[2] He was also involved with the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) as well as working with Martin Luther King Jr.[3] Hunter “Jack” Pitts O'Dell was born in Detroit, Michigan, on August 11, 1923.
[6] Coming back from the war, O’Dell signed up with “Operation Dixie”, which attempted to organize Southern workers into labor unions to change the most conservative region in the country.
Those skills allowed him to successfully intervene a radical situation in a local store, which led him to earn a “Citizen of the Year” award from Miami’s African-American Press.
[7] In the 1950s, O’Dell heard Martin Luther King Jr., speak at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.
It accused O’Dell of being a communist who had “infiltrated to the top administrative post” in King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
[7] King defended the SCLC by saying they were “on guard against any such infiltration.” He acknowledged that these allegations by House Un-American Activities Committee were “a means of [harassing] Negroes and whites merely because of their belief in integration.”[9] O’Dell decided to submit a temporary letter of resignation because of the charges.
He said that his work with the SCLC was “a rewarding experience which I shall always cherish.”[11] After conferring with King, O'Dell decided to accept a less prominent post within the movement not to alienate important allies of the Civil Rights struggle, but O'Dell continued to play a decisive role in the SCLC as well as in King's move to the political left towards the end of his life.
[1] O’Dell was on the path towards becoming the executive director of SCLC, which forced him out of the organization by the pressure of President Kennedy’s administration put on Martin Luther King.
He then served as a student mentor for Institute for Community Leadership and the Jack O’Dell Education Center in King County, Washington.