Society of St. Edmund (Selma, Alabama) records

The papers of the Edmundite Missions contain correspondence, clippings, invitations, notes, photographs, press releases, programs, and collected items. The bulk of the  material focuses on a brief but highly fertile period in the mid-60s.  Because of the location of the church, hospital, etc. in Selma, and because of the particular emphasis of the order on work among southern Blacks, the papers document some of the turbulence that characterized the time and the locale.  Furthermore, the order's involvement in one aspect of the Civil Rights Movement is well presented in the collection.

Correspondence has been interpreted to include traditional items in this category; however, printed letters which appeared in "The Selma Times Journal" as letters to the editor or in the "Letter Box" column have been referenced in the Index of Correspondence because they were occasioned by Father Maurice Ouellet.  Similarly, the American Friends reprint of "Letter from a Birmingham City Jail" that was written by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has been referenced in the Index.  These items contain important data for interpretation of ideas expressed by Selma citizens who verbalized their thoughts and promulgated them via the local press.  Dr. King's letter was a carefully reasoned response to six members of the clergy who did not share his views on methods of achieving certain objectives.  Since the epistolary form was utilized by both as a method of communication rather than as literary innovation, it is anticipated that referencing this item in the Index will facilitate research.

Of particular interest in the correspondence is a form letter sent to prospective participants in the march on the Dallas County courthouse.  The letter contains pertinent instructions and information related to the March.  Another item of interest is a handwritten message from Father Ouellet to his successor in Alabama, Father John Crowley.  Enclosed with this letter was a photocopy of an article resulting from a talk given in Washington, entitled "The Forgotten Ones."

The clippings and press releases pertain to Good Samaritan Hospital, the Selma-Montgomery March and its aftermath, the transferal of Father Ouellet, and his post-Selma activities.  A majority of the articles are from the Catholic press.  Of those from the secular papers, few are from newspapers outside of Alabama.  While numerous clippings would find avid readers in any group of students of the Civil Rights Movement, there would be something of interest too for the ecumenical in spirit.  A few of the clippings pertain to the Cardinal Spellman gift of $10,000 to Good Samaritan Hospital in memory of Rev. James J. Reeb, a Unitarian minister from Boston who was fatally beaten in Selma.  The work of the Edmundites, in conjunction with the Sisters of St. Joseph, from Rochester, is primarily documented in the news clippings.

With the exception of an invitation and a program, there is no record of the hospital's school of practical nursing included in these papers, except in the news clippings.  "The Selma Times Journal" (October 11, 1970) carried a photo of the last class to graduate from the school.  Furthermore, previous photos and articles on the various classes in the school's history had appeared in the paper.

Demonstrations, sit-ins, and marches had played a prominent role in highlighting institutionalized inequality.  That Selma was not bypassed in this type of confrontation is evidenced in some of the news clippings included in the collection.  Major emphasis is given to Selma-Montgomery March, and the Good Samaritan Hospital was involved as the only agency to which injured blacks could go for medical help.

The continued involvement of the Edmundites in matters pertaining to civil rights and human rights in the South is evidenced in a small group of collected items including periodicals, conference materials, packets, and reports.  The esteem of the Selma members of the order for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is apparent in the collected items by and about the civil rights leader.  A packet containing the Civil Rights Act of the 1964 and 1967 is among this body of materials.  The periodicals are generally those of other religious groups, usually having some relationship to mission work or to the Christian challenge of universal brotherhood.

Within the span of two years, Edmundites attended meetings of the National Council of Catholic Men and a conference for Southern Catholic Leaders, both of which addressed themselves to the dominant issue of civil rights.  The interest was more than a passing one.  The Edmundites and their co-workers, the Sisters of St. Joseph, had staked a claim in Selma by organizing and staffing a hospital, a school, and a nursing home, as well as by organizing and directing clubs for boys and girls.  The priests, brothers, and sisters engaged in activities which paved the way for participation of Selma's black population in numerous affairs.  This interest is manifested to no small degree in the kind of items included in the collection.

Several articles in the collection command attention.  Among these are Father Crowley's "The Path to Peace in Selma," Stanley Scott, Jr.'s "Revolution: the Assault on Selma," and Pulitizer Prize winner Haynes Johnson's "The Vote in Selma- What It Promises."

Obviously, from the foregoing statements, it can be deduced that the papers do not detail the history of the order; nor do they relate, in more than an incidental manner, the day to day activities of the Edmundites from the time they established their first mission in Selma in 1937.  What the papers do contain is a highlight of an important period characterized by a determined march toward fuller freedom.  They show what one relatively small order of priests contributed and how they found it possible to improvise and implement programs for the amelioration of life in the section of the country where they had chosen to work.  Not even all of the southern missions of the order figure prominently in the papers.  The emphasis is on Selma; the materials are highly concentrated in the period from 1963-1965, and the dominant theme is civil rights.  An underlying theme is urbanization.

Names include Ralph David Abernathy, James G. Clark, Jr., John P. Crowley, Haynes Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., Sister Michael Ann, Maurice Ouellet, and Stanley Scott, Jr.