Reginald Hawkins

Reginald Hawkins (1923–2007) was a civil rights activist in Charlotte, NC for most of his life. He was the first African-American to run for Governor of North Carolina. He fought to desegregate Charlotte schools and businesses. His son-in-law was Hamaas Abdul Khaalis whose family was murdered in 1973 and who went on to commit the 1977 Hanafi Siege.

Reginald Hawkins was born in Beaufort, NC in 1923. He served as captain in the US Army during World War II. After completing his time in the service he attended Howard University where he got his degree in dentistry in 1948. He also received his MA of Divinity from Johnson C Smith University in 1973. He married Catherine Richardson while he was still in dental school and they had four children.

Hawkins and members of the NAACP differed over the best way to end school desegregation. Kelly Alexander wanted to sue the city of Charlotte over civil injustice. Hawkins believed that a confrontational approach was best through utilizing media coverage to help mobilize citizens, arguing “The only way to move forward is to engage bigots in direct controversy within their own community. In order to make his point about the only way to move forward, Hawkins escorted Dorthy Counts, a young black girl to Harding High School, a white school in Charlotte. On September 4, 1957 Hawkins and Counts walked through a shower of spit and insults to integrate the first Mecklenburg County School. His actions that day created a lot of stir in both the white and African- American neighborhoods,creating a national name for Hawkins. From then on Hawkins became a prominent civil rights activist in Charlotte. In 1961 Hawkins led a boycott of Irwin Avenue Junior High School. He urged African-American Students to stay home instead of attending a second rate educational institution.

Due to his disagreement with NAACP policies and in an attempt to distance himself from their "communist" label, Hawkins resigned his membership in 1958 and created the Mecklenburg Organization for Political Affairs (MOPA). MOPA used community activists within the African -American community to call for desegregation. Members took part in marches, picketing, protests, boycotts, and sit-in's, usually near schools or hospitals in the Charlotte area.Hawkins work helped successfully integrate many restaurants downtown including those in Belk's and Ivey's department stores.

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