Freedom Riders in Monroe!

On February 14, 2010 an obituary for Genora Covington Marsh ran in the Enquirer-Journal (Monroe, NC).

With little notice by the general public, the woman who as a young girl became an iconic symbol in the struggle for Civil Rights, was laid to rest at Hillcrest City Cemetery in Monroe, NC.

Genora  and other local youth walked with a group of Freedom Riders that came to Monroe the third week of August 1961.  They were known as the “Monroe Nonviolent Action Committee”.

The photo you see here is a postcard reprint made years later – it was a semi-famous photo in its day but Genora’s name was often left off or misspelled. 

Snapped by Declan Haun, a photographer working for the Charlotte Observer & Charlotte News, the photo was taken about 24 hours before the "racial flare-up" on Sunday, August 27th, 1961.  This was the last day of the picketing around the Union County Courthouse protesting the injustices of racial segregation.

Our local youth participants had undergone quick training on how to be passive in the face of insults, possible physical violence and to not resist arrest while walking on the picket line. 

We are in the 50^th anniversary ‘season’ of the Freedom Riders’ journey into history.  The first freedom rides began in May of 1961 and would continue through December.  Mixed-race groups, mostly college students, under the guidance of CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) and some veterans of the 1947 “Journey of Reconciliation” bus ride, began their journey in two buses from Washington, D.C. on May 4^th . Destination:  New Orleans.  Their goal at all times was to be and act non-violent in any confrontations that might arise.  Half of them would make it to Birmingham and face an angry mob.  The first group would be halted in Anniston, AL (where the fateful burning of that bus occurred, but thankfully no casualties).  The rides would continue…

Why were they taking these rides?  They were trying to force the bus stations throughout the south to comply with the 1946 U. S. Supreme Court ruling concerning interstate travel which simply said, you cannot segregate or discriminate passengers based on their race as it may impede interstate travel.  (the catch being– it had to be interstate travel, you could not be traveling from Charlotte to Raleigh – you had to be going through the state to another state.

So why come to Monroe?  Our official bus station was at 300 W. Jefferson Street – but this was not the focus for the trip here.  They didn't even arrive by bus and The Freedom Riders themselves had varied and different reasons for coming.

One reason is offered here in the next several paragraphs. 

The racial incidents and discrimination in Monroe had received nationwide attention among the African-American community.  Some newspapers would run small stories but for the most part the black media such as “The Afro-American” newspaper and Jet Magazine were doing the reporting.  There was also a small local newsletter that was being mailed to persons outside North Carolina--“The Crusader” was written and published by Robert Williams, a local Civil Rights activist and NAACP leader.  

Williams believed in armed self-defense and was often quoted from his impassioned "violence meets violence" speech.   He was "at odds" with the NAACP and CORE and had publicly debated (in print) Rev. Martin Luther King on "Violence vs. Non-Violence" (The Liberation, September and October 1959).

Two fellow Civil Rights activists took notice of all of this:   Paul Brooks, a Freedom Rider and divinity student who, for a time, became a field representative for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC, Martin Luther King’s organization) and James Forman, who would rise as a leader within this era and was most noted as turning around the struggling organization, SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee). 

Intrigued by Williams and after an initial visit here in early August, they wanted to form a group and show their method of demonstrating in a non-violent way.

The Union County Public Library will be featuring a month-long poster display in the month of August 2011 that will lay-out the events of that tumultous week.  On August 27th, 2:30 pm, a brief program will be given to be followed by a commemorative walk -- a symbolic walk to honor and remember those who marched for "freedom for all".  For more information please contact the Dickerson Genealogy & Local History Room at 704-283-8184 x5236. [Digital images of the posters can be seen at one of our Pinterest Boards here]

For more information about the Freedom Riders (and their rides) please visit the PBS site:  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/freedomriders/

For more information about August 1961 in Monroe, NC  - please visit us at the library and ask for the vertical files:  UCVF:  Williams, Robert - Freedom Riders and/or read James Forman's "The Making of Black Revolutionaries" (Chps. 19-28); Raymond Arsenault's 2006 "Freedom Riders:  1961 and the struggle for racial justice" (Chp. 10) 

Note:  The library's extensive vertical files of newspaper clippings/articles and the two texts mentioned here were used for this posting.

To read the words to Pete Seeger's "The Ballad of Old Monroe" go to: http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/MALVINA/mr211.htm

Ghost Horse

A favorite ghost story of Union County, North Carolina is
"The Ghost Horse". 

“Last Wild Horse in Union County Killed by Bad Shot” was the headline in the April 15, 1927 Monroe Journal.  According to the writer, T. W. Secrest, the incident happened “more than one hundred years ago”.  This would date it around 1827, pre-Union County (our county was formed in 1842).

It appears there was a certain white stallion of medium size with a heavy mane.  He had a favorite roaming territory “from Monroe to Indian Trail and from Wesley Chapel to Unionville”. (pretty big territory!) 

It was said that he could be found about 1 ½ miles “west of Bakers” (near Rocky River and

Old Charlotte Highway

area) near “Vern and Carl Helms’ home” most every morning on a hill in a “thick clump of lofty pines”.  (around the current Monroe Airport and yes, this hill of pines is long gone)

Well the men of the town decided he would make a mighty fine riding horse.  So they built traps and lanes to drive him in but they realized he was too smart for that.  About 20 men, set themselves up in different places, with a bell on each of their own horses to run and tire him out. (this plan already sounds like it has problems)

Each would take up the chase as the wild stallion would run by.  (he must have thought this was a great game!)

They did this until late in the evening.  Then they decided the best shot should “crease the horse’s neck” which meant to nick the horse’s neck near the mane and the horse would fall down and remain unconscious long enough to be roped up.  (huh?)

Andrew ‘Andy’ Secrest won the toss of the coin for this task.  Alas, he shot too low and killed the horse. 

The end, right?  No.  After sharing this story with a Secrest researcher she asked an elderly relative about it.  Turns out that the Helms and Secrest families (& others) swore they saw the horse standing in the cluster of pines for years afterward. 

So, before the airport came along and cleared the land, Union County had a ghost horse.

Who knows, maybe it still roams to this day. Hey out there in Unionville, ever see a streak of white flying by?

Interested in other ghost stories of Monroe or Union County?  Come to the Union County Public Library at 316 E. Windsor Street, Monroe, NC, and ask for the vertical file, UCVF:  Ghosts.

(sketch courtesy of author of blog, Patricia Poland, this means, don't steal it!!!!)