Historical April 1987 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
An article in the Post-Dispatch on Sunday, February 15 told of Criminal Justice Awards being initiated in the name of SaLees Smith Seddon, the founder of the Women’s Crusade Against Crime in 1970 with Mayor Cervantes. That SaLees Seddon had any part in its founding is erroneous.
In the interest of truth, the facts are these.
The Women’s Crusade was initiated by Mayor Cervantes in December, 1969 and launched on January 15,1970, with Jean Claiborne, a Northside black Democrat, and Delphine McClellan, a West End white Republican, as co-chairmen and founders.
The guidelines were “non-partisan, interracial, and volunteer” with a two-fold purpose to involve citizens in fighting crime, and to pass a bond issue/tax increase to fight crime, with a primary goal to increase the number of police officers, build a juvenile detention center and provide more city street lights.
On March 3, it was passed overwhelmingly.
In June, 1970, Mrs. Seddon, who was area-safety chairman of Women for City Living, was asked to help with Salute Our Police Week, the first important Crusade function, and she remained for many years of dedicated work with the Women’s Crusade, eventually serving as co-chairman.
An award in her honor is appropriate, but not as the founder of the organization.
For the present president and the Board of Directors to carry forward this erroneous fact would be a disservice not only to the cause of truth, but to historians, who wish to record the unusual accomplishments of the initial Women Crusaders in strong citizen involvement in the police, courts, corrections, and juvenile systems.
These former dedicated crusaders brought St. Louis into the limelight nationally, because of the unusual citizen momentum they had created.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, April 1987.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1987_04.pdf, printed page(s) 2; PDF page(s) 2.
