Kingman, Harry L. (Harry Lees), 1892-

YMCA counselor, lobbyist.

From the description of Reminiscences of Harry Lee Kingman : oral history, 1972,. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 309743548

Biographical Sketch

Harry L. Kingman was born in 1892 in Tientsin, China, the son of a Congregational missionary. Several years later his family settled in Pomona, California, where he attended public schools, and, in 1914, earned an A.B. degree from Pomona College. In 1916, after playing baseball with the New York Yankees for two seasons, he moved to Berkeley to accept the position of Freshman Secretary for the University of California YMCA, better known as Stiles Hall. This was the beginning of an almost continuous association with Stiles which lasted until his retirement in 1957.

During his years at Stiles Hall, Kingman helped create a student co-op association which enabled many students to attend college during the depression. He maintained the often unpopular free speech policy of allowing minority opinion groups to meet at Stiles. Another major contribution occurred following Pearl Harbor when he fought for justice for Japanese-Americans and helped numerous Nisei students to relocate to colleges in the midwest and the east.

Kingman was on leave from Stiles Hall on three occasions. During World War I he served in the army from 1917 to 1919. In 1921 he went to China to work for the International Committee of the American YMCA, returning in 1928. From 1943 to 1945 he was granted leave to accept an appointment as west coast Director of the U.S. Fair Employment Practices Committee.

Retiring from Stiles Hall in 1957, Kingman and his wife formed the Citizen's Lobby for Freedom and Fair Play. For the next decade or so, they spent much of each year living in Washington and working as unpaid lobbyists to help secure passage of legislation in which they were vitally interested relating to civil rights, race relations, low cost housing and world peace. In 1960 they actively campaigned for the election of John F. Kennedy.

From the guide to the Harry Lees Kingman Papers, 1921-1975, (The Bancroft Library)