Anna McGarry

Infobox Person
name = Anna M. McGarry

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image_size =
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birth_date = March 17, 1894
birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
death_date = January 2, 1978
death_place = Loveland, Ohio
nationality = American
occupation = Social Action Leader, Community Organizer
religion = Roman Catholic

Anna M. McGarry (March 17, 1894 - January 2, 1978) was a leading U.S. advocate in interracial justice and veteran social action leader. Most of her work occurred in the city of Philadelphia, where she was a central figure in improving race relations. She was also a journalist for the Philadelphia Tribune.

Early life

Anna McGarry was born on March 17, 1894 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to John and Sara McGinley. One of eight children, she attended parochial school in Philadelphia and two years of commercial high school. She worked as a bookkeeper with National Label Company early in her life. She married Francis McGarry in 1917, who left her a widow in 1921.

Social work

After her husband’s death in 1921 she began to take an active role in repairing inhospitable race relations in Philadelphia. As a young widow in Philadelphia, she was aghast by the social inequalities inherent in her own neighborhood. She dedicated her life to social justice, spreading word of the mounting problems during the 1930s by teaching. Beginning with World War II, she helped found and began working with the Philadelphia Catholic Interracial Council, becoming a staff member of the city’s Commission on Human Relations and fighting for fair employment practices for African Americans in that capacity. She was a critical figure in mollifying the often fiery Irish transit union leaders when African Americans obtained jobs in the city’s transit system in the aftermath of World War II, demonstrating her abilities as a successful mediator between exceptionally hostile parties.

She hosted a weekly radio program on interracial justice and wrote a weekly column on it in an African-American Philadelphia newspaper. A leading figure in the National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice and the National Catholic Social Action Conference, she went on to press for equal access to educational, housing, and public facilities for all, regardless of race, even after her 1959 formal retirement. She remained active in those organizations after her retirement, and she continued to tour and give public speeches in an attempt to raise awareness of the high social and economic barriers faced by African Americans. While the Catholic Church condoned her message of social justice, she was seen as too radical and thus often had to pursue her endeavors without its assistance.

Honors

McGarry received numerous accolades during her career, including honors from the New York Catholic Interracial Council, the National Conference of Christians and Jews, the Immaculata College Alumnae Philadelphia chapter, the Afro-American newspaper, and the Philadelphia Puerto Rican Community.

Archival collections

[http://www.marquette.edu/library/collections/archives/Mss/Am/mss-am.html Anna M. McGarry Papers]

See Also

*Marquette University Special Collections and University Archives

Persondata
NAME= McGarry, Anna M.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Social Action Leader, Community Organizer
DATE OF BIRTH= March 17, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH= Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH= January 2, 1978
PLACE OF DEATH= Loveland, Ohio