Author’s Note: This narrative marks the final installment of the Church Street Series, a journey celebrating the history, people, and places that shaped our community. It honors the legacy of Giles’ Penny Savers Store and the extraordinary contributions of Mr. Oscar Giles and Mrs. Alice Giles. Portions of this account are drawn from oral history interviews with Mrs. Alice Giles. Dedication: This narrative is lovingly dedicated to the memory of Mr. Oscar Giles and Mrs. Alice Giles. The Giles’ Penny Savers Store was located on the southern end of Church Street, in a mostly residential area. Established in 1946 by Mr. Oscar Giles and Mrs. Alice Giles, the grocery store catered primarily to Black cotton field workers and the broader Black community. Cotton choppers earned $1 a day, working from “kin to kan’t” (from dawn to dusk). Small “Mom and Pop” grocery stores like Giles’ were common on nearly every corner in Black neighborhoods, serving many pedestrians during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. At that time, most Black residents didn’t own cars, so they walked to their destinations—whether to church, the cleaners, the store, or elsewhere.
The Giles’ Penny Savers Store was a wooden structure with a set of steps leading to the entrance. A photograph taken inside the store captures the types of items that were sold there around the late 1940s. Inside, a counter stood with shelves behind it, neatly stocked with a variety of canned goods such as Carnation milk, Pet milk, Del House Tomatoes, Campbell’s soups, and Bush’s beans, each label facing forward. A large glass jar on the counter held medium-sized dill pickles, which were removed with a long meat fork to prevent tearing.
For children, an assortment of penny candies was displayed in large fishbowl jars on the counter—Kits, Hershey Kisses (two for a penny). Hanging from a metal rack were bags of Rice Potato Chips. Groceries were much cheaper then than they are today. At the back of the store was the meat counter, offering a variety of cold cuts like bologna, salami, luncheon meat, and hoop cheese with a red rind, as well as liver cheese and thick bacon with the rind. Smoked sausages, wieners, steaks, pork chops, ground beef, and neckbones were also sold, wrapped in white butcher paper torn from a long roll. Cotton choppers often bought cold cuts, Vienna sausages, potted meat, sardines, and crackers to take to the fields for lunch. The store also sold Coca Cola, RC Cola, and strawberry sodas. Bread cost 12 cents a loaf, and a Coca Cola was just 5 cents.
The store was especially popular with neighborhood children before school, during lunch, and after school, as it was a short walk north of Carver Elementary School, the former site of Indianola Colored High School. At that time, schools didn’t have cafeterias, so children went home to eat during their one-hour lunch break. Those who lived in the country couldn’t go home and instead bought food at Giles’ store. The store stayed busy with young Black children and community members because the Giles kept their prices affordable, helping people to save money—hence the name “Giles Penny Savers Store.” Their business was so successful that other Black entrepreneurs opened grocery stores on Church, Hannah, Bates, Byas, and Jefferson Streets.
The Giles were deeply rooted in their Christian faith and believed in helping others. If people were hungry and couldn’t afford to pay, they extended food to them on credit. People would settle their accounts on Saturday, or partially pay and take on another line of credit, paying week by week. Remarkably, the Giles were never robbed during their 42 years operating the Penny Savers Store. The couple was also active in the civil rights movement. Mr. Oscar Giles became involved because, as a Black man, he was denied the right to vote and sought better opportunities for everyone. He joined the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) and served as a delegate traveling to Atlantic City, New Jersey, alongside Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer to challenge the seating of the all-white Mississippi delegation, which excluded Black representatives.
A documentary clip captures him stepping off the bus in Atlantic City. However, their activism came at a cost. Their insurance was cancelled, and Mrs. Giles suspected something horrible was about to happen. Her suspicions were confirmed on May 1, 1965—Mrs. Alice Giles’s birthday—when the Giles Penny Savers Store, along with Mrs. Irene Magruder’s house and Mr. and Mrs. Dudley Wilder’s house, was firebombed with Molotov cocktails. Mr. Giles initially didn’t want the fire department to be called, but Mrs. Giles called anyway. Their neighbors helped extinguish the fire, and thankfully, no one was injury. No one was charged with the crimes. Mrs. Cora Flemming, Mrs. Alice Giles, Mrs. Thelma Mack, Mrs. Bernice Magruder White, and Mrs. Brenda Magruder Nichols were pioneers who brought the first Head Start Program to Indianola and Sunflower County during the summer of 1965.
The six-week Head Start Program, created as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty, targeted Black children aged five, giving them a head start before entering first grade. After the firebombing of the Freedom School in March and the firebombing of homes in May, Black ministers in Indianola were hesitant to open their churches to host the program. As a result, the first Indianola Head Start Program was held that summer in a Black church near Highway 82 in Leland, Mississippi, pastored by Rev. E.L. Young. The church was a white wooden structure. Mr. Bud Smith transported children from Indianola to Leland on his field bus. Mr. and Mrs. Giles donated food from their store to provide daily nutritious meals for the children.
Mrs. Giles’s daughter, Mable Giles, Michael Scott, Patricia Caldwell, my sister Marsha, and I were among the children who attended the first Head Start in Leland, along with 25 to 30 other Black children. Through their dedication to both their business and the civil rights movement, the Giles left an indelible mark on the Indianola community—a legacy that continued even as their store eventually closed and they were laid to rest. Mr. Oscar Giles passed away in 1988 at the age of 74. After his death, Mrs. Alice Giles closed the Penny Savers Store, ending 42 years of dedicated service to the community.
Mrs. Alice Giles passed away in 2011 at the age of 91. In recognition of their contributions, a Mississippi Historical Marker was unveiled at the site of the Giles Penny Savers Store in 2004. Mrs. Alice Giles, along with her adult children Mrs. Mable Giles Whitaker and Dr. Eugene Giles, attended the unveiling during the 40th Anniversary of Freedom Summer reunion in Sunflower County, Mississippi. In addition to this honor, an apartment complex on Airport Road, named Oscar Giles Estates commemorates Mr. Oscar Giles’s legacy.
