Mary-Louise Hooper
Encyclopedia
Mary-Louise Hooper was a wealthy American heiress
and civil rights activist and anti-apartheid
activist
, whose brief imprisonment in Johannesburg, South Africa and subsequent exclusion from South Africa in 1957 was a cause célèbre
both in South Africa and the USA. Hooper was the first white member of the African National Congress
, and was described by its National Executive as "one of our number, and a leading worker in the struggle for freedom and democracy", and was one of the ANC's three delegates to the first All-African Peoples' Conference
in December 1958 in Accra, Ghana, and one of only two American observers at the Third All-African Peoples' Conference in Cairo, Egypt in March 1961. Hooper was also active in the NAACP, the American Friends Service Committee
(AFSC), and was the West Coast representative of the American Committee on Africa
(ACOA) from 1962 until about 1969. Hooper was the editor of the South African Bulletin from 1964 to 1968.
, the only daughter and second oldest child of Susan Norris Fitkin (born March 31, 1870 in Ely
, Quebec, Canada; died October 18, 1951 in Oakland, California
), an ordained pastor in the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene
, and later the founding president of the Nazarene Women's Missionary Society (now Nazarene Missions International), and Abram Edward Fitkin
(born on September 18, 1878 in Brooklyn, New York; died on March 18, 1933 in Manhattan, New York), a former evangelist and pastor who had become a businessman. Mary-Louise had three brothers: Abram Raleigh Fitkin (born September 3, 1904 in Everett, Massachusetts
; died September 7, 1914); Willis Carradine "Bud" Fitkin (born October 10, 1908 in Hollis, New York; died November 8, 1980 in Meredith, New Hampshire
); and Ralph MacFarland Fitkin (March 7, 1912 - July 16, 1962). died on July 16, 1962 in Dade County, Florida.
From infancy Mary-Louise attended the Church of the Nazarene
with her family. By the end of 1907 Mary-Louise Fitkin, her parents, and brother, Raleigh, moved to Brooklyn because of her father's increased business activities. In 1907 the Fitkin family attended the John Wesley Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene located at the corner of Saratoga Avenue and Sumpter Street, Brooklyn, then pastored by William Howard Hoople
.
Her younger brother, Willis Carradine Fitkin, named in honor of holiness evangelist Beverly Carradine
, was born on October 10, 1908 in Hollis, Queens
By April 1910 the Fitkins lived in their own home on Wallis Avenue, Queens, New York. While living here, her youngest brother, Ralph MacFarland Fitkin was born on March 7, 1912. On September 14, 1914, Raleigh died of complications after surgery for a car accident.
In December, 1919, Mary-Louise Fitkin organized the Do for Others Club, a boys' and girls' group for the Church of the Nazarene, whose purpose was to do whatever possible for the famine sufferers of India.
By January 1920 the Fitkin family resided at 271 Brooklyn Avenue, Brooklyn. By December 1926 the Fitkin family lived at 8 Remsen Street, Brooklyn
.>
Mary-Louise Fitkin attended Adelphi Academy
at Lafayette Avenue, St. James Place and Clifton Place, Brooklyn, New York, and after graduation, she studied at Stanford University
for one year until June 1928.
. While in Scotland, Mary-Louise spoke at the inaugural District Nazarene Young People's Society Convention in the British Isles. They departed Cherbourg, France for New York on the Aquitania on September 14, 1926.
At noon on June 14, 1927, Mary-Louise married Esley Foster Salsbury (born August 28, 1907 in Elgin, Manitoba
, Canada; died June 13, 1993 in Los Angeles, California), who had become a naturalized US citizen on May 13, 1926, at "Milestones", the family summer home at 16-18 Corlies Avenue, Allenhurst, New Jersey
in a ceremony conducted by Rev. Chauncey David Norris (born July 23, 1884 in West Berkshire, Vermont
; died January 16, 1961 in Dundee, Oregon
), a cousin of her mother, who was at that time pastor of the Church of the Nazarene
at Berkeley, California
.
In early December, 1928, Mary-Louise Salsbury accompanied her mother on her second missionary tour to Mexico.
By August 1929 the Salsburys lived at 1928 Montgomery Street, Berkeley, California. On August 30, 1929 the Salsburys departed San Francisco for a cruise to Honolulu on the SS President Jefferson
, and returned to Wilmington, Los Angeles on the SS City of Los Angeles
on September 27, 1929.
By April 1930 the Salsburys lived with Susan Norris Fitkin in her four-bedroom home (built in 1927) at 894 Longridge Road, Oakland, California
. By 1931 E. Foster Salsbury was a vice-president and director of Pacific Freight Lines Corporation, Ltd., which was controlled by his father-in-law Abram Fitkin
's American Utilities.
After a lengthy illness, Hooper's father Abram Fitkin
died on Saturday, March 18, 1933 in his apartment at the Savoy-Plaza Hotel
Fitkin left an estate estimated at $250,000,000.
On December 7, 1933, the Salsburys' only child, Suzanne Mary Salsbury was born in Berkeley, California
.
In early October, 1935, Mary-Louise accompanied her mother on a mission trip to Latin America
via the Panama Canal
, and included visits to Guatemala
, Haiti
, Bahamas, and Colombia
. While in Cobán
, Mary-Louise organized the first Young Woman's Missionary Society at the Nazarene Girls' School. Mary-Louise Salsbury wrote the story of this visit in a booklet, entitled Other Americas, published at her mother's expense with the proceeds going to the W.F.M.S. They returned to Los Angeles on November 11, 1935 after a six-day voyage in first class on the Santa Elena from San Jose, Guatemala.
During the Great Depression
, E. Foster Salsbury, then living in Orinda, California
, had a vision for "a cheap and cheerful vehicle that would propel the country forward to prosperous times", and with Austin Elmore invented the Salsbury Motor Glide,. a small scooter
built initially in the back of a plumbing and heating shop in Oakland, California. Salsbury applied for a US patent for the Motor Glide in April 1936. The Salsbury Motor Corporation continued manufacturing motor scooters in Inglewood, California
until 1951., Foster Salsbury also invented a mobile commode
in 1936.
By August 1938 the Salsburys divorced, with Foster Salsbury marrying Florence Johnson Fleming, a widow with two children, who was also the sister of William E. Johnson, Jr. In 1938 Mary-Louise and Suzanne travelled to Germany.
from 1931 to 1935. By November 1935 Dr. Deissler was practising as a physician in the Wakefield Building at 426 17th Street, Oakland, California
. By August 1938 the Deisslers resided in a five-bedroom home built in 1937 at 50 Sotelo Avenue, Piedmont, California
, "an isthmus
of white wealth", and the "city of millionaires", where the Deisslers would live together until at least August 1942.
When her mother needed to visit the Territory of Hawaii
in April 1940 due to her ill health, Mary-Louise was again her travel companion, travelling first class on the SS Matsonia
from San Francisco to Honolulu on April 19, 1940.
When Dr. Deissler was excluded from the US western defense area
on September 4, 1942 until November 17, 1943 as an enemy alien
, Mary-Louise and her daughter lived in Illinois. In November 1944 Dr. Deissler resided at the home of his mother-in-law, 894 Longridge Road, Oakland, however Mary-Louise was not registered as living there at that time. The Deisslers divorced in 1946, and Mary-Louise and Suzanne moved to Carmel, California. Dr. Deissler married Dorothea D. Bickel (born about 1914) on December 29, 1947 in Reno, Nevada
, had two children, Erika (born February 28, 1947 in San Francisco), and Karl Peter (born July 30, 1948 in San Francisco; died November 22, 1966 in Pomona, California
), and divorced on October 1, 1962.
whom she had met while campaigning for the NAACP, in Seattle, Washington
, as Washington was one of the few states without Anti-miscegenation laws
that banned inter-racial marriages. After living in Vancouver, British Columbia for a year, the Hoopers separated, and were divorced in 1949. By June 1950 Mary Louise had become a Quaker, and had moved to Carmel, California, where her daughter, Suzanne, attended the California College of Arts and Crafts in Berkeley, California, and on December 1950 married artist Lloyd David Cogley (born March 5, 1917 in San Francisco; died February 2, 1992 in Klamath Falls), and they subsequently had five sons. On October 18, 1951, Hooper's mother, Susan Norris Fitkin died in Oakland.
In September 1952 Hooper returned to New York after sailing from Rotterdam
on the SS Nieuw Amsterdam. Hooper returned to Stanford University
in 1953 to complete her degree, majoring in German, graduating with honors in June 1955. In May 1956 Hooper was elected to membership of the Stanford chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.
(NAACP), and the American Friends Service Committee
(AFSC).
and apartheid". After a three-month tour of South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria, with a group of Quakers in 1955, Hooper migrated to South Africa later that year, buying a home in Durban, South Africa.
Hooper supported the African National Congress
, and was described in 1957 as "the only white person to ever work inside the African National Congress".
While in South Africa Hooper campaigned for the abolition of apartheid, and worked as a volunteer aide and secretary to ANC president Chief Albert Luthuli.
Hooper was active in providing financial assistance and other support for those tried during the Treason Trial
. By January 1957, Hooper had moved to Hillbrow, a suburb of Johannesburg. On March 10, 1957 Hooper was arrested and imprisoned for five days in what she described as "degrading and humiliating" conditions in the Fort Prison
in Johannesburg
. Hooper was ordered to be deported from South Africa after being accused of assisting South African "negroes". Hooper was freed by the Rand Supreme Court on a writ of habeas corpus
, and later awarded damages
, which she donated to the ANC. On May 14, 1957 Eben Dönges, the Interior Minister, ordered her deportation as he believed her presence in South Africa was not in the public interest. After fleeing South Africa via Rhodesia
at the end of May 1957, she was excluded from re-entry by the South African government.
in December 1958 in Accra
, Ghana
. Hooper was also a delegate to the 2nd Congress in Tunis, Tunisia in January 1960, and was one of only two American observers at the Third All-African Peoples' Conference in Cairo
in March 1961, having been denied delegate status despite being appointed as an ANC representative by Chief Luthuli. By 1961 Hooper had made at least one trip of at least two months duration to Africa, visiting 24 African countries including Ghana
, Nigeria
, Senegal
, Congo
, Cameroun
, Ethiopia
, North Africa, and nearly all of East, Central and Southern Africa. Hooper numbered among her personal friends President Kwame Nkrumah
of Ghana; Tom Mboya
of Kenya, Chief Luthuli, Alan Paton
and Oliver Tambo
of South Africa; Bishop Trevor Huddleston
of Tanganyika
, Kenneth Kaunda
of Northern Rhodesia
, Ahmed Boumendjel
of Algeria
and Joshua Nkomo
of Southern Rhodesia
.
(ACOA), and also served as director of the South Africa Program of ACOA.
Among her activities were giving interviews on radio, and television. Additionally, Hooper raised funds for the South African Defense Fund, which was to pay for the legal defence of those being prosecuted in the Treason Trial
, and to support the families of political prisoner
s. In the middle of 1960 Hooper was credited with raising much of the $50,000 contributed to the South Africa Defense Fund (renamed the Africa Defense and Aid Fund in late 1959).
Hooper spoke frequently on "Human Rights in South Africa" to churches, and civic organizations, including to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Democratic Club in Pasadena, California on April 20, 1960 on the topic "Africa, a Continent in Turmoil". In a November 1958 speech "South Africa Today" at the YWCA
in Pasadena, California
, Hooper claimed: "South Africa is the sorest spot on earth in regard to the color problem. People there are treated entirely on the basis of color, both politically, economically, socially and religiously."
In late 1962 Hooper became West Coast representative for the American Committee on Africa, as well as for its Africa Defense and Aid Fund. On December 17, 1962 Hooper was the organizer of a picket by the NAACP, the Northern California Committee for Africa, and the Congress of Racial Equality of the Dutch freighter Raki, which had a load of asbestos, hemp, and coffee from South Africa, in San Francisco, to draw attention to racial discimination in the Union of South Africa, and to encourage the USA to join a United Nations
boycott
of South African goods.
Hooper wrote prolifically on Africa and the issue of apartheid. From its inception in October 1964 to 1968 Hooper was the editor of the South African Bulletin (renamed Southern Africa Bulletin by March 1968) published by ACOA.
In December 1965 Hooper organized the Benefit for South African Victims of Apartheid Defense and Aid Fund at Hunter College
in New York City on Human Rights Day (December 10), which attracted 3,500 attendees to hear the music of Pete Seeger
and South African singer Miriam Makeba
, as well Martin Luther King, Jr.
, whom Hooper had convinced to speak at the Benefit. King, in his first major speech on South Africa, spoke against the evils of the apartheid regime (comparing it to Nazi Germany), criticizing US complicity with apartheid, and highlighting the obligations of black Americans to support those opposed to apartheid. KIng called for economic sanctions against South Africa.
In June 1966 Hooper helped initiate and organize the Declaration of American Artists Against Apartheid, "We Say No to Apartheid", which sought to prevent cultural contacts with the apartheid regime. 65 artists signed the Declaration, including
Joan Baez
, Tallulah Bankhead
, Harry Belafonte
, Saul Bellow
, Leonard Bernstein
, Victor Borge
, Dave Brubeck
, Carol Burnett
, Diahann Carroll, Paddy Chayefsky
, Ossie Davis
, Sammy Davis, Jr.
, Ruby Dee
, Henry Fonda
, John Forsythe
, James Garner
, Van Heflin
, Lena Horne
, Langston Hughes
, Eartha Kitt
, Miriam Makeba
, Johnny Mathis
, Karl A. Menninger, Burgess Meredith
, Arthur Miller
, Henry Morgan
, Julie Newmar
, Edmond O'Brien
, Frederick O'Neal
, Odetta
, Sidney Poitier
, John Raitt
, Jerome Robbins
, Paul Robeson
, Pete Seeger
, Nina Simone
, Ed Sullivan
, Eli Wallach
, and Poppy Cannon White
.
With Wendell Foster Hooper was an organizer and spokesman for the Committee of Conscience Against Apartheid, which by December 1966, had sixty prominent members, including Stokely Carmichael
, Ossie Davis
, Ruby Dee
, Reinhold Niebuhr
, Allen Ginsberg
, Paddy Chayefsky
, and Joan Baez
. In December 1966 the CCAA urged American banks not to lend money to South Africa, and on December 7, 1966 claimed that in excess of $23 million had been withdrawn from First National City Bank and Chase Manhattan Bank
by depositors in protest at their dealings with the South African regime.
In May 1967 Hooper testified before a committee of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights
,
(FLN), in its efforts to gain independence for Algeria
from France, writing Refugee Algerian Students in 1960.
During the Angolan War of Independence
, Hooper raised awareness of the struggles and funds for refugees from Angola
by speaking and presenting the NBC White Paper documentary Angola: Journey to a War, which was narrated by Chet Huntley
.
to be near her daughter and grandsons. Mary-Louise died in Klamath Falls on August 14, 1987.
Beneficiary
A beneficiary in the broadest sense is a natural person or other legal entity who receives money or other benefits from a benefactor. For example: The beneficiary of a life insurance policy, is the person who receives the payment of the amount of insurance after the death of the insured...
and civil rights activist and anti-apartheid
Internal resistance to South African apartheid
Internal resistance to the apartheid system in South Africa came from several sectors of society and saw the creation of organisations dedicated variously to peaceful protests, passive resistance and armed insurrection. It came from both black activists like Steve Biko and Desmond Tutu as well as...
activist
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
, whose brief imprisonment in Johannesburg, South Africa and subsequent exclusion from South Africa in 1957 was a cause célèbre
Cause célèbre
A is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning and heated public debate. The term is particularly used in connection with celebrated legal cases. It is a French phrase in common English use...
both in South Africa and the USA. Hooper was the first white member of the African National Congress
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
, and was described by its National Executive as "one of our number, and a leading worker in the struggle for freedom and democracy", and was one of the ANC's three delegates to the first All-African Peoples' Conference
All-African Peoples' Conference
The All-African Peoples' Conference was a conferenceof political parties and other groupsin the late 1950s and early 1960s in Africa.It was attended bydelegates from independence movementsin areas still under European colonial rule,...
in December 1958 in Accra, Ghana, and one of only two American observers at the Third All-African Peoples' Conference in Cairo, Egypt in March 1961. Hooper was also active in the NAACP, the American Friends Service Committee
American Friends Service Committee
The American Friends Service Committee is a Religious Society of Friends affiliated organization which works for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world...
(AFSC), and was the West Coast representative of the American Committee on Africa
Africa Action
Africa Action is a national human rights nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC, working to change U.S.-Africa relations to promote political, economic and social justice in nations of Africa. They provide accessible information and analysis, and mobilize popular support for campaigns to...
(ACOA) from 1962 until about 1969. Hooper was the editor of the South African Bulletin from 1964 to 1968.
Early life and education
Mary-Louise Fitkin was born on June 12, 1907 in Swampscott, MassachusettsSwampscott, Massachusetts
Swampscott is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States located 15 miles up the coast from Boston in an area known as the North Shore. The population is 13,787...
, the only daughter and second oldest child of Susan Norris Fitkin (born March 31, 1870 in Ely
Shefford, Quebec
Shefford is a township located in the province of Quebec. It is part of the Haute-Yamaska Regional County Municipality in the administrative area of Montérégie. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census was 5,941. The township completely encircles the city of Waterloo.-Population:Population...
, Quebec, Canada; died October 18, 1951 in Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
), an ordained pastor in the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene
Church of the Nazarene
The Church of the Nazarene is an evangelical Christian denomination that emerged from the 19th century Holiness movement in North America with its members colloquially referred to as Nazarenes. It is the largest Wesleyan-holiness denomination in the world. At the end of 2010, the Church of the...
, and later the founding president of the Nazarene Women's Missionary Society (now Nazarene Missions International), and Abram Edward Fitkin
Abram Fitkin
Abram Edward Fitkin , was an American investment banker, public utilities operator, and philanthropist, who founded and ran dozens of companies, including A.E...
(born on September 18, 1878 in Brooklyn, New York; died on March 18, 1933 in Manhattan, New York), a former evangelist and pastor who had become a businessman. Mary-Louise had three brothers: Abram Raleigh Fitkin (born September 3, 1904 in Everett, Massachusetts
Everett, Massachusetts
Everett is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, near Boston. The population was 41,667 at the 2010 census.Everett is the last city in the United States with a bicameral legislature, which is composed of a seven-member Board of Aldermen and an 18-member Common Council...
; died September 7, 1914); Willis Carradine "Bud" Fitkin (born October 10, 1908 in Hollis, New York; died November 8, 1980 in Meredith, New Hampshire
Meredith, New Hampshire
Meredith is a town in Belknap County, New Hampshire, USA. The population was 6,241 at the 2010 census. Meredith is situated beside Lake Winnipesaukee. It is home to Stonedam Island Natural Area and the Winnipesaukee Scenic Railroad...
); and Ralph MacFarland Fitkin (March 7, 1912 - July 16, 1962). died on July 16, 1962 in Dade County, Florida.
From infancy Mary-Louise attended the Church of the Nazarene
Church of the Nazarene
The Church of the Nazarene is an evangelical Christian denomination that emerged from the 19th century Holiness movement in North America with its members colloquially referred to as Nazarenes. It is the largest Wesleyan-holiness denomination in the world. At the end of 2010, the Church of the...
with her family. By the end of 1907 Mary-Louise Fitkin, her parents, and brother, Raleigh, moved to Brooklyn because of her father's increased business activities. In 1907 the Fitkin family attended the John Wesley Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene located at the corner of Saratoga Avenue and Sumpter Street, Brooklyn, then pastored by William Howard Hoople
William Howard Hoople
William Howard Hoople was a prominent leader of the American Holiness movement; the co-founder of the Association of Pentecostal Churches of America, one of the antecedent groups that merged to create the Church of the Nazarene; rescue mission organizer; an ordained minister in the Church of the...
.
Her younger brother, Willis Carradine Fitkin, named in honor of holiness evangelist Beverly Carradine
Beverly Carradine
Beverly Francis Carradine was an American Methodist minister, and a leading evangelist for the holiness movement. He was a productive author, writing primarily on the subject of sanctification.- Life and work :...
, was born on October 10, 1908 in Hollis, Queens
Hollis, Queens
Hollis is a neighborhood within the southeastern section of the New York City borough of Queens. A predominantly African American community, the boundaries are considered to be the Far Rockaway Branch of the Long Island Rail Road to the west, Hillside Avenue to the north, Francis Lewis Boulevard to...
By April 1910 the Fitkins lived in their own home on Wallis Avenue, Queens, New York. While living here, her youngest brother, Ralph MacFarland Fitkin was born on March 7, 1912. On September 14, 1914, Raleigh died of complications after surgery for a car accident.
In December, 1919, Mary-Louise Fitkin organized the Do for Others Club, a boys' and girls' group for the Church of the Nazarene, whose purpose was to do whatever possible for the famine sufferers of India.
By January 1920 the Fitkin family resided at 271 Brooklyn Avenue, Brooklyn. By December 1926 the Fitkin family lived at 8 Remsen Street, Brooklyn
Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn
Brooklyn Heights is a culturally diverse neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Originally referred to as 'Brooklyn Village', it has been a prominent area of Brooklyn since 1834. As of 2000, Brooklyn Heights sustained a population of 22,594 people. The neighborhood is part of...
.>
Mary-Louise Fitkin attended Adelphi Academy
Adelphi University
Adelphi University is a private, nonsectarian university located in Garden City, in Nassau County, New York, United States. It is the oldest institution of higher education on Long Island. For the sixth year, Adelphi University has been named a “Best Buy” in higher education by the Fiske Guide to...
at Lafayette Avenue, St. James Place and Clifton Place, Brooklyn, New York, and after graduation, she studied at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
for one year until June 1928.
Personal life
Mary-Louise Fitkin was married three times, and had one child, Suzanne Mary Salsbury.Esley Foster Salsbury (1927-1938)
On July 7, 1926, Mary-Louise accompanied her mother, Susan Norris Fitkin, on her first overseas trip as General President of the Nazarene Women's Missionary Society, which was a two-month tour of the British Isles and various European countries, including France; Switzerland; Austria; Germany; and Italy. Mary-Louise and her mother sailed from New York to Southampton, England on the RMS AquitaniaRMS Aquitania
RMS Aquitania was a Cunard Line ocean liner designed by Leonard Peskett and built by John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland. She was launched on 21 April 1913 and sailed on her maiden voyage to New York on 30 May 1914...
. While in Scotland, Mary-Louise spoke at the inaugural District Nazarene Young People's Society Convention in the British Isles. They departed Cherbourg, France for New York on the Aquitania on September 14, 1926.
At noon on June 14, 1927, Mary-Louise married Esley Foster Salsbury (born August 28, 1907 in Elgin, Manitoba
Elgin, Manitoba
Elgin is a community in the Rural Municipality of Whitewater in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It is located in southwestern Manitoba.-Major attractions:...
, Canada; died June 13, 1993 in Los Angeles, California), who had become a naturalized US citizen on May 13, 1926, at "Milestones", the family summer home at 16-18 Corlies Avenue, Allenhurst, New Jersey
Allenhurst, New Jersey
Allenhurst is a Borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 496.Allenhurst was incorporated as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 26, 1897, from portions of Ocean Township...
in a ceremony conducted by Rev. Chauncey David Norris (born July 23, 1884 in West Berkshire, Vermont
Berkshire, Vermont
Berkshire is a town in Franklin County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,388 at the 2000 census. It contains the unincorporated village of East Berkshire.-Geography:...
; died January 16, 1961 in Dundee, Oregon
Dundee, Oregon
Dundee is a city in Yamhill County, Oregon, United States. The population was 2,598 at the 2000 census. The 2007 estimate is 3,040 residents.-History:...
), a cousin of her mother, who was at that time pastor of the Church of the Nazarene
Church of the Nazarene
The Church of the Nazarene is an evangelical Christian denomination that emerged from the 19th century Holiness movement in North America with its members colloquially referred to as Nazarenes. It is the largest Wesleyan-holiness denomination in the world. At the end of 2010, the Church of the...
at Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
.
In early December, 1928, Mary-Louise Salsbury accompanied her mother on her second missionary tour to Mexico.
By August 1929 the Salsburys lived at 1928 Montgomery Street, Berkeley, California. On August 30, 1929 the Salsburys departed San Francisco for a cruise to Honolulu on the SS President Jefferson
SS President Jefferson
Three steamships of the American President Line were named President Jefferson., in service 1922-41 and 1946-48, in service 1946-70, in service until at least 1984...
, and returned to Wilmington, Los Angeles on the SS City of Los Angeles
USS Aeolus (ID-3005)
USS Aeolus , sometimes also spelled Æolus, was a United States Navy transport ship during World War I. She was formerly the North German Lloyd liner SS Grosser Kurfürst, also spelled Großer Kurfürst, launched in 1899 that sailed regularly between Bremen and New York...
on September 27, 1929.
By April 1930 the Salsburys lived with Susan Norris Fitkin in her four-bedroom home (built in 1927) at 894 Longridge Road, Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
. By 1931 E. Foster Salsbury was a vice-president and director of Pacific Freight Lines Corporation, Ltd., which was controlled by his father-in-law Abram Fitkin
Abram Fitkin
Abram Edward Fitkin , was an American investment banker, public utilities operator, and philanthropist, who founded and ran dozens of companies, including A.E...
's American Utilities.
After a lengthy illness, Hooper's father Abram Fitkin
Abram Fitkin
Abram Edward Fitkin , was an American investment banker, public utilities operator, and philanthropist, who founded and ran dozens of companies, including A.E...
died on Saturday, March 18, 1933 in his apartment at the Savoy-Plaza Hotel
General Motors Building (New York)
The General Motors Building is a 50-story, 705-foot office tower in Manhattan, New York City, facing Fifth Avenue at 59th Street . The building is one of the few structures in Manhattan that occupies a full city block...
Fitkin left an estate estimated at $250,000,000.
On December 7, 1933, the Salsburys' only child, Suzanne Mary Salsbury was born in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
.
In early October, 1935, Mary-Louise accompanied her mother on a mission trip to Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
via the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
, and included visits to Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
, Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, Bahamas, and Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
. While in Cobán
Cobán
The city of Cobán is the capital of the department of Alta Verapaz in central Guatemala. It also serves as the administrative center for the surrounding Cobán municipality. It is located 219 km from Guatemala City....
, Mary-Louise organized the first Young Woman's Missionary Society at the Nazarene Girls' School. Mary-Louise Salsbury wrote the story of this visit in a booklet, entitled Other Americas, published at her mother's expense with the proceeds going to the W.F.M.S. They returned to Los Angeles on November 11, 1935 after a six-day voyage in first class on the Santa Elena from San Jose, Guatemala.
During the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, E. Foster Salsbury, then living in Orinda, California
Orinda, California
-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Orinda had a population of 17,643. The population density was 1,389.5 people per square mile . The racial makeup of Orinda was 14,533 White, 149 African American, 22 Native American, 2,016 Asian, 24 Pacific Islander, 122 from other races, and...
, had a vision for "a cheap and cheerful vehicle that would propel the country forward to prosperous times", and with Austin Elmore invented the Salsbury Motor Glide,. a small scooter
Scooter (motorcycle)
A scooter is a motorcycle with step-through frame and a platform for the operator's feet. Elements of scooter design have been present in some of the earliest motorcycles, and motorcycles identifiable as scooters have been made from 1914 or earlier...
built initially in the back of a plumbing and heating shop in Oakland, California. Salsbury applied for a US patent for the Motor Glide in April 1936. The Salsbury Motor Corporation continued manufacturing motor scooters in Inglewood, California
Inglewood, California
Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, southwest of downtown Los Angeles. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. Its population stood at 109,673 as of the 2010 Census...
until 1951., Foster Salsbury also invented a mobile commode
Commode
A commode, commode with legs, or commode on legs is any of several pieces of furniture. The word commode comes from the French word for "convenient" or "suitable", which in turn comes from the Latin adjective commodus, with similar meanings.Originally, in French furniture, a commode introduced...
in 1936.
By August 1938 the Salsburys divorced, with Foster Salsbury marrying Florence Johnson Fleming, a widow with two children, who was also the sister of William E. Johnson, Jr. In 1938 Mary-Louise and Suzanne travelled to Germany.
Karl Josef Deissler (1938-1946)
By August 1938 Mary-Louise had married Dr. Karl Josef Deissler (born June 29, 1906 in Heidelberg, Germany; died August 15, 1998 in Bern, Switzerland), a German physician, who graduated from the University of Heidelberg, who had fled Germany for the USA in September 1931 because of his liberal ideas and fears of Nazi persecution, and had been a fellow of the Mayo ClinicMayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a not-for-profit medical practice and medical research group specializing in treating difficult patients . Patients are referred to Mayo Clinic from across the U.S. and the world, and it is known for innovative and effective treatments. Mayo Clinic is known for being at the top of...
from 1931 to 1935. By November 1935 Dr. Deissler was practising as a physician in the Wakefield Building at 426 17th Street, Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
. By August 1938 the Deisslers resided in a five-bedroom home built in 1937 at 50 Sotelo Avenue, Piedmont, California
Piedmont, California
Piedmont is a small, affluent city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is surrounded by the city of Oakland. The population was 10,667 at the 2010 census. Piedmont was incorporated in 1907 and was developed significantly in the 1920s and 1930s...
, "an isthmus
Isthmus
An isthmus is a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas usually with waterforms on either side.Canals are often built through isthmuses where they may be particularly advantageous to create a shortcut for marine transportation...
of white wealth", and the "city of millionaires", where the Deisslers would live together until at least August 1942.
When her mother needed to visit the Territory of Hawaii
Territory of Hawaii
The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 7, 1898, until August 21, 1959, when its territory, with the exception of Johnston Atoll, was admitted to the Union as the fiftieth U.S. state, the State of Hawaii.The U.S...
in April 1940 due to her ill health, Mary-Louise was again her travel companion, travelling first class on the SS Matsonia
SS Malolo
SS Malolo was an American Cruise liner built by William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia in 1926 for the Matson Line. She was the first of a number of ships designed by William Francis Gibbs for the Matson Line. The Matson Line did much to develop tourism in the Hawaiian Islands...
from San Francisco to Honolulu on April 19, 1940.
When Dr. Deissler was excluded from the US western defense area
Western Defense Command
Western Defense Command was established on 17 March 1941 as the command formation of the U.S. Army responsible for coordinating the defense of the Pacific Coast region of the United States. A second major responsibility was the training of soldiers prior to their deployment overseas. The first...
on September 4, 1942 until November 17, 1943 as an enemy alien
Enemy alien
In law, an enemy alien is a citizen of a country which is in a state of conflict with the land in which he or she is located. Usually, but not always, the countries are in a state of declared war.-United Kingdom:...
, Mary-Louise and her daughter lived in Illinois. In November 1944 Dr. Deissler resided at the home of his mother-in-law, 894 Longridge Road, Oakland, however Mary-Louise was not registered as living there at that time. The Deisslers divorced in 1946, and Mary-Louise and Suzanne moved to Carmel, California. Dr. Deissler married Dorothea D. Bickel (born about 1914) on December 29, 1947 in Reno, Nevada
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
, had two children, Erika (born February 28, 1947 in San Francisco), and Karl Peter (born July 30, 1948 in San Francisco; died November 22, 1966 in Pomona, California
Pomona, California
-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Pomona had a population of 149,058, a slight decline from the 2000 census population. The population density was 6,491.2 people per square mile...
), and divorced on October 1, 1962.
Clifford Hooper (1947-1949)
In late 1947 Mary-Louise married Clifford Hooper, an African AmericanAfrican American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
whom she had met while campaigning for the NAACP, in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
, as Washington was one of the few states without Anti-miscegenation laws
Anti-miscegenation laws
Anti-miscegenation laws, also known as miscegenation laws, were laws that enforced racial segregation at the level of marriage and intimate relationships by criminalizing interracial marriage and sometimes also sex between members of different races...
that banned inter-racial marriages. After living in Vancouver, British Columbia for a year, the Hoopers separated, and were divorced in 1949. By June 1950 Mary Louise had become a Quaker, and had moved to Carmel, California, where her daughter, Suzanne, attended the California College of Arts and Crafts in Berkeley, California, and on December 1950 married artist Lloyd David Cogley (born March 5, 1917 in San Francisco; died February 2, 1992 in Klamath Falls), and they subsequently had five sons. On October 18, 1951, Hooper's mother, Susan Norris Fitkin died in Oakland.
In September 1952 Hooper returned to New York after sailing from Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
on the SS Nieuw Amsterdam. Hooper returned to Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
in 1953 to complete her degree, majoring in German, graduating with honors in June 1955. In May 1956 Hooper was elected to membership of the Stanford chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.
Civil rights activities
Mary-Louise Hooper was committed to opposing racial injustice wherever she found it, saying: "the Freedom Struggle is one - Mississippi, South Africa." Before 1955 Hooper was "involved in interracial work in California" with the Council for Civic Unity (CCU), "the premier interracial organization working against discrimination in San Francisco, [whose] aim was to end discrimination in housing, employment, health, recreation, and welfare"; the National Association for the Advancement of Colored PeopleNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
(NAACP), and the American Friends Service Committee
American Friends Service Committee
The American Friends Service Committee is a Religious Society of Friends affiliated organization which works for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world...
(AFSC).
South Africa (1955-1957)
Mary-Louise Hooper, who had been "long active in volunteer work to better inter-racial relations", through her work with the NAACP was also "an active supporter of African struggles against colonialismColonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
and apartheid". After a three-month tour of South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria, with a group of Quakers in 1955, Hooper migrated to South Africa later that year, buying a home in Durban, South Africa.
Hooper supported the African National Congress
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
, and was described in 1957 as "the only white person to ever work inside the African National Congress".
While in South Africa Hooper campaigned for the abolition of apartheid, and worked as a volunteer aide and secretary to ANC president Chief Albert Luthuli.
Hooper was active in providing financial assistance and other support for those tried during the Treason Trial
Treason Trial
The Treason Trial was a trial in which 156 people, including Nelson Mandela, were arrested in a raid and accused of treason in South Africa in 1956....
. By January 1957, Hooper had moved to Hillbrow, a suburb of Johannesburg. On March 10, 1957 Hooper was arrested and imprisoned for five days in what she described as "degrading and humiliating" conditions in the Fort Prison
Constitution Hill, Johannesburg
The Constitution Hill precinct, located at the western end of the suburb Hillbrow in Johannesburg, is the seat of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. The first court session in the new building at this location was held in February 2004.-History:...
in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
. Hooper was ordered to be deported from South Africa after being accused of assisting South African "negroes". Hooper was freed by the Rand Supreme Court on a writ of habeas corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
, and later awarded damages
Damages
In law, damages is an award, typically of money, to be paid to a person as compensation for loss or injury; grammatically, it is a singular noun, not plural.- Compensatory damages :...
, which she donated to the ANC. On May 14, 1957 Eben Dönges, the Interior Minister, ordered her deportation as he believed her presence in South Africa was not in the public interest. After fleeing South Africa via Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
at the end of May 1957, she was excluded from re-entry by the South African government.
All-African Peoples' Conferences (1958-1961)
Hooper served as one of the three official Africa National Congress delegates and the only American delegate to the first All-African Peoples' ConferenceAll-African Peoples' Conference
The All-African Peoples' Conference was a conferenceof political parties and other groupsin the late 1950s and early 1960s in Africa.It was attended bydelegates from independence movementsin areas still under European colonial rule,...
in December 1958 in Accra
Accra
Accra is the capital and largest city of Ghana, with an urban population of 1,658,937 according to the 2000 census. Accra is also the capital of the Greater Accra Region and of the Accra Metropolitan District, with which it is coterminous...
, Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
. Hooper was also a delegate to the 2nd Congress in Tunis, Tunisia in January 1960, and was one of only two American observers at the Third All-African Peoples' Conference in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
in March 1961, having been denied delegate status despite being appointed as an ANC representative by Chief Luthuli. By 1961 Hooper had made at least one trip of at least two months duration to Africa, visiting 24 African countries including Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
, Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
, Congo
Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville)
The Republic of the Congo was an independent republic established following the independence granted to the former colony of the Belgian Congo in 1960...
, Cameroun
Cameroun
Cameroun was a French and British mandate territory in central Africa, now constituting the majority of the territory of the Republic of Cameroon....
, Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
, North Africa, and nearly all of East, Central and Southern Africa. Hooper numbered among her personal friends President Kwame Nkrumah
Kwame Nkrumah
Kwame Nkrumah was the leader of Ghana and its predecessor state, the Gold Coast, from 1952 to 1966. Overseeing the nation's independence from British colonial rule in 1957, Nkrumah was the first President of Ghana and the first Prime Minister of Ghana...
of Ghana; Tom Mboya
Tom Mboya
Thomas Joseph Odhiambo Mboya was a prominent Kenyan politician during Jomo Kenyatta's government. He was founder of the Nairobi People's Congress Party, a key figure in the formation of the Kenya African National Union , and the Minister of Economic Planning and Development at the time of his death...
of Kenya, Chief Luthuli, Alan Paton
Alan Paton
Alan Stewart Paton was a South African author and anti-apartheid activist.-Family:Paton was born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal Province , the son of a minor civil servant. After attending Maritzburg College, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Natal in his hometown, followed...
and Oliver Tambo
Oliver Tambo
Oliver Reginald Tambo was a South African anti-apartheid politician and a central figure in the African National Congress .-Biography:Oliver Tambo was born in Bizana in eastern Pondoland in what is now Eastern Cape...
of South Africa; Bishop Trevor Huddleston
Trevor Huddleston
Ernest Urban Trevor Huddleston CR, KCMG was an English Anglican bishop. He was most well known for his anti-apartheid activism and his 'Prayer for Africa'...
of Tanganyika
Tanganyika
Tanganyika , later formally the Republic of Tanganyika, was a sovereign state in East Africa from 1961 to 1964. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes of Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika...
, Kenneth Kaunda
Kenneth Kaunda
Kenneth David Kaunda, known as KK, served as the first President of Zambia, from 1964 to 1991.-Early life:Kaunda was the youngest of eight children. He was born at Lubwa Mission in Chinsali, Northern Province of Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia...
of Northern Rhodesia
Northern Rhodesia
Northern Rhodesia was a territory in south central Africa, formed in 1911. It became independent in 1964 as Zambia.It was initially administered under charter by the British South Africa Company and formed by it in 1911 by amalgamating North-Western Rhodesia and North-Eastern Rhodesia...
, Ahmed Boumendjel
Ahmed Boumendjel
Ahmed Boumendjel was an Algerian politician and nationalist-Early life:He was born in 1908 in Taourirt n'Mangllat Grande Kabylie...
of Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
and Joshua Nkomo
Joshua Nkomo
Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo was the leader and founder of the Zimbabwe African People's Union and a member of the Kalanga tribe...
of Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia was the name of the British colony situated north of the Limpopo River and the Union of South Africa. From its independence in 1965 until its extinction in 1980, it was known as Rhodesia...
.
California (1957-1964)
After her return to the USA in May 1957 Hooper continued to be active in her opposition to apartheid. In 1958 Hooper became the unpaid West Coast Representative of the American Committee on AfricaAfrica Action
Africa Action is a national human rights nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC, working to change U.S.-Africa relations to promote political, economic and social justice in nations of Africa. They provide accessible information and analysis, and mobilize popular support for campaigns to...
(ACOA), and also served as director of the South Africa Program of ACOA.
Among her activities were giving interviews on radio, and television. Additionally, Hooper raised funds for the South African Defense Fund, which was to pay for the legal defence of those being prosecuted in the Treason Trial
Treason Trial
The Treason Trial was a trial in which 156 people, including Nelson Mandela, were arrested in a raid and accused of treason in South Africa in 1956....
, and to support the families of political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
s. In the middle of 1960 Hooper was credited with raising much of the $50,000 contributed to the South Africa Defense Fund (renamed the Africa Defense and Aid Fund in late 1959).
Hooper spoke frequently on "Human Rights in South Africa" to churches, and civic organizations, including to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Democratic Club in Pasadena, California on April 20, 1960 on the topic "Africa, a Continent in Turmoil". In a November 1958 speech "South Africa Today" at the YWCA
YWCA
The YWCA USA is the United States branch of a women's membership movement that strives to create opportunities for women's growth, leadership and power in order to attain a common vision—to eliminate racism and empower women. The YWCA is a non-profit organization, the first of which was founded in...
in Pasadena, California
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
, Hooper claimed: "South Africa is the sorest spot on earth in regard to the color problem. People there are treated entirely on the basis of color, both politically, economically, socially and religiously."
In late 1962 Hooper became West Coast representative for the American Committee on Africa, as well as for its Africa Defense and Aid Fund. On December 17, 1962 Hooper was the organizer of a picket by the NAACP, the Northern California Committee for Africa, and the Congress of Racial Equality of the Dutch freighter Raki, which had a load of asbestos, hemp, and coffee from South Africa, in San Francisco, to draw attention to racial discimination in the Union of South Africa, and to encourage the USA to join a United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
boycott
Boycott
A boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...
of South African goods.
New York (1964-1967)
In late 1964 Hooper moved to New York City to volunteer full-time as ACOA's Program Director for South Africa, and also appeared before the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid, where she submitted verified statements of physical and mental torture, signed by South Africans detained under South Africa's 90-day law, which allowed the South African government to arrest and hold anyone "for indefinite detention without trial".Hooper wrote prolifically on Africa and the issue of apartheid. From its inception in October 1964 to 1968 Hooper was the editor of the South African Bulletin (renamed Southern Africa Bulletin by March 1968) published by ACOA.
In December 1965 Hooper organized the Benefit for South African Victims of Apartheid Defense and Aid Fund at Hunter College
Hunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
in New York City on Human Rights Day (December 10), which attracted 3,500 attendees to hear the music of Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
and South African singer Miriam Makeba
Miriam Makeba
Miriam Makeba , nicknamed Mama Africa, was a Grammy Award winning South African singer and civil rights activist....
, as well Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
, whom Hooper had convinced to speak at the Benefit. King, in his first major speech on South Africa, spoke against the evils of the apartheid regime (comparing it to Nazi Germany), criticizing US complicity with apartheid, and highlighting the obligations of black Americans to support those opposed to apartheid. KIng called for economic sanctions against South Africa.
In June 1966 Hooper helped initiate and organize the Declaration of American Artists Against Apartheid, "We Say No to Apartheid", which sought to prevent cultural contacts with the apartheid regime. 65 artists signed the Declaration, including
Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
, Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Brockman Bankhead was an award-winning American actress of the stage and screen, talk-show host, and bonne vivante...
, Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte
Harold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s...
, Saul Bellow
Saul Bellow
Saul Bellow was a Canadian-born Jewish American writer. For his literary contributions, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts...
, Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
, Victor Borge
Victor Borge
Victor Borge ,born Børge Rosenbaum, was a Danish comedian, conductor and pianist, affectionately known as The Clown Prince of Denmark,The Unmelancholy Dane,and The Great Dane.-Early life and career:...
, Dave Brubeck
Dave Brubeck
David Warren "Dave" Brubeck is an American jazz pianist. He has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills...
, Carol Burnett
Carol Burnett
Carol Creighton Burnett is an American actress, comedian, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she made her television debut...
, Diahann Carroll, Paddy Chayefsky
Paddy Chayefsky
Sidney Aaron "Paddy" Chayefsky , was an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He is the only person to have won three solo Academy Awards for Best Screenplay....
, Ossie Davis
Ossie Davis
Ossie Davis was an American film actor, director, poet, playwright, writer, and social activist.-Early years:...
, Sammy Davis, Jr.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Samuel George "Sammy" Davis Jr. was an American entertainer and was also known for his impersonations of actors and other celebrities....
, Ruby Dee
Ruby Dee
Ruby Dee is an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and activist, perhaps best known for co-starring in the film A Raisin in the Sun and the film American Gangster for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.-Early years:Dee was born Ruby...
, Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
, John Forsythe
John Forsythe
John Forsythe was an American stage, television and film actor. Forsythe starred in three television series, spanning four decades and three genres: as single playboy father Bentley Gregg in the sitcom Bachelor Father ; as the unseen millionaire Charles Townsend on the crime drama Charlie's...
, James Garner
James Garner
James Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...
, Van Heflin
Van Heflin
Emmett Evan "Van" Heflin, Jr. was an American film and theatre actor. He played mostly character parts over the course of his film career, but during the 1940s had a string of roles as a leading man...
, Lena Horne
Lena Horne
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the...
, Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes
James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...
, Eartha Kitt
Eartha Kitt
Eartha Mae Kitt was an American singer, actress, and cabaret star. She was perhaps best known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 hit recordings of "C'est Si Bon" and the enduring Christmas novelty smash "Santa Baby." Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the...
, Miriam Makeba
Miriam Makeba
Miriam Makeba , nicknamed Mama Africa, was a Grammy Award winning South African singer and civil rights activist....
, Johnny Mathis
Johnny Mathis
John Royce "Johnny" Mathis is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standards, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts...
, Karl A. Menninger, Burgess Meredith
Burgess Meredith
Oliver Burgess Meredith , known professionally as Burgess Meredith, was an American actor in theatre, film, and television, who also worked as a director...
, Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
, Henry Morgan
Henry Morgan (comedian)
Henry Morgan was an American humorist. He is remembered best in two modern media: radio, on which he first became familiar as a barbed but often self-deprecating satirist, and on television, where he was a regular and cantankerous panelist for the game show I've Got a Secret...
, Julie Newmar
Julie Newmar
Julie Newmar is an American actress, dancer and singer. Her most famous role is Catwoman in the Batman television series.-Early life:...
, Edmond O'Brien
Edmond O'Brien
Edmond O'Brien was an American actor who is perhaps best remembered for his role in D.O.A. and his Oscar winning role in The Barefoot Contessa...
, Frederick O'Neal
Frederick O'Neal
Frederick O'Neal was an American actor, theater producer and television director. He founded the American Negro Theater and was the first African-American president of the Actors' Equity Association...
, Odetta
Odetta
Odetta Holmes, known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, songwriter, and a human rights activist, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals...
, Sidney Poitier
Sidney Poitier
Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field...
, John Raitt
John Raitt
John Emmett Raitt was an American actor and singer best known for his performances in musical theater.-Early years:...
, Jerome Robbins
Jerome Robbins
Jerome Robbins was an American theater producer, director, and choreographer known primarily for Broadway Theater and Ballet/Dance, but who also occasionally directed films and directed/produced for television. His work has included everything from classical ballet to contemporary musical theater...
, Paul Robeson
Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
, Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
, Nina Simone
Nina Simone
Eunice Kathleen Waymon , better known by her stage name Nina Simone , was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music...
, Ed Sullivan
Ed Sullivan
Edward Vincent "Ed" Sullivan was an American entertainment writer and television host, best known as the presenter of the TV variety show The Ed Sullivan Show. The show was broadcast from 1948 to 1971 , which made it one of the longest-running variety shows in U.S...
, Eli Wallach
Eli Wallach
Eli Herschel Wallach is an American film, television and stage actor, who gained fame in the late 1950s. For his performance in Baby Doll he won a BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer and a Golden Globe nomination. One of his most famous roles is that of Tuco in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly...
, and Poppy Cannon White
Poppy Cannon
Poppy Cannon was at various times the food editor of the Ladies Home Journal and House Beautiful, and the author of several 1950s cookbooks....
.
With Wendell Foster Hooper was an organizer and spokesman for the Committee of Conscience Against Apartheid, which by December 1966, had sixty prominent members, including Stokely Carmichael
Stokely Carmichael
Kwame Ture , also known as Stokely Carmichael, was a Trinidadian-American black activist active in the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement. He rose to prominence first as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and later as the "Honorary Prime Minister" of the Black Panther Party...
, Ossie Davis
Ossie Davis
Ossie Davis was an American film actor, director, poet, playwright, writer, and social activist.-Early years:...
, Ruby Dee
Ruby Dee
Ruby Dee is an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and activist, perhaps best known for co-starring in the film A Raisin in the Sun and the film American Gangster for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.-Early years:Dee was born Ruby...
, Reinhold Niebuhr
Reinhold Niebuhr
Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr was an American theologian and commentator on public affairs. Starting as a leftist minister in the 1920s indebted to theological liberalism, he shifted to the new Neo-Orthodox theology in the 1930s, explaining how the sin of pride created evil in the world...
, Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
, Paddy Chayefsky
Paddy Chayefsky
Sidney Aaron "Paddy" Chayefsky , was an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He is the only person to have won three solo Academy Awards for Best Screenplay....
, and Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
. In December 1966 the CCAA urged American banks not to lend money to South Africa, and on December 7, 1966 claimed that in excess of $23 million had been withdrawn from First National City Bank and Chase Manhattan Bank
Chase Manhattan Bank
JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., doing business as Chase, is a national bank that constitutes the consumer and commercial banking subsidiary of financial services firm JPMorgan Chase. The bank was known as Chase Manhattan Bank until it merged with J.P. Morgan & Co. in 2000...
by depositors in protest at their dealings with the South African regime.
In May 1967 Hooper testified before a committee of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights
United Nations Commission on Human Rights
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights was a functional commission within the overall framework of the United Nations from 1946 until it was replaced by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2006...
,
Other civil rights activities
Hooper supported the Front de Libération NationaleNational Liberation Front (Algeria)
The National Liberation Front is a socialist political party in Algeria. It was set up on November 1, 1954 as a merger of other smaller groups, to obtain independence for Algeria from France.- Anticolonial struggle :...
(FLN), in its efforts to gain independence for Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
from France, writing Refugee Algerian Students in 1960.
During the Angolan War of Independence
Angolan War of Independence
The Angolan War of Independence began as an uprising against forced cotton cultivation, and became a multi-faction struggle for control of Portugal's Overseas Province of Angola with three nationalist movements and a separatist movement...
, Hooper raised awareness of the struggles and funds for refugees from Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
by speaking and presenting the NBC White Paper documentary Angola: Journey to a War, which was narrated by Chet Huntley
Chet Huntley
Chester Robert "Chet" Huntley was an American television newscaster, best known for co-anchoring NBC's evening news program, The Huntley-Brinkley Report, for 14 years beginning in 1956.-Early life:...
.
Later years and death
In 1981 Mary-Louise moved to Klamath Falls, OregonKlamath Falls, Oregon
Klamath Falls is a city in Klamath County, Oregon, United States. Originally called Linkville when George Nurse founded the town in 1867, after the Link River on whose falls this city sat, although no falls currently exist; the name was changed to Klamath Falls in 1892...
to be near her daughter and grandsons. Mary-Louise died in Klamath Falls on August 14, 1987.
As Mary-Louise Salsbury
- Other Americas. Kansas City, Mo: Woman's Missionary Society, Church of the Nazarene, 1936.
As Mary-Louise Hooper
- "We Shall Not Ride: The Johannesburg Bus Boycott", Africa Today 4:6 (November–December 1957):13-16;
- "The African Struggle for Freedom" (1959), cited in Algernon David Black, The Young Citizens: The Story of the Encampment for Citizenship (Ungar, 1962);
- "Luthuli, Man of Peace", in Woman's Peace Party, Four Lights: An Adventure in Internationalism 21-22 (Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, 1961);
- "The Axe Falls on the Whites", South Africa Bulletin 1 (October 1964):1, http://kora.matrix.msu.edu/files/50/304/32-130-A98-84-al.sff.document.acoa000026.pdf;
- "South Africa: ANC Leaders Hanged", in Africa Today Associates, American Committee on Africa, University of Denver Center on International Race Relations, Africa Today, (1964):10-11 (Indiana University Press, 1969);
- "Gestapo-Afrikaner Style", Africa Today (1964).
Further reading
- Minter, William; Gail Hovey; and Charles Cobb Jr., eds. No Easy Victories: African Liberation and American Activists over a Half-Century, 1950-2000. Africa World Press, 2007.