History
In 1917, a group of Birmingham, Alabama, businessmen were members of the local Rotary club. Many of the men thought that the club focused too much on increasing the business of club members, so they surrendered their club's charter. Led by Courtney Shropshire, a local doctor, they formed an independent service club named Civitan, derived from the Latin word for citizenship.
The United States entered World War I just one month after the club formed. With all attention focused on the war, Civitan remained a local organization. Some of the earliest projects the club undertook supported soldiers, helped European war orphans, and encouraged voter participation through the payment of poll taxes.
Shropshire envisioned an international organization of Civitan clubs dedicated to serving humanity. The process to incorporate was begun, and the International Association of Civitan Clubs was founded in 1920. In the years immediately following World War I, the organization saw rapid growth. By June 1922 at the second international convention, delegates from 115 clubs attended; there were more than 3,300 Civitans throughout the United States. Service clubs like Civitan were extremely popular, since they promoted the spirit of optimism which characterized much of the Roaring Twenties.
| “ | The vast multiplication of voluntary organizations for altruistic purposes are themselves proof of the ferment of spirituality, service, and mutual responsibility. These associations for advancement of public welfare, improvement, morals, charity, public opinion, health, the clubs and societies for recreation and intellectual advancement, represent something moving at a far greater depth than "joining." They represent the widespread aspiration for mutual advancement, self-expression, and neighborly helpfulness. | ” |
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—Herbert Hoover, 1922 |
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The club suffered sharp declines in membership and fundraising during the Great Depression. Some also questioned the necessity of service clubs after the New Deal's creation of relief programs. The organization persevered, in part due to cooperation with Rotary, Kiwanis, and Lions clubs. One of the few brightspots in the 1930s was the creation and rapid growth of the first Junior Civitan clubs.
The organization experienced another noticeable drop in membership at the outbreak of World War II, since many of its civic-minded members were among the first to volunteer for military service. Civitans who remained at home organized scrap metal collections, war bond sales, and blood drives. One club in Birmingham, Alabama, held so many successful bond drives that the Army Air Forces named a B-25 and a P-47 in the club's honor.
The period after World War II saw another surge in growth. There were 10,000 members by 1947, with membership tripling in size between 1946 and 1956 as Civitan became the sixth largest service club in the United States. By 1960, there were 34,000 active Civitans in 998 clubs. One reason that Civitan expanded so quickly was the flexibility that it allowed to clubs in other countries. Compromises over issues such as the Civitan creed and membership dues allowed the ethnically diverse organization to maintain a strong sense of unity.
By the 1950s, Civitan's focus had shifted to helping the developmentally disabled. The Civitan International Foundation, established in 1960, provided financial support for many organizations and programs which benefited developmentally disabled individuals. By 2005, the Civitan International Foundation had provided $13,000,000 in grants to the UAB Civitan International Research Center, the first institution in the United States to focus solely on researching developmental disabilities.
Read more about this topic: Civitan International
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“To care for the quarrels of the past, to identify oneself passionately with a cause that became, politically speaking, a losing cause with the birth of the modern world, is to experience a kind of straining against reality, a rebellious nonconformity that, again, is rare in America, where children are instructed in the virtues of the system they live under, as though history had achieved a happy ending in American civics.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)
“Modern Western thought will pass into history and be incorporated in it, will have its influence and its place, just as our body will pass into the composition of grass, of sheep, of cutlets, and of men. We do not like that kind of immortality, but what is to be done about it?”
—Alexander Herzen (1812–1870)
“The history of reform is always identical; it is the comparison of the idea with the fact. Our modes of living are not agreeable to our imagination. We suspect they are unworthy. We arraign our daily employments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)