The Sunflower County Chapter NAACP held its annual Black History program Saturday at the BB King Museum.
It was well attended and included as its keynote speaker our newly elected Central District Public Service Commissioner DeKeither Stamps of Jackson. Stamps’ speech was informative and inspiring, but it was Indianola’s own Dr. Adrian Brown who, in giving the Occasion, presented a succinct and accurate account of Sunflower County’s long and continuing march towards equality.
Here is the text of Dr. Brown’s synopsis on Sunflower County’s Black History, which is really much more than that because it is OUR history:
“It is my distinct pleasure to come before you today to share a few words on such an auspicious Occasion. I am honored to have been asked to participate in a program where we all have an opportunity to pause, reflect, and observe our innumerable and immeasurable struggles, triumphs, and advancements as proud members of the African American race.
“Sunflower County, Mississippi has always been at the center of the struggle for equality and freedom, and still is even today! When I was asked to provide the Occasion by Brother Charles Modley, I immediately thought of all of our ancestors who led the struggle for equality in Sunflower County
“Let me begin with Dr. Clinton Battle who was a superb physician in the 1950s here in Indianola. Dr. Battle resurrected the NAACP here in Sunflower County and led an effort to register over 100 African Americans to vote in Sunflower County during those times. Because of Dr. Battle’s activism, the Mississippi
“State NAACP Conference voted and held its State Meeting in Indianola in 1953. Dr. Battle’s gift in organizing and mobilizing our people led to the founding of the White Citizens’ Council. This organization was known as the White-Collar Klan and its primary goal was to curtail Dr. Battle’s organizing. This organization infiltrated the Sunflower County NAACP, and can you believe that they convinced local NAACP members to denounce their membership and end their community activism?
“The White Citizen’s Council also worked very closely with employers, law enforcement, and other community organizations, and collectively they blackballed Dr. Battle and ran him out of not only Sunflower County, but the State of Mississippi in 1957.
“In 1962, our good friend Mr. Charles McLaurin led the poor people’s movement 23 miles north of Indianola, in Ruleville, Mississippi, where he moved to from Jackson, Mississippi. Mr. McLaurin was a member of SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee).
“SNCC built support for a voter registration campaign to help local people develop the leadership skills they needed to solve their own problems. It was during this time Mr. McLaurin met the great and late Madam Fannie Lou Hamer. Ms. Hamer had the unique ability to describe the systemic disenfranchisement that African American Sunflower Countians faced and instantly became the leader and the face of this movement.
“Did you know that Ms. Hamer was the one who coined SNNC’s motto, “LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE”? This phrase was also used as a book’s title that was written by Todd Moye to detail the Civil Rights struggle in Sunflower County.
“In 1962, Ms. Hamer, Mr. McLaurin and 17 others came here to Indianola to register African Americans to vote. When Ms. Hamer made it back home, the plantation owner asked her to revoke her voter’s registration application or leave the plantation. In her quest for equality, Ms. Hamer elected to leave the plantation.
“Ms. Hamer and other citizens in 1963, returning to Mississippi from a citizenship education workshop in South Carolina, were pulled over in Winona, Mississippi. Ms. Hamer was jailed, and the guard forced another black inmate to beat her which left physical injuries and emotional scars.
“Ms. Hamer used this experience to fuel her quest for equality. While Ms. Hamer continued to fight for racial equality, United States Senator James Eastland from Doddsville continued to fight for racial segregation. Ms. Hamer went on to lead the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to the Democratic National Convention that was held in Atlantic City, where they attempted to unseat Mississippi’s all white delegation. It was during this nationally televised event that Ms. Hamer’s courage was shown nationally and where she coined the phrase, “I am sick of tired of being sick and tired.”
“Equal educational opportunities for African American students in Sunflower County have always been at the center of the Civil Rights movement. Once the Brown vs the Board of Education law became upheld by the United States Supreme Court, white families created and founded the private academies because they did not want their children to integrate with black students. While this occurred, many of these white residents were still on the school boards that were making polices for the new integrated schools.
“Mr. Matthew and Ms. Bertha Carter of Drew faced economic intimidation, threats, and drive-by shootings only because they sought to send their 10 children to the previously all-white Drew public schools.
“To add, in1986, African-Americans in Indianola boycotted Indianola’s economic businesses when the school board hired a white person for superintendent over a more-qualified candidate who at first was not given the opportunity to serve. That gentleman is Dr. Robert Merritt who went on to become Indianola’s first Black school superintendent.
“Today, we celebrate the lives and legacy of OUR people. Others and I stand on the shoulders of those who have paved the way for us to have the opportunities and freedoms we now enjoy. Such freedoms have come with extremely high price tags; paid for through many acts of selflessness and sacrifice.
“Our forefathers willingly laid their pride and dignity aside and withstood unjust treatment and unfair circumstances with the hope that generations to follow would truly have a chance at life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
“As we gather today, let us never become complacent in only engaging in a month-long celebration of Black History, or occasions such as this that honor us, as a people.
“Let us not forget Dr. Battle’s sacrifice for civil rights! Let us not forget Mr. Charles McLaurin’s sacrifice for voter registration! Let us not forget Matthew and Bertha Carter’s struggle for public education! Let us not forget Dr. Robert Merrit’s struggle for public education! Let us not forget Madam Postmistress Minnie Cox struggle for equality as she became the first African American Post Mistress in the United States! Let us not forget Nelson Dotson’s struggle for Indianola’s wards be drawn so that people in South Indianola could be represented when his efforts forced the City of Indianola to annex the Southgate Community!
“Even in today’s current African American local leaders, let us not forget the first African American chancery clerk, Dr. Gloria McIntosh! Let us not forget the first African American chancery court judge, Chancellor Debra Giles! Let us not forget James Haywood as the first African American sheriff in Sunflower County. Let us not forget that Alderman Otis Anthony was appointed as Indianola’s first African American mayor, while Arthur Marble was elected as Indianola’s first African American mayor.
“Let us not forget the struggles that County Supervisor Riley Rice faced being jailed during the Civil Rights movement and the struggles that he has fought for during his time on the City of Indianola’s board of aldermen, and now during his tenure on the Sunflower County Board of Supervisors.
“Let us not forget that County Supervisor Glenn Donald is the longest tenured county supervisor and the struggles that he faced during his initial term on the board. Let us not forget the struggles that Indianola Mayor Ken Featherstone, Alderman Marvin Elder, Alderman Ruben Woods, and Alderman Sam Brock currently face on a daily basis.
“Let us not forget the struggle that my late father, Andrew Brown had after serving as principal for many years of Gentry High School. My father led an unsuccessful race when he ran to become the Sunflower County School District’s first African American superintendent where he lost the election to Dr. Jimmie Smith.
“Ladies and gentlemen, let us TRULY honor the legacy of Black History through our continued efforts to BE Black History. Let us make conscious decisions daily to be MAKERS of POSITIVE Black History. We do this by building each other up; not tearing each other down. Let us empower ourselves, our neighbors, friends, and loved ones to be the best, give our best, and always celebrate and uplift each other.
“No man is an island unto himself. Together, we can continue to make lasting differences in our communities and within our race. Let us keep on keeping on. The book of Ecclesiastes tells us that the race is not given to swift; nor to the strong, but to those who endure to the end.
“Let us persevere, and run the race set before us with patience, strength, and a determination to NEVER surrender.”
