Chapter 26 There is A Change Coming
Grandmother Taylor took the moment to breathe in and out slowly as she rested her eyes but not her mind. Her mind raced back in time as she remembered when things began to change in Riverside. It was the year that young Tom had returned home from Howard University and had completed his studies at Howard Law School. The same school where both his grandfather and father had graduated. Tom had changed from the soft spoken boy who would rarely leave his mother’s side to a confident young attorney. He passed the law exam and opened up his law office right next to the store and restaurant still owned by Grandma Taylor.
It was the year 1962 when James Meredith petitioned the Mississippi courts to be allowed to study at the University of Mississippi. He had previously studied at Jackson State and wanted to continue his studies at the University of Mississippi. He had been denied entrance because of the color of his skin. Young Tom took particular interest in this case not only because of the racial implications but also because he had participated in similar cases while studying at Howard Law School. He had studied completely the briefs prepared by Thurgood Marshall and others with the now famous Brown versus Little Rock decision. He completely understood the arguments to be presented before the courts and used this as an opportunity to think about what arguments he would present if given the opportunity.
The courts decided in favor of James Meredith. Because of the many threats against his life, James Meredith was escorted to school by federal marshals who had been sent by Robert Kennedy, the US Attorney General. This ultimately resulted in several riots led by some White students and others who resented and opposed the desegregation of the University of Mississippi or any other schools in Mississippi. More than 100 marshals were injured during these riots. However James Meredith did attend the school and later graduated in 1964. Things had begun to change even in Mississippi.
There were other small changes occurring in Riverside. One change was that now Negroes and Whites were sitting at the same table eating at Grandmother Taylor’s restaurant. While most still sat and ate at separate tables, it became more and more common for Negroes and Whites to sit together and eat. Both Negro and White soldiers from the nearby army base were able to eat together with no real problems. While Grandma Taylor had long since ceased riding the bus because she owned her car, she noticed that more Negroes were sitting near the front of the busses. Riverside had never been a hot seat for change, any kind of change, so these changes were not noted but just happened gradually.
Grandmother Taylor thoughts then went to her memories of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. She remembered how well he spoke just like the Baptist minister that he was. She like many other Negroes accepted him as one of the greatest Negro leaders of all time. While he had been to Mississippi several times, she never did get a chance to see him in person. She along with many other people watched on television as he spoke at the Washington Monument at the March on Washington. His famous works spoken that day were “ I have a dream”. Grandmother Taylor understood the words “ I have a dream” for she also had a dream; maybe not as far reaching as his but none the less she had a dream for her family. She had positioned herself well in the community to one day realize that dream.
Young Tom had begun to have a very successful law practice in Riverside. He was considered one of the leading attorneys in Riverside even though he was a Negro and still very young. People who had legal problems came to him not only because of his legal expertise but also because they knew that his mother could help them when all else would fail. Even some of the White lawyers would come to him when they needed help from his mother to clear a case or get charges dropped by the local police. Tom learned early to utilize his mother’s influence in the community when he knew that the law would not always work in his favor.
This was especially true when the issue arose around the desegregation of the public schools in Riverside. Several Negroes in the community began to realize that more and more states were allowing Negroes to go to White schools. While James Meredith had finally been admitted to the University of Mississippi, there still were no public schools in Mississippi that allowed Negroes to go to schools with Whites. A group came to speak to Tom about using the courts to sue for the right for desegregated schools. For several months, Tom and his mother discussed this issue and tried to decide how best to handle this situation. While they both understood the issue, they also both understood the risk of he getting directly involved in such a confrontation in Riverside. They ran the risk of alienating the Whites who had helped them in the past and Grandmother Taylor did not want anything to stand in the way of her plans for her family. She owed it to her late husband Tom to carry out the plan to perfection.
Tom and his mother decided to allow her first to try what had worked in the past for her before deciding whether to take the court case as asked by many. Grandmother Taylor and Tom scheduled a meeting with the Mayor and a couple of other prominent men in the town. They agreed to meet around 6PM at the court house. Grandmother Taylor and Tom would arrive through the back door as to not let anyone know that they were there. Grandmother Taylor bought with her some rice, collard greens, baked macaroni, potato salad and corn bread. She had some hot steaming fried chicken with chicken giblet gravy and of course her famous sweet potato pie fresh out of the oven. She and Tom did not eat but made sure that the plates were full and that all of those present also kept their glasses full of the sweet ice tea.
Tom and Grandmother Taylor talked with the town leaders that evening. They discussed how many other cities had begun to desegregate the public schools. They discussed how this could be good for Riverside even if it was a change. They discussed how it would not benefit anyone to take the case to court because it would only create unnecessary division in the town. While Riverside was located in Central Mississippi, much of the negative publicity around Negro and White relations had pretty much escaped Riverside. That was because the town leaders had always worked hard to handle any potential problems before they flared into state and national news items. Also Grandmother Taylor had positioned herself to effect minor changes that were acceptable by both Negroes and Whites in the town.
The town leaders shared their concern that having Negroes attend the White schools would cause bitter feelings among many of the Whites in the town. They were concerned that people may act like some others did in other parts of Mississippi and Alabama where Whites threatened Negroes who were attempting to go to previously all White schools. Tom and Grandmother Taylor understood what they were saying and offered a compromise. The compromise was that the town leaders would allow 10 Negro children picked by Grandmother Taylor to attend the schools on a trial basis. Grandmother Taylor guaranteed that the children chosen would not cause any problem in the schools. This would begin the process of allowing Negroes to attend White schools with only a few students and minimize any problems between the Races. In return Tom would assure that no court case was bought forward. The compromise was accepted by the town leaders with the understanding that the children would all be placed in separate classrooms so none of the Negro children would have other Negroes in their class. The other condition was that the White leaders would present this at a public meeting where they would suggest that they were totally against desegregation and only would allow 10 children as a test case so that the town would not have to get the same bad publicity that other cities in Mississippi had received. Also they did not want any threat of federal troops being sent to Riverside.
Tom and Grandmother Taylor then went home to decide who would be the ten children chosen. They decided that the children would all come from their Church. The children had to be smart and well behaved. They went through each of the children in Church and went through the list three more times before making a final list to be shared with the Church on the next Sunday. While going through the list one name stuck out; Missy. Missy had just moved to Riverside with her grandmother. Tom did not know much about her and was a little concern about picking someone who had just moved to Riverside from Washington DC. However Grandmother Taylor insisted on she being included on the list. Tom did not understand why: but, he accepted his mother’s advice.