Remembering Fredric March, Wisconsin-Educated Actor and Civil Rights Advocate

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Photo: Turner Classic Movies

Fredric March

Fredric March

As a Black man born, raised and educated in Wisconsin, I know something about the civil rights struggle. Despite my journalism degree from Marquette University, I had to wait six years for a reporter’s job at the Milwaukee Sentinel and 28 years for one at the Milwaukee Journal. The undeniable reason was racial discrimination.

During that time, I had to face the slings and arrows of anti-Black race hate in my Milwaukee hometown, as well as in Cleveland, which I call my second hometown. Much of it was due to my two interracial marriages.

All that said, I find myself perplexed and saddened by the controversy at the University of Wisconsin, which has removed Fredric March’s name from its performing arts theater on campus. The late, celebrated actor—a graduate of UW-Madison—was known as an outspoken champion of civil rights causes. Yet, he even has been falsely accused of supporting the notorious Ku Klux Klan. 

What makes this even harder for me to swallow is that March (1897-1975) was a long-time, proud member of the NAACP. In 1964—at the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education—March gave the keynote address.

Thus, no way does March deserve to be accused of having anything to do with the KKK. And no way does he deserve the wrong-headed sentiment against his name at UW-Madison and UW-Oshkosh.

Scurrilous Insinuations

As a lifelong cineaste, I find it simply impossible to believe March could embrace racist feelings. While I understand he was simply acting in his long, illustrious career, his heartfelt performances were too convincing, and too genuine, for me to believe such scurrilous insinuations. 

A respected stage star and two-time Oscar-winner, March distinguished himself in quality films such as The Best Years of Our Lives (1946); An Act of Murder (1948); The Desperate Hours (1955); Middle of the Night (1959); Inherit the Wind (1960); The Young Doctors (1962), and my favorite, as Jordan Lyman, President of the United States, in 1964’s Seven Days in May. And there’s more.

In 1986, on vacation in Hawaii, I was privileged to interview the late Fletcher Knebel—co-author of Seven Days in May—who was effusive in his praise of March’s commitment to civil rights, gleaned during the filming. Knebel, a former Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter, had invited my wife, Janice, a current PD staffer, to discuss his latest book.

At his Honolulu home, Knebel told me he and the celebrated actor often talked about his dedication to equal rights for Black people. He said Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas—March’s co-stars in this tingling film about a military plot to overthrow the government—shared his dedication to civil rights. Lancaster, especially, had many good things to say, according to Knebel.

Fittingly, on Sept. 30, Turner Classic Movies will celebrate the 125th anniversary year of March’s birth with a “Friday Triple Feature Evening” honoring his enduring commitment to fighting racism, anti-Semitism, fascism and the infamous Hollywood Blacklist. March’s Design for Living (1933); So Ends Our Night (1941) and Inherit the Wind (1960), will be featured.  

Thus, I was mystified in recent days to learn that in 2018, the student majority governing board stripped the actor’s name from the Fredric March Play Circle Theater in the Memorial Union at UW-Madison. It also removed a portrait of March depicting him in his famous stage role as Major Joppolo in the anti-fascist play A Bell for Adano—all owing to his bogus, alleged racist associations. Ironically, a collection of March’s published papers touting racial justice were housed in the Wisconsin Historical Society Building just across the street from the Memorial Union. In 2020, a student-faculty group at UW-Oshkosh followed Madison’s lead by renaming its Fredric March Performing Arts Theater. 

Ignorant of History

Instigators on both campuses, simply ignored—or, incredibly, failed to recognize—the renowned actor’s well-known, high-profile status as one Hollywood’s greatest civil rights activists. Such, in my personal opinion, is a hallmark of much of today’s youth, with its scant interest in American history. So here we are.

On Aug. 28, The Hollywood Reporter ran a lengthy feature story casting grave doubts on the legitimacy of the vile accusations against March. The story said, in part: “…dual decisions in recent years to remove March’s name from a pair of performing arts venues at two campuses of the University of Wisconsin—March’s alma mater—have drawn confusion, frustration and anger from some film fans, the Hollywood community and activists alike”.

The story was headlined: “Supporters Attempt to Redeem Legacy of Hollywood Legend Fredric March, Canceled Over Racism Allegations: This Was a Rush to Judgment.” In it, TCM primetime host, Ben Mankiewicz, is among those calling it a “misconception” that the long-time civil rights champion once supported the Ku Klux Klan. Added Black actor Glynn Turman, “He couldn’t have done what he’s accused of doing.” 

As noted by the newspaper: “In 1919, March, then a senior at the University of Wisconsin’s Madison campus, accepted an invitation to join an interfraternity honor society that shared a name with the Ku Klux Klan, though the group inviting March had nothing to do with the KKK as it’s known today.

“It’s unclear why the honor society chose that particular name, but research by the Wisconsin Historical Society did not reveal any connections between that group and the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the organization responsible for lynchings and other hate-fueled activities throughout the American South. Indeed, when the latter group arrived on campus in 1922 with the intent of recruiting members, the UW-Madison honor society quickly changed its name to avoid any association …”

For a knowledgeable Milwaukee perspective, I spoke at length to George Gonis, a freelance journalist, public historian and UW-Madison grad, who also was quoted by The Hollywood Reporter as an authority on the situation. In our conversation, he passionately told me, among other things:

“The Fredric March controversy is sad for me since my parents were enormously involved in civil rights in my native city of Indianapolis. They brought home to me their appreciation of what it’s like to be an activist in such a just cause. I saw what’s happened to the Fredric March legacy as the antithesis of the sacrosanct Wisconsin Idea—especially as a UW-Madison graduate myself.

“And it’s amazing how much exoneration of March is available. All his accusers on campus had to do was walk across the street—only 30 yards away.” Gonis then quoted a comment by noted civil rights historian, Raymond Arsenault, regarding Fredric March: “Of all the people chosen to bear the burden of our racist past, Fredric March is the last person who should be asked to do that.” 

And now, despite letters to UW-Madison signed by many respected and well-known actors, film critics, civil rights leaders and others, John Lucas, a university spokesperson, in an Aug. 22 e-mail to The Hollywood Reporter, said: “There are no plans for the university to revisit the issue. In lieu of the theater naming, Mr. March is now included in a historic storytelling display on the same floor as the Play Circle as recognition of his role in our university’s history.” Sad, but true. At UWO, a multi-racial student/faculty committee concluded unequivocally that March was on the right side of history and that his name should be retained on the theater. It was UWO Chancellor Andrew Leavitt who chose to strictly follow Madison’s misguided lead and unilaterally decided to ignore that student/faculty recommendation.

Finally, to me, The University of Wisconsin’s actions besmirching the legacy of the late, great fighter for civil rights, Fredric March, is a sacrilege. And, once again, as a lifelong cineaste, his dedication reminds me of telling words by Lili Palmer, in 1962’s The Counterfeit Traitor. Speaking to co-star William Holden, she said, “Someday, you’ll see a stranger being bullied and beaten and suddenly, he will become your brother.”

Now, I await TCM’s Sept. 30 “Friday Triple Feature Evening” for three March movies—and expected comments about UW’s shameful actions.