Cleveland Nisby Papers

Cleveland Nisby was born in 1919 at St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, and moved to Beaumont, Texas, with his family at a young age. He graduated in 1937 from Charlton-Pollard High School, attended from 1938-1939 Paul Quinn College in Waco, and graduated in 1965 from Lamar University in Beaumont with a degree in Associate Supervision and Management. He married Dora R. Truvillion who was a librarian and supervisor in the Beaumont Independent School District. They raised five children.

Mr. Nisby was a civil rights activist and community leader who fought discrimination and injustice in all forms. Shortly after beginning his career at Magnolia Refinery he became active in organizing labor unions for Black workers. He helped Black workers pass required tests and filed discrimination charges on their behalf. Mr. Nisby worked for the Mobil Oil Corporation from 1943 until his retirement in 1981.

In addition to his work in organized labor, Mr. Nisby worked to promote the interests of Black workers in city and county government. He made regular appearances before the city council to encourage the hiring of Black clerical and professional employees. As President of the Beaumont Branch of the NAACP, Cleveland Nisby awakened city officials to the desperate housing needs in the city and was active in litigation that created single member legislative districts for Jefferson County which led to the election of the first Black state representative from that county.

Among other notable achievements were service to the South Park School District, where he aided students and parents in their adjustments to multi-racial school populations. Service to his church, the Starlight Missionary Baptist Church, where he was a deacon for 48 years and supervised in the construction of a $500,000 new sanctuary. And service to his community, where he served on the Planning and Zoning Commission for the City of Beaumont.

In recognition of his lifelong efforts to achieve racial balance, Cleveland Nisby was awarded in 1997 the Ben Rogers Racial Justice Award. He died on December 23, 2011, in Beaumont at the age of 92.