June Shagaloff Alexander
Encyclopedia
Early life
June Shagaloff Alexander was born in 1928 in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Her parents, Samuel Shagaloff and Gertrude Bellinson, immigrated to the United States from Russia in 1905. Their household was secular Jewish, and valued socialist ideals. Her father was a pharmacist who owned and managed a drugstore, first in Merrick and then in Baldwin, Long Island. As a child, she spent time at her father’s store and, in the summer, at nearby Jones Beach
Jones Beach State Park
Jones Beach State Park is a state park of the U.S. state of New York. It is located in southern Nassau County, in the hamlet of Wantagh, on Jones Beach Island, a barrier island linked to Long Island by the Meadowbrook State Parkway, Wantagh State Parkway and Ocean Parkway .The park is renowned for...
. Because of her dark skin, some people believed she was African-American and, at an early age, she experienced discrimination on several occasions. These experiences left a lasting impression, and contributed to her civil rights activism as an adult. In 1946, she enrolled at the University of Cincinatti and at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where she studied to be a concert pianist, and ultimately graduated from New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
in 1950 with a degree in Sociology.
Civil Rights Work
In 1950, June Shagaloff Alexander joined the NAACP Legal Department, later the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, headed by Thurgood MarshallThurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from October 1967 until October 1991...
. Marshall, who would later become a Justice on the United States Supreme Court, believed that the success of litigation depended on its impact on families and their willingness to demand integration and send their children to integrated schools. Consequently, he hired Alexander, one of the few members of the department who was not a lawyer, to conduct social research and lead community organizing. As one of her first assignments, in 1952 Marshall sent her to Cairo, Illinois
Cairo, Illinois
Cairo is the southernmost city in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is the county seat of Alexander County. Cairo is located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. The rivers converge at Fort Defiance State Park, an American Civil War fort that was commanded by General Ulysses S. Grant...
to help the NAACP branch end school segregation. While she was in Cairo, she was arrested for conspiring to “endanger the health and life of certain children.” Marshall immediately flew to Cairo and, after many hours at the jailhouse, negotiated her release.
On another assignment, she helped develop the social research which was critical in the NAACP’s victory in the Supreme Courts’ 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
, which ended legal segregation in America. She aided psychologist Kenneth Clark
Kenneth and Mamie Clark
Kenneth Bancroft Clark and Mamie Phipps Clark were African-American psychologists who as a married team conducted important research among children and were active in the Civil Rights Movement...
in examining experiences of children in segregated schools and in the process of desegregating various institutions. They found that children in segregated schools that offered similar material resources were nevertheless impacted negatively by the fact of segregation, including the development of lower esteem and motivation levels. This research led the Supreme Court to overcome the “Separate but Equal” doctrine that had been established in the 19th century by Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 , is a landmark United States Supreme Court decision in the jurisprudence of the United States, upholding the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation in private businesses , under the doctrine of "separate but equal".The decision was handed...
. Clark and Shagaloff Alexander also found no evidence that gradual desegregation offered advantages over quick action, which led to the NAACP’s position that desegregation must be implemented quickly to be effective. Also in preparation for arguments in the Brown case, she researched congressional hearings on the Fourtheenth Amendment to discern the extent to which drafters intended equality to include education, working with historian John Hope Franklin
John Hope Franklin
John Hope Franklin was a United States historian and past president of Phi Beta Kappa, the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association, and the Southern Historical Association. Franklin is best known for his work From Slavery to Freedom, first published in 1947, and...
. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the NAACP, ending legal segregation, on May 17, 1954. After the Brown decision, she continued her work at the NAACP on education issues and school desegregation.
In 1961, she became the first Education Director of the national NAACP, then headed by Roy Wilkins
Roy Wilkins
Roy Wilkins was a prominent civil rights activist in the United States from the 1930s to the 1970s. Wilkins' most notable role was in his leadership of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ....
. Her work organizing local communities together with local chapters of the NAACP, fighting for desegregation, and mobilizing parents brought her to many towns and cities across the United States. On occasions, she worked with various civil rights leaders, such as Martin Luther King, tried to influence political leaders, such as Robert Kennedy, together with James Baldwin
James Baldwin
James Baldwin was an American novelist, essayist and civil rights activist.James Baldwin may also refer to:-Writers:*James Baldwin , American educator, writer and administrator...
, gave speeches, and wrote articles. Shagaloff Alexander retired from the NAACP in 1972. In recent years, her work has been recognized in historical accounts of the civil rights movement, and she received awards honoring her work and its impact.
Later Activities
June Shagaloff married Michael Alexander in 1970, and they have a son named David. In 1972, they moved to IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, living in Ashkelon
Ashkelon
Ashkelon is a coastal city in the South District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The ancient seaport of Ashkelon dates back to the Neolithic Age...
until 1983. Alexander helped found the Ashkelon chapter of Peace Now, and worked as a substitute English teacher. In 1983, she moved with her family to Amityville, NY, where she was active with the local NAACP chapter and then, in 1984, to West Nyack, New York. She has been active in the Clarkstown PTA and is a member of the Board of Directors of West Street Child Care Learning Center.