The Enduring Legacy of A.G. Gaston as a Racial Peacemaker
Arthur George (A.G.) Gaston is a little-known figure in Black historical annals. But his significance as a 20th-century business leader and racial peacemaker during times of heightened Jim Crow bigotry and oppression should not be overlooked.
Amid the evolving racial climate in the U.S., I recently revisited a book entitled Titan. This 338-page tome written by Carol Jenkins and Elizabeth Gardner Hines chronicles Gaston’s efforts at striking a conciliatory balance between establishment white leaders and the black community amid the smoldering racial tensions of the 50s and 60s.
Gaston’s, early, formative years symbolize a common narrative among Blacks in the Deep South. Shortly after his birth on July 4, 1892, in Demopolis, Alabama, he was ushered off to be raised by his grandmother. With his father deceased, Gaston’s mom served as a family cook many miles away for wealthy Jewish businessman A.B. Loveman
Loveman, a successful entrepreneur, and investor who founded the state's largest department store had a major impact on young Gaston, providing the young man with a vicarious taste of what a successful business enterprise looks like.
In 1923, Gaston’s odyssey as a black businessman and investor commenced when he directed $500.00 of his money towards establishing the Booker T. Washington Insurance Co. Fueled by the success of this enterprise, Gaston ignited a business empire replete with a funeral home, motel, savings and loan bank, business college, construction company, real estate business, and two radio stations. Over time his fortunes swelled to an estimated $30 million.
The success of Booker T. Washington Burial Society, Gaston’s funeral home business was particularly striking. The aim of this venture was to address a pressing need among many blacks, namely, an affordable way to ensure a proper funeral for their family members.
In displaying a deep commitment to this cause, Gaston personally invested many hours of his own time trolling door-to-doors to solicit funding for his efforts. Over time, Gaston would become one of the wealthiest black men in America, possessing financial wealth estimated at $30 million to $40 million. This should be viewed as a trailblazing achievement in the face of staggering odds.
But Gaston’s biggest achievement arguably was in resolving frequently occurring riffs between blacks and whites in his home state of Alabama. Known as a measured community leader who was highly adroit at defusing these sorts of highly charged situations,
Gaston’s wealth-driven stature allowed him a seat at the table with white leaders whose power and influence allowed them to control the racial narrative of the day.
He often took on the role of informal mediator terse, racially charged encounters would surface in Birmingham, Alabama where he resided a good part of his life.
With hotel accommodations often only available to whites during the Jim Crow era, Gaston frequently extended hotel accommodations to civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. at his namesake Gaston Motel, the only first-class hotel in Birmingham that accepted blacks.
His vast financial resources also allowed him to support King and other civil rights leaders in some important ways, including bailing him out of jail. He would pay a heavy price for this, including the bombing of his prized hotel in 1963.
In a January 23, 1996, New York Times article entitled A.G. Gaston, 103, a Champion of Black Economic Advances, Journalist David Stout wrote:
“In May 1963, he posted a $5,000 bail for Dr. King and the Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy after the two civil rights leaders had been jailed for marching without a permit. His standing in Birmingham was such that a white judge accepted his personal check without question.”
Chapter 8 of Black Titan entitled “The Civil Rights Years” explored how Gaston’s accommodationist ways proved effective at a time of intense racial hatred and vitriol.
“According to historian Barbara Ransby, during the civil rights movement black involvement fell into one of two distinct categories: “There were the deal-makers, who bargained for incremental change, and then there were troublemakers, who raised a ruckus.” Placing Gaston in his proper place along this continuum is not a challenge. Gaston believed in incremental change; he was, unabashedly, a deal maker.
But given the accommodationist he was, he was at least an equal opportunity accommodationist. He believed in negotiations, not demands, no matter whom they were coming from. In the period just before the street protests of 1963 bore down on the city, Gaston was an intrinsic part of Birmingham life: certainly the most successful, connected black businessman in the city, and astute enough to have honed his negotiating (some would say compromising) skills to a fine art. That art would turn out to be a crucial component to the resolution of the Birmingham problem.”
There is no doubt that his conservative response to the atrocities Black folks experienced during those years would certainly evoke controversy within certain social circles today. Many key leaders most closely aligned with the civil rights movement found Gaston’s lukewarm support nauseatingly frustrating. But given the tenor of the times and need for restraint, his thoughtful approach was often effective in preventing the terse racial climate from escalating.
The book Titan offers an in-depth look at how Gaston carefully orchestrated an effective middle ground between the deep fears and concerns of Blacks and the often existent white business and political establishment.
Heavily influenced by Black historical icon Booker T. Washington and his belief in long-term economic advancement versus direct confrontation of legal segregation, Gaston’s views ran counter to civil rights organizations like the NAACP and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference which advocated for a more assertive stance to racial segregation and discrimination.
At the time of his death in 1996 A. G. Gaston was one of the wealthiest black men in America, if not the wealthiest. But his legacy extends far beyond his capitalistic ways. As discussed in the book, Gaston overcame enormous odds to carve out a place for himself as a civic leader, peacemaker, and philanthropist. Writing in a deeply reflective, moving style, authors Jenkins and Hines bring Gaston’s life to full prominence as one the greatest yet little-known Black history figures.