On May 17, 1954, Earl Warren, the new Chief Justice, appointed by President Eisenhower after Vinson’s sudden death from a heart attack, delivered the unanimous ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, declaring that “separate but equal” was dead.
White Southerners erupted. The Clarion-Ledger in an editorial declared May 17 “a black day of tragedy for the South, and for both races.” The Jackson Daily News said that “human blood may stain Southern soil in many places because of this decision, but the dark red stains of that blood will be on the marble steps of the United States Supreme Court building.”
Congressman John Bell Williams, a future governor of the state, called May 18, 1954, “Black Monday,” and Sen. James O. Eastland proclaimed that Mississippi would never abide by the ruling and submit to the mixing of the races in its schools. Gov. Hugh Lawson White formed a Legal Education Advisory Committee to find ways to, in the words of the Ledger, “dodge the ruling,” even inviting some ninety Black leaders, whom he deemed to be “good Negroes,” to meet with him and the board to seek their cooperation in maintaining separate schools, which the governor and other white elites insisted was a majority view among Black Mississippians. The governor even offered to improve Negro schools to make them “truly equal,” in return for Black leaders pledging to oppose integration.
The group, including NAACP head Dr. E. J. Stringer, summarily declined the governor’s offer and fully supported the Brown ruling and integration. On July 18, the Ledger reported that “segregation problems on the university level [had] skipped Mississippi so far, with one exception: Medgar Evers of Mound Bayou, an NAACP director, has applied for entrance to the University of Mississippi.” Medgar was now officially a public name, with all the risks that entailed.
Within months, Governor White and the Democratic state legislature called a special session to pass a state constitutional amendment that white voters ratified later that year, allowing the state government to dissolve any school district that accepted integration. The amendment also added teeth to Mississippi’s already monstrous voter suppression laws, requiring that voters show “good moral character” as well as interpret arcane passages from the state’s 1890 constitution, subjectively decided by each county registrar, all of whom were white. Several counties required voters to re-register, forcing many of the few already-registered Black voters off the rolls.
In Sunflower County, Robert Boyd “Tut” Patterson gathered a group of fellow white bankers, business owners, and planters to create the first Association of Citizens Councils of Mississippi (ACCM), which used its collective economic power to keep segregation in place by punishing Blacks who stepped outside the Mississippi social code by registering to vote, joining the NAACP, or attending meetings about changing the status quo. The Citizens’ Councils attempted to distance themselves from the “rednecks” in the Klan, but their hostility to change, and tendency to keep a minute account of the activities of Blacks who “stepped out of line,” had its own brutal calculation.
Medgar’s determination to enter Ole Miss Law School stalled amid that rancor. By fall, Attorney General Coleman recommended that the Mississippi State Board of Education reject Medgar’s law school application. Instead, they returned it, saying it lacked a second reference from a white citizen who’d known Medgar for ten years.
Medgar’s instinct was to sue, especially with the Brown victories in hand. Dr. Howard and Thurgood Marshall had other plans. Soon, on Marshall’s recommendation, Medgar was offered the job of statewide field secretary for the NAACP, a new position the organization created for him. Medgar accepted, letting his law school dream go for the time being. Myrlie was thrilled—and horrified.
The job offer meant leaving Mound Bayou, and the bugs and the heat of the Delta, and moving to the state capital of Jackson. It also meant ratcheting up Medgar’s visibility and the risks to his life.
At their dinner table, after the babies were put to bed, Myrlie protested. “I told him about my fear for his life, for the lives of our children and myself. He shared just a little about his fear, but I remember Medgar telling me, ‘I’ll always be there for you.’ And I said to him, ‘What about your body if it’s not?’” Her question was met with silence. “He got up and walked away from the table . . . walked out of the room.
And when he came back in, he was different. I didn’t understand what had happened. And he told me, ‘Myrlie . . . this is something I have to do.’ I said, ‘What about me? What about our children?’ And he said, ‘This is why I have to do it.’ It took me a long time to understand that. I gave in, of course, because I wanted our marriage to last. I wanted it to be a comfortable marriage, as comfortable as marriages can be.”
~~~
I was nudged into getting this book. I've just started reading, so it will be a while before my review is posted... But I came to this excerpt and I knew this needed to be brought forward to all of my readers...
Perhaps it will reach the ears of two Black men who recently delivered my new washer... It was another fiasco dealing with, still, another large corporation who has NO idea how to communicate! Maybe I'll talk about that at another time. In any event, I was upset. The young man who, I learned, had started a new business, was very courteous and calm while I ranted. Finally, he asked whether I wanted the washer and I had calmed down and told them to bring it in, while I continued to rant about companies that don't have to pay taxes because of the government's action. And that they were the people who got the complaints from us. They agreed. I asked how many they would receive and they said 2 or 3 a day... In my frustration, I don't remember how, but all of a sudden I was talking about Trump and voting... The talkative guy looked at me, and seemed surprised, asking "Don't you like him?" I immediately said "No, He's dangerous!" He then told me about a tax arrangement attributed to Trump for start-up businesses. I admitted I didn't know about that, and then later realized that Trump probably was once again taking credit for something congress did or even under Obama... In any event, I really wanted to shout, He supports White Supremacy... Instead, I fumbled and told them to ask their women... Yelling Do your research as they left... It was not my finest hour, as they say... But, how can you say that there is danger for, in my opinion, the Black citizens of our country, just like in the past... After all, Trump has been elected to go back to the way it was... Right?!
Then somebody sent me a notice about a group on Facebook with info about this book. I went out and bought it. I watch The Reidout often, but since I've been reading and writing more these days, I've tried not to watch MSNBC all day like I did during Trump's presidency. LOL although I keep my ears open for what books might be announced... to check out...
The book begins with a lot of historical background, of which this excerpt is a part... Medgar is still alive and standing tall as his father was known to do, walking down the streets of Mississippi without looking down or away as they passed white people... Of course, I had already read enough books to know that Black mothers, in worrying about their children, would tell them about us, we white folk who hated them, so they had to be careful how they acted... And Joy's book repeated the same for generation after another... until Myrlie met Medgar...
Like Joy, I don't support war, so I had no problem in her concern about what was happening... I felt it too and even have had discussions because there is talk all over the internet about another civil war... I was told this by a young, white, woman who is also afraid for her child. I would be too... How in the world have we gone backward in time? The Republican Party is so corrupted that those in office now are actually going against our citizens in ensuring the present administration does not succeed any further... Check out the Border fiasco where Trump has told the House leader to NOT solve the border problem--that he wanted to run for office on the problem! WE HAVE GOT TO GET THEM OUT OF OFFICE!
Folks, we need to do more for our country. It is quite clear what is happening..."MAGA" and all it stands for is working to move back to the 40s when white men had total control of all things, including the government. President Biden defines it as the soul of our country. I am more and more convinced that he is even more correct than we could ever have imagined... I, for one, refuse to go backward to a place where we lose all of the advances that have occurred since that time.
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