Milton Arthur Galamison (March 25, 1923 – March 9, 1988) was a Presbyterian minister, a community activist, and a pioneer in Christian broadcasting. The collection consists of four films relating to Galamison's life, dating from circa 1950 to 1988.
Milton Arthur Galamison (March 25, 1923 – March 9, 1988) was a Presbyterian minister, a community activist, and a pioneer in Christian broadcasting.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Galamison studied at Lincoln University, earning a bachelor of divinity in 1947. He received a master of theology from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1949, and a doctor of divinity from Lincoln University in 1961. Galamison became pastor of Siloam Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, New York, in 1948. As pastor, he grew the congregation and expanded the church's role in the community by establishing services including a career guidance center, a mental health clinic, academic tutoring, and a credit union. Through the 1950s, Galamison often made appearances on Christian radio and television programs.
Galamison was an outspoken advocate for the integration, decentralization, and community control of New York City public schools. He served as chair of the Education Committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)'s Brooklyn chapter from 1955 to 1957, and as president of the chapter from 1957 to 1959. In 1960, Galamison founded the Parent's Workshop for Equality in New York City Schools to present integration proposals to the New York City Board of Education. He was an organizer of the Citywide Committee for Integrated Schools, which pushed for integration by leading boycotts of public schools beginning in 1963. Galamison founded the Citywide Coalition for Community Control in 1967, to advocate for a decentralized school system and to encourage parents to participate. That same year, he also organized Opportunities Industrialization Center, a vocational school, in Brooklyn. John V. Lindsay, the mayor of New York City, appointed Galamison to the Board of Education in July 1968.
Galamison served as pastor of Siloam Presbyterian Church until his death in 1988.
The collection consists of four films relating to the life of Milton Galamison, dating from circa 1950 to 1988. They are organized alphabetically by title, and then chronologically. The films are from Galamison's personal home movie collection.
Sondra Hodges, 1990.
Collection inventoried by Nathan Evans. Collection processed and described by Lyric Evans-Hunter, archivist. Finding aid published in 2025.
See the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division for the Milton Galamison papers, Sc MG 394.
See the Babette Edwards Education Reform in Harlem audio and moving image collection, Sc MIRS Edwards 2008-05, for a video of Milton Galamison speaking about educational reform.
At the time of publishing, four films are not available pending digitization.