Lee Frazer Banks (abt. 1888 - abt. 1973)

Born about 30 Dec 1888 in Union Springs, Bullock, Alabama, United States

Ancestors

Descendants

Died about 20 Apr 1973 at about age 84 in Birmingham, Jefferson, Alabama, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Sara Lively [send private message]

Biography

Dr. Banks was born in Union Springs, Alabama in 1888 to James Jones Banks II and Laura Lee (Frazer) Banks. As a young boy, he moved with his parents to Birmingham, Alabama, and later to Colorado, where he graduated from high school and studied for four years at the University of Colorado.

He taught high school in Oklahoma for two years, and in 1913 returned to Birmingham to teach at two other schools, soon becoming the Principal at Bush School. It was in Birmingham that he earned his Doctor of Laws degree from Birmingham-Southern College. Later he was quoted as saying, "I realized that there was something about the spirit of Alabama that I wanted to be part of, and that I wanted to come back to this state. I succeeded in coming to Birmingham."

Banks met Beryl Tolson Macauley as a fellow school teacher in Birmingham. They married In August 1917 in Washington, D.C., after which his new wife remained with relatives, along with their first child, Sara Lee, in D.C. , during her husband's service in World War I. Traveling to France as part of the American offensive against the Germans, Banks was Captain of Battery A of the 321st Field Artillery, 82nd Division. He advanced to the rank of Major and was discharged in July 1919.

Following the War, Dr. Banks became Assistant Superintendent of the Birmingham public school system, and was promoted to the position of Superintendent in 1942, serving in this position until 1959. He headed the largest public school system in Alabama until his retirement in 1959, when grateful teachers gave him a car and a trip to Europe with his wife.

Upon his appointment to this important post as Superintendent, Dr. Banks asserted that "the schools must change because everything else will change." However, Dr. Banks was unwilling to support the sweeping change that the 1950s brought to the historic segregation of Black and White students.

Following the Brown v Board of Education decision in 1954, a Black Birmingham civil rights activist and minister named Fred Shuttlesworth approached Dr. Banks and other channels, and eventually formally petitioned the Birmingham Board of Education to integrate the all-White Phillips High School. The Board deferred to Dr. Banks, who temporized, saying he "would be foolish to decide until an investigation is completed." Three days later, Shuttlesworth announced his intent to enroll his Black children directly at the high school, and was beaten badly by a mob of White men waiting for him with brass knuckles, wooden clubs and chains. While Shuttlesworth recovered, Dr. Banks received two phone threats of bombs at Phillips High School protesting the possibility of desegregation.

After he left his job as Superintendent, Dr. Banks directed a local educational television station. It is said that there he encouraged his White employees to work respectfully with the Black employees.

Predeceased by his wife, Dr. Banks died in 1973 at the age of 84, and is buried at the Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham. He left behind his three children -- Sara Lee (Banks) Wingate, Cornelia (Banks) Lively, and Frazer Banks -- and seven grandchildren. These grandchildren all called him "Papaw."^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ Memorial: Find a Grave (has image)
   Find A Grave: Memorial #192427002 (accessed 5 October 2023)
   Memorial page for Lee Frazer Banks (30 Dec 1888-20 Apr 1973), citing Elmwood Cemetery, Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama, USA; Maintained by Pete Mohney (contributor 48755434).

• Personal recollection of events witnessed by granddaughters Frazer Lively and Sara Lively SaraLively as remembered 20 Nov 2022.

• Personal recollection of events witnessed by grandson, Frank Wingate, as remembered in September 2022.

• Marriage: "U.S., Newspapers.com Marriage Index, 1800s-current"
  The Washington Post; Publication Date: 22/ Aug/ 1917; Publication Place: Washington, District of Columbia, USA; URL: https://www.newspapers.com/image/28832869/?article=b71fb081-a715-47a6-b720-1dc19009cfb5&focus=0.5062459,0.44379035,0.62334156,0.6579068&xid=3398
  Ancestry Record 62116 #59391511 (accessed 22 November 2022)
  Capt Lee Frazer Banks marriage to Beryl Macauley in May 1917 in Alabama.

• "Capt. Lee Frazer Banks," Honolulu Star Bulletin, August 31, 1918, page 24. https://www.newspapers.com/image/275410346/?terms=Lee%20Frazer%20Banks&match=1

• "World War Veterans, U.D.C. Records," Union Springs Herald, 17 February 1921, page 3, Union Springs, AL. https://www.newspapers.com/image/349358986/?terms=Lee%20Frazer%20Banks&match=1

• "Dr. L. Frazer Banks Named to Succeed Dr. C.B. Glenn: Assistant Superintendent Promoted; He Has Had Much Experience in Educational Work," Birmingham News, 14 July 1942, page 11. https://www.newspapers.com/image/573505738/?terms=Lee%20Frazer%20Banks&match=1

• McWhorter, Diane, Carry Me, Birmingham, Alabama: The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution, 2001, pp. 109-110

• Manis, Andrew, A Fire You Can't Put Out: The Civil Rights Life of Birmingham's Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, 1999, pp. 147-158.