Reverend Bruce W. Klunder (July 12, 1937 – April 7, 1964
) was a
Presbyterian minister
Presbyterian (or presbyteral) polity is a method of church governance ("ecclesiastical polity") typified by the rule of assemblies of presbyters, or elders. Each local church is governed by a body of elected elders usually called the session or ...
and civil rights activist, born in
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
, United States. He died when he was run over by a bulldozer while protesting the construction of a
segregated school in
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
,
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
.
Klunder graduated in science from
Oregon State University
Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...
in 1958.
While attending the school, he met his future wife, Joanne Lehman. The couple married December 22, 1956. He went on to earn his Bachelor of Divinity from
Yale Divinity School
Yale Divinity School (YDS) is one of the twelve graduate and professional schools of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
Congregationalist theological education was the motivation at the founding of Yale, and the professional school has ...
in 1961. After college, Klunder and his wife moved to Cleveland where he was hired as assistant executive secretary of the
Student Christian Union at
Western Reserve University
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
. He quickly became involved in the city's civil rights fight.
He had a passionate interest in civil rights, headed the local chapter of the
Congress of Racial Equality
The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) is an African Americans, African-American civil rights organization in the United States that played a pivotal role for African Americans in the civil rights movement. Founded in 1942, its stated mission ...
(CORE), and led a restaurant sit-in in
Sewanee Sewanee may refer to:
* Sewanee, Tennessee
* Sewanee: The University of the South
* ''The Sewanee Review'', an American literary magazine established in 1892
* Sewanee Natural Bridge
* Saint Andrews-Sewanee School
See also
* Suwanee (disambiguati ...
,
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
, in 1962. He and his wife had two young children at the time.
Death
Klunder frequently did picket duty, demonstrating for
fair housing
Housing discrimination in the United States refers to the historical and current barriers, policies, and biases that prevent equitable access to housing. Housing discrimination became more pronounced after the abolition of slavery in 1865, typical ...
and against
racially segregated
Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crime against humanity under the Statute of the Internati ...
public facilities and racial discrimination in hiring. When the
Cleveland City School District decided to build new schools that would have reinforced the pattern of segregated neighborhood enrollment, Klunder took the lead in attempting to stop construction.
[
One afternoon about 100 demonstrators threw themselves at the wheels and treads of bulldozers, power shovels, trucks and mobile concrete mixers to prevent the school from being built. A power shovel operator watched as six people—including a woman five months pregnant—leaped into a ditch and stretched out prone just beneath the shovel's jaws. Police officers tried to disperse the demonstrators, but many came out of the muck fighting. Twenty-one were arrested that day, and two were injured.][
The next day Klunder and about 1,000 other demonstrators returned to the school. Already awaiting them were dozens of Cleveland police officers. Moments later, Klunder, two women, and another man dashed across the school lot toward a bulldozer. Three of them flung themselves into the path of the steel treads. Klunder lay down behind the machine. The driver, John White, 33, stopped when he saw the three in front. He looked around but did not see Klunder, and he backed up. When he finally stopped the vehicle, Klunder was dead.][
]
Aftermath
Klunder's death ignited angry confrontations that devolved into "rock-throwing, car-smashing disorders".[ ] Cleveland police eventually used tear gas to disperse the crowds, which numbered more than 3,500 protesters. ''The Plain Dealer
''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In fall 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily and 15th on Sunday.
As of Ma ...
'' reported that "police ... were forced to use tear gas bombs to scatter crowds that would not clear out of the neighborhoods. ... Thirteen persons, including eight policemen, were injured in the fighting. Twenty-six persons, including women, were arrested and jailed."
The next day, demonstrators formed a silent memorial in front of the Board of Education Building in downtown Cleveland. Funeral services for Klunder were held at the Church of the Covenant. Eugene Carson Blake
Eugene Carson Blake (November 7, 1906 – July 31, 1985) was an American Presbyterian Church leader.
From 1954 to 1957 he served as president of the National Council of Churches in the United States; from 1966 to 1972 he served as General Sec ...
, stated clerk of the United Presbyterian Church, delivered the eulogy and 1,500 people attended. Klunder's death polarized the Cleveland community. Some saw his death as an inevitable result of the breakdown of law and order. Others viewed his activism as an act of love.
Klunder is one of the 41 individuals listed as civil rights martyrs at the national Civil Rights Memorial
The Civil Rights Memorial is an American memorial in Montgomery, Alabama, created by Maya Lin. The names of 41 people are inscribed on the granite fountain as martyrs who were killed in the civil rights movement. The memorial is sponsored by t ...
in Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...
.
In 2013, the Stephen E. Howe Elementary School on Lakeview Road, whose construction sparked the protests, was torn down and long-time Cleveland residents were interviewed about its history. Rev. E Theophilus Caviness of the Greater Abyssinia Baptist Church was at the scene in 1964; he told ''The Plain Dealer'': "Every time I pass that school, it's sacred ground. It's a sacred location to all of us who were here and saw what the struggle was all about."
See also
* United Freedom Movement
References
External links
*
*
*
* – photo of Joanne Klunder and daughter picketing the National Governors Conference
* – information about the Businessmen's Interracial Committee on Community Affairs, an organization formed in the wake of Klunder's death and supported by the Greater Cleveland Associated Foundation
The Greater Cleveland Associated Foundation (GCAF, or the Associated Foundation) was a community foundation established in 1961 in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States to assist other private and community foundations in and around Cleveland in e ...
, which merged into the Cleveland Foundation
The Cleveland Foundation, based in Cleveland, Ohio, is the world's first community foundation and one of the largest today, with assets of $2.5 billion and annual grants of more than $100 million. Established in 1914 by banker Frederick Harris Gof ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klunder, Bruce W.
1937 births
1964 deaths
American civil rights activists
American Presbyterian ministers
Oregon clergy
Oregon State University alumni
Yale Divinity School alumni
20th-century American clergy