Chapter 21 Changes On The Horizon
Grandma Taylor had seen things begin to change although very slowly in Riverside. The biggest news to hit Riverside was the story of what was happening in Arkansas. It seems that a group of Negroes in Arkansas had decided that the separate but equal policy was not really working and that Negroes should be allowed to go to the same schools as Whites. Some upstart lawyer named Thurgood Marshall was going to argue the case in front of the United States Supreme Court. Grandma slightly remembered the name as one of the school mates at Howard with Thomas.
Soon afterward, Rosa Parks became known in many cities in the South among Negroes. She was one of several Negroes who were beginning to stand up to racial inequality. She refused to give up her seat to a White man and was then arrested. This series of events turned into the Montgomery bus boycott and played a major role in the early leadership years of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
There were some other changes. Grandma Taylor noticed that there were more Negroes now playing baseball. Jackie Robinson was not the only one. As a result the Negro Baseball League no longer existed. She also noticed that many young Negroes were moving North to places like Chicago and even to St Louis.
She remembered the night that her brother visited her. He had been approached by some others to talk about the Negro schools in Riverside. There were some that were upset that the Negro children were going to schools that were quite inferior to the White schools. They wondered if they should protest such conditions. There had never been a real protest of any kind in Riverside. The only hint of a protest was when Tom Taylor and his father had talked about the NAACP and that died with their death. Since that time Negroes and Whites lived in the town in their mostly separate ways and coming together only when necessary. The Negro school was actually very old and the roof leaked and the students got books from the Whites when they became outdated and torn. This was the same school building that had been used for more than 40 years.
Grandma Taylor told her brother to not get involved in any protest because the time was not yet right. She then remembered going to see the Mayor of Riverside with a sweet potato pie and a plate of collard greens and cornbread. She quietly discussed the need for the Negroes to get a new school building and some new books. Shortly after the meeting the Mayor and city council announced that they strongly believed that the Negro and Whites must always have separate schools and that they did not agree with school desegregation. That school desegregation would never happen in Riverside. At the same time they agreed to build a new high school for the Negroes and to make sure they had adequate books.
Young Tom was able to attend the new high school for his senior year and then he followed his father and grandfather to Howard University. His mother had planned that from his early years. As long as he could remember, he knew that he would be going to Howard University and then to Howard Law School and then returning to Riverside to be an attorney just as his grandfather and father before him. Just as his father was influenced by his time at Howard so was young Tom.
While things may have not been changing much in Riverside, that was not the same in other areas of America and certainly not for Washington DC. The Civil Rights movement was moving forward as more and more Negroes and White supporters were unwilling to continue to accept the doctrine of separate but equal. Tom quickly joined his fellow school mates in sit-ins in local restaurants that refused to serve Negroes. Tom began to travel with others to near by states like Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia where they organized local protest and more sit-ins.
Young Tom shared his experiences with his mother who while she was concerned about his safety supported his efforts. She had never forgotten the early struggles and would never forget why her Tom and his father were murdered. After completing his four year degree, young Tom then entered Howard Law School where he along with his other class mates worked with the NAACP on numerous court cases around the country where they attacked the separate but equal policy in many states. They fought for school integration and the right for Negroes to eat in public restaurants and ride in the front of public busses.
In Tom’s last year at Howard University Law School, he joined the newly formed Southern Leadership Christian Conference. This was an organization led by several prominent Negro Church leaders in the South. The first president was Dr Martin Luther King Jr. who gained notoriety with the success of the Montgomery bus boycott. He was a proponent of sit-ins and other non violent demonstrations that sought to end segregation.
While Grandma Taylor did nothing to push young Tom to become an activist, she also did nothing to deter him. She was secretly proud of him as he was continuing to carry out her plans for her family. .