In January 1957 I separated from the U.S. Army and moved to Maryland to work for Westinghouse, adjacent to the airport. I bought a house in Anne Arundel County and rented a room for a couple of months in Glen Burnie until it was built. Then I moved with my family into what would be my home for the next 16 years in Severna Park.
Severna Park, 1957–1973
The Community
1. In 1957 I immediately joined the West Severna Park Community Association. I served as Treasurer and later as Secretary. I also served as WSPCA representative to the Greater Severna Park Council, an umbrella organization of many local community associations.
2. I served on the board of the Severna Park Health Center, a free clinic for low-income residents.
3. I served on the committee supporting the local Webelos (pre-Scouts) pack for boys.
4. Then I served on the committee supporting the local Boy Scouts troop.
5. I applied what photographic skills I had and helped a local activist by photographing structural and maintenance defects at a local elementary school.
6. In response to a request by the County Executive, in response to the federal government's antipoverty program, I served on the advisory board of the Anne Arundel County Community Action Agency.
The Church
1. In a few years I joined the Unitarian Church of Anne Arundel County, located in Annapolis. I served on the board of trustees and chaired the Adult Programs Committee, which provided discussion groups and other activities beyond the Sunday services. I also joined the church's Unitarian Fellowship for Social Justice, which served as the church's social conscience during the 1960's. And I served as the church's representative at the Unitarian district level.
2. Eventually the Unitarians merged with the Universalists, and our minister and the one from the Baltimore church wanted to form an umbrella organization of all Maryland U-U churches and fellowships (except for those in the Washington suburbs, which were more D.C.-oriented). I represented our church at the organizing meeting of the Maryland Area Council of Unitarian-Universalist Societies. And I wound up getting elected President of the organization. MACUUS put on workshops for the members in such areas as administration, education, and social issues.
Civil Rights
1. With the minister and other members of the U-U church, I participated in several actions to desegregate local facilities. Included were observing black students' attempt to be served at a local soda fountain (a "sit-in"), picketing a local restaurant that wouldn't wait on black customers, picketing the governor's mansion to promote desegregation, and petitioning the state Senate to desegregate public accommodations.
2. Around 1960 I joined the national NAACP and the Anne Arundel County Branch of the NAACP. I soon wrote the branch's newsletter and served as Vice President (the only white member of the board). I distributed the newsletter at churches and other places frequented by black citizens. I visited black churches, enjoying the service (especially the gospel chorus) and speaking to urge the people to join the NAACP and our branch. With the branch president, I met with the superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy to urge equal employment opportunity practices. On the evening of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, I went to the police station to observe the booking of black college students from Bowie State who had been arrested for sitting-in at the State House.
3. I represented our county branch at meetings of the Maryland State Conference of NAACP Branches, which conducted workshops and other activities. At one workshop I took minutes and reported them to the entire group.
4. Members of a local interracial/interfaith organization, called the Anne Arundel County League for Human Rights, attended one of our Unitarian church's services when their president, a rabbi, spoke to our congregation. I joined the League because of its mission: It both pushed for desegregation and demonstrated how the races could live together in harmony. Serving on the board of directors, I soon wrote the newsletter and was elected President. The League held workshops, retreats, and integrated entertainment open to the public. We held progressive suppers at black and white homes. And we conducted a Children's Center, which was a preschool classroom for low-income kids even before there was a federal Head Start program.
5. At that time the governor appointed members of the county school board, but there was a volunteer School Board Nominating Committee that would submit names for his consideration. One year, on behalf of the League, I placed in nomination one of our members and gave a short speech as to why he, a black minister at a local church, would be a good member of the school board.
6. I represented both the League and the NAACP in an umbrella organization of groups and individuals pressing for desegregation. (I can't remember what we called ourselves.) We met with the county board of education to urge desegregation of the public schools, and we met with the county schools superintendent for the same reason. Once again, I was the only white guy in the group.
7. One might wonder how I, the lone white guy in a group of black activists, was accepted by the others. There were no problems. In fact, one incident indicated to me that, after a while, the others had become essentially "color-blind." One day several of us were meeting at one fellow's house, and I naturally was the only white. Visiting us was the treasurer of the national NAACP, and he happened to be white. He had been across the room from about four of us, and as he walked toward us he asked if he could join us. One of our group, Johnnie, called to him, "Sure, come on over and integrate our group." Then I heard Johnnie whisper to the guy next to him, "I forgot Spence is white."
Freelance WritingMy stringing for the newspaper was technically not volunteering, since I was paid a few bucks for my efforts. But, at only $.25 per column-inch, it seemed like volunteering. In short, I didn't do it for the money. Previously I had sent a number of press releases about various community activities to the Evening Capitol in Annapolis. When the newspaper's management decided it wanted to increase its circulation in Severna Park, a community editor contacted me about becoming a stringer for them. It didn't take me long to decide to do it. I was a combined reporter-photographer, carrying my notepad and camera with me to all the events I covered. When appropriate, some of my stories were picked up by a sister publication, the Maryland Gazette, based in Glen Burnie.
1. I covered meetings of the PTA/PTSA for the local elementary, junior high, and senior high schools, as well as meetings of each school's Citizen Advisory Committee when it had one. Also I covered meetings of local community associations, the local YMCA board, the Severna Park Jaycees, and the Severna Park Organized Teens.
2. Eventually I came to be known as "Mr. Severna Park" at the Evening Capitol. The paper's management even trusted me enough to give me a key to the newsroom. I was the only person not on the staff to have a key. This was so I could personally drop off my typed copy and exposed film and pick up my developed negatives day or night. One night I happened to cover an event in Annapolis, so afterward I went into the newsroom and typed my copy on one of the reporter's typewriter (in those days before word processors). I then left in the newsroom my story and film.
3. Eventually I realized that my readers were most interested in two subjects in their communities: education and land use.
4. The best compliment I ever received on my writing followed a meeting at which an official of the county school department described a current reorganization of the system. I understood what he was saying, but I thought my readers would understand it better if I rewrote it in the form of an analogy to a certain other subject. Some months later I ran into that official again. He told me that he had read my article, liked my version better than his, and was now using mine in his presentations.
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Last Updated 2/2/11