XERNONA CLAYTON USES HER TOOLS
She is able; she has the skills; she can change the future
Xernona Clayton, a powerful mover and shaker, has been a civic leader in Atlanta for more than 40 years. Her list of accomplishments and accolades seems unending, but she is particularly important to Atlanta Women’s Network because Xernona Clayton has the tools – all of them -- and she uses them boldly, strategically and delicately to effect the needed changes she sees.
While we have mentioned her achievements and accolades elsewhere, a few vignettes will give a better idea of who Ms. Clayton is, in addition to what she has accomplished.
MEETING WITH PRESIDENT JOHNSON.
Closely allied with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Martin Luther King peace movement, she made perhaps her boldest move in the summer of 1966 when she organized a group of Atlanta physicians to try and change federally funded Grady Hospital’s discrimination against black physicians and pregnant black women.
In late August, after unsuccessfully approaching Public Health officials and Georgia Sen. Herman Talmadge in Washington, the discouraged group half-jokingly said that she should phone the White House and request a meeting with President Johnson. She did so and, to everyone’s amazement, at 4 p.m. that day Xernona Clayton and the black doctors from Atlanta walked into the White House and sat down with President Lyndon B. Johnson. The results of that meeting eventually spread across the United States, as Grady and other federally funded hospitals were forced to desegregate.
HOUSING DIGNITARIES AT MLK FUNERAL
She is a member of the inner circle of Dr. Martin Luther King’s family. In April of 1968, having driven Dr. King to the airport for his final flight to Memphis, she helped to organize his funeral. Realizing that a great number of dignitaries would be attending, (at that time fine hotels in Atlanta were limited), she convinced the managers of those hotels to ask her approval before checking anyone in. They complied, and she was able to ensure that dignitaries were housed comfortably.
GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER?
On a humorous note, in Los Angeles when her late husband Ed Clayton, publisher of Jet magazine invited a number of show business luminaries home to dinner, he forgot to tell Xernona, who had decided to put on her night clothes and have a quiet night in. The couple kept little more than cheese and crackers at home, because they generally had dinner out.
Billy Eckstine’s former wife June was first to arrive. Ms. Clayton thought she was just passing by and had dropped in for a visit. Then, Diahann Carrol’s agent called to say she would be a little late but would be there soon. The phone rang again. Lionel Hampton said he was waiting for Ed to pick him up, and they would be along directly.
Well, they all got together and the Claytons ordered out for Chinese food. The evening ended with them all playing the piano and singing; they enjoyed a grand evening!
Her range of friends and acquaintances is broad. On the back of her memoirs, I’ve Been Marching All the Time are accolades from both Rosa Parks and Ted Turner, along with Mrs. Ralph McGill and Maynard Jackson.
And that’s the kind of woman Xernona Clayton is – elegant, gritty, determined, gentle, innovative and shrewd. She has the tools, and she has been changing the future nearly all her life.
Following the meeting, Ms. Clayton will sign copies of her memoirs, I’ve Been Marching All The Time.
Thanks to Molly Darden, Internal Communications Director for Atlanta Women's Network, for this article.
