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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 10, 2002

News Release

NEA Honors Founder of Black Holocaust Museum

James Cameron used education to disarm hate

Washington, D.C. -- Seventy years ago, Dr. James Cameron, a civil rights activist, author and founder of the Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee, was almost lynched by an angry Ku-Klux-Klan-led mob that killed two of his friends. The three were charged with allegedly shooting and killing a white man and raping his girlfriend during a robbery attempt. Although Cameron was badly beaten, his life was spared when the mob realized he had not been with his friends at the time of the alleged incident. But he still served four years in prison on the trumped-up charge of being an accessory before the fact.

Instead of wallowing in bitterness, the man who became Dr. James Cameron devoted his life to helping others and championing the cause of civil rights, racial unity and the equality of all men. Because of his lifelong devotion to these noble causes, Dr. Cameron will receive a National Education Association Human and Civil Rights Award.

Dr. Cameron and 10 other recipients will be honored by NEA President Bob Chase and 2,000 other educators and invited guests at the 36th annual awards dinner, Monday, July 1 at the Adam's Mark Hotel in Dallas. The event is part of the NEA's annual meeting.

Each award is named in honor of a prominent human and civil rights leader or NEA activist. Dr. Cameron will receive the Carter G. Woodson Memorial Award, named for the African American scholar and historian and his role in increasing the appreciation of African American heritage and history.

Cameron is one of two Wisconsin residents to win a 2002 award. The other, Cristina Diaz-Arntzen, who teaches at Glen Rose Elementary School in Waukesha, raised money for a school in Guatemala.

Cameron, who worked for the NAACP in the 1940s, was Director of Indiana's Civil Liberties Union during the 1950s. Despite threats of violence that forced him to relocate his family to Milwaukee, he continued his activism. He assisted in numerous protests to end segregation and participated in the first March on Washington in 1963, led by Dr. Martin Luther King.

From 1955 to 1989, Dr. Cameron authored hundreds of articles and booklets detailing racial and civil rights injustices. They include The Continuing Residual of Slavery in America, The Effect of Slavery and Christianity in America and A Time of Terror, Dr. Cameron's autobiography.

After visiting Yad Veshem Holocaust Memorial in Israel, Dr. Cameron got inspired and eventually opened the Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee, a popular cultural institution that attracts 50,000 visitors each year.

One of Dr. Cameron's most prized personal possessions is proudly displayed at the museum. A pardon, issued by the state of Indiana Feb. 3, 1998, apologizes for the wrongs he endured there.

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.