Dawn of Desegregation by Gona Ophelia De Laine; & Briggs v. Elliott

Author:Gona, Ophelia De Laine; & Briggs v. Elliott
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of South Carolina Press
Published: 2011-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

James Brown, a plaintiff in the withdrawn equalization petition, was the man who saved Rev. De Laine on November 11, 1949. Although he was still driving the Esso truck when he interrupted the attack on Rev. De Laine, he already knew his job would end that day. Courtesy of the De Laine Family Collection

Practically before Mr. Brown could change gears in the truck, Rev. De Laine was driving off. Mr. Brown followed in the Esso truck. After reaching a safe place, they parked and the story of what happened poured out of my father. Mr. Brown listened with alarm. Finally Daddy remembered that Mr. Brown wanted to talk to him. Although he had just saved my father from physical harm, James Brown had his own bad news. He soberly related that Sprott’s Esso Fuel Service would no longer employ him.

From the beginning the people had been told that the price for equality would be steep. That prediction was proving to be correct. Levi Pearson had dared to sue, and “they” had gotten back at him by refusing to loan him money. Teachers—including Daddy—had been fired. But for James Brown to lose his job? That was inconceivable. As a youth he had run errands for the first owner of Sprott’s and formed a close friendship with Buck, the owner’s son. As he grew older, he helped unload fuel tanks from the train that ran through Summerton in the 1930s. When he grew up, Mr. Brown became the truck driver for the company, delivering gasoline, kerosene, and oil to service stations, farms, businesses, and industries throughout the region.

The “educational and political gangsters” of Summerton were starting to play dirty. If they were able to coerce Buck Sprott into letting James Brown go, the outlook was truly dire. My father’s head ached, his lungs hurt, his gut boiled, and his will to continue was severely undermined. The encounter with Mr. Crawler, combined with the news from Mr. Brown, had distressed him more than anything else had ever done.

He didn’t go to the farm that day. Instead he went home and reviewed the week’s events. First there was Rev. Richburg’s sermon on Sunday. Then Mr. Betchman threatened Rev. Seals on Monday. He had sent his rebellious message to the KKK on Monday night after getting so many warnings. The white men had met on Tuesday, and the woman sent him a message on Wednesday. Now, on Thursday morning, two horrible things. He would have to protect himself. But how? The pistol wasn’t enough. If he shot someone, his opponents would provide at least one “reliable witness” against him and he would be doomed. He considered the options.

There was no one in Summerton to whom he could turn. No black man in town had the means to help, and common sense showed the fallacy of looking to any of the white residents. If Buck Sprott could be induced to relieve James Brown of his job, any white man in town could be intimidated. The incident with Mr.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.