Maceo Conrad Martin
Maceo Conrad Martin Sr. (18 June 1897 – 29 September 1981) was an American banker and civil rights activist. Early life and family. He was born on 18 June 1897 in Danville, Virginia. His father Romey Orlando Martin, a farmer and teacher, and 21 other African American men founded the Savings Bank of Danville on September 8, 1919. His brother Martin A. Martin (1910–1963) became a prominent civil rights attorney and law partner of famed civil rights attorney, Oliver Hill, and on May 31, 1943 the first African American to serve as a trial attorney for the U.S.  Department of Justice, although he would quit after about a year and return to his civil rights work, including leading the Danville NAACP office and later defending the Martinsville Seven. Career. After graduating from Virginia Union University (during which he interned at a Richmond Bank), he began working for the Savings Bank of Danville as an assistant cashier, and rose to become the institution's fourth president in 1952, and continued as chairman of the board until 1970. During his tenure, the well-run institution reopened as the Danville Savings and Trust Company in April 1933 during the Great Depression , became "First State Bank" in 1953, and now as "Movement Bank" is now Virginia's oldest African American-owned financial institution. He also became President of the National Bankers Association. Personal life. He married Elaine Lavinia Henderson Martin (1896–1932) and they had three children including: He remarried and had a daughter: Civil Rights activist. In 1948, he and his family embarked on a vacation to Staunton River State Park. As expected, Park authorities denied the Martins entry to the state park based on their race. The Martins consulted the prestigious Richmond, Virginia-based civil rights law firm of Hill, Tucker  and Robinson, led by Oliver Hill. Hill's firm filed a civil suit against the Commonwealth of Virginia under the “separate but equal” doctrine. The suit alleged that Staunton River State Park's policy only allowed white citizens to use its facility, with no accommodations for African Americans. The Virginia Department of Conservation and Development first responded by converting a segregated African-American/"Colored Only" recreation area into a state park facility: the "Prince Edward State Park for Negroes" (now the Twin Lakes State Park (Virginia)). In 1949, Virginia Governor William Tuck allotted $195,000 to create 6 housekeeping cabins, an  expanded swimming area, expanded parking, a bathhouse, and concession stand. Opened to the general "Colored Only/African-Americans Only" public in June 1950, Prince Edward State Park for Negroes became the Commonwealth of Virginia's eighth state park and the only pre-Civil Rights Era state park for African-Americans. African Americans from across the mid-Atlantic states visited the park for its swimming, recreation, camping and dancing. In 1995, Virginia erected a marker to acknowledge his lawsuit's contribution to desegregating the park. During his tenure, his bank bailed out protesters during Danville’s 1963 civil rights movement. Critical  of police conduct towards demonstrators, he served as the only African American on a special seven-man grand jury formed during Danville's 1963 civil rights demonstrations and filed the sole dissent to protest the protesters' indictments. Moreover, his bank posted bond for all 20 jailed demonstrators. Later life. He died on 29 September 1981, at the age of 84.