Robert O. Lowery

American fire department commissioner (1916 – 2001)

Robert O. Lowery

Robert O. Lowery in 1966

21st New York City Fire Commissioner
In office
January 1, 1966 – September 29, 1973
Mayor| John V. Lindsay
Preceded by| Martin Scott
Succeeded by| John T. O'Hagan
Personal details
Born| April 20, 1916
Buffalo, New York
Died| July 24, 2001 (aged 85)
New York, New York
Spouse| Viviane Lowery
Children| Trudy and Leslie Lowery

Robert Oliver Lowery (April 20, 1916 – July 24, 2001) was sworn in as the 21st New York City Fire Commissioner by Mayor John V. Lindsay on January 1, 1966, and held that position until his resignation on September 29, 1973.

## Biography

[edit]

Lowery left a job in Harlem as head usher for the Alhambra Theatre for his first civil service appointment. After taking a number of tests, he became a subway conductor for a year in the New York Transit Authority.[1] His next post was with the New York City Fire Department (FDNY). He was appointed as a fireman in 1941 and promoted to fire marshal in 1946, the same year that he won a commendation for arresting a man for 30 acts of arson and burglary. In 1960, he was cited for capturing an armed arsonist, and the year after became an acting lieutenant in the Bureau of Fire Investigation.[2] During this time, Lowery was an active member of the Vulcan Society and its president from 1946 to 1950, 1953 and 1954, 1957, and from 1959 to 1963.

On November 14, 1963, Lowery was appointed Deputy Fire Commissioner.[3] He addressed the racial issue head on, striving to increase the proportion of blacks and the sensitivity of whites. He also increased the number of black firefighters assigned to black neighborhoods, as well as the number of blacks in leadership roles.

On November 23, 1965, incoming mayor Lindsay announced the appointment of Lowery as Fire Commissioner of the New York City Fire Department. His was the first commissioner level appointment announced by the mayor-elect. Lowery, who was the first African American to be a fire commissioner of a major U.S. city, held that position for more than 7 years until his resignation on September 29, 1973, in order to campaign for then-controller, Abraham D. Beame, the Democratic candidate for mayor.[4]

Lowery died on July 24, 2001, in Manhattan at the age of 85.[5]

Either as tribute or by happenstance, his name is shown prominently in a scene of the first movie The Godfather, printed in bold red letters on a hospital fire safety box in the scene where Michael Corleone protects his father, Vito Corleone, against would-be assassins in the absence of his bodyguards. The action is set before 1946, however, so the reference is anachronistic.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Douglas Martin (July 27, 2001). "Robert Lowery, First Black Fire Commissioner, Dies at 85". The New York Times.
2. ^ History, Vulcan Society FDNY Archived 2007-07-22 at the Wayback Machine
3. ^ "Negro Appointed Deputy Fire Aide. Lowery Succeeds Ortiz". The New York Times. November 15, 1963. Retrieved March 25, 2010.
4. ^ Smith, Terence (November 24, 1965). "Lindsay Selects A Negro To Head Fire Department. Lowery, Democrat, Will Be First Of His Race To Hold That Commissionership". The New York Times. Retrieved March 25, 2010.
5. ^ Martin, Douglas (July 27, 2001). "Robert Lowery, First Black Fire Commissioner, Dies at 85". The New York Times. Retrieved March 25, 2010.

Fire appointments

Preceded by

Martin Scott

|  FDNY Commissioner
1966-1973  | Succeeded by

John T. O'Hagan

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New York City Fire Commissioners

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Civil rights movement (1954–1968)

Events
(timeline)|

| Prior to 1954|

* Journey of Reconciliation
* Executive Order 9981
* Murders of Harry and Harriette Moore
* Sweatt v. Painter (1950)
* McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents (1950)
* Baton Rouge bus boycott

|

1954–1959|

* Brown v. Board of Education
* Bolling v. Sharpe
* Briggs v. Elliott
* Davis v. Prince Edward County
* Gebhart v. Belton
* Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company
* Emmett Till
* Montgomery bus boycott
* Browder v. Gayle
* Tallahassee bus boycott
* Mansfield school desegregation
* 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom
* "Give Us the Ballot"
* Royal Ice Cream sit-in
* Little Rock Nine
* Cooper v. Aaron
* Civil Rights Act of 1957
* Ministers' Manifesto
* Katz Drug Store sit-in
* Kissing Case
* Biloxi wade-ins

1960–1963|

* New Year's Day March
* Sit-in movement
* Greensboro sit-ins
* Nashville sit-ins
* Sibley Commission
* Atlanta sit-ins
* Savannah Protest Movement
* Greenville Eight
* Civil Rights Act of 1960
* Ax Handle Saturday
* Gomillion v. Lightfoot
* Boynton v. Virginia
* University of Georgia desegregation riot
* Rock Hill sit-ins
* Robert F. Kennedy's Law Day Address
* Freedom Rides
* Anniston bombing
* Birmingham attack
* Garner v. Louisiana
* Albany Movement
* Cambridge movement
* University of Chicago sit-ins
* "Second Emancipation Proclamation"
* Meredith enrollment, Ole Miss riot
* Atlanta's Berlin Wall
* "Segregation now, segregation forever"
* Stand in the Schoolhouse Door
* 1963 Birmingham campaign
* Letter from Birmingham Jail
* Children's Crusade
* Birmingham riot
* 16th Street Baptist Church bombing
* John F. Kennedy's speech to the nation on Civil Rights
* Detroit Walk to Freedom
* March on Washington
* "I Have a Dream"
* Big Six
* St. Augustine movement

1964–1968|

* Twenty-fourth Amendment
* Chester school protests
* Bloody Tuesday
* 1964 Monson Motor Lodge protests
* Freedom Summer
* workers' murders
* Civil Rights Act of 1964
* Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States
* Katzenbach v. McClung
* 1964–1965 Scripto strike
* 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches
* "How Long, Not Long"
* Voting Rights Act of 1965
* Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections
* March Against Fear
* White House Conference on Civil Rights
* Chicago Freedom Movement/Chicago open housing movement
* Loving v. Virginia
* Memphis sanitation strike
* King assassination
* funeral
* riots
* Civil Rights Act of 1968
* Poor People's Campaign
* Green v. County School Board of New Kent County
* Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co.

Activist
groups|

* Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights
* Atlanta Negro Voters League
* Atlanta Student Movement
* Black Panther Party
* Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
* Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
* Committee for Freedom Now
* Committee on Appeal for Human Rights
* An Appeal for Human Rights
* Council for United Civil Rights Leadership
* Council of Federated Organizations
* Dallas County Voters League
* Deacons for Defense and Justice
* Georgia Council on Human Relations
* Highlander Folk School
* Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
* Lowndes County Freedom Organization
* Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
* Montgomery Improvement Association
* NAACP
* Youth Council
* Nashville Student Movement
* Nation of Islam
* Northern Student Movement
* National Council of Negro Women
* National Urban League
* Operation Breadbasket
* Regional Council of Negro Leadership
* Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
* Southern Regional Council
* Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
* The Freedom Singers
* United Auto Workers (UAW)
* Wednesdays in Mississippi
* Women's Political Council

Activists|

* Ralph Abernathy
* Victoria Gray Adams
* Zev Aelony
* Mathew Ahmann
* Muhammad Ali
* William G. Anderson
* Gwendolyn Armstrong
* Arnold Aronson
* Ella Baker
* James Baldwin
* Marion Barry
* Daisy Bates
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* Unita Blackwell
* Ezell Blair Jr.
* Joanne Bland
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* Amelia Boynton
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* Raylawni Branch
* Stanley Branche
* Ruby Bridges
* Aurelia Browder
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* Guy Carawan
* Stokely Carmichael
* Johnnie Carr
* James Chaney
* J. L. Chestnut
* Shirley Chisholm
* Colia Lafayette Clark
* Ramsey Clark
* Septima Clark
* Xernona Clayton
* Eldridge Cleaver
* Kathleen Cleaver
* Josephine Dobbs Clement
* Charles E. Cobb Jr.
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* Dorothy Cotton
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* Q. V. Williamson
* Andrew Young
* Whitney Young
* Sammy Younge Jr.
* Bob Zellner
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By region|

* Omaha, Nebraska
* South Carolina

Movement
songs|

* "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round"
* "If You Miss Me at the Back of the Bus"
* "Kumbaya"
* "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize"
* "Oh, Freedom"
* "This Little Light of Mine"
* "We Shall Not Be Moved"
* "We Shall Overcome"
* "Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind Stayed On Freedom)"

Influences|

* Nonviolence
* Padayatra
* Sermon on the Mount
* Mahatma Gandhi
* Ahimsa
* Satyagraha
* The Kingdom of God Is Within You
* Frederick Douglass
* W. E. B. Du Bois
* Mary McLeod Bethune

Related|

* Jim Crow laws
* Lynching in the United States
* Plessy v. Ferguson
* Separate but equal
* Buchanan v. Warley
* Hocutt v. Wilson
* Sweatt v. Painter
* Hernandez v. Texas
* Loving v. Virginia
* African-American women in the movement
* Jews in the civil rights movement
* Fifth Circuit Four
* 16th Street Baptist Church
* Kelly Ingram Park
* A.G. Gaston Motel
* Bethel Baptist Church
* Brown Chapel
* Dexter Avenue Baptist Church
* Holt Street Baptist Church
* Edmund Pettus Bridge
* March on Washington Movement
* African-American churches attacked
* List of lynching victims in the United States
* Freedom Schools
* Freedom songs
* Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam
* "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence"
* Voter Education Project
* 1960s counterculture
* African American founding fathers of the United States
* Eyes on the Prize

Legacy|

* In popular culture
* Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
* Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument
* Civil Rights Memorial
* Civil Rights Movement Archive
* Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument
* Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument
* Freedom Rides Museum
* Freedom Riders National Monument
* King Center for Nonviolent Social Change
* Martin Luther King Jr. Day
* Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
* other King memorials
* Mississippi Civil Rights Museum
* National Civil Rights Museum
* National Voting Rights Museum
* St. Augustine Foot Soldiers Monument

Noted
historians|

* Taylor Branch
* Clayborne Carson
* John Dittmer
* Michael Eric Dyson
* Chuck Fager
* Adam Fairclough
* David Garrow
* David Halberstam
* Vincent Harding
* Steven F. Lawson
* Doug McAdam
* Diane McWhorter
* Charles M. Payne
* Thomas E. Ricks
* Timothy Tyson
* Akinyele Umoja
* Movement photographers

Civil rights movement portal

Authority control databases

International|

* FAST
* ISNI
* VIAF
* WorldCat

National|

* United States

Other|

* SNAC

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