Uncrowned Community Builders

Clarence Grinage was acknowledged as one of the pillars of Buffalo's "Negro political machine." Grinage was active as a political and civil rights activist, working as early as 1925 to improve conditions for African Americans in Buffalo.

He was a native Buffalonian, who was born in 1892. His parents were Abraham L. and Della Dunn Grinage. Later in life, Mrs. Grinage, also known as Della Lee was an active community worker who was cited as the founder of a number of women's fraternal lodges. Mr. Grinage and his family moved to the Cold Spring area of the City in 1928. He founded the Cold Springs Athletic Club for boys following his move.

Mr. Grinage worked for the United States Postal Service for 24 years beginning in 1912. At the time of his employment there were only six Black post office employees. He was the secretary of the Buffalo Branch National Alliance of Postal Workers. He retired from the post office in 1936 due to a disability.

In 1935 Mr. Grinage began to work with the Buffalo Criterion newspaper as an editorial writer. The Criterion obituary identified Mr. Grinage as a "founding editor of the Criterion" beginning in 1926. He worked for a time in the paper's North Main Street plant at Main and Minnesota Streets until the paper consolidated its plants in 1939 at its William Street office.

Mr. Grinage was married to the former Louise McClaunin on October 2, 1913. She was a native of Wilmington, North Carolina, the daughter of Ceasar and Annie Hill McClaunin. Mrs. Grinage died on February 18, 1954. They had one son and three daughters. Both Mr. & Mrs. Grinage are buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, New York.