Freedom in the Family
Page 49
Judith Benninger Brown (left) of Gainesville, Florida, former student activist and CORE worker, feminist activist, civil rights lawyer, and one of Tananarive’s godparents, chats with Patricia Stephens Due. (Due Family Collection)
Tananarive Due presenting the John D. Due Jr. and Patricia Stephens Due Freedom Scholarship to FAMU. Dr. Frederick Humphries, on Tananarive’s left, looks on with Patricia Stephens Due and John Due. (Photographer: Keith Pope)
Patricia Stephens Due with Kwame Turé (Stokely Carmichael) and his mother, Mrs. Mabel Carmichael. (Due Family Collection)
Photo of Patricia Stephens Due that appeared in the Tallahassee Democrat surrounded by articles about her Civil Rights involvement. (Tallahassee Democrat, Mike Ewen)
Patricia Stephens Due raises her arms as she makes a point at the memorial service for Judy Benninger Brown in Gainesville, Florida, in June 1991. (Photographer: Gainesville Women’s Liberation/Pete Self)
The Gathering was a reunion of civil rights activists hosted in the home of Patricia Stephens Due and John D. Due Jr. in Miami, Florida, in 1997. First row, left to right: Miles McCray, Mrs. Athea Hayling, Doris Rutledge Hart, Patricia Stephens Due, Mrs. Lottie Hamilton Sears Houston, and Priscilla Stephens Kruize. Second row, left to right: Johnita Patricia Due, Jeff Greenup, Clarence Edwards, Ulysses Baety, John D. Due Jr., Dan Harmeling, Tananarive Priscilla Due, Mrs. Vivian Kelly, and Dr. Robert Hayling. (The Gathering is covered in detail in Chapter 24.) (Photographer: Lee A. Waters, Jr.)
October 15, 2000: The Due women at Johnita Due’s wedding. Left to right: Lydia (pregnant with Jordan, her second child); Johnita, the bride; Mrs. Lottie Sears Houston, the proud grandmother of the bride; Patricia Stephens Due, mother of the bride; and Tananarive Due, sister of the bride. This was the last group photo with Mrs. Lottie Sears Houston and her family. Mrs. Houston died at the age of eighty on December 25, 2000. (Lee’s Photos / Columbus Lee)
Due shares a moment with her grandchildren, left to right: Tananarive’s stepdaughter, Nicki, and Lydia’s sons, Justin and Jordan, during the Christmas and Kwaanza celebration in 2001. (Due Family Collection)
Tananarive Due and her mother’s Great Dane, Samson, await the beginning of the next interview in the home office and library of Patricia Stephens Due. (Due Family Collection)
At the ninety-seventh birthday celebration for James T. McCain in March 2002, the student leaders who became CORE field secretaries in the 1960s are reunited. Left to right: Patricia Stephens Due, Dave Dennis, Thomas Gaither, and Rudy Lombard. (Photo from the Due family collection)
The Due family portrait in January 2000. Front row, left to right: Lydia Due, John D. Due Jr., Patricia Stephens Due with grandson Justin Greisz, Mrs. Lottie Sears Houston (Patricia’s mother); back row, left to right: Jonathan Greisz, Lydia’s husband; Tananarive Due and her husband, Steven Barnes; and Johnita Patricia Due and Mark Willoughby (now her husband). (Photographer: Lee A. Waters, Jr.)
Dedication
To Mother and Daddy Marion, without whom this story would never have been.
Not all warriors fight on foreign soil. This book is also dedicated to the foot soldiers who told us their stories, but who died before this book was published:
George Calvin Bess II Lottie Sears Houston
Judy Benninger Brown Kwame Turé (Stokely Carmichael)
Rev. Witt Campbell Daisy O. Young
Mary Ola Gaines Shirley Zoloth
Marion M. Hamilton
And to the foot soldiers who died before they could tell us their stories:
Neal Adams Steve Jones
Nancy Adams William Larkins
Rev. Herbert Alexander George Lewis II
Susan Ausley William Miles
George Calvin Bess III James Parrott
Father David Brooks Carrie Patterson
Gwendolyn Sawyer Cherry Jackie Robinson
James Farmer James Shaw
Father Theodore Gibson Earl Shinhoster
Rev. R. N. Gooden Tobias Simon
Rev. Edward Graham Rev. Charles Kenzie Steele
Grattan E. Graves Jr. Rev. Charles Kenzie Steele Jr.
Richard Haley Lois Steele
James Harmeling Leroy Thompson
Dr. William Howard Probyn Thompson
Rev. James Hudson James Van Matre
Odell Johns
And to those foot soldiers whose names are not included, but who also have stories to be told. Stories can live forever, but storytellers do not. Ask, and they will tell. But ask soon.
Acknowledgments
PATRICIA STEPHENS DUE
I would like to thank the people who opened up their hearts and shared their memories, pain, and hope for the future with us to make certain our history is not forgotten. A special thank-you to the families of all the deceased foot soldiers whose everlasting spirits will always protect and inspire us. I have always said that my parents, Mother and Daddy Marion, are responsible for the person I am, and for this I am forever indebted to them.
I thank John, my husband, for his endless support as I struggled over the years to start and to finish this book. He never once complained as I took over room after room in our home, spreading my papers and books everywhere. He smiled and said that this was my job, a job I must do, and that I had his unwavering support.
To my sister, Priscilla, who was at my side in the 1960s during some of the most traumatic events either of us has experienced. I know how difficult it was to relive that part of our history that she has tried so hard to forget. My special thanks to her for going back in spite of her pain so that these events would be known.
The most heartfelt thanks and love to my oldest daughter, Tananarive, who put her career on hold and helped turn my dream into reality. We pushed and helped each other to face and articulate some painful and overwhelming memories so that they no longer were obstacles to our writing this book, but springboards from which my words—and the words of the other foot soldiers—could fly, and our stories could be told. I would like to thank my dear daughters Johnita and Lydia, who early on told their classmates and teachers and inspired me to tell the full history, as only I could know it, and to include the many people who have contributed to it. Special thanks to Johnita for her relentless support in making certain that this history would be told, and for her many suggestions, ideas, and editorial comments over the years. Thanks to Lydia for providing much-needed audiovisual equipment. Without the love and support of all of you, this book would not have been possible. And last but not least, to my Great Dane, Samson, who traveled across the state with me for almost nine years as I documented these stories.
My thanks to those writers upon whose shoulders I stood as I traveled this long and difficult journey. Glenda Rabby, thank you for The Pain and the Promise; August Meier and Elliot Rudwick for CORE: A Study in the Civil Rights Movement 1942–1968; Charles U. Smith, for The Civil Rights Movement in Florida and in the United States; James Max Fendrich, for Ideal Citizens: The Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement; Leedell W. Neyland, for Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University: A Centennial History, 1887–1987. I also thank Keith Miles, Eddie Jackson, and Dr. Dhyana Ziegler (from the FAMU School of Journalism) for producing the videotape Southern Tales, and for their assistance in preserving portions of the history. Thanks to Jane Carnegie Tolliver, with Flair Enterprise, for videotaping The Gathering. Thanks to Janell Walden Agyeman, for having so much faith in us. And to Heidi Sullivan and E. F. Ambassadors, for providing a video camera to help me document this book. Thanks also to the many newspaper reporters over the years who have supported our efforts and helped us preserve these events, special thanks to Garth Reeves of The Miami Times; and Dave Lawrence and Margaria Fichtner of The Miami Herald. To Anita Diggs, for recognizing that this story needed to be told. And to John Hawkins of John Hawkins & Associates for his role in bringing this book to life.
Thanks to the Florida State Archives, which has a collection of photographs from the civil rights movement; and to the Florida State University
and Leon County libraries, which have extensive collections of newspaper clippings from the era. Thanks to Professor James N. Eaton and Dr. Muriel Dawson, from the Black Archives Research Center and Museum at Florida A&M University, for making their collection available to me. And to former FAMU student Duane Filey, who wrote an excellent paper about the history of activism at his university. Special thanks to Mrs. Vivan Kelly, Mrs. Dorothy C. Jones, and Mary Lee Blount, for always having their hearts and homes open to me. Special thanks to Bob Thompson, for being such a good neighbor and an important part of our extended family. Special thanks to my good friend Dan Harmeling, for being an example of the ideals of fairness and compassion he has long fought for. And to the late Roberta Hunter, Nancy Adams, and Judy Benninger Brown, three good friends who always believed I could do anything and whom I miss.
I also thank this community for being part of our extended family.
This book honors those unsung heroes and heroines who gave so much to make this country live up to its promise of equality and justice for all of us. There were so many people I worked with that it would be impossible to name everyone, but all of you are part of this story, and each of you has a story of your own to tell.
Acknowledgments
TANANARIVE DUE
First, to the heroes and heroines of the civil rights movement, for dreaming a better world.
To John Hawkins, agent extraordinaire, for envisioning the mother–daughter telling of this story that enabled us to find a home for our book. To E. Lynn Harris, who caught John’s ear by telling him about our civil rights project. To Janell Walden Agyeman, who gave us invaluable support and her deep belief in this project. To Anita Diggs, our first editor at One World/Ballantine, for giving us a wonderful home and making the book better than it was when she first read it. And to Betsy Mitchell, editor-in-chief at Ballantine/Del Rey Books, for shepherding us through to the end.
Many thanks to Boston-based transcriber Johanna Kovitz, who is prompt and professional. Thanks to the Martin Luther King Jr. Papers Project at Stanford University, for its assistance transcribing Henry Steele’s interview. Thanks to Yolanda Everette-Brunelle for her transcription assistance. And thanks to the members of the SNCC online mailing list, at www.honors.ole-miss.edu/mailman/listinfo/sncc, for their ongoing commitment to human dignity. And many thanks to Jeanne Killebrew, founder of the Lyles Station Historic Preservation Association.
In remembering my childhood, names occurred to me that are much worthy of mention, including many of my teachers: Ms. Harris, Ms. Abramowitz, Ms. Willig, Mr. Hallberg, and Ms. Jack from elementary and junior high school, and Mitchell Kaplan, Jane Estaver, Lynn Shenkman, Tom McClary, and Ann Hayward from Miami Southridge High School, as well as guidance counselor Barbara A. Anders. Thanks to Heath Meriwether and Joe Oglesby, who hired me at the Miami Herald when I was fifteen. And thanks to the late Susan Burnside, formerly of the Herald, for her guidance as my editor both while I was still in high school and again when I came to work full-time. Also, many thanks to my childhood friends: Chip Davis, Michelle Ricciardi, Craig Bell, Ivan Yaeger, Nancy McElrath, Juan Strickland, Lisa Stockham, and Andy Enriquez. Thanks to my college friends: Susan “Charlie” Jordan, Kathryn Larrabee, Rob Vamosi, Rob Sidney, Craig Shemin, Mary Dickman, Donna Washington, D. J. Wells, and Albert Mensah. And thanks to Larry Hildes and Roger Gorham, for their example in commitment. I also mustn’t forget Nadine, Sharmila, Nigel, Berhanu, and Kofi. Your friendship was invaluable.
Thanks to the community members who enriched my life beyond measure while I was young: Thelma Gibson and the Theodore R. Gibson Foundation; Nancy Dawkins of the Theodore R. Gibson Oratorical Contest; Cornelia “Corky” Dozier of the Coconut Grove Children’s Theater; former state Rep. Gwendolyn Cherry; former state Sen. Carrie Meek; Dr. William Perry, former president of the Greater Miami Branch of the NAACP; Doris Hart, Miami-Dade’s county-wide coordinator for the NAACP’s ACT-SO program; and Vernon Jarrett, who breathed national ACT-SO to life. Thanks also to perennial Miami-Dade County ACT-SO volunteers Lee Harris and Pat Daniels. And to the late Rotarian Jim Lee.
Thanks to Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Greater Miami, and especially to Penny Darien, for allowing me to share her childhood with her.
Thanks to my sisters, Johnita and Lydia, for their constant support.
Thanks to my wonderful husband, Steven Barnes, and my stepdaughter, Nicki.
But mostly, thanks to my parents, for more than I can say.
Notes
THREE: PATRICIA STEPHENS DUE
1. Lorraine Nelson Spritzer and Jean B. Bermark, Grace Towns Hamilton. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1997, pp. 70, 161.
2. Interview with Walter Stephens, November 29, 2001.
3. Dr. Gilbert L. Porter and Dr. Leedell W. Neyland, History of the Florida State Teachers Association. Washington, DC: National Education Association, 1977, pp. 173–88. Based on the study by Dr. Everett Abney, “A Survey of Black Public School Principals Employed in Florida During the 1964–65 School Term.”
FOUR: TANANARIVE DUE
1. Marvin Dunn, Black Miami in the Twentieth Century. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1997, pp. 221–22.
FIVE: PATRICIA STEPHENS DUE
1. Interview with Dr. John O. Brown and Marie Brown, August 20, 2001.
2. Charles U. Smith, ed., The Civil Rights Movement in Florida and in the United States. (Chapter Two, “The Tallahassee Bus Boycott in Historical Perspective: Changes and Trends,” by Leedell W. Neyland.) Tallahassee: Father and Son Publishing, Inc., 1989, p. 42.
3. “Four Youths Get Life Terms in Rape Case,” St. Petersburg Times, June 23, 1959.
4. Stephen Birmingham, Certain People: America’s Black Elite. Little Brown & Co., 1977, pp. 184–85; and Lorraine Nelson Spritzer and Jean B. Bergmark, Grace Towns Hamilton and the Politics of Southern Change, Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1997, p. 57.
5. Glenda Rabby, The Pain and the Promise: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Tallahassee, Florida. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1999, p. 85.
6. Interview with Daisy Young, January 26, 1993.
7. The Civil Rights Movement in Florida and the United States, p. 31.
8. James Max Fendrich, Ideal Citizens: The Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993, p. 10.
9. Miles Wolff, Lunch at the 5&10. Elephant Paperbacks, 1990, pp. 11–12.
10. The Pain and the Promise, p. 88.
11. James Peck, Freedom Ride (Chapter 6: “Tallahassee: Through Jail to Freedom,” by Patricia Stephens). New York: Simon & Schuster, 1962, pp. 73–75.
12. Interview with Mary Ola Gaines, June 23, 1990.
13. Freedom Ride (Chapter 6: “Tallahassee: Through Jail to Freedom,” by Patricia Stephens), p. 76.
14. The Pain and the Promise, p. 92.
15. Emanuel Perlmutter, “Sit-ins Backed by Rallies Here,” New York Times, March 6, 1960.
16. The Pain and the Promise, p. 93.
17. The Pain and the Promise, p. 95.
18. Virginia Delavan, “Editor and Friends Land in Jail for Talking to Negroes,” Florida Flambeau (Florida State University), March 15, 1960.
Six: TANANARIVE DUE
1. Mark Silva and Karen Branch, “State Approves $500,000 for Pitts and Lee,” Miami Herald, May 23, 1998.
2. Edna Buchanan, The Corpse Had a Familiar Face. New York: Charter Books, 1989, pp. 300–302.
3. Donna Gehrke, “Ex-Chief of Schools Jones Dies,” Miami Herald, December 1, 1993.
SEVEN: PATRICIA STEPHENS DUE
1. The Pain and the Promise, p. 104.
2. Mary Ola Gaines, June 23, 1990.
3. The Pain and the Promise, p. 105.
4. Jailhouse notes from Barbara Broxton, March 21, 1960, from the archives of Patricia Stephens Due.
5. Interview with Clifton Lewis, August 7, 1996.
6. Jailhouse notes from Barbara Broxton, March 21, 1960, from the archives of Patricia Stephens Due.
7. Th
e Pain and the Promise, p. 3.
8. The Pain and the Promise, p. 106.
9. The Pain and the Promise, p. 107.
10. The Pain and the Promise, p. 110.
11. Interview with Daisy Young, January 26, 1993.
12. “Vandals Attack Freedom Fighters’ Property,” Pittsburgh Courier, April 9, 1960.
EIGHT: TANANARIVE DUE
1. Patrice Gaines, Laughing in the Dark: From Colored Girl to Woman of Color—A Journey from Prison to Power. New York: Anchor Books, 1995, p. 210; and Edna Buchanan, The Corpse Had a Familiar Face. New York: Charter Books, 1989, p. 284–90.
2. The Corpse Had a Familiar Face, pp. 284–93.
3. Laughing in the Dark, p. 209–210.
4. Edna Buchanan, “Ex-Officer Who Testified, Charles Veverka, ‘Numb’ at Verdict,” Miami Herald, May 18, 1980, page 3-A.
5. Gene Miller and Joe Oglesby, “Jury Out in Less than 3 Hours,” Miami Herald, May 18, 1980, page 1A.
6. Fred Grimm and Ellen Bartlett, “McDuffie Decision Brings Dismay, Disbelief, Anger,” Miami Herald, May 18, 1980.
7. Gene Miller and Joe Oglesby, “Jury Out in Less than 3 Hours,” Miami Herald, May 18, 1980, page 1A.
8. Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates Jr., editors, Encyclopedia Africana. New York: Basic Civitas Books, 1999, p. 1,277.