Thomas I. Atkins

Atkins was born on March 2, 1939, in Elkhart, Indiana{{cite news|title=Thomas Atkins, IU's first African American student body president, being celebrated this weekend|url=http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/12435.html|access-date=27 June 2011|newspaper=Indiana University|date=November 4, 2009}} to a Pentecostal minister and a domestic worker.{{cite news|last=Manly|first=Howard|title=Atkins, first black Hub city councilor, dies at 69|url=http://baystatebanner.com/news/2008/jul/03/atkins-first-black-hub-city-councilor-dies-at-69/|access-date=24 October 2016|newspaper=The Bay State Banner}} As a child, he overcame a bout of polio. He was the first black student body president at Elkhart High School.

In 1960, he was elected student body president at Indiana University Bloomington. He was the school's first African American student body president as well as the first African American student body president in the Big Ten. That same year he married Sharon Soash, a 1960 graduate of Indiana University who served as his campaign manager when he ran for student body president.{{cite news|title=White Girl, Negro Wed In Michigan|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vVxSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6ngDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4507,49722|access-date=27 June 2011|newspaper=Associated Press|date=January 1, 1961}} The couple had to marry in Michigan because Indiana prohibited interracial marriage.{{cite news|title=Civil rights trailblazer Atkins dies at 69|newspaper=Boston Globe|date=June 29, 2008|author=Eric Moskowitz|author2=Mark Feeney}} Atkins graduated from Indiana in 1961 with a bachelor's degree in political science. In 1963 he earned a master's in Middle Eastern studies from Harvard University. In 1969 he graduated from Harvard Law School.

While at Harvard, Atkins served as executive secretary of Boston's NAACP office.{{cite news|title=Young Advocates Aid for Negroes|url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1964/10/30/young-advocates-aid-for-negroes-pwhitney/?print=1|access-date=27 June 2011|newspaper=The Harvard Crimson|date=October 30, 1964}} During the mid-1960s, he also hosted a Saturday talk show on Boston's Black radio station, WILD, where he discussed current events that affected the Black community. "Stations by Format," Billboard, September 18, 1965, p. 54. His co-host was Lovell Dyett, who later went on to become a talk show host on WBZ Radio. "Globe Editor on Radio," Boston Globe, August 13, 1965, p. 18.

Atkins was first elected to the Boston City Council in 1967,{{cite news|title=Negroes Win Many Races|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hmVYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1PcDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7525,2280049|access-date=26 June 2011|newspaper=Associated Press|date=November 8, 1967}} becoming the first Black elected to the position.{{Cite book |title=Black firsts: 500 years of trailblazing achievements and ground-breaking events |date=2021 |publisher=Visible Ink Press |isbn=978-1-57859-688-1 |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=Jessie Carney |edition=Fourth |location=Canton, MI |oclc=1225630568}} The day following the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Atkins convinced Mayor Kevin White not to cancel a James Brown concert that was to be held that evening at the Boston Garden and helped negotiate an agreement between White and Brown to have the concert televised by WGBH-TV. White and Atkins hoped that televising the concert would keep angry and frustrated teenagers at home and prevent the looting and rioting that was occurring in other cities.{{cite news|last=Trott|first=Robert W.| title=How Brown soothed a city| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gOQyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jQcGAAAAIBAJ&pg=6716,942138| access-date= May 7, 2019| agency=Associated Press | work = Freelance Star (Fredericksburg VA) |date=April 3, 1993}}

The concert has been credited with preventing riots from breaking out in Boston.{{cite news|last=Gallo|first=Phil|title=The Night James Brown Saved Boston|url=https://variety.com/2008/scene/markets-festivals/the-night-james-brown-saved-boston-1200535399/|access-date=May 7, 2019|newspaper=Variety|date=April 3, 2008}}{{cite news|last=Weiss|first=Joanna|title=A soul singer and a city on verge of breakdown|url=http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2008/04/04/a_soul_singer_and_a_city_on_verge_of_breakdown/|access-date=May 7, 2019|newspaper=The Boston Globe|date=April 4, 2008}}

In 1971, Atkins ran for Mayor of Boston. He finished in fourth place with 11 percent of the vote.{{cite book|title=Annual Report of the Election Department|year=1972|page=44|url=https://archive.org/stream/annualreportofbo1971bost#page/44/mode/2up}}

On October 26, 1971, Atkins was appointed Secretary of Communities and Development by Governor Francis W. Sargent.{{cite news|last=Ellis|first=David|title=Atkins named development secretary|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/1953246582.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107070952/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/1953246582.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI|archive-date=November 7, 2012|access-date=26 June 2011|newspaper=Boston Globe|date=October 27, 1971}} He was sworn in on November 1, 1971,{{cite news|title=Atkins takes oath for cabinet job|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/1953275922.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107071436/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/1953275922.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&|archive-date=November 7, 2012|access-date=26 June 2011|newspaper=Boston Globe|date=November 2, 1971}} becoming the first African-American to serve as a state Cabinet Secretary.

Atkins served as associate trial counsel for the plaintiffs in Morgan v. Hennigan.{{cite web|title=Morgan v. Hennigan|url=http://www.masshist.org/longroad/02education/morgan.htm|work=The Massachusetts Historical Society|access-date=27 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608064840/http://www.masshist.org/longroad/02education/morgan.htm|archive-date=2011-06-08}}

On July 16, 1974, Atkins was named interim president of the Boston branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.{{cite news|title=Atkins new president of Hub NAACP|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/1975282752.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107071448/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/1975282752.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI|archive-date=November 7, 2012|access-date=26 June 2011|newspaper=Boston Globe|date=July 17, 1974|author=Walter Haynes|author2=Ron Hutson}} He was elected to a full two-year term on December 18, 1974.{{cite news|title=Atkins elected NAACP head|newspaper=Boston Globe|date=December 19, 1974}} As a Boston's NAACP President, Atkins was a central figure during contentious battle over desegregation busing in Boston.

In addition to serving as President of the Boston branch, Atkins was also the NAACP's chief desegregation counsel nationally.{{cite news|last=Schumacher|first=Edward|title=Ohio Cities Gird for Court-Ordered Busing|newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 1, 1979}} In this capacity he was the chief counsel in organization's desegregation lawsuits in Youngstown, Ohio,{{cite news|title=Ohio desegregation suit ruling seen as 'contrary'|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lnslAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LPUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1196,1573403|access-date=26 June 2011|newspaper=The Washington Afro-American|date=April 18, 1978}} Columbus, Ohio, San Francisco, Cleveland,{{cite news|title=NAACP Continues Integration Drive|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=J0AxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=hwIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7011,7152082|access-date=26 June 2011|newspaper=Associated Press|date=January 15, 1979}} and Milwaukee{{cite news|last=Bednarek|first=David I.|title=Reynolds Wrong, NAACP Brief Says|url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jmMaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-yoEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6636,3059575|access-date=26 June 2011|newspaper=The Milwaukee Journal|date=September 16, 1979}}

In 1980, he succeeded Nathaniel R. Jones as general counsel of the NAACP.{{cite news|last=Osgood|first=Viola|title=NAACP Appoints Atkins Top Counsel|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/685574241.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107071504/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/685574241.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT|archive-date=November 7, 2012|access-date=26 June 2011|newspaper=Boston Globe|date=April 16, 1980}} In 1983, Atkins was named executive director of the NAACP by Chairperson Margaret Bush Wilson. However, the organization's board of directors sided with suspended executive director Benjamin Hooks and Hooks was reinstated.{{cite news|title=Atty. Atkins Taken Off NAACP Cases|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/661896241.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107071516/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/661896241.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT|archive-date=November 7, 2012|access-date=27 June 2011|newspaper=Boston Globe|date=March 20, 1985|author=Irene Sege|author2=Robert A. Jordan}} Atkins resigned as counsel in 1984 to return to private law practice.{{cite news|title=N.A.A. C.P.'s Counsel To Lea ve Office in July|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/04/10/us/naacp-s-counsel-to-leave-office-in-july.html| access-date=26 June 2011|newspaper=The New York Times|date=April 10, 1984}}

Atkins and his wife separated in 1984. They would divorce four years later.

Atkins died in Brooklyn on June 27, 2008 from complications from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.{{cite news|url=http://archive.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/gallery/062808_thomas_atkins/|title=Thomas I. Atkins, champion of equality, dies at 69|last=Moskowitz|first=Eric|date=June 28, 2008|newspaper=The Boston Globe|access-date=26 June 2011}}

{{Reflist|3}}

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{{s-bef | before = Position created}}

{{s-ttl | title = Massachusetts Secretary of Communities and Development | years = 1971–1975}}

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{{NAACPLegalCounsel}}

{{Francis W. Sargent cabinet}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkins, Thomas I}}

Category:1939 births

Category:2008 deaths

Category:Boston City Council members

Category:Harvard Law School alumni

Category:Indiana University Bloomington alumni

Category:Lawyers from Boston

Category:People from Elkhart, Indiana

Category:State cabinet secretaries of Massachusetts

Category:20th-century Massachusetts politicians

Category:20th-century American lawyers