An excerpt from Chapter One of Ahead of Their Time - The Story of The Omaha DePorres Club
Woodrow Foyosa Morgan was twenty-five when he finished Air Force pilot training in October of 1943. He became a fighter pilot, flying missions in Europe and North Africa. In May of 1944, Morgan’s P-40 Warhawk was shot down while on a mission over northern Italy. He was captured by German soldiers and marched, along with other Allied prisoners, to a prisoner of war camp in Germany. In January of 1945, as the German army retreated from advancing Allied forces, Morgan and the rest of the camp’s prisoners were moved - marching in the bitter cold to a prisoner of war camp near Moosburg, Germany. Near the end of the march, Morgan collapsed and was dragged the remaining distance by two fellow prisoners of war. The Moosburg camp was liberated in April of 1945 by U.S. troops under the command of General George Patton. First Lieutenant Morgan left the service in November and returned to his wife Juanita and three year-old son, Woodrow Jr. in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. He brought with him a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.
Woodrow Morgan returned to the job he had held before joining the Air Force; as a waiter on the Union Pacific Railroad. Juanita gave birth to Gary Vincent in August of 1946; Portia Margaret arrived in July of 1948, and in the fall of 1950 the Morgans purchased a home for their growing family.
The house that the Morgans purchased was located on the southwest corner of 31st and Parker in North Omaha. Today, to the east is the Fellowship Worship Center. To the north, across Parker Street, is a vacant lot, the former site of the Hilltop Homes housing project. To the northwest is Prospect Hill, one of Omaha’s oldest cemeteries. But in 1950, the most important detail about the house’s location was that it sat one block west of 30th Street – the western boundary of the Near North Side - the section of the city designated for Omaha’s Negro population.
Woodrow Morgan had been one of the Tuskegee Airmen, the Air Force’s all Negro air support unit. He had completed his pilot training at Tuskegee University in Alabama and flew his fighter missions with the 332nd Fighter Group, part of the 99th Fighter Squadron known as the “Red Tails.” But Morgan’s prospective neighbors didn’t know about his war-time heroics, nor would they likely have cared. They saw a Negro family moving into their neighborhood and responded by threatening the Morgans; throwing paint at the house and breaking out several windows with rocks in an attempt to keep them from moving in.
Although he had been through too much and had worked too hard to be scared off by a small group of rock-throwing bigots, Woodrow Morgan realized that he might need some assistance as he moved his young family into their new home. So he reached out to Whitney Young, Executive Secretary of the Omaha Urban League. Young, who would go on to national prominence in the 1960s as the Executive Director of the National Urban League, in turn reached out to the one group he knew of in Omaha that might be willing to take the necessary steps to help the Morgans.
On September 25, 1950, Whitney Young spoke at the weekly meeting of the Omaha DePorres Club, sharing the story about the Morgans and their predicament. Young reported that the family had not moved in yet, and he volunteered to “draw up a statement to be distributed at the nearby homes.” The DePorres Club decided to reach out to the family and their new neighbors – agreeing that some “more mature members of the club call on these people to quiet their fears.”
Woodrow Foyosa Morgan was twenty-five when he finished Air Force pilot training in October of 1943. He became a fighter pilot, flying missions in Europe and North Africa. In May of 1944, Morgan’s P-40 Warhawk was shot down while on a mission over northern Italy. He was captured by German soldiers and marched, along with other Allied prisoners, to a prisoner of war camp in Germany. In January of 1945, as the German army retreated from advancing Allied forces, Morgan and the rest of the camp’s prisoners were moved - marching in the bitter cold to a prisoner of war camp near Moosburg, Germany. Near the end of the march, Morgan collapsed and was dragged the remaining distance by two fellow prisoners of war. The Moosburg camp was liberated in April of 1945 by U.S. troops under the command of General George Patton. First Lieutenant Morgan left the service in November and returned to his wife Juanita and three year-old son, Woodrow Jr. in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. He brought with him a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.
Woodrow Morgan returned to the job he had held before joining the Air Force; as a waiter on the Union Pacific Railroad. Juanita gave birth to Gary Vincent in August of 1946; Portia Margaret arrived in July of 1948, and in the fall of 1950 the Morgans purchased a home for their growing family.
The house that the Morgans purchased was located on the southwest corner of 31st and Parker in North Omaha. Today, to the east is the Fellowship Worship Center. To the north, across Parker Street, is a vacant lot, the former site of the Hilltop Homes housing project. To the northwest is Prospect Hill, one of Omaha’s oldest cemeteries. But in 1950, the most important detail about the house’s location was that it sat one block west of 30th Street – the western boundary of the Near North Side - the section of the city designated for Omaha’s Negro population.
Woodrow Morgan had been one of the Tuskegee Airmen, the Air Force’s all Negro air support unit. He had completed his pilot training at Tuskegee University in Alabama and flew his fighter missions with the 332nd Fighter Group, part of the 99th Fighter Squadron known as the “Red Tails.” But Morgan’s prospective neighbors didn’t know about his war-time heroics, nor would they likely have cared. They saw a Negro family moving into their neighborhood and responded by threatening the Morgans; throwing paint at the house and breaking out several windows with rocks in an attempt to keep them from moving in.
Although he had been through too much and had worked too hard to be scared off by a small group of rock-throwing bigots, Woodrow Morgan realized that he might need some assistance as he moved his young family into their new home. So he reached out to Whitney Young, Executive Secretary of the Omaha Urban League. Young, who would go on to national prominence in the 1960s as the Executive Director of the National Urban League, in turn reached out to the one group he knew of in Omaha that might be willing to take the necessary steps to help the Morgans.
On September 25, 1950, Whitney Young spoke at the weekly meeting of the Omaha DePorres Club, sharing the story about the Morgans and their predicament. Young reported that the family had not moved in yet, and he volunteered to “draw up a statement to be distributed at the nearby homes.” The DePorres Club decided to reach out to the family and their new neighbors – agreeing that some “more mature members of the club call on these people to quiet their fears.”
Copyright 2013 Matthew Holland