The Curtis Family: Four Generations of Black Protest against White Supremacy

Four generations of the Curtis family were leaders in the civil rights struggle in the United States. Alexander H. Curtis (1829–78) was born into slavery, purchased his freedom in 1859, and was elected to the Alabama legislature in 1870. He was one of nine incorporators and trustees of a Black school in Marion, Alabama, the county seat of Perry County, and advocated for equal rights. His sons James W. Curtis (1856–1945) and William P. Curtis (1866–1945) became physicians, and a third son, Thomas A. Curtis (1862–1943), became a dentist. After Reconstruction, Thomas and William moved to highly segregated St. Louis, where they helped found a Black hospital, Black newspapers, and civil rights organizations. Thomas’s son, Lucien S. Curtis (1893–1983), taught at Sumner High School and Stowe Teachers College in St. Louis. Lucien married Mabel J. Byrd (1895–1988), who integrated the University of Oregon and protested segregation at congressional restaurants in Washington, DC. Their son, Robert B. Curtis (1935–86), staged sit-ins at segregated restaurants as a law student in St. Louis and as a soldier in Texas. He led Congress of Racial Equality boycotts of St. Louis banks in the 1960s and defended Black Power advocates from police violence. The Curtises’ history shows the significance of family connections in the development of militant civil rights advocacy.