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Samuel Shepherd Caldwell (November 4, 1892 – August 14, 1953), was a Louisiana oilman and politician who served as mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, from 1934 to 1946.[1]
Caldwell was an unusually staunch segregationist even for the era in the Deep South. In 1943, Caldwell chose to turn down $67,000 in federal funds for a new medical center because it would have required hiring 12 blacks out of every 100 workers.[2] (Shreveport was 37% African American in the 1940 census.)[3] "We are not going to be bribed by federal funds," Caldwell explained, "to accept the negro as our political or social equal"; federal officials would not "cram the negro down our throats."[2]
References
- ^ John Andrew Prime (July 26, 2015). "Our History: Former mayor's impact recalled". The Shreveport Times. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
- ^ a b Fairclough, Adam (2008). Race & Democracy: The Civil Rights Struggle in Louisiana, 1915-1972. University of Georgia Press. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-8203-3114-0. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
- ^ "Louisiana, 1940 U.S. Census" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
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