Isaac Lowe Civil Rights and Social Justice Scholarship

Isaac Lowe Civil Rights and Social Justice Scholarship

Shasta County Citizens Advocating Respect
Isaac Lowe Civil Rights and Social Justice Scholarship Donor Profile

Shasta County Citizens Advocating Respect (SCCAR) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the elimination of racism, prejudice and social injustice through education, cultural interactions and public and private advocacy.
SCCAR was formed in 1988 in response to a racially motivated shooting that occurred in Redding, and has evolved to become actively supportive of community efforts to oppose hate crimes of all types and bullying. SCCAR members work to increase awareness of the needs and concerns of all Shasta County’s varied communities.

SCCAR provides support and advocacy for victims of discrimination; offers local speakers and other resources to area educators, organizations and law enforcement agencies; annually honors local citizens and law enforcement officers who have made an active commitment to civil rights and social justice; organizes and participates in numerous multicultural community forums and events; initiated “No Room for Racism” signage; and established the Isaac Lowe Civil Rights and Social Justice Scholarship in 2009 for area students attending Shasta College.

Isaac Lowe, our scholarship namesake, was born on September 15, 1921 in Wharton, Texas. She graduated from high school, Tillotson Business College and Prairie View A&M. Isaac’s activism was fueled by the repeated discrimination she experienced being black and female. The three schools she attended were segregated with blacks placed in one room buildings while white students attended larger facilities.

In the era of Jim Crow laws, bus drivers boarded blacks last with whites and soldiers being seated first. Traveling across Texas, as a young black mother with a 1 ½ year old son, Isaac waited four hours at a Houston bus stop. Finally, a third bus arrived and again all seats were filled. After some convincing, she was allowed to board and stand in the aisle. No one, not even a black soldier, could give up their seat during the six-hour journey because they would be put off the bus.

Later in the 1940s, she traveled to California to help a sick college friend, met and married Vernon Lowe and started a family in Redding. Despite her college degrees, Isaac was initially unable to find a job because of her race. Instead, she started a catering business, eventually secured a job at a doctor’s office, and later worked at Shasta County Social Services for seventeen years. After her retirement, she continued to give her attention and efforts to individual injustices and equal rights.

For sixty-five years until her death on December 30, 2015 at 94 years old, she accomplished much for civil rights and social justice. Here are some of her more renowned accomplishments:

  • Founded the Redding Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the 1950’s along with Vernon Lowe
  • Wrote a letter to the NAACP in May 1975 which is preserved in their archives at the Library of Congress
  • First black woman employed by Shasta County
  • First black woman to serve on Shasta County’s Grand Jury
  • Founding member and first president of SCCAR
  • Redding’s 1992 Citizen of the Year
  • Appeared before Redding City Council for more than thirteen years to ask for recognition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day (first observed as a federal holiday in 1986 and finally by the City of Redding in 2002)
  • Worked with others to start the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center on Sheridan Street
  • Initiated the MLK Jr Day march from the Shasta County Court House to the MLK Center
  • Elected as a delegate to the National Democratic Convention
  • Lobbied for 65 years for safe, affordable housing for Redding’s black families, for jobs and for fair treatment of black defendants in the judicial system and black children in predominantly white schools
  • As a guest, attended the first inauguration of newly elected President Barack Obama in 2009, and stated, “To have a black president in my lifetime, that is what is magical.”

The Isaac Lowe Civil Rights and Social Justice Scholarship honors Isaac’s commitment to education and the legacy of her life’s work. SCCAR and the citizens of Shasta County are forever grateful to Isaac Jefferson Lowe for her contributions and her inspiration.