method whereby all Negroes had to sleep in separate or Jim Crow beds, a degradation that that was almost universlly practiced throughout the department.

In 1946, under the more enlightened administrators of that day, there was added to the Official Regulations a rule designed to prevent the arousal of racial or religious hatred. It was the end of the beginning. The Vulcan Society had a full time job, working to insure the translation of those words into deeds. The door was now open for the Society, through its president, to address grievances to the Commissioner or his assistants.

Of those dark, dark days of discomfort the members of the Vulcan Society hold no malice or hatred. This was the good fight that most immigrant groups has to wage. But unlike the other groups that ascended the ladder, each generation going a little higher than its predecessor, the Negro had been assigned a permanent position as the man at the bottom. Only his own will and determination have caused the lessening of pressure from above.

The Vulcan Society is the only Fire Department organization that does not demand some ethnic, religious or special interest prerequisite for membership. "Any member of the uniformed force or permanent male civilian employee is eligible for membership in the Vulcan Society."

Even in the mid-1940's when it was occupied fighting its own battles, The Vulcan Society saw its duty to the larger community. Dances became the fund raising media to financially assist organizations like me YMCA. In 1945 the Society became the first civil service organization to subscribe to a lifetime membership in the NAACP. A benefit basketball game raised $10,000 for Sydenham Hospital.

In the 1950's the Society began a program that conferred meritorious service awards and honorary memberships in the society on citizens in the community who has made significant contributions to the cause of social justice. Attorney Edward W. Jacko, in 1953 received the Society's Annual Citation for Community Service for his efforts—at considerable risk of his own financial and professional position—in the fight for social justice.

The society became one of the charter members of the Federation of Negro Civil Service Organizations. Of great significance was the fact that the certificate of affiliation was presented by Mayor Robert F. Wagner in City Hall in 1957. The Society had come of age.

Community action continued on a number of fronts. Members raised money and pooled their efforts to give annual Christmas parties for shut-in children in Harlem Hospital. The Vulcans participated in the annual 369th Veterans' Association Parade, a vehicle to demonstrate the Negro's contributions to the defense of our country. In the early sixties, the Vulcans contacted over 1000 community organizations in a drive to recruit applicants for the coming civil service examinations for fireman. Then, as a further contribution, the Society conducted free study classes to help the applicants pass the entrance examination.

Vulcans were there when the roll was called at 1963's famous "March of Washington"—three charter buses full of them. Vulcans still participate in the current social protest actions. They volunteered for the job of placard distribution for 1964's highly successful voter registration in local firehouses.

In 1961 The Federation of Negro Civil Service Organizations made its first annual award for leadership, the recipient, Chief Wesley Williams. In 1962 the second annual Federation Leadership Award went to a Vulcan, Robert Lowery. That Williams and Lowery should receive the first two awards is an indication of the type of leaders that they are and the type of leadership that the Vulcan society advanced to the community.

The crowning acknowledgment came with the appointment by Mayor Wagner of Robert Lowery to the position of Deputy Fire Commissioner. True recognition of the quality of leadership displayed by former Vulcan President Lowery. More than professional achievement came with this award. Inherent was the tremendous influence Chief Williams and the Vulcan Society were able to bring into play.

"Our success as a department organization and a community force has been due to continuity of leadership and a dedicated membership," Commissioner Lowery attested. "The successive administrations of Presidents William Chisholm, Melvin Alderson, George Powell, Luther Hooey, George A. Jones, Vincent Julius and my own, were blessed by the support of an interested organization."

And the organization continues to attract vital new blood. Today's bright young man are highly racially oriented. They are AWARE. They are wise to the ways of injustice, now displayed in more subtle forms. Good laws can be perverted in their application, by bigoted people viz., under the civil service rules whereby one of three candidates for a civil service job may be selected, with no reason given to the two rejected applicants.

Even as the Vulcan Society offered more to the greater community it offered more to its own members. Today there is a $250 death benefit that is awarded to a beneficiary designated by the deceased member. In 1960 the Society began to amass the principle for a scholarship fund. In 1963 member Arthur McCord's daughter received the first award of $250.00. Lieut. Charles Burgess's son and, Fr. David Hurd's daughter were the 1964 recipient's. In 1965 the Society will award three scholarships.

Negro firemen have come a long way since 1936 when they numbered only 4. Today there are more than 600 Negroes in the Fire Department. Let us not forget the efforts of the first few. Someday a plaque will be hung, with all the attendant ceremony, honoring the names of those men

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who founded the Society: John H. McKenzie, Jr. Vonner Jordan, Briscoe Payne, Walter Thomas, William Owens, Clarence Williams, Lindsay White, George Powell, William Brent, William Chisholm, Leonard Gruby, Earl Crichlow, William Anderson, Redes Ezell, Joseph Sylvester, Clarence Pitts, Arnold Joell, Herman Reed-and all the others.

Today, interest in the Vulcan Society is higher than ever. Meetings are attended by more than 10% of the membership, better than par in any organization and, would be greater but for the fact that many members have to work on nights that meetings are held. Though they come from the far reaches of the five boroughs and neighboring counties outside New York City proper, neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet nor hail keep them away.

Primarily Because of the Vulcan Society, its past achievements and its present vigilance, Negroes enjoy the same job opportunities offered all other firemen. Because of the Society's encouragement and its promotion study classes, practically every one of the Negro officers from the latest promoted Lieutenant to the ranking Battalion Chief has had its ambition strenghtened.

Nor does the Society intend to rest on its laurels. Certainly, we can be proud of having donated over $30,000.00 to such worthy causes as the NAACP, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, YMCA, Urban League, NY Foundling Hospital and others. Certainly, we are proud to have been the prime mover in getting the Fire Department Welfare Fund to donate $1000.00 to the United Negro College Fund for the last four years. But we look to tomorrow and the day past tomorrow.

"We envision," President Vinnie Julius projected, "a dynamic role in the affairs of the community. Our goals in the firehouse have been attained—these only need be sustained. If we don't get out into the community we may risk social paralysis, organization atrophy. We must direct our energies toward meeting the needs of the community."

Never a man of luke-warm conviction, President Julius waxed red hot on the theme. "Do-it-yourself grass roots social action, self-motivated and self-sustained is the real bulwark of democracy. To overcome the myriad of social and economic ills, everyone must share the struggle to help the young and the old who need help: inadequate education and job earnings...sub-standard housing...little faith and confidence in one's self...too little healthy, stable family life...loneliness, despair, defeat, boredom...blind alley life-goals...the feeling of being useless and not needed or not wanted...dignity long lost." President Julius continued., "We must respond to the community's cry for help—a cry often unarticulated. Firemen are status figures in our community. They are not-well-to-do but they can make it. It's our every duty to help others make it!"

"We will contribute money, and time, and energy, advice, direction, guidance. And we will give inspiration and motivation. We will do our share," President Julius concluded.

Looking past tomorrow, the Vulcan Society envisions the day when our great community of New York and our greater community of the United States of America will have reached the state of social maturity that will preclude any need for the Vulcan Society to fight for social justice for any American: black, white, red or yellow; the day when each man believes and acts in a manner that attests to the belief that all men are endowed by their creator with those inalienable Rights set forth in The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America.