Pride, Inc. chair Catfish Mayfield: 1967 ca.
Rufus “Catfish” Mayfield, a youthful community activist and chair of Pride, Inc.—the black job training and employment organization that Marion Barry helped organize—is shown in an undated photograph at an unknown location circa 1967.
Mayfield gained prominence as an activist in the city when he led a campaign against police brutality in the spring of 1967 after a friend was shot and killed by police.
After police officer William L. Ruff shot and killed Clarence Booker in Northeast Washington, D.C., the 20-year-old Mayfield led a series of protests, including a sit-in demanding a citizens inquiry into the shooting.
A grand jury was convened, but no indictment returned.
The confrontations, however, caught the eye of former D.C. Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee chair Marion Barry.
Barry quit SNCC earlier in the year, took a job with the United Planning Organization and was looking for ways to further black economic empowerment.
He teamed up with Mayfield and Mary Treadwell to form Pride, Inc. on a $300,000 grant to put inner city young people to work during a summer jobs program.
Mayfield became chairman of the board and the chief spokesperson for Pride and led the effort of 1,000 youths in green uniforms to clean up litter, clear weeds and remove trash from a number of targeted neighborhoods during the summer of 1967.
The choice of Mayfield led Rep. Joel Broyhill (D-Va.) to blast Pride, Inc.
He said the U.S. Department of Labor, which provided the funding, was “guilty of a direct and deliberate affront to the House and Senate of the United States Congress in placing convicted felon Rufus Mayfield in a position of guidance and authority over 900 District of Columbia youth.”
Broyhill also attacked the program for paying $56 a week which he said would “undoubtedly be more than the fathers earn in many instances.”
Mayfield survived Broyhill’s attack and the Pride ultimately received $1 million more in funding to carry the program through for a full year.
However, the District police charged him in separate incidents with assault and auto theft in arrests that were covered widely in the local press, although charges were ultimately dropped in both cases.
By November, Mayfield resigned from Pride—under internal pressure, according to Mayfield. Treadwell, Barry and executive director Carroll Harvey allegedly were taking the organization in a direction that Mayfield disagreed with, although whatever differences existed were never spelled out publicly.
While his star shined brightly for only a few months, Mayfield was responsible for inspiring young people in the District and in launching what became Marion Barry’s summer jobs for youth program.
He later found work as a stand-up comedian before Mayor Marion Barry gave him a job as a community relations specialist in 1985 with the Department of Human Services.
Mayfield briefly resurfaced publicly in 1991 when he led a campaign against newly-elected Mayor Sharon Pratt Dixon’s effort to fire 2,000 District employees grade DS-11 and above. Mayfield lost the battle to keep his job, but was rehired to the D.C. government in 1995 where he helped lead an immunization campaign for D.C. children among other responsibilities.
Mayfield has continued to remain active in D.C. political life, campaigning more recently for Muriel Bowser, but he will probably best be remembered for the fiery youth who sought to uplift District of Columbia young people.
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsmJwY9vb
The photographer is unknown. The image is courtesy of the D.C. Public Library Washington Star Collection © Washington Post.
Pride, Inc. chair Catfish Mayfield: 1967 ca.
Rufus “Catfish” Mayfield, a youthful community activist and chair of Pride, Inc.—the black job training and employment organization that Marion Barry helped organize—is shown in an undated photograph at an unknown location circa 1967.
Mayfield gained prominence as an activist in the city when he led a campaign against police brutality in the spring of 1967 after a friend was shot and killed by police.
After police officer William L. Ruff shot and killed Clarence Booker in Northeast Washington, D.C., the 20-year-old Mayfield led a series of protests, including a sit-in demanding a citizens inquiry into the shooting.
A grand jury was convened, but no indictment returned.
The confrontations, however, caught the eye of former D.C. Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee chair Marion Barry.
Barry quit SNCC earlier in the year, took a job with the United Planning Organization and was looking for ways to further black economic empowerment.
He teamed up with Mayfield and Mary Treadwell to form Pride, Inc. on a $300,000 grant to put inner city young people to work during a summer jobs program.
Mayfield became chairman of the board and the chief spokesperson for Pride and led the effort of 1,000 youths in green uniforms to clean up litter, clear weeds and remove trash from a number of targeted neighborhoods during the summer of 1967.
The choice of Mayfield led Rep. Joel Broyhill (D-Va.) to blast Pride, Inc.
He said the U.S. Department of Labor, which provided the funding, was “guilty of a direct and deliberate affront to the House and Senate of the United States Congress in placing convicted felon Rufus Mayfield in a position of guidance and authority over 900 District of Columbia youth.”
Broyhill also attacked the program for paying $56 a week which he said would “undoubtedly be more than the fathers earn in many instances.”
Mayfield survived Broyhill’s attack and the Pride ultimately received $1 million more in funding to carry the program through for a full year.
However, the District police charged him in separate incidents with assault and auto theft in arrests that were covered widely in the local press, although charges were ultimately dropped in both cases.
By November, Mayfield resigned from Pride—under internal pressure, according to Mayfield. Treadwell, Barry and executive director Carroll Harvey allegedly were taking the organization in a direction that Mayfield disagreed with, although whatever differences existed were never spelled out publicly.
While his star shined brightly for only a few months, Mayfield was responsible for inspiring young people in the District and in launching what became Marion Barry’s summer jobs for youth program.
He later found work as a stand-up comedian before Mayor Marion Barry gave him a job as a community relations specialist in 1985 with the Department of Human Services.
Mayfield briefly resurfaced publicly in 1991 when he led a campaign against newly-elected Mayor Sharon Pratt Dixon’s effort to fire 2,000 District employees grade DS-11 and above. Mayfield lost the battle to keep his job, but was rehired to the D.C. government in 1995 where he helped lead an immunization campaign for D.C. children among other responsibilities.
Mayfield has continued to remain active in D.C. political life, campaigning more recently for Muriel Bowser, but he will probably best be remembered for the fiery youth who sought to uplift District of Columbia young people.
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsmJwY9vb
The photographer is unknown. The image is courtesy of the D.C. Public Library Washington Star Collection © Washington Post.