Lloyd george sealy biography

Lloyd George Sealy represented the best of what John Jay College has sought to achieve in its brief history. He was a police professional who was also a scholar. He firmly believed that society depends on law and order, but he also recognized that law and governance require social justice. As a member of the New York City Police Department and as a Professor at John Jay, Lloyd Sealy was a pioneer who blazed many paths and achieved great recognition in his life, but he always downplayed his own success, understanding that the group and society as a whole, as well as the individual, had to advance if America was to fulfill its historical destiny.

A photograph of Sealy captures the essence of the person for whom John Jay's library is named. The photograph shows Sealy on a crowded street in full police captain's uniform with traffic going by in the background, bending over, a gentle smile on his face, to listen to a little girl. Long before "community policing" had become a catchword and a program, Lloyd Sealy understood that for a police officer to be effective, he or she had to be able to communicate with people and especially, be able to hear what people's concerns and problems were. For beyond his many accomplishments, Sealy was first and foremost a conciliator who had the ability to listen to colleagues and citizens alike.

On January 4, 1985, on his 68th birthday, Lloyd Sealy spent the day in the John Jay Library preparing his classes and helping students to learn how to use the law reference books. At the end of the day, he suffered a fatal heart attack, and the entire College mourned his passing. President Gerald Lynch summed up Sealy's contribution to the College. President Lynch noted that Sealy's ability to integrate "theory and practice permitted him to enrich the curriculum and further challenge the minds of his students. He was the model for all of his students with the knowledge and grace that are the hallmark of a superior teacher." (1) Sealy's influence extended beyond the Police Department and the College to the general community. As one of his colleagues, Henry DeGeneste, recalled, "Lloyd was a superb example of a person committed to giving of himself to youth, his community, community-based organizations, and schools. [He said,] if we would all volunteer one hour a week to give something positive to our communities, especially our young people, the world would be a much kinder, happier place." (2)

Lloyd George Sealy was born in Manhattan in 1917 and grew up in the Prospect Heights Section of Brooklyn. His parents were natives of Barbados, and his father worked as the janitor of an apartment building. After completing Thomas Jefferson High School, Lloyd became a police officer in November 1942, and, while working full time, he earned his bachelor's degree in sociology from Brooklyn College in 1946 and then his law degree from Brooklyn Law School in 1952.

When Sealy joined the police department in the early 1940s, New York City and the nation were very different places from what they are today. In the early 1940's, America was battling in World War Two to defeat fascism and Nazism. One of the great ironies of that war was that it was fighting for freedom and democracy with a segregated armed forces. In those days, schools, public accommodations, restaurants, swimming pools, public transportation, and virtually every other aspect of public life were segregated by law throughout the South and the border states. In the North and West, African-Americans and whites remained separated in different schools, distinct neighborhoods, and segregated jobs by both custom and intimidation. The national pastime, baseball (and every other professional sport) banned African- American athletes from competing. Not until 1947 would Jackie Robinson break the color barrier in sports.

The police force that Sealy joined was integrated, but only nominally. No more that one or two African- American officers a year were appointed during the 1930s and 1940s, and it was rare for them to be promoted to the rank of sergeant. In 1942, Sealy was one of 20 African-American officers in their class, the largest number in a class till that time. 1942 was also the first year that Black officers were assigned to the Bronx and Washington Heights rather than just to precincts in Harlem and in Bedford Stuyvesant. Not deterred by meager opportunities for Black officers Sealy took the exams and was promoted to sergeant in 1951 and to lieutenant in 1959.

In the summer of 1964, at the same time that three civil rights workers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, were slain in Mississippi, Harlem exploded in riot and rage over the killing of a junior high school student by police in East Harlem. One of the major complaints of the residents and community leaders was that white police officers used excessive force in their interactions with Black citizens and in general harassed and demeaned members of the community. Civil rights groups in New York demanded that these charges be investigated. In partial response to these demands, Police Commissioner Michael J. Murphy, who had just been appointed Acting President of John Jay College upon its founding that summer, appointed Sealy to command the 28th precinct, and he became the first African-American to command a precinct in Harlem. Sealy, who had been promoted to the rank of captain in 1962, was only the second Black to command a precinct. The New York Times reported that, when Sealy arrived at the precinct to take over command, "he was greeted by seven community leaders with smiles, handshakes and high praise." (3) Sealy's promotion was the cumulation of decades of efforts by African-American police officers to overcome the discriminatory treatment they received at the hands of white supervisors in assignment, promotion, and disciplinary procedures.