Chauncey Spencer left civil rights foot prints from Tuskegee to San Bernardino

The timing of Chauncey Spencer’s 1956 transfer to San Bernardino by the Air Force Base as a systems analyst could not have been planned better. Spencer contributed volumes during his 15-year stay in San Bernardino. He demanded equal rights for all and went against the strongest decision-makers in the city to seek it.

Spencer continued to champion for civil right’s until the days prior to his death at 95 in 2002. He first became nationally known for lobbying President Harry Truman to fund the Tuskegee Airmen at its Institute in Alabama. His wife, Anna M. Spencer is still living.

Spencer fought against discrimination at city hall, harassment by the police and segregation in the school district. His first fight for equality came in 1934 when he helped lay the foundation for black fighter pilots at Tuskegee. He and two other’s proved through a series of aviation feats that African-American’s could fly planes as well as whites.

“It was President Roosevelt that signed the federal order in 1941 against discrimination. It was Truman who carried them out,” said Spencer’s son, Chauncey Spencer II. “My father respected Truman. He met with him a number of times, leading to my father being selected by president’s Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson to serve on their civil right’s ad hoc committees.”

Spencer’s national accomplishments were covered at the time by the Afro-American press, by the Associated Press, and by the San Bernardino Evening Telegram. His son calls him one of nation’s “unsung heroes.” He acknowledged that his father did not always win friends in San Bernardino, especially in the 1960’s when enforcing campus rules as security guard at San Bernardino High School. “My father was a strict law and order guy. Even at home with his eight children.”

The eldest Chauncey Spencer added to his already impressive resume when he was installed in 1958 as President of the San Bernardino Chapter of the NAACP. Shortly after, he helped form and later chaired the human relations commission. Former Mayor Al Ballard appointed him to the police commission, followed by serving with Roger Anton and Clabe Hangan on the panel of race relations at University of Redlands.

During San Bernardino riots of 1965 and 1969, Spencer was called to help mediate by chief of police Louis Fortuna and mayor’s Donald Mauldin, Robert Holcomb, and Ballard. About the same time, Spencer clashed with other African-American leaders in well publicized debates regarding the philosophy of the civil rights movement. He then sued and won a libel case against the Precinct Reporter.

“In 1969, my father was security guard at San Gorgonio High School when they began busing students in from out of district. He was appointed to a task force there, too,” explained Chauncey Spencer II. “My father did not believe in giving any one group special treatment. What’s good for one was good for another. No one special. No kid gloves treatment for anyone.

“My father tried to get school administrators to stop classifying students by race, color or religion. He pushed for dignity for all.” The younger Spencer acknowledged his family had a unique perspective because their parents were an inter-racial couple, married in 1938.

He pointed out that his father’s mother was noted Harlem Renaissance Literary Anne Spencer, whose home in Lynchburg, Virginia was center for dignitaries until the mid-20th Century. “Blacks were not allowed in hotels, so they stayed with my grandparents.”

Some of their colleagues were Langston Hughes, W.E.B. DuBois, Martin Luther King, and Marian Anderson. Their home is registered as a national historic site. He said also that his father’s book, “Who is Chauncey Spencer” is in its fourth printing.

Additional events to Chauncey Spencer’s timeline: (1906) Born Lynchburg, Virginia(1930) earned sociology degree from Virginia Seminary College (1934) Founding member National Airmen Association of America. (1939) Flight of 3,000 miles covering ten cities ends in Washington with Truman meeting. (1939) Honored by mayors of Chicago and New York for role in integrating Air Force. (1948) Received Exceptional Service Award from Air Force for duty in WWII. (1953) Charged by Air Force with disloyalty and being a Communist. Found not guilty by court martial’s. (1956) Transfer to France by Air Force canceled instead taken down a rank and transferred Norton Air Base.

(1956) Appointed Board of Directors, San Bernardino County Republican Party. (1958) Elected President PTA, Franklin Jr. High School. (1959) Retired from Air Force, opened Spencer’s Steakhouse, Rubidoux. (1962) Opened labor relations consulting business, San Bernardino. (1965) Appeared in “Romeo & Juliet” production at San Bernardino HS. (1967) Daughter, Carole graduates from SBHS. (1970) Moved family to Highland Park, Michigan after being hired as administrator. (1974) His large volume of works filed at University of Michigan. (2016) Flight gear on display at Smithsonian Air & Space Museum and in Charles Wright American Museum.

Chauncey Spencer II is the current chairman of the Tuskegee Airmen National Youth STEM Program and resides in Highland Park, Michigan.