Tomlinson D. Todd

Dr. Tomlinson D. Todd (19?-1987), civic community and civil rights activist, radio announcer, and educator worked in Washington D.C. Working primarily in the early '40's with the Institute of Race Relation and "Americans All" radio program. Born in Reading Pennsylvania, the son of Rev. William W. Todd and Mary Todd. Todd attended Armstrong High School in Washington D.C. In 1936 he graduated from Lincoln University, Pennsylvania with an A.B. degree. Todd was employed by the Federal and District Governments, and later in his life taught high school in Washington, D.C. Todd received two honorary doctorates in law and literature. He was honored by the National Association of Colored Women and Time Magazine. Additionally he was placed twice on the Afro-American and the Pittsburgh courier newspaper yearly honor rolls for outstanding contributions in the cause of true democracy and harmonies race relations. Todd was feted at three testimonial dinners and travelled to Europe and Africa as the guest of the Government of Nigeria. Tomlinson D. Todd is credited with the discovery, unearthing and publicizing of the "lost laws" of 1872 and 1873, which prohibited restaurants from denying service because of race, and under which were filed charges that led to early restaurant desegregation in the 1950's. Tomlinson D. Todd was involved in numerous political, education, civic, and community endeavors. He was president of the Institute on Race Relations, president and founder of Club Internationale, Inc., member of the Capital Press Club, the National Press Club, The Pigskin Club of Washington, D.C., and the Washington Urban League, a civic leader and exponent of true democracy for all Americans, officer of the Pleasant Plains Civic Association, and served as Associate Editor of the Progressive Consumer magazine. Dr. Todd met six United States presidents: John F. Kennedy, with whom he guested at the White House; Lyndon Baines Johnson; Richard Milhous Nixon; Ronald Reagan; Gerald Ford; and Harry S. Truman, who was a member of the Club Internationale. Dr. Todd's work also brought him in contact with other public figures, including Gene Kelly, Henry Fonda, Walter Pigeon, Orson Welles, Humphrey Bogart, Judy Holliday, Lillian and Dorothy Gish, Lauren Bacall, Lena Home, Bob Hope, Harry Belafonte, and Charles Laughton. Dr. Tomlinson D. Todd died on March 2, 1987 at the age of 76 in Washington, D.C.