In Remembrance of Dr. Maceo Alston “M.A.” Santa Cruz

This week, we remember and honor the life of Dr. Maceo Alston "M.A." Santa Cruz—a devoted husband, dentist, civic leader, and advocate for justice.

Written by: Clay Adkins, Research Director of the Calfee Center & 23/54 Project

On February 6, 1951, he witnessed two white men harassing two teenage Black girls. Without hesitation, he stepped outside his office in the Santa Cruz Building on West Main Street in Pulaski, VA, to protect them. In retaliation for his bravery, the two assailants brutally attacked him. Santa Cruz suffered a fatal head injury and was pronounced dead when the ambulance arrived at the African American Burrell Memorial Hospital in the Gainsboro neighborhood of Roanoke, VA, passing by numerous segregated white hospitals that did not accept Black patients. Despite the horrific nature of his murder on West Main Street of Pulaski, justice was fleeting the months after the attack. His killers received only five-year sentences from an all-white jury only after the Pulaski community was outraged over trial delays and a mistrial. 

A year earlier, on January 16, 1950, the Santa Cruz Building on West Main Street in Pulaski formally opened. The New Journal and Guide of Norfolk reported that the occasion “marks the beginning of new opportunities in the social life for the community.” The event was described as a “family get-together,” with the building being reported as the “latest in modern building” with a cinder block construction exterior and “touches of red brick on the rear and sides.” Dr. M.A. Santa Cruz and his wife, prominent Calfee Training School teacher Cathleen Jenkins Santa Cruz, owned the Santa Cruz building. The Santa Cruz Building set out to bolster the social life of the Pulaski community with the Calfee Branch of the Pulaski County Free Library with Librarian Hazel Moss Thomas, Cathy Club Reception Room, and office suites. The open house reception at the Santa Cruz Building in January 1950 was held with utmost love and hope for the future among friends, neighbors, Magic City Medical Association, Calfee Training School teachers, and families.

Dr. Santa Cruz’s courage and sacrifice must never be forgotten. The love, courage, sacrifice, and hope for a better future in our communities, present in 1950 and beyond, must never be forgotten. On February 7th, 1951, the news of the killing of Dr. Santa Cruz quickly spread from Pulaski across Virginia and to major U.S. cities such as Baltimore, Maryland, and Chicago, Illinois. Headlines that echoed the shock and deep sadness of the tragedy; “Dentist Slain Saving Two Teenagers from Attack,” “Hoods Kill Dentist, Whole Town Mourns,” “Slain Dentist Mourned as Institution,” reported The Afro American from Baltimore, Maryland. Pulaski Mayor at the time, Howard Imboden, stated that “Dr. Santa Cruz was one our community leaders, highly respected by both our Negro and white residents, a man who was keenly interested in our civic life, and a Christian gentleman. Pulaski will miss Dr. Santa Cruz.”

The Pulaski community quickly and collectively responded with tributes to Dr. Santa Cruz's sudden death. The Funeral for Dr. Maceo A. Santa Cruz was held on February 9, 1951, at the First Methodist Church, the largest church in the area at the time. The Southwest Times reported, "Crowd Packs Church in Honor of Dentist,” continuing further with “hundreds of sorrowing friends of both races and from all walks of life gathered at the church this morning to pay their respects” and that the funeral “drew mourners from all sections of Virginia and nearby states.” The funeral services and tributes paid to Dr. Santa Cruz included six local ministers, Rev. O.L. Johnson, Rev. Frank Johnson, Rev. T.G. Howard, Rev. George Holmes, Rev. H.B. Abshire, and Rev. Sherman of New River. According to funeral attendants, “each [minister] pointed to his [Santa Cruz’s] service to the community, to his Christian life, his unselfishness, and devotion to duty.” The Montgomery-Pulaski County American Legion Post 119, Magic City Medical Medical Association, and Alpha Phi Alpha members also attended to pay their respects.

The pallbearers included Frank Payne, Jr., Charles Clayburn, Nelson Ward, Fred Bland, Walter Poole, and J.U. Roberts. The Afro American’s Rufus Wells estimated 450 Black and 150 white people in attendance. Yet, the mourners were forced to be in accordance with the segregation laws of 1950s Virginia with a “rigidly segregated” funeral service. Other notable funeral attendees included Mayor Imboden, Pulaski County Judge John W.B. Deeds, Circuit Court Judge George Draper, Commonwealth Attorney Alton I. Crowell, Mrs. Juila Wilson, Geraldine Edwards, Christine Barlow, Dr. and Mrs. W.A. Fears, Dr. and Mrs. John Brooks, Abner Lee, P.M. Caffee, Dr. and Mrs. L.E. Paxton, Professor Fred Lawson, and Roanoke Attorney and President of the Roanoke Chapter of the NAACP, Reuben E. Lawson. Funeral services concluded with musical favorites of Dr. Santa Cruz sung by a large choir and accompanied by an organ. Dr. Maceo Alston Santa Cruz was laid to rest in Hampton Cemetery in Hampton, Virginia. 

On Sunday, February 11th, 1951, special services were held at local Methodist churches, the First Presbyterian Church, and the First Baptist Church on Magazine Street in observance of Race Relations Sunday. Race Relations Days, sometimes called “Human Relations Day, " is a denomination-wide special Sunday service that addresses racial injustice, community building, promoting diversity and inclusion, and raising funds for racial justice initiatives. The amount of courage, love, sadness, grief, and community needed to come together mere days after the burial of Dr. Santa Cruz is unfathomable, but members of the Pulaski community did—the same ministers who spoke at Dr. Santa Cruz’s funeral, notably Rev. F.D. Thomas and Rev. O.L. Johnson continued to comfort and bring the community together in love and hopes for justice in the face of violence and tragedy. Calfee Training School teachers and Principal U.B. Broadneaux were also at Race Relations Sunday Services. The community work done by Rev. F.D. Thomas, Rev. O.L. Johnson, Principal U.B. Broadneux, and many other Pulaski community members who put in the work but may not have been recognized built a lasting and profound legacy in the honor and remembrance of Dr. Maceo A. Santa Cruz. 

This legacy continues after seventy-four years, as evidenced by the testimonies and attendance at First Baptist Church on Magazine Street last Friday, January 31, 2025. The history of Pulaski and the Pulaski community has brought many to the community to work towards justice and with love, including this author, and inspired countless others. One of those inspired by Pulaski’s history was Appalachian Soulman Aristotle Jones from Osage, WV, who heard the histories of the Calfee Training School, the 1947 Corbin lawsuit, and many more stories of courage, hope, resilience, happiness, and love. Aristotle spoke fondly about his Osage community, the power of love, his grandfather, Black Appalachians, Bill Withers, and George Floyd. Jones sang his song, “The Talk,” proudly and defiantly declaring that Black Life Matters and Black Lives Matter then and now. Dr. Macaeo Alston Santa Cruz’s life mattered. The Calfee Center and the First Baptist Church on Magazine Street continue a legacy of advocacy and defenders of the community of Pulaski seventy-four years ago at the time of Dr. Santa Cruz’s murder and now during our own times of uncertainty.

Bibliography: 

Wells, Rufus. “Dentist Slain Saving Saving Two Teenagers from Attack.” The Afro American, Baltimore, Maryland, 17 February 1951, p. 1. 

Wells, Rufus. “Exclusive AFRO Photos of Pulaski Murder Scene: Hoods Kill Dentist, Whole Town Mourns.” The Afro American, Baltimore, Maryland, 17 February 1951. 

Wells, Rufus. “Slain Pulaski Dentist Mourned as Institution.” The Afro American, Baltimore,

Maryland, 24 February 1951. 

Wells, Rufus. “Pulaski Hoods Get Only 5 Years.” The Afro American, Baltimore, Maryland,

7 July 1951, p.1-2.

Shephard, Joseph. “Pulaski Killers Get 5 Yrs.” New Journal and Guide, 7 July 1951. 

“New Santa Cruz Building Formally Opens in Pulaski.” New Journal and Guide,

28 January, 1950.

“Dr. M.A. Santa Cruz Dies in Roanoke After Assault; Autopsy Being Made, Man Held in

Connection with Affair.” The Southwest Times, Pulaski, Virginia, 7 February 1951, p.1. https://virginiachronicle.com/?a=d&d=TSWT19510207.1.1 

“Rites Held for Victim: Crow Packs Church in Honor of Dentist.” The Southwest Times, Pulaski,

Virginia, 9 February 1951, p. 2 https://virginiachronicle.com/?a=d&d=TSWT19510209.1.2 

“Services Scheduled Today for Santa Cruz.” The Roanoke Times, Pulaski, Virginia, 9 February

1951, p. 2. 

“Dentist Slain Defending Girls; 3 Arrested, Funeral Rites Held at Hampton Institute.”

New Journal and Guide, Norfolk, Virginia, Vol. LI, No. 7, 17 February 1951, p.1. https://calfee.omeka.net/items/show/247 

“Mistrial in Santa Cruz Murder Case.” The Chicago Defender, 7 April 1951, p. 1-2. https://calfee.omeka.net/items/show/245 

“Race Relations Sunday Service Scheduled Today.” The Southwest Times, 11 February 1951.