Gloster B. Current
*Gloster B. Current was born on this date in 1913. He was an administrator and activist. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, his family came to Detroit in 1923.
After graduating from Northwestern High School, he attended the Detroit Institute of Musical Art and the Detroit Institute of Technology. He received his B.A. from West Virginia State College in 1941. In 1950 he received his master’s from Wayne State University. From his youth, Gloster B. Current was an excellent organizer. He worked with the Y.M.C.A. and organized a glee club. (He, himself, was an outstanding musician).
Later he served as chairman of the Central Youth Council of the N. A. A. C. P. His first wife was Leontine Turpeau, a minister; they had three children but later divorced. From 1941 to 1946, Current held the office of Executive Secretary of the N.A.A.C.P., Detroit Branch. During this time, he also worked as a member of Metropolitan Detroit F.E.P.C, Secretary of the Citizens' Committee for Jobs in War Industries, and the Sojourner Truth Committee. He wrote articles for the Michigan Chronicle and The Detroit Tribune. He also wrote several pamphlets, e.g., "The Arkansas Soldiers' Case."
He also wrote a book, was an accomplished Jazz musician, and was an ordained Methodist minister. Current came to New York City from Detroit in 1946 at the behest of Walter Francis White. Cecilia Suyat Marshall was his private secretary at the NAACP. At the time of his death, he lived in Hollis, Queens, with his second wife, Rebecca Busch Current. He died on July 3, 1997, of leukemia and pneumonia. His papers were given to Wayne State University.
