Ira H. Latimer

Ira Helser Latimer (1906–1985) was an educator, missionary, activist, and lawyer who advocated for civil rights and equal accommodation for African Americans in Chicago. Minneapolis mayor Thomas Erwin Latimer was his father.

Life

He was born in Columbus, Ohio. He was raised as Ira Jenkins until his father's paternity was revealed when Ira was working as a radio broadcaster. He married and had a son and daughter.[1]

Career

He was denied admittance to the Illinois Bar.[2] He wrote to W. E. B. Du Bois about his difficulties with LeMoyne College in Memphis, Tennessee.[3] He wrote a thesis on African American politics at Ohio State University.[4]

As executive director of the Chicago Civil Liberties Commission, he was involved in protests over the banning of Maude Hutchins' book A Diary of Love in Chicago.[5]

References
  1. Tribune, Chicago. "IRA LATIMER; BATTLED FOR CIVIL RIGHTS". chicagotribune.com.
  2. "In Re Ira H. Latimer". Justia Law.
  3. "bookreader demo". credo.library.umass.edu.
  4. Latimer, Ira (August 24, 1932). Political potentialities of the American negro: a natural history of American negro nationalism, or "race consciousness". OCLC 52083857 – via Open WorldCat.
  5. An open letter to the mayor of Chicago, protesting the attempt to ban A diary of love, the novel by Maude Hutchins. Paul Romaine. August 24, 1950. OCLC 10689902 – via Open WorldCat.
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