Pitcher, W. Alvin. Papers, 1928-1993

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Religion and Theology

African American Studies

Chicago and Illinois

Politics, Public Policy and Political Reform

University of Chicago - Student Activism, 1960s

Series VII includes student evaluative material restricted until 2062. The remainder of the collection is open for research.

When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: W. Alvin Pitcher. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library

William Alvin Pitcher (1913-1996) spent much of his academic career at the University of Chicago and served at several Hyde Park churches in both ministerial and lay capacities. He was deeply involved in civic life on the South Side of Chicago, working with Operation Breadbasket (an arm of Martin Luther King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference) in the 1960s and 1970s, helping to found a cooperative house in Woodlawn that is still in existence today, and participating in a variety of community development groups into the 1990s. Born in Downers Grove, Illinois, Pitcher received a B.S. from the University of Chicago in 1934 and a Ph.D. from the University’s Divinity School in 1955. He was ordained by the Congregational Church in 1940. Beginning in 1944 he served as an Associate Professor of Religion and Director of the Christian Emphasis Program at Denison University in Ohio, before returning to the University of Chicago as an Instructor in the Divinity School in 1952. He was appointed Assistant Professor in 1955 and promoted to Associate Professor in 1961, helping to shape the Ethics and Society field at the Divinity School and teaching courses in social ethics until his retirement in 1977. In 1994, he published Listen to the Crying of the Earth, which addressed the connection between theology and environmental issues. Pitcher was married to Emma Hayes Bickham from 1938 to 1971 and to Sara Wallace from 1971 until his death in 1996.

Pitcher was administrative assistant to Al Raby, head of the Coordinating Council of Community Organizations, from 1965-1970 and was involved in the Chicago Freedom Movement organized by the CCCO and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He served on the Agenda Committee for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 1965 visit to Chicago and then as secretary for the Chicago Freedom Movement and logistics coordinator for its open housing marches and demonstrations. After King’s assassination in 1968, Pitcher, with the sponsorship of the Urban Training Center for Christian Mission, formed the Committee for One Society, a group dedicated to fighting racism. From 1966-1970 he served on the staff of SCLC’s Operation Breadbasket, working closely with its head, Reverend Jesse Jackson, in campaigns to promote economic development in black communities and combat institutional racism among Chicago businesses. Operation Breadbasket formed agreements with several major retailers to ensure the hiring and promotion of black employees and the distribution of products sold by black-owned businesses. He served as coordinator for the Construction Spoke of the Breadbasket Commercial Association, a subsidiary group assisting black contractors and tradesmen. Pitcher remained a supporter of Jackson after the latter dissolved Breadbasket to found Operation PUSH.

Pitcher was active in Hyde Park Baptist Church (later Hyde Park Union Church) throughout the 1950s and 1960s, serving as a deacon, teaching Sunday school, and leading committees. He also belonged to the Chicago Baptist Association and to the Church Federation of Chicago, where he served on the Social Concerns Committee and as a Board member. In 1971 he left Hyde Park Union Church and later joined University Church, where he helped to found the Covenantal Community of University Church, an intentional community which formed a housing cooperative in the Woodlawn neighborhood. He served as University Church’s Minister for Christian Community Development and continued to live and work with the Covenantal Community after the ministry position was dissolved by the church. Pitcher also served on the board of the Covenant Development Corporation, an organization which rehabilitated buildings in Woodlawn and partnered with other community groups to promote development in the area. He also served on the board of Evangelical Health Systems and was active in the Woodlawn Ministerial Alliance. Pitcher continued to speak and write on social justice, ethics, theology, politics, and the environment until the end of his life. He died in Chicago in 1996 and was survived by his wife Sara, three sons, two daughters, and nine grandchildren.

The Alvin Pitcher papers span the years 1946 to 1993 and include his years teaching at Denison University in Ohio and the University of Chicago, his involvement in the civil rights movement, and his participation in a range of community groups, professional and civic organizations, and churches in Chicago and Hyde Park. Included are manuscripts, correspondence, press clippings, records from organizations with which Pitcher was involved, publications, and other documents. Pitcher maintained files on a variety of subjects, which have been left as he organized them; thus, there are some files with similar titles or contents, particularly in Series I. Materials from the later years of the collection, particularly the 1970s and 1980s, were not clearly identified or arranged; when these materials could be identified, they were filed according to the type of record (e.g. University Church Staff Meetings) or subject (e.g. Research on Sanctuary Movement). Some materials could not be identified, thus they have been included in “Miscellaneous” folders named for the subject or organization (e.g. Central America; Covenant Development Corporation) with which they appeared to be associated.

Series I: CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

This section contains records, notes, and research from Pitcher’s longtime involvement in key organizations of the civil rights movement in Chicago. As a staff member of the Coordinating Council of Community Organizations, Pitcher served on the committee formed by the CCCO and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to plan Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 1965 trip to Chicago. Pitcher then served on the Agenda Committee of the Chicago Freedom Movement, the group formed by the CCCO and SCLC to campaign against inequalities in housing, education, and economic opportunities for African-Americans. This series contains records of meetings as well as memos, correspondence, and press releases from these organizations. Included are plans and schedules for the 1966 Freedom Rally at Soldier Field as well as for other demonstrations and marches throughout the city. This series contains numerous records from the Open City campaign to combat discrimination and inequalities in housing, including reports from real estate “testers” who would attempt to rent or purchase homes in white communities, revealing that many real estate agencies were openly or subtly defying the Chicago City Council’s 1963 ordinance against racial discrimination in housing. Pitcher was also involved in the campaign against Chicago Public Schools Superintendent Benjamin Willis during this period, in which a number of civil rights and community organizations fought to have Willis removed from his post, charging that his refusal to engage in desegregation efforts violated the terms of federal education aid to Chicago schools and restricted black students to overcrowded, poorly-maintained schools and provided them with inadequate education. In this section are a number of documents concerning demonstrations against Willis and petitions for federal investigation of Chicago Public Schools. In 1968 Pitcher helped form the Committee for One Society, a group sponsored by the Urban Training Center for Christian Mission to focus on racism and social justice in Chicago. This series contains records of campaigns undertaken by the COS as well as its correspondence, meetings notes, and reports.

The majority of items in this series relate to Pitcher’s work with Operation Breadbasket, the economic arm of the SCLC headed by Jesse Jackson, in the later 1960s and early 1970s. Partnering with area ministers and their congregations, Breadbasket worked to secure employment and other economic opportunities for African-Americans with a number of companies, especially supermarkets and grocers operating in black communities. This section includes records of numerous such campaigns, accounts of meetings and planning efforts, and many internal memos and reports regarding the organization’s function and structure. Pitcher eventually served as the coordinator the Construction Spoke of the Breadbasket Commercial Association, a group dedicated to supporting and advancing black contractors and tradesmen. Pitcher’s weekly reports on the Construction Spoke are included in this section, as well as correspondence regarding various construction projects in Chicago and information about the members of the Spoke.

Pitcher remained a supporter of Jackson after the latter broke from the SCLC to form People United to Save Humanity, or Operation PUSH. The end of this series contains some documents from Pitcher’s work with PUSH in the 1980s. Information about other organizations involved in the civil rights movement in Chicago, with which Pitcher was involved or supported, is also included in this section. This series also contains a number of press clippings from the 1960s and early 1970s as well as Pitcher’s research files on various subjects involving race, urban issues, economics, and politics.

Series II: CIVIC AND CHURCH INVOLVEMENT

Items in this series range from the 1950s to the 1990s and include documents from the Church Federation of Greater Chicago, Hyde Park Baptist Church (later renamed Hyde Park Union Church), University Church, and the Woodlawn Ministerial Alliance. Pitcher served on the Board of the Church Federation, an interdenominational organization promoting social justice and community improvement in Chicago; included in this section are internal reports, minutes, and correspondence of the Federation as well as records of its research and activism around issues of race relations, schools, and employment. Pitcher was very active at Hyde Park Baptist Church throughout the 1950s and 1960s, and this section contains newsletters, financial statements, and annual reports from the church. Also included are documents from its Board of Deacons and Community Outreach Committee, both of which Pitcher served on. There are extensive notes and correspondence from two “Call Committees,” (committees leading the church’s search for new ministers) that Pitcher headed in the 1950s.

In the 1970s Pitcher joined University Church in Hyde Park and was involved in a variety of activities within the church in addition to serving as its Minister for Christian Community Development. Included in this series are notes from a number of church committees, minutes from church staff meetings, financial statements, correspondence, and annual reports. University Church sponsored study groups on a number of national and international issues, including nuclear weapons, U.S. foreign policy, and poverty; this series contains research and notes from these groups. Additional research and notes on some of these subjects are also located in Series V, General Research and Writing.

In the late 1970s Pitcher and other members of University Church began to research and discuss intentional communities and decided to form the Covenantal Community of University Church. With financial support from its denomination’s Board for Church Extension, University Church purchased an apartment building in Woodlawn and the Covenantal Community organized a housing cooperative there. Extensive information about the Covenantal Community and the housing cooperative can be found in this series, including its history, members, and community-building projects. Minutes of Board and residents’ meetings, financial reports, correspondence, and building rehabilitation and maintenance records are included in this series. Pitcher joined the Woodlawn Ministerial Alliance after moving to Woodlawn, and this section includes meeting minutes, correspondence, and records of that group’s programs. Pitcher later served on the Board of the Covenant Development Corporation, a nonprofit organization supporting community development in Woodlawn. Included in this series are meeting minutes, correspondence, and information about programs and partnerships of the CDC.

Series III: UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO AND DIVINITY SCHOOL

This small series contains records from the Divinity School and Pitcher’s program in Ethics and Society. Also included are correspondence and narratives pertaining to student demonstrations at the University of Chicago in the second half of the 1960s. Other documents pertaining to the University can be found Series I and Series IV.

Series IV: THEOLOGICAL AND MINISTERIAL WRITING

This section contains research, notes, and manuscript drafts of Pitcher’s theological writing as well as copies of sermons and notes for religious education programs. The manuscripts from the 1940s and early 1950s are primarily weekly talks given by Pitcher at Denison University in Ohio, where he directed the Christian Emphasis Program. Also included are notes for courses taught by Pitcher at Denison, the University of Chicago, and Hyde Park Baptist Church. Pitcher’s writings cover a range of topics that he links to religion and spirituality, from prayer and personal relationships to business ethics, foreign policy and the environment. This section also contains news clippings, manuscripts and articles by others, and research notes on many of these subjects. Several published articles of Pitcher’s are found in this series.

Series V: GENERAL RESEARCH AND WRITING

This series includes Pitcher’s research, notes, and writing from the 1970s to 1990s on a variety of social and political issues. Additional research and information about many of these subjects can be found in Series III, Civic and Church Involvement, in the University Church files. Much of the material in this series is related to United States foreign policy in Central America and the church sanctuary movement for Central American refugees; documents from Pitcher’s involvement with the Chicago Religious Task Force on Central America are located in this section.

Series VI: PERSONAL CORRESPONDENCE AND FILES

This series contains correspondence from the 1940s through 1990s. Much of the early correspondence is from Pitcher's first wife, Emma (“Bickie”), to whom he was married from 1938 to 1971. Also included is correspondence between Pitcher and his longtime colleagues Gibson Winter and Douglas Sturm, as well as between Pitcher and Harold Fey, editor of the ecumenical journal The Christian Century from 1955 to 1964. Also included are various speaking invitations and Pitcher's responses to them, exchanges with colleagues from various institutions, and letters from friends and family. At the end of this series are miscellaneous notes and other items not included in other series, as well as several calendars and appointment books, Pitcher's curriculum vitae, and a short autobiographical essay. Additional correspondence can be found in Series I, II, III, and IV.

Series VII: STUDENT FILES, 1953-1982

This series contains several letters of recommendation as well as correspondence regarding students’ grades. Student evaluative material is restricted for eighty years.

Series VIII: OVERSIZE

This series contains oversize press clippings, publications, and other documents from Series I, Civil Rights Movement. It also contains additional press clippings, chiefly from the 1960s and 1970s, collected by Pitcher that are not located in other series.

The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections:

• Names
  • Pitcher, W. Alvin
  • Jackson, Jesse, 1941-
  • King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968
  • Willis, Benjamin Ceppage, 1901-
  • Chicago Urban League
  • Church Federation of Greater Chicago
  • Denison University
  • Hyde Park Union Church
  • Operation PUSH
  • Southern Christian Leadership Conference
  • University of Chicago. Divinity School
• Subject
  • Apartment houses, cooperative
  • Church work with refugees -- United States
  • Civil Rights Movement
  • Civil Rights Demonstrations
  • Community development -- Illinois -- Chicago
  • Discrimination in employment
  • Discrimination in housing
  • Liberation theology
  • Nuclear disarmament
  • Poverty -- Illinois – Chicago
  • Religion and ethics
  • Sanctuary Movement
  • Segregation in Education
  • Theology -- Addresses, essays, lectures
  • Theology -- Social aspects
  • Theology -- Study and teaching
  • Urban renewal -- Illinois -- Chicago
  • Urban policy
• Geographic Coverage
  • Hyde Park (Chicago, Ill.)
  • Woodlawn (Chicago, Ill.)