David Glenn interview

Description

David L. Glenn (1925-2001) was a civil rights activist and Maryland state government administrator. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Glenn entered the Army Air Forces after high school and served with the Tuskegee Airmen as an aerial radio operator and gunner. In 1965 he joined Mayor Theodore R. McKeldin's administration and from 1967 to 1973 Glenn was the director of the Baltimore Community Relations Commission. In 1978, Glenn was named executive director of the Maryland Human Relations Commission by Governor Blair Lee, III. In this oral history interview, Glenn provides insight into McKeldin’s motives, methods, and character as well as describes how he and the mayor developed a close relationship. He explains that McKeldin was a proponent for civil action, courteous diplomacy, and discussing his methods of administration. Glenn also describes the passing of the Omnibus Civil Rights Act in 1964, which paved the way for wider desegregation of property and racial equality in the city. He also recollects when C.O.R.E. (Congress of Racial Equality) labeled Baltimore, Maryland as a target city and how this proved to be helpful rather than harmful in facilitating progress in the region.