Author, John Hervey Wheeler, Black Banking, and the Economic Struggle for Civil Rights
Welcome to another enlightening episode of "Ira’s Everything Bagel," where we have the privilege of hosting Dr. Brandon K. Winford, an esteemed associate professor of history at the University of Tennessee. Dr. Winford is a specialist in the late-nineteenth and twentieth-century United States and African American history, focusing particularly on the intersections of civil rights and Black business history. Today, he will discuss his book about John Hervey Wheeler, a key figure in the realm of Black banking and civil rights activism during the Jim Crow era.
Meet Brandon K. Winford
Dr. Brandon K. Winford, today's guest, is not only an accomplished historian but also a passionate educator and researcher. His work explores the nuances of African American leaders who used economic strategies as a form of civil rights activism. For those interested in a deeper dive into his academic contributions and public engagements, Dr. Winford’s professional and personal anecdotes can be explored through his official website.
The Life and Influence of John Hervey Wheeler
John Hervey Wheeler stands as a monumental figure in the history of Black banking in the United States. Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Wheeler witnessed firsthand the severe constraints placed on African Americans by Jim Crow laws. Despite these challenges, he rose to become a key advocate for economic justice, using his position to champion the rights and prosperity of Black communities. This episode focuses on Wheeler's multifaceted role as a business leader who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to craft a better economic future for African Americans in the South.
Uncovering the Wheeler Archives
One of the episode’s highlights is Dr. Winford's exploration of the Wheeler archives, which opened up a new perspective on Wheeler's strategies and thoughts. Dr. Winford shares his unique experiences in accessing these rare materials, which include personal letters, business records, and unpublished manuscripts. This archival journey not only enriched his book but also provided a clearer view of Wheeler's impact on civil rights and economic policies.
Wheeler's Intellectual Curiosity and Legacy
Unexpectedly, Wheeler's deep intellectual curiosity emerged as a strong theme during the archival exploration. Dr. Winford discusses how this trait was pivotal in Wheeler’s ability to strategize and advocate effectively for economic reforms. This intellectual rigor contributed to Wheeler's lasting legacy in shaping the economic frameworks that supported the burgeoning civil rights movements of the 20th century.
The Significance of Black Banking History
Throughout the episode, the broader context of Black banking and its pivotal role in the economic struggle for civil rights is examined. Wheeler’s career in banking was not just about financial transactions; it was deeply intertwined with his activism, providing crucial economic support to Black businesses and communities. This segment underscores the critical role that financial institutions played in the broader civil rights movement, offering insights into the complex interplay between economics and social justice.
Brandon Winford’s Academic Journey
Further enriching the discussion, Dr. Winford talks about his role as a professor of history at the University of Tennessee, where he teaches courses on African American history and civil rights. His academic journey and dedication to uncovering hidden narratives in American history can inspire us all. For regular updates and engaging discussions, follow Dr. Winford on Instagram and Twitter.
Conclusion: Reflecting on Wheeler's Impact and Winford’s Research
As we wrap up this episode, we take a moment to appreciate the extensive research and dedication of Brandon K. Winford in bringing to light the life and accomplishments of John Hervey Wheeler. Wheeler’s efforts in the realm of Black banking and civil rights have left an indelible mark on American history, offering lessons on resilience and strategic advocacy that remain relevant today.
Thank you for joining us on "Ira’s Everything Bagel" for this profound exploration into the historical challenges and triumphs faced by John Hervey Wheeler. Tune in next week as we continue to uncover the impactful stories of those who have shaped our cultural and societal landscape.
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Talking with Brandon K. Winford Full Transcript
Ira Sternberg: Welcome to Ira's Everything Bagel, where I talk with intriguing people about everything – their passions, pursuits, and points of view. When civil rights are discussed in the context of 20th century history, the economic dimension doesn't seem to be covered in proportion to the political dimension. My guest today has written a book about a man who pushed the economic component and made an impact during a crucial time in the 20th century. Brandon K. Winford is the author of John Hervey Wheeler, Black Banking, and the Economic Struggle for Civil Rights, published by the University Press of Kentucky as part of the series Civil Rights and the Struggle for Black Equality in the 20th Century. It's available on Amazon and all the usual places. For everything about Brandon, go to brandonkyronwinford.com, and you can follow him on Twitter and Instagram at winhistory24. Brandon, welcome to the show.
Brandon K. Winford: Good afternoon, thank you so much for having me. A pleasure.
Ira Sternberg: So, who was John Hervey Wheeler, and why was he a seminal figure in black economic history in the 20th century?
Brandon K. Winford: So, John Herbert Wheeler was, by profession, a banker, president of what was then the Mechanics and Farmers Bank in Durham, North Carolina, one of the largest black-owned banks in the United States, headquartered in Durham, North Carolina. He was also a civil rights lawyer. So he was a banker, lawyer. John Herbert Wheeler was, he kind of came up, he was born into, like to say, the world of black business. His father was John Leonidas Wheeler, an executive with the world-renowned North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. It was founded in 1898. By the first decade of the 20th century, early 20th century, it was the largest black-owned insurance company in the United States, and his moniker was, it was the largest black-owned insurance company in the world. And so John Herbert Wheeler came up in the world of black business. His father was an insurance executive; his mother and father were both educators, among the earliest graduates of Woodin Forest University. He was born in Vance County, North Carolina, just outside of Raleigh, North Carolina, but he grew up, family had moved to Durham, North Carolina, when his father switched professions. She was at one point the president of what was Kitchell College, a small school owned by the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and they moved to Durham when his father became an insurance agent with the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, and then by 1912, the family had moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where his father took over the operations of the insurance company, uh, in Atlanta, and ultimately, he became the supervisor of the Georgia district and went on to have several roles with the company. So Jonathan Wheeler and his two sisters, Ruth Hervey, and, and Margaret — for Marcus not his sister Ruther and Margaret's mother Ruth Harvey. He's one of his sisters. He comes of age is his family comes of age, and his sisters, Jim Crow Atlanta, Georgia. So he grows up as part of this Jim Crow Atlanta context. He goes to Morehouse College, for what was then, it was then Morehouse Academy for high school, goes to Atlanta public schools from seventh grade because there wasn't a, uh, a black high school until 1924, 1925 in Atlanta. So he's able, because of his father's background and his ability to pay for his children to go to school, he goes to Morehouse Academy, uh, graduates from high school there, and continues on to Morehouse College. He comes to Durham, North Carolina, in 1929, after graduating from Morehouse College, and begins this banking career in 1929, of all years, like right before the stock market crashed in October. Timing there, yeah, right, uh. So John Harvey Wheeler, by the, the time of the, the modern height of the modern civil rights movement between 1950s, 1960, John Wheeler is the most prominent civil rights figure in North Carolina, and I argue that he was also among the top civil rights figures in the country, especially in the South during this particular time. You've never heard of him because, in many ways, as much as he was out front as really what I like to call a black business activist, he was in many ways a power broker, often operating behind closed doors, serving a role as a sort of mediator in spaces where the majority of most African-Americans were not in those spaces, and he was often the only kind of power broker, black leader, in some of those spaces, and it kind of operated in that sense, he kind of operated behind the scenes from that standpoint.
Ira Sternberg: Brandon, was he considered part of the establishment, and that's why he wasn't identified as moving the needle, right?
Brandon K. Winford: Well, uh, during his, during his heyday, during his time, he was, he was actually always considered, in some ways, ahead of his time, and it is important for us to, what I've learned, it's important for us not to put those leaders in boxes, you know, we might call someone a moderate, a radical, um, but really have to sort of take someone on their own terms and really sort of come at them from that lens, and in that way, some of the decisions that may seem a little more, less risky, less bold, they may take those kinds of decisions they make, make some decisions that, that don't make sense for someone who might consider a little bit more moderate or something like that. And so we have to sort of really think outside the box from that standpoint. Now, having said that, John Wheeler was, for the most part, yes, an establishment kind of person. He believed in institutions, and so he was a bank president, right. He was chairman of the Durham Committee on the Affair, German Committee on Negro Affairs at that time, one of the most powerful civil rights organizations, certainly in Durham but throughout North Carolina. It came to have a significant voting bloc among African-Americans in Durham. He was also part of organizations such as the NAACP. He was a part of the Omega Sci-Fi Fraternity, incorporated in many ways. And he argued this toward the end of his life, and made this point that he encouraged African Americans to take part in organization, right, institutions, to take part in, in organizations, collective organizations, and to use pressure tactics and legal attacks in order to obtain certain aspects of civil rights. And so I, I always look at him as, as that kind of person which, in many ways, as a sort of criticism, he was limited from that standpoint because he was, in some ways, you can look at him as being beholden to institutions from that particular standpoint.
Ira Sternberg: How did you focus on John Wheeler, because of your background, you're able to pick and choose a lot of different academic subjects and personalities. How did you focus on John Hervey Wheeler?
Brandon K. Winford: Well, so I went to school at a school called North Carolina Central University, historically black college in Durham, North Carolina, actually the first liberal arts public liberal arts college styles for African-Americans in the country, uh, and so in my master's degree program, I had an opportunity to write an inmate, a master's thesis on the Durham Committee on Negro Affairs, with John Kirby Wheeler headed between 1957 and 1978, and so it's through that research from that organization that I ran across John Harry Wheeler, and he struck me because not only was he chairman of the organization but he had his hands literally everything related to black life, uh, in the state of North Carolina, in the South, especially when it came to black economic life, uh, more importantly, when it came to the fight for, for civil rights in North Carolina. And so, uh, he, he agitated for educational equality, public accommodations, voting rights for African Americans, and so he just struck me as a really influential and powerful figure, and these figures were so often, uh, not privy to getting a sense of who these people are because we're, we think of civil rights, we're more focused on some of the, some of the larger figures, uh, that have become so germane to, to how we understand the civil rights movement. And so he struck me as a really sort of a really powerful person when it came to his influence both politically, from an educational standpoint, and then also as it relates to, of economics. And so I wanted to really explore his life and decide to do so if I ever got into a PhD program. Once I got into my PhD program, I ran across a huge collection of his materials, and for historians, you know, dealing with the primary materials, the archival material, and having a stash of, our type of material that you can work with is really important to being able to sort of write history and interpret and, and get people to think about history from a particular standpoint. And so that's really sort of how I got in, came, came across or was introduced, I, I would say, to John Herbert Wheeler.
Ira Sternberg: The primary material that you describe, is it at a point where it is digitized, or is it still basically paper, and then you're having to go old school to do that research?
Brandon K. Winford: It's a really good question because I started looking at, I initially started looking at those papers in 2006, and at that time, they were not available to, to researchers, and so I had, helped conversations with the archivists, head archivists there, and they were able to do what they call fast-paced processing, to put them into a position where someone who's just coming in and wanting to look at those theories, to look at them pretty quickly, without having to go through this lengthy process of pride, what they call processing materials, getting them ready for researchers, putting them in archival folders, making sure there is what, what's called a finding aid, like sort of guide where you can identify certain materials. And so it was between 2006 and 2016 before they were fully processed. And so even when I was initially doing research at the dissertation stage, I wasn't able to take photographs in terms of using my, we didn't really use smartphones for pictures then, but I wasn't able to use a digital camera, I wasn't able to even request photocopies of the materials, so literally I had to kind of go old school by just taking notes, uh, as I was looking at the material, and I had to think really strategically about if there was a lot of material that I wanted, how to think about cross-referencing that material with another collection that I knew was available and accessible, and I could do all the things in terms of taking photographs and things of that nature.
Ira Sternberg: To the latter, the last point, they are not digitized, and, and obviously, that reason is, is resources. You have to have the resources to digitize those materials, but they are in really good, really good order in terms of researchers defining it is accessible, and so it's a really, really rich and untapped collection even still. If it weren't for you, then they probably would have still been sitting there and not even moving along that processing belt.
Brandon K. Winford: Yeah, I would imagine so, um, you know, I was able to have the conversations early on even before I went, got into my PhD program, so I had a few years to kind of have these conversations, and once I kind of made the decision that I think I might want to work on this project, the library, the Robert W. Woodruff Library at Atlanta University, at the Atlanta University Center, was, did a really great job in supporting my really wanting to, to get into these papers and do research, and I'm really excited that they're fully processed and available to anyone who wants to, and, and once they allow one researcher, even at the early stages, to look at materials, then their policy is that they allow researchers, period, to, to look into this thing. So it wasn't like I had an exclusive lock on looking at those papers, and nobody else could look at him.
Ira Sternberg: Yes, but you helped unlock the door.
Brandon K. Winford: Oh yeah, yeah, oh, definitely, most definitely.
Ira Sternberg: Did you find in the, in the collection, any oral histories, any recorded oral histories?
Brandon K. Winford: No, um, and as a matter of fact, most of the recordings that were actually in the materials were recordings of John. John Wheeler, even as a college student, was a really, uh, was it was a violinist, well-trained by Linus, and there were recordings of him playing the violin and an orchestra that, that were not accessible because of the, the preservation issues and, and getting them trying to get him to a point where you can copy him without fully destroying them was an issue. As a matter of fact, there, in those materials, there were no oral histories, there were a few oral histories that I was able to find, at least really one really great or history with John every Wheeler, uh, there is, um, a, a writer by the name of Robert Penn Warren, was the Nobel laureate, had wrote, what's his most one of his famous brothers, All the King's Men, and he did, he wrote a book during the 1960s where he did all his interviews with civil rights leaders and influenced African Americans, and John Wheeler happened to be one of those interviewees, uh, and basically, the entire book is written, basically, using really, really creatively those oral histories, and so those oral histories are now available, um, initially available at the University of Kentucky, and then they're, they're digitized through Vanderbilt University, through the Robert P. Warren Center at Vanderbilt University, and so leaders like, uh, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and others, uh, those oral histories are, are available, and that was like, I had done all this research and looked at all these materials, and you know, you're doing, you're doing research on this kind of contemporary figure, and you're kind of like, what does he sound like, and you're imagining so many things, and so having done that research and when I actually finally got an opportunity to hear him talk and be asked questions, that was, that was a really significant moment for me and my research, and then at the University of North Carolina, um, John Wheeler was also a part of an anti-poverty agency called the North Carolina Fund, and during that particular period, they have recordings from meeting minutes, uh, then there are histories with, not oral histories, but they're live recorded meetings where you can kind of hear, hear them discuss different issues, and you kind of get to hear their voices, uh, things along those lines, but that's the only really sort of recorded interview that I was able to, to, to utilize, that, that I was able to find with John Herbert Wheeler.
Ira Sternberg: In your research, did you think about somehow going to the records of the old bank or insurance company and see if maybe there were some recordings there of him in action as well?
Brandon K. Winford: Yes, so the, uh, the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, the company that his father was an executive for, and then John Herbert Wheeler, uh, does, uh, have some role, uh, with the North Carolina Mutual, they, the company donated, or their, the company archives ended up at Duke University, and so another untapped, uh, historical resource is the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company archives, and while there are different kinds of recordings and things along those lines, no, no kind of formalized kind of oral histories that were conducted with someone, you know, writing a book per se, in, in those papers, but you do again find like, I found, on the ground, the groundbreaking ceremony of the North Kong Mitchell building, which they completed in 1966, John Wheeler gives us a speech, and it's a, it's not only a audio, but it's a video, and with audio, and so I identified that in the collection, they were able to make a, a copy of it, I have a digital copy, so I was able to not only just kind of hear his voice but to kind of see him, uh, give his speech, uh, and I should go back and say that during, in the 1970s, a scholar by the name of Robert E. Weir wrote a book called Black Business in the New South, a Social History of the Military Mutual Life Insurance Company, he conducted a lot of interviews with the executives from the North Carolina Mutual Life, other African-American leaders in and around Durham, North Carolina, and those are available through the Southern Ore History Program at the University of North Carolina, so there are a lot of oral history that are available, uh, John Willa dies in 1978, kind of when Weir is kind of, uh, really picking up his recordings of those royal histories, he had done some moral history with John Wheeler, but it was, you know, he took notes, and you know, I actually emailed him and just kind of asked him if he had any of those audios or anything available, but he, he told me, you know, he took handwritten notes, uh, and so, and I imagine it was, uh, with John Willis, probably, he probably did a lot of also kind of phone interviews where he took a lot of notes, but you, you, there's so many oral histories with, with those black leaders in Durham and North Carolina, in the South, so I was able to really sort of take advantage of, of some of those that were available.
Ira Sternberg: Well, it sounds too, once you got the sense of the man through his video image and his voice, it really helped you to write the book because you could see the tone and feel the tone and hear the tone, and that I'm sure informed the writing of the book too. What was the most surprising thing you discovered about him?
Brandon K. Winford: One of the most, that's a really, really great question. One of the most surprising things about John Wheeler, um, well, let me put it like this, I wasn't so much surprised about some of the material that I came up with, but I was, I guess I was surprised by, and I guess I shouldn't have been, by his kind of intellectual curiosity, in other words, we don't often think of business people as a kind of, as kind of intellectuals in that sense, right, we see them as, you know, thinking about money and thinking about profit, um, but it, what I got to see through him and through his, his study of different issues and his, his, uh, activism is that he took an intellectual approach to understanding all of the issues that he was involved in, just as much as he did in other ways, right, so I guess I, I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was really surprised that the depths that, that he took to really sort of understand, from intellectual standpoint, his involvement in every area of black life, uh, and so even in his, you know, in his speeches, in his, in his, his writings, there is a high level of thought and, and research that went into how he understood particular issues, and that in turn informed his, the positions he took when it came to public policy, uh, and so I don't know if that's a kind of, uh, what I was just sort of taken aback by, but, but what I found really interesting was the level of intellectualism that I found when I started when I began to sort of look into John Wheeler, thinking about how he understood civil rights, and, and why he thought about civil rights and the way that he did, and why particular goals related to civil rights were in the forefront of his thinking, it was just really something that just really sort of stands with me, and so it really sort of gives me a different kind of understanding of how we can think of, of, you know, we think of business people, we just think of them thinking about the bottom line and coming up with strategies to make money, and they certainly do that, but when you're in this position, as a, during his time, as an African-American business person, uh, there is a different level of commitment to community that is, I wouldn't say it's not present in, in how we understand other groups, and, and their involvement in business, but I think for African-Americans who, uh, were business people, they had to think about the ways in which they had a commitment to community, and for a banker, also a community, community, and one's a role in the community was important because that's how, you know, as a bank, you know, part of it is getting people to trust you, right, and trust you with their, their money, and they have to understand that you have a sense of integrity about you, and that you're thinking about their interests as much as you are your own interests or the interest, is you interest you serve through your leadership of a particular business.
Ira Sternberg: Don't you think he was intellectual in his approach, in this sense, he wanted to steer the region, Southern region, toward the end of Jim Crow segregation, for economic reasons, and that in itself, to me, is revolutionary because there's a lot of power there, people may not realize that, they're thinking of again, the political that we talked about, and, and other influences, there's religion, and the political sphere, and others, but just from the economic point of view, that if you had a population that previously, because of slavery, and then segregation, and Jim Crow, was let's say, below the poverty line, and all of a sudden now can become self-sufficient and grow and develop capital and create jobs, that in itself is powerful.
Brandon K. Winford: Oh most certainly, and, and to not only that, but he, his kind of philosophy, if you want to call it that, an approach to how African-Americans were going to gain economic power, you know, he articulates this when he writes pieces, uh, writes articles for organizations like the Tar Heel Banker, where he's speaking to this group of bankers who would, after World War II, when things are sort of opened up in terms of we think of post-World War II prosperity, he's talking to bankers who had influence over their communities, not just from an economic standpoint, but you know, the, the people with the money, you know, influence so much, right, when you think about sort of the future, and his attachment of, or his linking, like economic rights, to the, the need for African Americans to gain all their civil rights simultaneously, as a pathway to black economic power, and then black economic power, or New South prosperity, is sort of our framing of the book, was important to, was an important contribution to the idea of New South prosperity, the region itself could not, um, compete with the North, the Midwest, the West, if it did not have some level of, of New South prosperity, and that wasn't going to happen without African-Americans, or with African-Americans being in this sort of perpetual state of economic inferiority, it just wasn't going to happen from his perspective, and that comes from that perspective of the intellectual approach that he had.
Brandon K. Winford: Right, right, most definitely, really thinking about, really thinking through these issues, you know, and you know, I, I interviewed someone who knew him, who, you know, he didn't so much call what John Willow was thinking and how he thought through him as, as kind of visionary, although I, I see it as something very different, I do see where he was able to take his understanding of how to work through particular issues as a kind of linchpin for how he understood where we were going, where African Americans were going as a people, and how to get there, and also thinking about that, you know, I talked a lot about him being an integrationist, in terms of having an integrationist framework, um, but even with integration, he didn't see things like black institutions kind of falling by the wayside, he saw, you know, he felt like his bank, the Potential Farmers Bank, if given the opportunity to tap into a larger marketplace, they were going to be able to compete with any bank of comparable size, and so for him, integration was going to help strengthen black institutions. Now, the end result was a bit different, but I also think he really thought about the ways in which integration needed to be worked out, and so, you know, one example he uses is that, you know, if a, you know, in Durham, there were two hospitals, the white hospital, black hospital, with integration, if you merge these two hospitals, the superintendent of the black hospital has been trained at Harvard University, right, and all that comes with that, so with the merger of this, these two institutions, was this Harvard-trained doctor going to become the superintendent or not, and so integration had to be worked, and it is not why, if we're thinking about Harvard as, as this pinnacle of higher education and the best of the best, right, if these institutions murders, are black doctors, black nurses going to be able to tend to, to white patients, right, what we're going to be the limitations, and so he felt like all of these things had to be worked out in order for integration to really happen successfully, and I wouldn't have a whole conversation about why that, you know, all that really doesn't happen, but he thought through some of these things, he thought about civil rights in different, in particular stages, right, we had the legal, and he's not the only one, the legal phase when you think of the NAACP, and the culmination that ends with Brown, the Board of Education decision in 1954, for the Supreme Court outlaws segregation in schools, and, and, and so forth, and then he thought about, you know, participating in direct action phase of the movement, and then after the reaction phase, he, he believed in what, what he called the implementation phase, where, articulating, wrote about this, it was the implementation phase, and that's, it had to do more with tackling institutionalized racism, and for him, that was actually going to be the most difficult area, or phase, to really sort of penetrate, right, you had the legal phase, you had a direct action phase, and they were effective, um, but the implementation phase, right, you know, was that effective, and but that was going to be, that was going to be the major wall, but that goes back to the 60s, that goes back to his, again, his intellectual curiosity, and his speaking ahead, right, and that's a great way to leave it.
Ira Sternberg: My guest has been Brandon K. Winford, author of John Hervey Wheeler, Black Banking, and the Economic Struggle for Civil Rights, published by the University Press of Kentucky, and part of the series Civil Rights and the Struggle for Black Equality in the 20th Century. It's available on Amazon and all the usual places, and for everything about Brandon, go to brandonchironwinford.com, and you can follow him on Twitter and Instagram at winhistory24. Brandon, thanks for being on the show.
Brandon K. Winford: Thank you so much, Ira, for having me, I've enjoyed my time.
Ira Sternberg: Same here, and join us every Thursday for a new smear on Ira's Everything Bagel.
FAQs About Dr. Brandon K. Winford
Who is Dr. Brandon K. Winford?
Dr. Brandon K. Winford is an associate professor of history at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He specializes in late nineteenth and twentieth-century United States and African American history, focusing on civil rights and black business history. He earned his BA and MA in history from North Carolina Central University and his PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
What are Dr. Brandon K. Winford's Books?
Dr. Brandon K. Winford is the author of "John Hervey Wheeler, Black Banking, and the Economic Struggle for Civil Rights," published by the University Press of Kentucky in 2019. The book explores the life and impact of John Hervey Wheeler, a significant figure in black banking and the civil rights movement in North Carolina.
Is Dr. Brandon K. Winford Married?
There is no publicly available information on Dr. Brandon K. Winford's marital status. His professional profiles and biographies primarily focus on his academic and research accomplishments.
Did Dr. Brandon K. Winford Play Basketball?
There is no information indicating that Dr. Brandon K. Winford played basketball. His known background and public profiles highlight his academic achievements and contributions to historical research rather than any involvement in sports.
Who was John Hervey Wheeler?
John Hervey Wheeler was a prominent banker, lawyer, and civil rights leader. He was president of Mechanics and Farmers Bank in Durham, North Carolina, and played a key role in advocating for economic and civil rights for African Americans. Wheeler was influential in the civil rights movement, working closely with national figures and serving on President Kennedy's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity.
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