Amistad Research Center’s Post

Another treasure found at the Amistad Research Center! From the Roland Tilman Heacock papers, Rev. Heacock (1893–1972), born in New Milford, Connecticut, graduated from Howard University in 1921 and later earned degrees from Yale Divinity School and Boston University. A longtime minister, he served at several congregations and made national headlines in 1950 when he became pastor of the all-white Staffordville Congregational Church, an appointment he used to critique racism and classism within Christianity. Honored with the Chicago Defender Award that same year and author of Understanding the Negro Protest (1965), Heacock was married to Lucille LaCour and retired in 1958 before his death in Stafford, Connecticut.