OBITUARIES : M. C. Holman; National Urban Coalition Chief

M. Carl Holman, 69, a black poet, editor, teacher and president of the National Urban Coalition for the last 20 years, died of cancer Tuesday at Howard University Hospital.

A former college English professor, Holman was an articulate and forceful spokesman for the urban poor and underprivileged. He was passionate in his argument about the need to upgrade educational opportunities for black children.

Sometimes described as a godfather of the civil rights movement, Holman was noted for his ability to forge coalitions between diverse groups and individuals.

Defining His Role

Once asked by the Washington Post to define his role, he said: “I remember being asked by the national Conference of Mayors (during a debate over the creation of the Department of Education), ‘Does this mean that you are in charge of this?’ And I said, ‘No, it doesn’t mean that at all. It just means I thought we might get a few people together and take a look at where everyone stands on this, and why.’ ”

Holman also was known for his exhortation to blacks to focus on education.

“As black America approaches the 21st Century, our capacity or our failure to build a solid bridge . . . of works will determine whether millions of young blacks already with us or yet unborn will cross over into the new century or fall into the abyss,” Holman said earlier this year.

The Minter City, Miss., native grew up in St. Louis and was graduated magna cum laude from Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo. He received master’s degrees from the University of Chicago and Yale University.

Launched Teaching Career

Holman taught at Hampton Institute in Virginia and at Lincoln University before joining the English department at Clark College in Atlanta, where he taught for 14 years and was active in early civil rights agitations.

He also was editor of the weekly Atlanta Inquirer, which reported on civil rights activities in the South. The American Political Science Assn. gave the newspaper a public affairs reporting award in 1962.

That year, Holman moved to Washington and became an information officer at the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. He served as a special assistant to the commission’s staff director and as its deputy director before becoming the Urban Coalition’s second president in 1968, one year after its formation.