Double Victory by Cheryl Mullenbach

Author:Cheryl Mullenbach [Mullenbach, Cheryl]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Published: 2013-01-25T13:00:00+00:00

4

VOLUNTEERS

“Back the Attack”

“When I turned my back, the policeman named Dean kicked me. When I turned, he slapped my face and struck me on the shoulder with his fist.”

—Mildred McAdory

Twenty-seven-year-old Mildred McAdory was director of the Fairfield Youth Center in Fairfield, Alabama, and she was preparing for an upcoming tin can collection drive—a project undertaken by a group of black students as part of the Victory Scrap Drive.

In December 1942, scrap drives were common all over the country—often organized by students who wanted to do their part for the war effort. The country had been at war for the past year, and materials such as rubber, paper, and metal were in short supply; scrap drives were a way for citizens to collect everyday items—paper, silk fabric, rubber bands, steel, and iron—needed for the manufacture of wartime products such as parachutes, gas masks, life rafts, bombers, trucks, and tanks. Mildred and the young people at the youth center were ready for their upcoming drive. At the end of one day, Mildred boarded a bus for her ride home. The city buses were segregated, with a black line painted across the ceiling to divide riders. White passengers sat in the seats ahead of the line, and blacks had to sit behind it. The driver of Mildred’s bus had even placed a board on a seat to ensure that everyone knew his or her place on the bus.

A black couple paid their fares and took empty seats in front of the board—in the white section. All the seats in the black section were filled. The driver turned to the couple and said, “You’ll have to get behind that board.” When the couple asked for a refund of their fares, the driver told them he couldn’t return their money. They left the bus.

Two black men entered the bus; one of them moved the board, placing it on the floor. The driver told the man he had to sit behind the board. The man pointed to the line on the ceiling and said he was sitting behind the line. The driver called the police. When a policeman arrived, the driver pointed to three men and Mildred, indicating they were the troublemakers. The policeman ordered the men and Mildred to the police car. Mildred asked what crime she was being charged with, and the officer asked her if she knew who had moved the board. She replied that she knew nothing about it.

The policeman pointed to a seat on the bus and said, “Well, come back here and sit down before I slap you down.”

“You have no reason to do that,” Mildred replied.

“I’ll knock hell out of you with the board,” the policeman said, and he took the men to the police car.

Incensed, Mildred told the bus driver, “I’m going to report you to the company for being rude to passengers—calling the police on innocent people and having them threatened.”

“Call ’em. That won’t do you no good,” taunted the driver.

Mildred decided to leave the bus. As she stepped down, the driver called to the police, “Hey, take her on too.

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