When my father, Marlin Eller, was elected to the Deerfield Beach City Commission in the early 1950s, and made Commissioner of Police, Deerfield had a substantial number of African-Americans, or blacks in its population, but it had none in its small police force. The white policemen were afraid to go into the black neighborhoods, especially at night. So the black population of Deerfield was left unprotected from the criminals in their midst.

When Dad first ran for commissioner, he knew this was a problem and promised his black friends and employees he would try to do something about it. However, there were a lot of strong feelings from some of the whites in the community to having a black policeman. I remember one of our neighbors across the street telling my Dad that if he hired a black policeman and that policeman tried to arrest his wife or daughter, that would be the last person he ever arrested.

Dad was not amused. But he waited until the second half of his commission term to make his move. After interviewing a number of prospects, he hired Moses L. Bryant to be Deerfield’s first black policeman. To put it mildly, all hell broke loose within parts of the white community. In fact, Dad had to ride with Moses when he went on duty for awhile to protect Moses from threats which were being made. Dad put out the word that anyone wishing to cause a problem for Moses would have to deal with Dad first. Dad in his prime, well built, nearly 200 pounds, with boxing as a hobby, was not challenged as far as I know.

Moses eventually was accepted by most of the community and life in Deerfield went on. When he moved to Deerfield from Shamrock, FL, Moses had three sons: Bobby Lee, Robert Lee and Clarence. While on the police force he had seven more children, three more boys and four girls, for a total of 10 children. Most went on to get a college education and some became school teachers. When Moses eventually retired from the police force, he became a Christian minister.

The City of Deerfield Beach honored him a few years ago by renaming SW 5 Court, Rev. Moses L. Bryant Court. My Dad, Marlin Eller, would have been proud.

7-09-09