Reverend Addie Wyatt and Reverend Claude Wyatt Papers

Reverend Addie Wyatt

Addie Wyatt was born Addie Loraine Cameron on March 8, 1924, the second child to Ambrose and Maggie Cameron in Brookhaven, Mississippi. Ambrose Cameron, born either in Mississippi or Louisiana, was a tailor in a pressing shop. Her mother Maggie Cameron, a teacher, was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Ambrose’s mother, Adeline Cameron, a mid-wife, also lived with the family and subsequently moved with them to Chicago in 1930, during the height of the Great Depression. They stayed for a short while with relatives in Chicago but moved around frequently. By 1937, an additional six children after Addie had been added to the family, four of whom had been born after the family’s move to Chicago. In all, the Camerons had eight children: Ambrose, Jr., Addie, Edna, Emmett, Willie (Mickey), Bluett, Audrey and Maude. Ambrose found it difficult to find work, but eventually secured employment under a WPA project. Maggie, who had worked as a teacher in Mississippi, did not meet the qualifications to teach public school in Chicago. In addition to taking care of the children, Maggie often found employment as a domestic worker.

The family eventually settled at 42nd and Calumet in Bronzeville and Addie attended Forrestville and Felsenthal elementary schools. As a youth, she played piano for her church choir at Langley Avenue Church of God and took on responsibility for the care of her younger siblings while her parents worked. She attended DuSable High school where she was a member of the Beta club and played clarinet in the school band under Capt. Walter Dyett. DuSable High School was also where she met and eventually married her husband, Claude Stell Wyatt, Jr. The two were married on May 12, 1940 by Pastor S. P. Dunn at Langley Avenue Church of God. Later that year the couple had their first son, Renaldo Wyatt and in 1942, had their second son, Claude “DeDe” Wyatt, III. Addie left high school after marrying and later graduated from the Central YMCA School, where she completed her high school education and took additional adult education courses.

A gifted gospel pianist and singer, Wyatt played for and served as a choir director for numerous churches, including Langley Ave Church of God, South Park Baptist Church, All Nations Church of God, Greater Hope Baptist Church in Robbins, Illinois, Englewood Ave Church of God, Mt. Zion Baptist Church and finally Vernon Park Church of God. In the 1940s, she and Claude led a group called the Wyatt Singers, which performed around the city and recorded several songs. She occasionally accompanied gospel singer Mahalia Jackson.

After the death of her mother in 1944, Addie and Claude took in her five younger brothers and sisters. The family moved into Altgeld Gardens at 13050 S. Evans in 1944. Claude and Addie Wyatt quickly assumed a large role in the community of Altgeld. In 1947, they formed the Wyatt Choral Ensemble, a singing group for youth in Altgeld and the surrounding community which performed around the city until the Wyatts left Altgeld in 1955. That same year she and Claude Wyatt founded their own church, the Vernon Park Church of God where she would serve as choir director, minister of music and co-pastor.

Addie Wyatt began working in the meatpacking industry in 1941. Though she applied to work as a typist for Armour & Company, Wyatt was put to work canning stew for the army instead. Black women were barred from holding office and clerical positions. In 1942, Wyatt joined the United Packinghouse Workers of America (UPWA), but experienced several layoffs due to shifts in the wartime economy. She would again find steady work in the packinghouses in 1947 when she went to work for Illinois Meat & Co., but it would be the early 1950s before she took on a more active role in the union.

Wyatt’s concern for the rights of working people, women and minorities and belief in the principles of the organized labor movement ultimately placed on her on a path to union leadership. Wyatt was elected vice president of her local, UPWA Local 56 in 1953. In 1954 she assumed the presidency of the local when its president resigned, making her the first woman president of the local. She was soon tapped by Charles A. Hayes, director of UPWA’s District 1, to serve as an international representative. She would hold this position through the 1968 merger of UPWA and the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen until 1974 when she became director of the newly formed Women’s Affairs Department. In 1976 she became the first female International Vice President in the history of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen and later served as director of its Human Rights and Women’s Affairs and Civil Rights Departments. She continued to serve as a Director of Civil Rights and Women’s Affairs for the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) after the merger of Amalgamated and the Retail Clerks International Union in 1979. In 1984, she formally retired from the labor movement as one of its highest ranked and most prominent African American and female officials. She continued to play an important role in the organized labor movement, supporting worker movements.

In addition to her work as a labor union official, Wyatt participated in a number of movements, organizations and campaigns in the realm of civil rights, women’s rights, religion, and politics, just a fraction of which will be referenced here. She was an ardent supporter of the southern civil rights movement and actively cultivated ties between northern and southern religious and labor activists. An advocate of fair and open housing, adequate education for African American students, and Black political participation in the city of Chicago, Wyatt worked with the UPWA, the Coordinating Council for Community Organizations (CCCO), the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Chicago Freedom Movement, and Operation Breadbasket to further these aims.

Wyatt also made a name for herself as a vocal and active supporter for women’s rights. In 1961 she was appointed by Eleanor Roosevelt to serve on the Protective Labor Legislation Committee of President Kennedy’s Commission on the Status of Women and subsequently served three terms on the Illinois Commission on the Status of Women. In addition to fighting for the rights of working women, Wyatt was consistently argued for adequate child and day care facilities. A proponent of the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.), Wyatt campaigned tirelessly but ultimately unsuccessfully for its ratification throughout the 1970s and into the early 1980s. She was also a founding member of the Coalition of the Labor Union Women and served as its first Executive Vice President. A founder of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists in 1972, Wyatt spearheaded the development of its Women’s Committee. A member and vice president of the National Council of Negro Women in the early 1980s, Wyatt worked closely with Dorothy Height and other prominent African American female leaders. Her efforts on behalf of women’s rights have also extended internationally to include trips as a delegate to the 1982 Jerusalem Women’s Conference, among others.

Her work as a religious and spiritual leader and political activist is extensive as well. In addition to serving as a co-pastor of Vernon Park Church of God, she has served a member of various women’s organizations of the Church of God, addressed members of the General Convention of the Church of God and the National Association of the Church of God, and has preached and addressed hundreds of congregations within and outside of the Church of God denomination. As a political activist, Wyatt participated in international peace movements, worked on behalf of and supported numerous presidential administrations, and supported the campaigns of key African American political figures such as Carol Moseley Braun, Ralph Metcalfe, and Harold Washington, among others.

She has received numerous awards and honors, including: TIME Magazine’s Woman of the Year in 1975, a Woman of the Year Award from Ladies’ Home Journal in 1977, one of Ebony Magazine’s 100 Outstanding Black Americans, 1981-1984, an Image Award from the League of Black Women, and a street dedication in 1993 in honor of her and her husband. Wyatt received an Honorary Doctor of Law Degree from Anderson University in Anderson, Indiana in 1976, an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Columbia College in Chicago, Illinois in 1978 and additional honorary degrees from North Park Seminary in Chicago and the Chicago Theological Seminary.

Reverend Claude S. Wyatt, Jr.

Reverend Claude S. Wyatt, Jr. (November 14, 1921—April 11, 2010) was born in Dallas, Texas, the second child of Claude and Annie Lee Branch Wyatt. In 1922, when he was six months old, the family moved to Chicago, Illinois, where his three younger siblings were born. The Wyatts had five children: Henry, Claude Jr., Lawrence, Calvin and Marvie.

Claude Wyatt, Jr. attended DuSable High School where he met Addie Lorraine Cameron, whom he later married. Though he was reared as a Methodist, Claude joined Addie’s church, Langley Avenue Church of God, and the two were married by Pastor S. P. Dunn on May 12, 1940. The couple initially lived with Claude Wyatt’s parents. He went on to graduate from DuSable and worked at a local dry cleaning store. He also worked for a short time in a meatpacking plant for Armour & Company. In 1940, the couple had their first son, Renaldo Wyatt, and in 1942 had their second son, Claude “De De” Wyatt, III.

The year 1944 was a trying one for the young couple. Claude was drafted into the Navy that year, leaving Addie to take care of their two young children and the five younger siblings whom the couple assumed care of after Maggie Cameron’s death. The couple also moved into Altgeld Gardens, a housing development built for the Chicago Housing Authority in the early 1940s. The family moved into Altgeld’s Block 3 at 13050 S. Evans. In 1945, Claude Wyatt returned from his one year of service in the Navy at the Great Lakes Naval Academy. In 1947, he began working as a postal clerk and mail man for the U.S. Postal Service Office at 46th and Cottage Grove, servicing the Hyde Park area. The Wyatts became leaders in the Altgeld community and started the Wyatt Choral Ensemble in 1947. Formed to help youth in Altgeld and the surrounding area engage in positive activities and feel a sense of pride and community, the singing group performed all over the city of Chicago until 1955 when the ensemble disbanded and the Wyatts left Altgeld Gardens and relocated to an apartment in Hyde Park at 5532 S. Ingleside.

By 1955 the Wyatts had become members of the Englewood Ave. Church of God under the leadership of its pastor, Rev. Charles McLeod. When Claude and Addie were asked to assume the leadership of a troubled church on 95th street, Mt. Zion Baptist Church, the couple decided to do so. The church was converted to the Church of God denomination and named Vernon Park Church of God, with Claude Wyatt as its pastor. He began writing and preaching his first sermons and was ordained by Rev. Charles McLeod in 1958. In 1965, he resigned from his job as a postal worker and became full-time pastor of Vernon Park Church of God. Claude continued to further his ministerial education, studying at Wilson College, Chicago Teacher’s College, Chicago Baptist Institute, the Urban Training Center for Christian Mission, (where, funded by a fellowship from the Ford Foundation, he lived on “skid row” to learn more about the urban social problems) and the Labor Studies division at Roosevelt University. Claude also became increasingly involved in the work of the Church of God, serving as Chairman of the Northern Illinois Ministerial Association of the Church of God, as a member of the Executive Council of the Church of God in 1980 and 1981, and as a leading figure in the National Association of the Church of God. He combined his ministerial education with experience in the civil rights and labor rights movements. Wyatt participated in SCLC’s Minister’s Leadership Training Program. An ardent supporter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the SCLC, Wyatt attended the March on Washington and was a founding member of Operation Breadbasket. He would also serve as national secretary and as a board member of Breadbasket’s successor, Operation PUSH, founded by Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. As important religious and civic figures in Chicago, Claude and Addie Wyatt supported the campaigns of a number of politicians including Ralph Metcalfe, Roland Burris, Harold Washington, Eugene Sawyer and Carol Moseley Braun.

Claude Wyatt wrote extensively for Church of God publications, including two unpublished manuscripts for the School of Theology (Anderson, IN): Church Management and Finance and The Agony of What He Saw. In 1984, Claude Wyatt received an Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree from Monrovia University in Liberia. In 1994, he earned a Masters in Theological Studies from McCormick Theological Seminary. The recipient of numerous awards and honors for his service as a religious and civic figure, Claude Wyatt co-pastored Vernon Park Church of God for 45 years before transitioning to pastor emeritus in 2000.

Vernon Park Church of God

In 1955, Claude and Addie Wyatt, then members of Englewood Church of God, were called by James and Henri Mae Hayes to lead a small group of members from the Mt. Zion Baptist Church located on 95th street in Chicago, Illinois. The Hayes had first learned of the Wyatts and their ministry through the Wyatt Choral Ensemble which had performed at Mt. Zion Baptist Church. The Wyatts sought counsel with their pastor, Rev. Charles McLeod, who advised them to assume leadership of the church. With the help of Rev. Charles McLeod, then Chairman of the Illinois State Association of the Church of God and Rev. Lance Martin, Chairman of the Illinois Ministerial Association, the church was converted to the Church of God denomination and chartered in 1956 under the Bureau of Non-Profit Organizations in Springfield, Illinois. Thus, Vernon Park Church of God, named for the geographical area in which it was located, was born.

The church initially worshiped out of a renovated garage on 93rd street with a congregation of about 25, mainly comprised of close friends and members of the Wyatt family as well as former members of Mt. Zion Baptist Church. From 1957 to 1959, Vernon Park Church of God worshipped with Morgan Park Church of God, then under the leadership of its pastor, Rev. Thomas Walker. Morgan Park Church of God, another young church, had a building and a piano but no pianist and no choir. Vernon Park Church of God had a pianist and a choir, but no permanent building. As both congregations grew, it became necessary for Vernon Park Church of God to secure its own building. In late 1959, the church secured space on the second floor of a building at 7439 S. Cottage Grove where its membership began to grow. In addition to its usher board and choir, the church began its first regular Sunday school sessions and launched additional ministries. In 1965, Claude Wyatt resigned from his job as a postal clerk and became full-time pastor of the church, having been ordained by Rev. Charles McLeod in 1958, followed by Addie Wyatt in 1968. Rev. Addie Wyatt has served as Minister of Music and Choir Director as well as minister and Co-Pastor of the church.

In November of 1966 the church again moved to a new location with a seating capacity for 250, a six room parsonage and a paved parking lot at 7653 S. Maryland where it would reside until 1984. While at 7653 S. Maryland, the church continued to grow, both in its membership and in its ministry of social and spiritual healing. By 1976 membership had grown from 50 to 425 and under the leadership of Claude and Addie Wyatt as well as founding members like Rev. Willie Barrow, the church was active in labor rights and civil rights activism, lending support to the Southern Civil Rights Movement and participating in many of the demonstrations of SCLC’s Operation Breadbasket in Chicago. In 1969, Vernon Park church leadership and its choir embarked on the first of several trips to Church of God congregations in Jamaica as part of its missionary ministry.

In 1985, the church moved to a much larger, new facility at 9011 S. Stony Island, where its membership would grow to nearly 1,000. The ministries of the church continued to expand to include a weekly telecast which began in 1992, Reaching Beyond the Walls, as well as the Wyatt Community and Family Life Center, dedicated in 1999 in honor of the work of Rev. Claude and Rev. Addie Wyatt. In 1997, the church had its mortgage burning celebration. With numerous ministries related to the social, civic and spiritual health of the congregation and surrounding community, Vernon Park Church of God became a leader within the Church of God denomination in Chicago and played important roles in the civic and religious life of black Chicago.

In the late 1990s, the church began a transition in terms of its leadership. Due to illness and age, Rev. Claude Wyatt stepped down as full-time pastor. In 2000-2001, Rev. Jerald January assumed leadership as senior pastor of Vernon Park Church of God after serving as its interim pastor since 1999. The church currently has plans to move to a new location, Vernon Park Village, in Lynwood, Illinois.