The Law Suits Him

When civil rights crusader Donald Temple marches, it's into a courtroom.

If it weren't for Sister Lapia and Brother Love, Donald Temple might have ended up as Father Temple, parish priest. That would have been an unusual career choice for an African-American Catholic boy from inner-city Philadelphia in the 1960s. But perhaps no more unusual than the career Temple actually chose, as the most successful civil rights crusader you've probably never heard of.

As a kid, Temple wanted to be like Father William Finley at Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Church. Everyone in North Philadelphia, Catholic or not, knew Finley, a young priest with a warm smile, for his compassion and his dedication to helping the community. Temple, an altar boy like both of his brothers, served Mass for Finley at least once a week. His favorite saints were St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan order, and St. Dominic Savio, the patron of youth and the falsely accused.

But not everyone Temple came across during the course of his parochial-school education inspired in him the same devotion as Finley. "If the church ever had to rely on the niggers," Sister Lapia, his eighth-grade teacher, told Temple's class one day, "then the church would have to close its doors."

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