Alice Dunnigan broke new ground by becoming one of the first black White House correspondents; she was the first to travel with a U.S. president (but she had to pay her own way); and she was also first to have credentials to be in the House and Senate press galleries as well as the Supreme Court.

She became a voting member of the White House Newswomen’s Association and was voted into the Women’s National Press Club.

None of these accomplishments came easily. Born in Russellville, Kentucky, in 1906 to a father who was a sharecropper and a mother who took in laundry to help support the family, Alice rose to achieve her goal—becoming a reporter so that news of African Americans was written about.

Frederick Douglass once said: “Do not judge me by the heights to which I have risen, but by depths from which I have come.”

Early Life

Like all African American children, Alice Allison Dunnigan (1906-1983) had limited opportunities for education. Russellville’s school system offered ten years of schooling for black children, but most of these children were expected to work in the fields so the schools were open for only 6-7 months each year. Dunnigan took advantage of all that was offered.

Early Journalism

When Dunnigan saw local newspapers, she noted there was no coverage of her community. She started submitting one-line items about local people to the Owensboro Enterprise, the nearest African American newspaper in the area.  (Owensboro was about 2 hours north of Russellville.) She was only 13 when these stories were accepted.

College a Financial Struggle

After graduating from Knob City High School, she hoped to attend college so she could teach. At that time, black women had few options. If they weren’t able to gain educational credits to teach, then they were left to earn money by keeping house for white families.

Her parents initially said they simply couldn’t afford additional education for Alice. Then a Sunday School teacher who knew the family talked to them about how smart and capable Alice was. The family re-considered. If Alice could work and go to college at the same time, maybe they could work it out.

She was accepted at Kentucky Normal and Industrial Institute in Frankfort (now Kentucky State University). On campus, Alice got a job waiting tables in the cafeteria. This cut school costs by half, so the family was able to pay the remainder.

Dunnigan Suffered from Overwork

But by late in the spring semester, Alice became ill from the combined burden of academics and cafeteria work. She finished the semester but was not strong enough to continue to work, so the family could no longer afford it.

Dunnigan was disheartened but not defeated. She excelled in her classwork during the first year of the program, so she met with the administrators. Based on her superior record, the school granted her a teaching certificate that permitted her to teach children in the lower grades.

Returned to Russellville

She returned to Russellville with no job prospects, but she became a last-minute hire for a job in the county school system. The building where she would teach was ramshackle and in need of repairs. She and some of the parents teamed up to paint the rooms, fix the pipes, and do what they could to make it more welcoming for the students. For the next eight years. (1924-1932), she taught there. Over time, her school was recognized as a place where students excelled.

Black teachers were poorly paid, so extra employment during the summer months was vital. Dunnigan milked cows at a dairy for four hours every morning, and one day each week she cleaned the house of a white family in Russellville. She also took in laundry.

First Marriage

She married a tobacco farmer named Walter Dickerson in 1925, but ultimately, the marriage did not work out. They divorced in 1930. She remained in her teaching position for the Todd County School System in Russellville and also took courses in journalism at Tennessee A & I University. She eventually earned enough credits that her teaching certificate qualified her for teaching any grade.

When Charles Dunnigan, a friend from the old neighborhood, returned to Russellville, and the two had a long courtship. She eventually agreed to marry him, but almost immediately there were complications. Charles received a job offer that took him out of the community, and they found it difficult to patch together a long-distance married life.

They had one son together, Robert William Dunnigan (1932-2016). With Charles living elsewhere and Alice working long hours, Alice’s parents stepped in to raise the boy. After Alice left the area, she sent money home for him regularly, and eventually she put him through college.

War Calls for More Workers

In 1942, the government put out a call for typists in Washington. Dunnigan learned to type in high school so she applied and received a job offer by mail. The pay was better than her teaching position, so she packed up and left for Washington. The administrator who greeted her was surprised when a black woman showed up with a government letter offering her a job, but they needed the help. They found a place for her without delay.

As she came to understand more about the government, she contacted Claude Barnett, publisher of the Associated Negro Press. The ANP was a newspaper syndication service that provided national news for about 110 black newspapers across the country. Her pay for these articles was poor—about a half-cent per word—and less than male reporters received, but she appreciated the experience and the extra money helped out.

War Winds Down

In 1945, Dunnigan wrote full-time for the ANP. Publisher Claude Barnett named her Washington Bureau Chief on an “experimental basis,” because he said he still wasn’t sure a woman could do the work “as well as a man.” He also kept her on the same piecemeal payment rate she received as a freelancer.

During this time, she also took some night courses at Howard University in statistics and economics—two subjects she felt would provide good background for her work.

“Do not judge me by the heights to which I have arisen, but by the depths from which I have come.”

Frederick Douglass

Gaining Press Passes for Access

Alice Dunnigan had a press job, but initially, she lacked access to the people on whom she was to report. When she applied for government press passes, she was told that only reporters for daily newspapers were eligible; ANP’s newspapers were all weeklies.  Dunnigan  pressed ahead, making her arguments. Finally, six months later, she received a press pass to cover Congress. Alice Dunnigan was the first African American reporter to have this access.

She also fought for entry into the White House press pool. A reporter for The Atlanta Daily World and the National Negro Press Association, Harry S. McAplin broke the color line of the White House press corps in 1944. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was in office at that time. In 1948, Dunnigan and one other reporter joined McAlpin in the White House Press Corps, giving three African Americans access to Harry Truman’s White House.

By this time, Dunnigan was determined to get more money. She approached Barnett who increased her to $25 per week. It was still less than what male reporters earned but more than she was making. He also gave her permission to freelance.

Whistle Stop Campaign

When Harry Truman’s staff planned for him a “nonpolitical” Whistle Stop Campaign across the country, Dunnigan wanted to go. She contacted Truman’s press person and was told she was welcome. He added: “We estimate the trip will cost each reporter around a thousand dollars.”

Dunnigan was dumbfounded that reporters were expected to pay for train travel to accompany the president, but she said nothing and accepted. When she informed Barnett, he said she could have the time to go on the trip, but he added that the ANP couldn’t pay for it. There would be press releases issued from each stop that would provide enough for most of his subscribing newspapers. Barnett also mentioned that he doubted that a woman could get stories from the road.

Dunnigan Determined

Alice Dunnigan had about $250 in savings but needed to send money home each month for the care of her son. She also had her own expenses to cover. In considering organizations that might help her with trip costs, she thought of her sorority.

Sorority representatives said they could present her with a corsage at the send-off, but could not donate anything substantial. Alice replied that she either needed cash or clothes but thanked them for their honesty. To their credit, the sorority purchased a lovely tailored blouse, which proved very useful throughout the trip.

After finding no organization to help her with funds, Alice ran into a friend with good bank credit who said he would personally recommend her to his bank. This permitted Alice to borrow the money and make the trip.

Covering the Story for the ANP

Claude Barnett made it clear that her stories needed to present the African American side of the story. Dunnigan found this challenging as sometimes the only news relating to African Americans was that they did not turn out at many of the stops. But Alice Dunnigan faithfully got off the train at each stop and looked for stories. There were usually service workers at the train station, and she interviewed them about their reaction to the president.

First News Break for Dunnigan

The first big news break for the black reporters on the trip came around midnight at an unscheduled stop in Missoula, Montana, explained Dunnigan in her autobiography. The president and most reporters had gone to bed since no other stops were planned that night, but as the train pulled into Missoula, a college town, many students were on the platform awaiting Truman’s arrival.

Truman did not like to disappoint. When his staff told him people were waiting, Truman put on his bathrobe and slippers and stepped out from the train car. One of the students asked about civil rights.

Truman responded directly: “I’ll say that civil rights is as old as the Constitution of the United States and as new as the Democratic platform of 1944.” He intimated it would be part of the 1948 platform, too.

Dunnigan’s headline read: “Pajama-Clad President Defends Civil Rights at Midnight.”

Few others had the story.

Civil Rights Actions Started in 1940s

While Americans generally associate the civil rights movement and lunch-counter sit-ins with the 1960s, those demonstrations actually began in the 1940s. Alice Dunnigan was there to cover them.

In 1947 a White Tower hamburger stand (a fast-food chain that competed with White Castle) in D.C. on 14^th St. N.W. was the site of a sit-in by black high school students who insisted they should be served.

This was followed by an effort to break down the segregation that existed at the Greyhound terminal’s restaurant in Washington. An integrated group arrived and occupied all the tables, refusing to move until the “Negroes” were served.

Fair Employment

During this time, Alice Dunnigan was reporting on the need for the Fair Employment Act. President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802 to prohibit racial discrimination for jobs in the defense industry when workers were needed during the war.

Seven years later, President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981(July 1947) abolishing  discrimination “on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin” in the United States Armed Forces. The executive order eventually led to the end of segregation in the services. These, in turn, led to the creation of a Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity.

But it wasn’t until 1964 that the Civil Rights Act was passed.

Financial Challenges

Between supporting herself and sending money home for her son, she lived paycheck-to-paycheck. The ANP headquarters was located in Chicago, so checks were mailed from there on Fridays. Dunnigan’s check did not arrive in D.C. until early the next week, so she often had no money for food for the weekend.

Her most valuable possession was an inexpensive watch. She found a pawn dealer who would give her $5 for it, so many Fridays found her going to the pawn shop on 7^th Street. This gave her meal money. When her check arrived the next week, she would return to pick up her watch.

Eisenhower Administration

During the Truman administration, Alice Dunnigan was met with respect. Bess Truman sent extra flowers given her on the Whistle Stop Campaign to Alice’s cabin for her to enjoy. The president himself stopped by to check on her after a press incident when she was barred from accompanying the other reporters.

But President Dwight Eisenhower did not like surprises. At his first press conference, Dunnigan asked a question about civil rights. Eisenhower answered the question circuitously, but he told his spokesperson that in the future Dunnigan’s questions needed to be submitted in advance.

No other reporter had that requirement so she refused.

In 1953, she was barred from attending a speech given by President Eisenhower at a whites-only theater. And at Ohio Senator Robert Taft’s funeral later that year, she was forced to sit in the “servant” section.

Change in Administration

When President John F. Kennedy took office, Jet magazine noted that he called upon Alice Dunnigan at the first-ever televised news conference. The headline: “Kennedy In, Negro Reporter Gets First Answer in Two Years.”

During those years, Dunnigan covered the resistance to integrate schools on military bases and the desegregation of many public places. The best-known case Dunnigan wrote about concerned a case brought against Thompson’s Cafeteria in 1950 by a group led by Mary Church Terrell. The case made it all the way to the Supreme Court.

Job Offer from Johnson

Alice Dunnigan was offered a job with the campaign staff of Lyndon B. Johnson when he was hoping to be the 1960 presidential nominee. When the candidate became John F. Kennedy, Dunnigan went back to reporting for a time. Soon after taking office, President Kennedy appointed her to the President’s Committee on Equal Opportunity.

When Johnson became president after the death of John F. Kennedy, she returned to work in his Administration. In the mid-1960s, she moved over to the Department of Labor where she worked as an information specialist. In 1967, she became an associate editor with the President’s Commission on Youth Opportunity.

Dunnigan Retirement

In 1970, she retired from government service and took time to write her autobiography, A Black Woman’s Experience: From Schoolhouse to White House, published in 1974. The original book was 700+ pages long.

Journalist and attorney Carol McCabe Booker took it upon herself to condense manuscript to shorten the book by focusing primarily on Dunnigan’s journalism career. Today that book is available as Alone Atop the Hill by Alice Dunnigan as edited by Carol McCabe Booker.

Over the course of her career, Alice Allison Dunnigan won over 50 journalism awards. In 1982, she was inducted into the Kentucky Hall of Fame, and in 1985, she was admitted into the Black Journalist Hall of Fame.

 “Race and sex were twin strikes against me. I’m not sure which was the hardest to break down.”  

Recognition for Alice Dunnigan

Just a few years ago, Alice Dunnigan’s accomplishments came to light again after many years when her story was not told. A local businessman in Russellville felt strongly that she should be recognized. He donated money for a memorial and formed a committee to decide how she would best be remembered.

Eventually the concept of a memorial statue was decided upon, and sculptor Amanda Matthews was given a 1947 photo of Alice Dunnigan on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. She is holding a copy of The Washington Post.

In 2018, the memorial was unveiled at Washington’s Newseum. (The museum closed permanently at the end of 2019.) The statue was moved to its permanent home in Russellville, outside the West Kentucky African American Heritage Association.

Truman Library

At the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri, a panel discussion was held to recognize Alice Allison Dunnigan and the reason for her memorial. Historian Dr. Nancy Dawson, granddaughter Astoria Dunnigan Brandon, and sculptor Amanda Matthews discussed Dunnigan’s life and achievements as well as the process of creating a memorial to honor her. The panel was recorded by C-Span and can be viewed here.

https://www.c-span.org/video/?459753-1/african-american-journalist-alice-allison-dunnigan

During the various celebrations, her grandson Kevin Dunnigan was interviewed. He said that he once asked her if she was ever afraid when stepping in to cover stories involving integration.

Dunnigan responded: “Fear is the underside of courage. The deeper your fear, the stronger your courage.”

Also read the story of Harry McAlpin, the reporter who broke the White House press corps color line. Harry McAlpin: Reporter Who Broke the Press Corps Color Line.

Abolitionist and successful Gold Rush entrepreneur Mary Ellen Pleasant was a free woman of mixed-race who dedicated her life to equality for African Americans. From helping with the Underground Railroad to suing for the right to ride on segregated streetcars in San Francisco, Pleasant seldom rested.

Among her closely guarded secrets revealed near the end of her life was that she provided major funding to John Brown as he planned the Harper’s Ferry insurrection. Her request for the inscription on her gravestone? “Friend of John Brown.”

Note: Writing about Mary Ellen Pleasant is problematic as there are many variations to her story. After extensive reading, I found reference to a well-respected Nevada reporter who wrote about her. His last story came about when Mary Ellen summoned him to her home, feeling death was near. He agreed to write her story, but he made a stipulation: He would not write down anything he couldn’t verify. His story is the source I’ve chosen to follow. 

Birth of Mary Ellen Pleasant

Mary Ellen Pleasant was born in Philadelphia to a father from the Sandwich Islands (later known as Hawaii) and a mother was who a free black. Her father wanted her to have an education, but there were no schools for black girls in Philadelphia. As an importer, he had a network of connections and knew there was a school in Nantucket, Massachusetts, that Mary Ellen could attend. He placed his seven-year-old daughter with the Hussey family who ran a mercantile store on Nantucket.

Mary Ellen worked alongside the family in the store, and though her father sent money to the Hussey family each year for her education, the family failed to enroll her in school. Mary Ellen may or may not have realized this, but she dedicated herself to learning business lessons from the store. In addition to selling and making deals, she “became a student of people.”

Boston Marriage

The Hussey family was fond of Mary Ellen but knew she needed to move to a world where she could meet more people. When Mary Ellen was 26 (1842), the Husseys arranged for her to apprentice with a bootmaker in Boston. Among the shop’s customers was James W. Smith, a wealthy Cuban. Smith was an ardent abolitionist who attended the church Mary Ellen attended. They eventually married and united in the cause to do away with slavery.

Among Smith’s friends were well-known abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips. They frequently met at the Smith home to discuss their ongoing effort to move slaves from the South to Canada or to a safe place in the Northeast. Smith also used his wealth to purchase slaves and set them free. But Smith’s health took a bad turn. On his deathbed, he told Mary Ellen that he would leave her his estate with the request that she continue their work for abolition.

For help in settling the estate, she relied on two people for advice: One was a friend from Nantucket, Captain Edward Gardner. The other was the foreman of Smith’s property, a fellow named John J. Pleasant. Over time, he and Mary Ellen chose to marry.

Gold Rush Beckons

In 1848 when gold was found in California, everyone wanted to strike it rich. Husband JJ Pleasant found work as a shipboard cook and left for San Francisco shortly after the news broke. Mary Ellen followed in 1852, having been intrigued by stories of women successfully running restaurants and boarding houses.

When she arrived in San Francisco, she still had inheritance money to invest. Her store experience in Nantucket must have given her a good sense of the business world, and she entered into several types of business ventures. She loaned money at ten percent interest, and she traded in gold and silver. Seeing that San Francisco was a true boom town, she also invested in property–everything from a dairy to laundry businesses.

Some stories of Mary Ellen note that because she was light-skinned some of her business dealings may have been made easier by people assuming she was white. But any woman conducting business would still have encountered numerous obstacles in that day.

But her goals and aspirations remained the same. She never wavered from her effort to help former slaves. Those who made it to San Francisco could turn to her for job placement. Her kitchen became known as the “Black City Hall.”

Eastern Ties

Despite never having attended school, Mary Ellen must have taught herself to read and write. She was a subscriber to William Lloyd Garrison’s newspaper, The Liberator, and she stayed in touch with other abolitionists.

During the late 1850s, abolitionist John Brown became a national figure for his part of the anti-slavery fight in Kansas Territory. By 1858, he was planning an insurrection in Harper’s Ferry, intending to use force to liberate the slaves and create a free territory in western Virginia. When Mary Ellen heard the news through the abolitionist network, she wanted to be a part of it. She and JJ planned a trip East. She carried with her a $30,000 bank draft. When Mary Ellen and JJ docked in Boston, her old friend Captain Gardner met the couple to fill them in. He knew that Brown was in Canada (Chatham, Ontario). Gardner arranged for Mary Ellen  to travel there for a meeting.

Meeting with John Brown

Brown and one of his sons welcomed Mary Ellen Pleasant. They discussed his plans and his need to amass money and supporters. Mary Ellen Pleasant provided him with the $30,000 she brought with her, and also offered to travel to Virginia to spread the word among the slaves.

She and JJ left Canada preparing to help. Mary Ellen dressed as a jockey and JJ accompanied her as her horse trainer, as if they were simply traveling from racetrack to racetrack. However, the two stopped at each plantation along the way, explaining to the slaves the plot that was underway. But Brown did not remain with the schedule he shared with her. The Pleasants soon heard the uprising was underway. Before long, John Brown’s effort was halted, and he was captured.

Alarmed for Self

As she read details of the Harper’s Ferry incident, she was worried. A valise of papers belonging to Brown was seized, and the authorities were looking for an accomplice who wrote a note that was found in Brown’s pocket: “The axe is laid at the roof of the tree. When the first blow is struck there will be more money and help.” The note was signed WEP.

Though the news frightened her, she later said: “I had a quiet laugh when I saw that my poor handwriting had given them a false trail.” (The WEP signature was actually a quickly signed “MEP.”)

She knew if Brown’s papers were being sorted through, she needed to leave the East Coast. JJ used the first-class return ticket they purchased before the trip, but Mary Ellen scrapped her ticket and purchased one for steerage. She told other passengers she was making her first trip to California.

Upon her arrival in San Francisco, she found a letter from John Brown awaiting her. She destroyed it immediately, later saying: “Brown was an earnest, sincere man and as brave a man as ever lived, but he lacked judgment and was sometimes foolhardy and cranky. He wrote too much and talked too much.”

She told others she regretted the failure of the mission but never regretted the money she gave   him. She believed that Harper’s Ferry paved the way for the war.

Needed Money

The expense of the trip and her donation to Brown drew heavily on her resources. To build up her bank balance, she took a job as a family manager for industrialist Selim Woodworth. Good household managers were in high demand, and the job paid well. She and Selim’s wife, Lisette, became good friends, so it was a happy situation. When Woodworth went off to be part of the Union Navy, Mary Ellen and JJ remained part of the household.

After the war, she and JJ moved out of the Woodworth home. Among her few extravagances was a big wedding for her daughter Lizzie. It was widely covered in the black newspapers.

She also went back to investing, acquiring a boarding house where she served well-to-do businessmen in San Francisco.

Segregated Streetcars

San Francisco had horse-pulled streetcars for white passengers only. Blacks were expected to walk. Mary Ellen hated the injustice of this, and when the Civil Rights Act of 1866 was passed, she vowed to test the system. In early 1866, Mary Ellen and two other black women boarded a streetcar and were quickly removed. Pleasant sued.

San Francisco’s Omnibus Railroad Company traversed the poorer section of town, and this was company from which Pleasant had been ejected. Before the case got to court, the company made an offer. They would permit blacks to ride the streetcars if Mara Ellen Pleasant would drop the lawsuit.

Mary Ellen agreed but there was another streetcar company in town. To challenge them, she needed a white accomplice. She and Lisette Woodworth remained friends and Lisette was well-liked and widely respected. If she were part of the plan, it would help Mary Ellen’s cause.

Another Segregation Battle

On September 27, 1866, the women enacted their plan. Lisette boarded the North Beach and Mission Railroad Company car. One stop later, Mary Ellen hailed the driver to pick her up. The driver looked at her but kept going. Lisette leaned forward in the car to point out that someone needed to be picked up. The driver continued to ignore Mary Ellen, who again sued for discrimination. Lisette was her primary witness.

The judge ultimately agreed that Mary Ellen had encountered unlawful discrimination, and he awarded her damages. This was the good news… Unfortunately, an innocent offhand remark by Lisette haunted Mary Ellen the rest of her life. Lisette testified that she and Mary Ellen knew each other well; that sometimes Lisette called Mary Ellen Mama. The press used that as a cudgel. Reporters referred to Mammy Pleasant more often than not as a way to put Mary Ellen “in her place.” Mary Ellen hated the term, and despite all the good she accomplished, that lack of respect for her truly bothered her.

When the streetcar company appealed the decision, the upper court again sided with Mary Ellen but they maintained that no damages needed to be paid.

Later Life

In the mid-1870s, JJ Pleasant died of diabetes, and Mary Ellen Pleasant began investing with one of the men at her boarding house, a Thomas Bell,  a banker and a director of two railroad companies. There were rumors that the relationship was more than business, but Mary Ellen either had no interest or wanted cover and introduced Thomas to a woman named Theresa whom he soon married.

Bell and his new wife lived in the boarding house and Bell and Pleasant continued to invest together. Mary Ellen clearly had a good head for business, but a partnership with Bell must have been beneficial for buying and selling property. A white woman would have struggled to be accepted in handling transactions, and after the war, Mary Ellen’s fight for civil rights clarified that she was black. This must have complicated her business dealings.

Ranch in Sonoma Valley

In 1892, she bought a ranch in Sonoma Valley. The property had a lovely home, vineyards, a lake, and a horse-racing track. As she and Bell and Theresa made plans, the decision was made for Theresa to move to the ranch with her son, while Thomas Bell and Mary Ellen remained at the boarding house in the city to continue to manage their mutual businesses. Unfortunately, Bell was in ill health, and shortly after Theresa moved to the ranch, Bell took a bad fall down the stairs and never recovered.

Despite her good relationship with Theresa while Bell was alive, Mary Ellen’s life became more complicated as she tried to untangle the Bell and Pleasant financial dealings. Theresa’s son was convinced that Pleasant was taking advantage of his family, and he turned his mother against her.

Mary Ellen emerged from the legal case with a settlement, but the amount was a fraction of what was likely legally hers out of the intermingled money.

Verifying Her Story

Mary Ellen Pleasant lived a long life with many different chapters. She also never felt much need to document her whereabouts or experience. When the Bell and Pleasant estate was being settled there were negative press stories, so there was a lot written about her that may or may not have been true.

In the early 1900s, Pleasant was considering her legacy. Despite the bad press after the Bell fight, she wanted to set matters straight.. She had been friendly with a Nevada reporter and editor named Sam Davis, and she summoned him to come to her home and take down her story.

Davis agreed, but he told her that if he were to write about her, he would need to have time to verify the story she told.  Pleasant agreed and told him her story, particularly emphasizing what had been a long-held secret: The fact that she was the person who provided much of the funding for John Brown’s Harpers Ferry raid.

This was the kind of thing that Davis knew he had to track down. He got names from Mary Ellen of those around Brown who might remember her.

Tracing Her Past

Jason Brown, the son who had been with John when he met with Mary Ellen in Canada, was about 80 and in poor health. He told Davis about meeting a black woman who came to Chatham, Ontario, to meet with his father and leave a check behind. However, he could not recall her name.

When Davis re-approached Pleasant for more information, she told him: look for deeds to the land I bought while I was there. As Davis worked through records for the Canadian municipality, he found land purchased by Mary Ellen and JJ Pleasant during the same period when John Brown was visiting Canada.  The deeds were witnessed and notarized.

One of John Brown’s daughters was also able to verify Mary Ellen’s story.

Sam Davis left a record of Mary Ellen Pleasant’s story from 1904 that can now be found online. For the above reasons, I have chosen to let Davis’s account be my guide when Mary Ellen Pleasant’s story needed verification. 

Mary Ellen accomplished a great deal during her life. She helped many former slaves, lent and gave money to San Francisco residents in need—both white and black, and she stood up for civil rights for all people.

Her tombstone request—“Friend of John Brown” was not fulfilled until 1965, but those who read enough about her life and her efforts for oppressed people know that Mary Ellen Pleasant had a long list of accomplishments of which she could be equally proud.

***

For another story about a self-made woman, read about Marjorie Stewart Joyner.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was 25 years old when he and his new wife, Coretta, moved to Montgomery, Alabama in 1954. He was to be pastor of Montgomery’s Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.

Less than one year later, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white person on a Montgomery city bus.

Montgomery’s black leaders were looking for a court challenge to the state and city ordinances stipulating segregated buses. Mrs. Parks, a seamstress who was active with the NAACP, was a perfect test case.

Hastily, leaders called for a meeting of black citizens at the spacious Holt Street Church. Though new to town, Martin Luther King Jr. was known for the power of his sermons, so the leaders asked him to open the meeting.

With less than an hour’s warning about his role in the event, King rose to the occasion. His words energized the citizens that gathered, and the boycott was ultimately effective.

The Holt Street Church was his first public address. He was 25 years old.

Martin Luther King Jr.

King was born in 1929 in Atlanta. He was the middle child of Reverend Martin Luther King Sr. and Alberta King. Growing up, King loved singing and was an active member of the church choir. In the segregated high school he attended, he also was a prominent member of the debate team.

King learned from his father about standing up for yourself.  If a policeman addressed King Sr. as “boy,” the reverend respectfully corrected the officer.

Another time when Martin Sr. took his son shopping for a pair of new shoes, a clerk insisted they move to the back of the store to be served. The Kings left without making a purchase.

There were other indignities, large and small, and Martin absorbed the polite and measured way his father navigated through whatever came his way.

In his teen years, he was invited to compete in a debate competition in Dublin, Georgia, a little over 100 miles southeast of Atlanta.

On the way home, Martin and the teacher were asked to stand so that white people could sit. At first Martin refused, but his coach indicated he needed to get up. Later, King said he was “the angriest he had ever been in his life.”

Education

King attended Morehouse College in Atlanta. During his senior year (1947), he resolved to enter the ministry. He had doubts about the wisdom of becoming a minister, but time and experience made him feel that the church would give him a base for helping mankind.

From Morehouse, King went on toe Crozer Theological Seminary in Upland, Pennsylvania. His father connected him to the reverend at nearby Calvary Baptist Church, and he and a few other students were able to supplement their studies by working with J. Pius Barbour, a highly respected man in the Baptist Church.

On June 18, 1953, King married  Coretta Scott in her hometown of Heiberger, Alabama. One year later, Martin and Coretta moved to Montgomery. King was to be the pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

The Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in 1868, defined U.S. citizenship and forbade the states from restricting the rights of any citizen. However, in some parts of the country, cities and states overrode the amendment with local Jim Crow laws. Both the city of Montgomery and the state of Alabama maintained ordinances that African Americans had to sit in the rear section of buses. And if a white rider got on and needed a seat, the black person was to yield their seat even if he or she was in the proper section of the bus.

Black leaders in Montgomery were looking for a good opportunity to fight this constitutionally in court. In March of 1955, they thought they had their case when Claudette Colvin was arrested for refusing to give up her seat.

Leaders were preparing the legal work when they learned Claudette was only 15. They knew this challenge wouldn’t be easy, and they didn’t want a minor mixed up in what could be a lengthy protest. They opted to wait it out.

A new opportunity presented itself on December 1, 1955. Rosa Parks and her husband Raymond were active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She also worked as a seamstress in a department store in downtown Montgomery.

Parks Arrested

After work one evening, Rosa boarded her usual bus for her trip home. She took a seat in the first row of the “colored section.” As more people boarded the bus, the driver came back and asked Parks and three others to vacate their seats. The other women did so, but Parks refused.

Rosa Parks was arrested and fined $10 plus $4 in court fees. Her hearing was scheduled for Monday, December 5. She would be kept in jail unless someone came to bail her out.

Parks called E.D. Nixon, one of the city’s well-respected black leaders. He came to the police station and paid bail. He knew this sweet, quiet woman was the perfect person to be a plaintiff in a legal challenge.

Two black organizations—the Women’s Political Council and the Montgomery Improvement Association–had been preparing for this opportunity. The Women’s Political Council circulated a flier announcing a meeting at the Holt Street Church on December 4. The purpose was to launch a bus boycott that would begin on December 5, the day of Parks’s first court hearing.

Holt Street Church

The Holt Street Church was selected for the meeting because it was the largest building available to the community. The leaders search for a big venue was justified. On the night of December 4, the church was filled, and people crowded along the streets and sidewalks surrounding the church. Men began stringing up loud speakers to help the word get out to as many people as possible.

On Sunday afternoon, King was contacted and asked to open the meeting that evening. He had under an hour to decide on his remarks and get to the church. A friend offered to drive him to Holt Street to give him added time to make notes

As they neared Holt Street, they had to park the car. There were so many people that they could not drive any closer. The two men got out and threaded their way through the people.

No one would have recognized King. He and Coretta had moved to Montgomery less than a year ago, and this would be his first public speech.

King’s First Public Speech

King’s mission was to set the scene. Activist and minister Ralph Abernathy would follow King with specifics about the boycott.

As the time for the meeting neared, the Holt Street pastor called King to the podium and introduced the young man.

Reverend King paused for a moment and then began:

“We are here this evening—for serious business.”

He started slowly, pacing his words effectively. “…And you know, my friends, there comes a time when people get tired of being trampled over by the iron feet of oppression.”   There was applause and a chorus of yeses from the listeners. As King’s volume and his cadence grew, the crowd picked up the momentum.

They were with him. Because the loud speakers were spreading the word to those outside, the clapping and foot stomping rolled like a wave.

King also talked of the importance of avoiding violence: “The only weapon that we have in our hands this evening is the weapon of protest.”

Right to Protest

He pointed out the glory that American people have the right to protest, and he prophesied that citizens would …“work with grim and bold determination—to gain justice on the buses in this city.”

As King drew to the conclusion of his 15-minute speech, he built to a crescendo: “And we are determined here in Montgomery –to work and fight ‘until justice runs down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream!’” citing a paraphrase from the Book of Amos in the Old Testament.

As he slowed and quieted a bit, he ended with: “Sages of the future should look back at the Negroes of Montgomery and say they were ‘a people who had the moral courage to stand up for their rights.’”

King left the podium and found his way out of the church, letting Abernathy take over regarding the requested demands of the city and the process for the boycott.

To listen to a recording of the speech, click here.

The Boycott

The plan was for all black citizens to boycott the city buses. They made up about 75 percent of the ridership at that time, so the city would notice their absence.

Their original ask was simple. They wanted the city to hire some black drivers, and they asked that seating be on a first-come, first-seated policy. Whites would still enter from the front of the bus and blacks would enter from the rear.

But as the strike dragged on, the Montgomery Improvement Association began to see that if they could get the legal case away of the municipal court system, they could ask for the equality they deserved as citizens of the United States.

In the meantime, people still had to get to work. Leaders organized carpools with regular pick-up and drop-off spots. Black taxi drivers agreed to charge only 10 cents (the price of bus fare) for African American riders. Day-to-day life was more difficult, but it could go on.

Leaders also maintained a regular schedule of meetings to keep spirits and enthusiasm up.

Boycott Continues

The boycott continued for more than a year. During this time, the leaders consulted with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorneys, Robert L. Carter and Thurgood Marshall.

After consulting with the national group, Alabama-based civil rights attorney Fred Gray approached several women who encountered discrimination from bus drivers. Claudette Colvin, Aurelia Browder, Susie McDonald, Mary Louise Smith and Jeanetta Reese all agreed to become plaintiffs in a federal civil action lawsuit, which permitted Gray to take the case beyond the Alabama court system. (This wasn’t an easy decision for the women. Reese backed out almost immediately because of pressure from her employer.)

On Feb 1, 1956, Fred Gray filed Browder v. Gayle in the U.S. District Court of United States for the Middle District of Alabama on the matter of Montgomery and Alabama bus segregation laws. (Aurelia Browder was selected as lead plaintiff. She was active in black voter registration drives and was in her 30s, giving her the experience and the stamina for what was likely to come.) The case was filed against the mayor of Montgomery, W. A. Gayle.

As specified by law, this type of case was to be heard in a federal district court by three judges.

Initial Ruling

On June 13, 1956, the District Court ruled that “the enforced segregation of black and white passengers on motor buses operating in the City of Montgomery violates the Constitution and laws of the United States” because the conditions deprived people of equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment. The court further enjoined the state of Alabama and the city of Montgomery from continuing to operate segregated buses.

The city and state appealed the decision, and it went to the U.S. Supreme Court. On November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court upheld the District Court’s ruling and ordered Alabama and Montgomery to desegregate their buses.

One month after the mayor was handed official notice by federal marshals, the Montgomery buses began the desegregation process. The first integrated buses rolled on Montgomery streets on December 21, 1956. The Montgomery Bus Boycott ended

Violence Continues

The ruling was met with resistance and violence. Because Montgomery maintained segregated bus stops, shooters took aim at waiting black citizens. Some snipers also fired into buses, maiming targeted passengers.

Then in January 1957, tension escalated. Four black churches and the homes of prominent black leaders were bombed. (King’s house was bombed a year earlier; the bomb set set at his home in 1957 was diffused before exploding.)

On Jan 30, 1957, the Montgomery police arrested seven bombers, all members of the Ku Klux Klan. The arrests largely brought an end to the busing-related violence.

Moving Forward

Though it was accomplished with sacrifice and struggle by all the black citizens of Montgomery, a segregation law was removed by the city and the state.

This was the earliest mass protest on behalf of civil rights in the United States, and it brought national and international attention to the issue of American treatment of African American citizens.

Martin Luther King Jr., though only 26 when victory was declared, emerged as a national leader of the civil rights movement. His nonviolent method of protest prevailed throughout the 1960s.

To read more about Martin Luther King, click: “MLK: Thoughts to Live By,” or “Martin Luther King Jr. on the Declaration of Independence.“

Barbara Jordan (1936-96) was a dynamic and forceful African American from Texas who made great strides for American citizens. She exhibited a positive outlook, great intelligence, a good sense of humor, and had an uncanny ability to fully engage an audience.

Her most notable achievements were in politics. After a couple of election defeats in runs for the Texas state senate, she won a seat in 1966 after the law forced states to redistrict. In 1972, she became the first African American from the Deep South elected to the U.S. House of Representatives since the Reconstruction era. Once in Congress, she gained a plum assignment on the Judiciary Committee, and it was there she began to make history.

In 1994 she was honored with a Presidential Medal of Freedom for her many accomplishments.

Barbara Jordan: Growing Up

Barbara Jordan was born in Houston, the youngest of three daughters of Benjamin and Arlyne (Patten) Jordan.  Ben Jordan was a minister, but the pay was not enough to support a family, so he also worked for a warehouse company. Her mother, who showed great oratorical skills in church work while she was a teenager, gave up thoughts of a career and opted to marry and be a housewife and mother.

Barbara and her sisters attended segregated public schools in elementary and high school. Later, fellow Texan and newspaper columnist Molly Ivins asked Barbara about those years. Jordan replied: “We were poor, but so was everyone around us, so we did not notice it.”

While she was growing up, her maternal grandfather was an important and loving influence in her life. After Sunday dinner, most of the family returned to church, but Barbara was permitted to stay with Grandfather Patten. He ran a junk business, and he and Barbara often spent Sunday afternoons sorting materials and talking. In her autobiography, Barbara Jordan: A Self-Portrait, Jordan notes that he taught her she could do anything, and that what Jesus wanted from everyone was to love humanity and to use their ingenuity to figure things out for themselves.

College Years

African Americans in Houston who were lucky enough to go to college generally attended Texas Southern University. (The school was formerly known as TSU for Negroes; it was still segregated during Jordan’s time despite the name change.) Barbara became interested in oratory and convinced the speech coach to permit her to join the all-male debate team.

Texas Southern University was competitive and among the top debate teams in the nation, frequently meeting up with Ivy League schools. There was one notable championship match against Harvard that was pronounced a “tie.” Many years later Jordan was to make good use of this story when she was Harvard’s commencement speaker.

A Taste of Life in the North

In 1956, Barbara Jordan graduated magna cum laude from TSU and was accepted to the law school at Boston University. The Jordan family’s pride in Barbara’s acceptance made the financial sacrifice of sending her north a little easier.

For Barbara, it was an eye-opening opportunity. While life in Boston was still skewed to favor whites, there were no delineations of places for “white only” and “colored.” Barbara began to see what life should hold—equality for all.

Perhaps her most important take-away from law school, however, was an underlying message. She saw that white law students often had family members who practiced law. Some had interned in these law offices or had benefited from the opportunity of hearing legal cases discussed. They also had other opportunities—museum visits, attendance at cultural performances, European travel—that provided them with greater knowledge of the world. Barbara understood there was no “remedial class” for these types of life experiences. She simply had to work harder.

After Law School

She received her law degree in 1959, and briefly considered staying in Boston where she had a job offer from the legal department of a big insurance company. Ultimately, however, she decided to return to Houston. Operating out of her parents’ living room, she did legal work for the underprivileged.

Among the issues being discussed in Houston in those years was the fact that the school system persisted in ignoring school integration—a ruling that occurred in 1954 with the Supreme Court ruling of Brown v. Board of Education. This and other matters inspired  Jordan to become politically active. In 1960, she volunteered with the Kennedy-Johnson presidential campaign. They recognized her power with audiences, and she soon found herself speaking around Texas, representing the Democratic ticket.

As she participated in the community, she saw that an elected position would be the best place to bring about change.

Early Campaigns

Barbara Jordan’s first two runs for state representative from Harris County taught her a great deal. Representatives ran “at large,” meaning that all candidates vied for the number of seats that were designated for Harris County, with the seats going to those with the most votes.

Jordan had the support of the local Democratic party, and she was a great campaigner. She read up on Texas government and was well prepared to discuss budgeting and welfare and her vision for reform. In two elections, she saw that she brought out minority voters, but she never became a top vote-getter.

Family members counseled her to settle down, marry, and practice law. As she listened to them, Jordan made the specific decision that governing was of paramount importance to her. She wouldn’t be deterred, no matter the cost.

Redistricting

Barbara Jordan lived through an era when Jim Crow laws affected Texas and the South—and to some extent, other parts of the country. While Brown v. Board of Education established that “separate but equal” wasn’t good enough, other legal cases contested the fact that many states drew their election districts to favor the white vote. Tennessee had not redrawn voting districts since 1901, and in 1962 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Baker v. Carr that Tennessee’s failure to redraw voting districts was unacceptable; federal courts were ordered to develop a judicial remedy.

“One person, one vote” was determined in Georgia in Gray v. Sanders, James Sanders objected to the “county unit” apportionment system that weighted some districts more heavily than others. The Supreme Court sided with Sanders. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas wrote the majority opinion referencing the Equal Protection Clause of the 14^th Amendment stating: “The concept of political equality…can mean only one thing—one person, one vote.”

A case in Alabama and another in Georgia tested the apportionment for state voting districts. In both states, the legislative districts varied greatly in population, thereby reducing representation in those areas that were heavily populated. In both states, the the Court held that unequal districts were discriminatory. Here is the reasoning behind the decision in Georgia: Because a single congressman had to represent two to three times as many people as were represented by congressmen in other districts, the Georgia statute reduced the value of some votes and expanded the value of others: “…No right is more precious” than that of having a voice in elections. The decision held that “[t]o say that a vote is worth more in one district than in another… run[s] counter to our fundamental ideas of democratic government.'”

Harris County Redistricting

Collectively, these cases affected both northern and southern states that had neglected to adjust voting districts in keeping with changes in state population. Harris County was just one of many districts in Texas where legislative lines needed to be redrawn.

Barbara Jordan found herself in the newly created 11th State Senatorial District, including the 5^th Ward. This area was composed of 38 percent blacks, a large block of Chicanos, and white laborers affiliated with the AFL-CIO. These were groups that had shown strong support for Barbara Jordan in the previous elections—they just were outnumbered in the size of the district.

With this new districting, Barbara Jordan was ready to run again in 1966. But this time she campaigned differently. She’d learned that audiences didn’t want to hear about retrenchment and reform. They wanted to hear about her: Could she do a good job of representing them?

She became the first African American woman elected to the Texas state senate. She ushered through the state’s first law on minimum wage and worked to create the Texas Fair Employment Practices Commission.

Running for Congress

In 1972, she ran for Congress and won election to the U.S. House of Representatives. She was the first black elected to Congress from Texas after Reconstruction.

Experience in state government taught her the importance of advocating for herself. Once elected, she called former President Lyndon Johnson for help in getting assigned to a good committee. Lyndon Johnson made the phone call she requested, and Wilbur Mills soon announced the Barbara Jordan would be taking a seat on the Judiciary Committee—an excellent assignment for a freshman in Congress.

Jordan and the Judiciary Committee

The Judiciary Committee of 1974 had an unusually difficult task before them. The country was in the midst of Watergate hearings, and the Judiciary Committee was wrestling with whether President Richard Nixon should be impeached. Impeachment was a dire step for Congress and the country. After much discussion behind closed doors, committee chairperson Peter Rodino decided committee comment should be public. Each committee member—all 35 of them–would be given a 15-minute slot for remarks that would be televised.

Barbara Jordan Makes History

With such a large committee, Barbara Jordan was not certain this was the best use of everyone’s time. Though she generally worked far in advance on her speeches, she didn’t this time. The night before she was to speak found Barbara with a blank sheet of paper. What she wrote that night was so effective that Americans were totally taken in by her intelligence and clear thought. (It remains a speech worth re-reading.)

After a few opening remarks, she began with a reminder of the very recent experiences of African American people under Jim Crow laws:

“Earlier today, we heard the beginning of the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States: “’We the people’—it is a very eloquent beginning. But when the Constitution of the United States was completed on the 17^th of September in 1787, I was not included in that ‘We the people.’ I felt for many years that somehow George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake. But through the process of amendment, interpretation, and court decisions, I have finally been included in ‘We the people.’”

“…My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total.  I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution.”

When the government faces a dire issue like presidential impeachment, Jordan notes that the Constitution assigned to Congress different duties: The House was given the job to determine whether the questions surrounding a possible impeachment were valid; the Senate was left to weigh the facts of the case. She proceeded with a well-ordered, evidence-based discussion, juxtaposing what was known to have occurred in the Nixon White House against impeachment criteria from the Framers of the United States Constitution.

“…The Framers confided in the Congress the power if need be, to remove the President in order to strike a delicate balance between a President swollen with power and grown tyrannical, and preservation of the independence of the Executive.”

Working from the Constitution

Jordan continues with words from James Madison, from the Virginia Ratification Convention: “If the President be connected in any suspicious manner with any person and there be grounds to believe that he will shelter him, he may be impeached.”

She adds the impeachment criteria raised at the Carolina Ratification Convention: “Those are impeachable “who behave amiss or betray their public trust.”

The Congresswoman then turned to the current time: “Beginning shortly after the Watergate break-in and continuing to the present time, the President has engaged in a series of public statements and actions designed to thwart the lawful investigation by government prosecutors. Moreover, the President has made public announcements and assertions bearing in the Watergate case which the evidence will show he knew to be false…”

With the pacing and rhythm of an expert speaker, Barbara Jordan returned to James Madison and his words from the Constitutional Convention: “A President is impeachable if he attempts to subvert the Constitution.”

“The Constitution charges the President with the task of taking care that the laws be faithfully executed, and yet the President has counseled his aides to commit perjury, willfully disregarded the secrecy of grand jury proceedings, concealed surreptitious entry, attempted to compromise a federal judge while publicly displaying his cooperation with the processes of criminal justice…”

Summing up, she spoke confidently:

“Has the President committed offenses and planned and directed and acquiesced in a course of conduct which the Constitution will not tolerate? That is the question. 

We know the question.

We should proceed to answer the question. 

It is reason and not passion which must guide our deliberations, guide our debate, and guide our decision.”

With that, Barbara Jordan respectfully yielded her remaining time.

She reached her audience; viewers and listeners took notice.

(Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, before an impeachment trial could begin.)

Barbara Jordan Made Impact Elsewhere

Barbara Jordan had many issues that were important to her in representing her district. Among them were civil rights issues. She worked hard to extend the Voting Rights Act. She wanted to stem the various covert, convoluted ways that were taking the vote away from black people.

The injustices over gender were also on her mind. Shortly after she took her seat in the House of Representatives, the Equal Rights Amendment passed both houses of Congress (1972). As stipulated by law, the proposed amendment needed to be ratified by 38 of the 50 states.

On November 10, 1975, she had occasion to address her disbelief that the Equal Rights Amendment was still four states short of ratification three years into the process: The amendment is so simple, that in all of the negative rhetoric which you have heard about it, some of us who are for the amendment have had to go back and read it and see exactly what it is that it says.

It’s very simple: ‘Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any other state on account of sex.’ To me, that is stated in plain, simple, ordinary English.”

Barbara Jordan had a way of calling out what she saw as stupidity or bigotry.

Keynoted Democratic National Convention

Barbara Jordan will long be remembered for being the first African American woman to give a keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. But it wasn’t just her symbolic presence…it was the power embodied in her speech. The speech was given in Madison Square Garden in New York City on the first night of the convention, July 12, 1976.

This press report from columnist Sandy Grady of The Philadelphia Evening Bulletin gives a sense of her impact:

“The Democrats were losing to boredom, 1-0, last night when they had the good sense to bring Barbara Jordan off the bench.

“Miss Jordan, as the ballplayers say, took it downtown. She tore it up. Grand slam.

“Jimmy Carter, watching the Dems’ lovefest on TV in his Americana Hotel suite, could only feel lucky he won’t have to follow Barbara Jordan’s act for three days. Getting on the same podium with Miss Jordan is like trying to sing along with Marian Anderson.”

Change of Course

By the mid- to late 1970s, Barbara Jordan took a fresh look at to her future. She was a national, well-respected figure by this time and knew she now had power to make a difference on her own. She was also showing signs of multiple sclerosis. The physical limitations she faced made her think more about what she wanted to achieve and how.

She furthered her thinking that spring when she heard from Harvard. The first call invited her to campus to receive an honorary degree at graduation. The second call was from the commencement committee: Would she give the commencement address? She was the committee’s first pick.

Of course she would, and it gave her an opportunity to talk about what she viewed as her next calling: Making certain people understood they had a voice. Voting counts, and all citizens need to take part in their communities and the government.

Addressing Harvard Audience

But before her main message, she had some unfinished business with Harvard. When she was on the debate team at TSU, Harvard and TSU were among the final teams for the top award. Ultimately, the judges determined the debate was a tie.

Jordan set the scene and then proceeded with her remarks: “Now it occurs to me today that if Harvard students were so superior –or as superior as we all thought–they should have won. And since the judges said the debate ended in a tie, we must have won.

“So, Mr. President and all of the alumni, I hereby declare that when that debate was held over twenty years ago, we won. And if you have any surplus trophies around anywhere I’ll take one home to the team. And if you should run into two gentlemen—one’s name was Jared Diamond and the other, James Sykes—they were the Harvard debaters at that time, I invite you to offer them my condolences.”

She then turned serious and addressed the importance of public participation, concluding: “The stakes are too high for government to be a spectator sport.”

Final Years Teaching

After her time in Congress, she returned to teach at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin. Students reported that she was never without a copy of the Constitution in her purse.

Commission on Immigration Reform

And her time in Washington was not quite at an end. In 1994, she accepted a position chairing the Commission on Immigration Reform. One of the issues facing the commission concerned children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants. Barbara Jordan on the matter: “To deny birthright citizenship would derail this engine of American liberty.”

Many Honors

Barbara Jordan received many honors over her lifetime, among them was the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

She died in 1996 and is buried in the State Cemetery of Austin. Her papers are housed at the Barbara Jordan Archives at Texas Southern University. (Many of her papers can also be found online.)

Shortly after her passing, Senator Barbara Boxer (CA) made a speech to the U.S. Senate (January 22, 1996.) “If Barbara Jordan is remembered for just one thing, it will be the power of her words. Her message united people from vastly different walks of life, bringing them together to stand as one and nod their heads in unison and say, ‘Yes, each one of us can make a difference, and together we can make this nation stronger.’”

***

To read about another woman who fought for civil rights, read about the citizenship schools started by Septima Clark.

And here’s a clip from Barbara Jordan’s 1976 speech to the Democratic National Convention:

Sarah Keys Evans did not intend to take a stand for civil rights in 1952 when she boarded an interstate bus in Trenton, New Jersey. She was on leave from Fort Dix where she served in the Women’s Army Corps. Dressed in her full military uniform, she was traveling home to visit her family in Washington, N.C.

Challenged on Trip Home

Her simple trip home did not go as planned.  In Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, she was taken into police custody for refusing to give her seat to a white marine. While the South still enforced Jim Crow segregation laws, a different ruling had come from the Supreme Court in 1946. In Morgan v. Virginia, the judges ruled that passenger segregation was illegal on interstate travel. African Americans who started their ride in the North could remain in whatever seats they had taken at the beginning of the trip.

Once she arrived home, Sarah Keys Evans wanted to forget the whole thing, but her father urged her to fight for what was right. Keys v. Carolina Coach Company forced the Interstate Commerce Commission to stand by the Supreme Court decision of 1946 that ruled that Jim Crow laws could not be applied to interstate travel.

Keys and Rosa Parks

The Keys ruling was announced exactly five days before Rosa Parks took her seat at the front of the bus in Montgomery, launching a movement.

Both women deserve enormous respect, but the difference between them is notable. Rosa Parks was trained in civil disobedience and had an army of supporters ready to fight beside her.  Sarah Keys was all alone on that bus at midnight in the South when the bus driver decided she should give her seat to a white man. What occurred after that was a prolonged, lonely fight.

Changes in civil rights require both types of people—those like Sarah Keys, who take a stand when something is wrong; and those like Rosa Parks, who set goals and then strategize to accomplish them.

Sarah Keys Evans

Sarah Keys Evans was born in 1929. She and her siblings grew up on the family farm in Keysville, North Carolina. To make enough money to support the family, her father worked during the day as a cement finisher, and the children helped on the farm when they weren’t in school.

After Sarah graduated, she went to live with her married sister in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. She tried a variety of jobs but nothing excited her until she saw ads for women in the military. She soon enlisted. After Basic Training in Fort Lee, Virginia, and a short stint in Houston, she was given a permanent assignment at Fort Dix, New Jersey.

Traveling Home

Eligible for leave, Sarah Keys Evans was excited about going home to North Carolina to see her family. Her father had schooled all his children in the rules pertaining to traveling North to South. She had no concerns as she knew what was expected of her.

On August 1, 1952, Keys Evans boarded a bus in Trenton, New Jersey. Because the bus traveled straight through (she had no changes to make), she knew she had the right to sit where she pleased. She chose a seat in the middle of the bus as the back of any bus tended to be hotter and bumpier than the forward section. In addition, unpleasant smells from the engine frequently drifted in the rear windows.

Wakened and Asked to Move

Near midnight, the bus reached Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, where a new driver was to take over. As was the custom, the new driver went through the bus and re-checked tickets. When he came to Sarah Keys, he asked her to move to the back of the bus. A white marine boarded the bus at Roanoke Rapids, and Keys Evans was told to give him her seat.

Sarah was groggy from sleep but knew her rights. She refused.

The driver proceeded down the aisle, but that was not the end of the issue. As the driver returned to the front of the bus, he announced that all passengers were moving to a different bus with one exception: The woman who refused to change her seat was to stay on the bus as long as she wanted, because she would not be continuing on the route.

A sailor nearby helped Keys Evans off the bus with her luggage. She walked into the terminal to ask at the ticket office what happened. As she approached the window, the ticket seller pulled down the shade in front of his window. The janitor who was sweeping the floor turned to Sarah: “Don’t you know where you are?”

At that point, Sarah Keys Evans realized her problem was bigger than she realized.

The Police Take Keys Evans

Moments later, two policemen came into the terminal. Each one took Sarah by an arm and put her to a patrol car for a ride to the police station. When she asked to call her family, she was told that they would make the phone call for her.

When she arrived home, her parents were frantic, not knowing what happened to her. She realized the police never called.

Sarah Keys Evans was very upset by the whole thing and wanted to forget it. But when her father, a former Navy man who was very active in their community, heard the whole story, he urged her to fight. He assured her he would stand behind her every step of the way.

Returning to Roanoke Rapids

After the weekend, she and her father returned to Roanoke Rapids. The first visit accomplished little, but they hired a local attorney to help them through the process. When they returned to town for the hearing, the local attorney failed to appear. By this time, the story spread among their friends, and offers of help came in. One friend contacted a Washington attorney, Dovey Roundtree.

Dovey Roundtree Takes Case

Roundtree served in the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps in prior years, and she had experienced similar discrimination. She was happy to take the case.  Roundtree ran her law firm with another well-regarded attorney, Julius W. Robertson, and both of them knew what had to be done to bring a case before the Interstate Commerce Commission, the governmental body that would decide the case.

Sarah Keys Evans suffered during this time. She was a very private person, and since she was still in the military, she had to take leave for some parts of the preparation. She didn’t like telling people what she was going through.

By 1953, her military service was complete. She received an honorable discharge. Keys Evans knew she had to get on with her life despite the ongoing case. Her dream was to style hair and eventually own her own beauty shop. She moved to New York City and enrolled in beauty school. She could attend at night and work elsewhere during the day.

Sarah Keys vs. Carolina Coach Company

Finally, a hearing at the I.C.C. was scheduled for May of 1954. Only one commissioner was at the hearing. In his opinion, the bus driver was simply asking her to switch seats and there was nothing wrong with that.

Roundtree was furious. She wanted a new hearing. She was well connected in Washington, and got Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. and others to apply pressure for a hearing with a full slate of the commissioners.

Court Decides

In November of 1955, Sarah Keys (now Sarah Keys Evans) case was scheduled for another hearing. After a full examination of the facts, the Interstate Commerce Commission came out with the decision that the Supreme Court ruling of 1946 applied to private bus companies as well as public transportation. If the private company tried to make its own rules, as had Carolina Coach Company, it still had to abide by the law.

For Sarah Keys Evans, this was a victory.  The ruling was written about in major newspapers, including The New York Times (November 27, 1955) where Sarah Keys Evans expressed gratitude to her attorneys and said, “It is a great occasion for my father and me for it took more than three years for a decision. My father encouraged me when I needed encouragement.”

Sarah Keys Evans Later Life

Sarah Keys Evans was delighted to put the issue behind her. Together she and her husband bought a beauty salon in Harlem. They had many successful years with the business, but then George Evans decided to return to school to train to be a therapist. They sold the shop, and for a few more years, Sarah rented space so she could continue to take clients.

In 1986, she retired.

Implementation of the Law

In an ideal world, bus companies would have revised their policies immediately after the ruling. As it happened, it was not until 1961 that the government forced the I.C.C. to enact the directive.

By this time, John F. Kennedy was president. Civil rights demonstrations were heating up, and Kennedy didn’t like the worldwide negative publicity. His brother, Robert, was his attorney general, and Robert Kennedy set to work to straighten out. In short order, the I.C.C. made certain that all bus lines in the Deep South complied.

Though Sarah Keys Evans has been honored by many organizations, her name is not a household word in the way the name, “Rosa Parks” is.  But her case accomplished something important. The ruling was the first explicit rejection of the “separate but equal” doctrine for modes of transportation. The announcement came shortly after the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education case that outlawed segregation in schools.

Slowly, the world was going to change.

For an article about discrimination on airplanes, read what happened to Jackie Robinson on his way to spring training: Jackie Robinson: Barred from Flying to Spring Training.

Operation Pedro Pan was an under-the-radar plan of the early 1960s to help families get their children out of Cuba before the Communist regime had complete control of the country. Unaccompanied children traveled on commercial flights from Havana to Miami. A representative of Catholic Charities of Miami met them at the airport and helped coordinate family reunions or placement in foster homes of those without families. 

In the News

Awareness of the Cuban situation of the 1960s was brought to mind when Fidel Castro’s death on November 25, 2016, was announced. While there were Cubans sincerely mourning the only true leader they had ever known, there were also many instances captured on video of Cuban Americans dancing in the streets at the news of Castro’s death.

The spirited celebrations reflected the fact that many felt they had no option but to flee their homeland when Castro came to power.

On January 1, 1959, Fidel Castro and his revolutionary fighters overthrew the U.S.-backed authoritarian government of Fulgencio Batista. With this military coup, Castro changed the face of Cuba by pulling it away from being a U.S.-leaning country. Adopting a Marxist-Leninist ideology, Castro converted Cuba into a pro-Soviet, one-party, socialist state under Communist Party rule. This made Cuba the first and only Communist country in the Western Hemisphere.

Cuban Reaction

With the military takeover, Cuban families with money left for the United States as quickly as possible, fearing the new regime. Those of lesser means did not have that option. Because the previous government had been far from ideal for many of those remaining, they held out initial hope that Castro brought good. He wanted to improve literacy, and he made healthcare more available.

But as he implemented his Marxist-Leninist ideology in the schools, parents became concerned. The schoolchildren were being trained for the military. Rumors spread that the government planned to remove children from their families and place them in camps. There, they would be taught that the state was more important than the family.

Even more upsetting to the people was Castro’s declaration that Cuba was to be an atheist nation. The Cuban population was heavily Catholic, and this did not go over well in a country where religion was the backbone of many communities.

Families were torn as to what to do. They were concerned for themselves but were even more worried for their children. A few of the parents undertook the unthinkable—they bought plane tickets to send their children, unaccompanied, to the United States. Some had family who had preceded them to America and could meet the children at the airport. Many simply hoped for the best, trusting that America was a place of good, and someone would help their children.

At first, the flow of children was only a trickle. But this gave warning of what was to come, permitting a plan to be formulated.

Operation Pedro Pan Starts Slowly

The first person to be made aware of what might follow was a perfect player: Father Bryan Walsh was a Catholic priest in charge of the Catholic Charities of Miami. One day a parishioner came to Father Walsh’s office with a young boy named Pedro. Pedro arrived in Miami and had no family and nowhere to go. Given the situation in Cuba, he couldn’t go back. Could Father Walsh help him?

Father Walsh found a foster home for the boy. He was the first of many.

The program was eventually called Operation Pedro Pan, after the first young boy to be placed.  But the program was not referred to officially until the spring of 1962. Organizers feared that if the evacuation of the children was publicized or sounded too organized, Cuba would shut it down.

With Father Walsh tending to placement of the children, someone needed to be on the ground in Cuba to help with evacuating the kids. That person was an American named James Baker who was based in Havana where he ran an elite private school for young Cubans. On one of Baker’s trips to Miami, he and Walsh ironed out a plan.

The plan was for Baker to help families who wanted to send their children out of the country. The intent was to limit the program to children 6-16. Despite this, some younger children came through the system. Once in the U.S., Father Walsh’s network took over. From the moment the children landed at the airport, someone was looking out for their well-being.

The regular flights of unaccompanied minors began in December of 1960. Families could purchase plane tickets for $25 on commercial airlines. Two flights per day were generally leaving Cuba.

There were tearful good byes between parents and their children. Older children and parents understood the harsh reality—the children would never be able to return to Cuba, and it was anyone’s guess as to whether the parents would ever make it out to join their children. (Fathers tried to avoid crying until after their children had boarded the plane, but it was very hard for many of them, knowing they might never see their sons or daughters again.)

The children boarded the plane with a passport, a plastic bag containing a favorite toy or blanket, and a visa pinned to their clothing.

When families heard that someone was helping find homes for the children, the wave of children increased. Because so many were coming and because time was of the essence, Father Walsh contacted the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower to ask that the need for a visa be waived. The state department agreed to this as long as an agency outside the government (like Catholic Charities) was administering the program.

Over the course of an 18-month period, over 14,000 Cuban children arrived in the U.S. to start a new life.

The New World Started in Miami

In Miami, the children were always greeted by a representative from Catholic Charities. About 50 percent of them were met by relatives. The others were placed in group homes or foster homes over time.

An article in The New York Times (5-27-62) described the world of these children. The reporter wrote that all the children were given a weekly allowance of $2 for stamps, ice cream, or excursions such as to the movies or the bowling alley. The article mentioned that some of the children asked their house parents to hold on to the money for them. They wanted to save what they could to help their parents buy plane tickets to come and join them.

A few of the children were from Protestant and Jewish families. Catholic Charities worked with members from those religious organizations to see that the children were matched with a home where they were most comfortable.

South Florida Fills Up

Catholic Charities soon ran out of homes in south Florida. The Church put out the word that homes were needed across the nation.

Group homes were established in Jacksonville and Orlando, and then later, in states throughout the country—from Delaware and New Mexico to Montana. The fact that people all over the country opened their doors to help with what could have been viewed as a “Florida problem” shows the goodness of the American people. It also illustrates that the fear of Communism atmosphere of the late 50s and early 1960s was relevant to people in all states.

The story of Cuban children arriving in Helena, Montana, in early 1962 was told in an article in Montana The Magazine of Western History (spring 2014). These children, too, started out in group homes, but Catholic services found homes for most of their younger children.

The Helena area hosted somewhere between 100-130 children in 1962. Of course, many moved away, but some stayed thus altering the complexion of America. While Florida is home to many Cuban Americans, the fact that families throughout the country welcomed these children has meant that many have found comfort in calling other parts of the U.S. their home.

Others left the states they called home but were forever affected by their experience: Mario Toca and Ana Plasencia were both placed in Helena, Montana, in 1962. They did not know each other while there. Later, they were introduced, and the bond they shared from their experience led to love and later, to marriage.

The End of Operation Pedro Pan

The program continued to evacuate young people for many months, but flights were interrupted in in April of 1961 when the CIA-led Invasion of the Bay of Pigs was attempted but failed. Then the Cuban Missile Crisis in October of 1962 brought a permanent halt to the flights. Cuban citizens were no longer able to fly directly to the U.S.

Diplomatic Efforts Create Opportunity

The American and the Cuban governments finally listened to the pleas of families who were separated by the government change-over. Under an agreement between the two governments, Freedom Flights began on December 1, 1965. Close to 90 percent of children who were still in foster homes were reunited with their parents by June of 1966.

Operation Pedro Pan still exists as an organization. Because the program was ad hoc and had no official registry in order to protect the families, the records of the young people who arrived in the United States during those years are incomplete.

If you—or someone you know—came to the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor during those years, Operation Pedro Pan would like to hear from you. They are gathering stories and facilitating reunions where they can.