Protests

Mrs. Brown: [The marching] started with the ministers. The local ministers got together and decided to invite Dr. King here because he had gone to Birmingham and several other places. [My husband] Claude was in that group that had invited him here. Dr. King and some of his men had meetings here in the church.

Dr. King was with the adult group. There was a student group organization and an adult organization, and then the two organizations got together. They would march. They would have mass meetings in the evening at different churches. They had one meeting here, but our church was really too small, so they didn’t have another mass meeting here. But we did serve meals from here for the whole week before the Selma to Montgomery march, and we had people sleeping here.

Claude visited jailhouses and different places where they had students, and then he would let parents know where they were. The parents didn’t even know where they were.

On the March

Mrs. Brooks: Now, of course, they were marching for the right to vote. It was also about integration of school systems. And the city fathers didn’t go for either one of them. Of course, blacks were very few in number as registered voters, because the test you had to take was so difficult. They asked some silly questions that had nothing to do with government or the constitution…And we just got tired and decided to take to the streets. At first, students started, high school students. They would show up at school, check in, and then they just walked back out the front door. They would go around town and march from the high school downtown. And so a group of us especially teachers saw students take to the streets, then after school we’d stay on and march as a body. Just march. Get in a group and march to the courthouse. To register, and of course you would turn around, and you know, and go back the next day. And this just continued for a period of time.

RPW: Was there any violence at that time?

Mrs. Brooks: No, other than a little pushing and a shoving.

Mrs. Brown: Except on a Sunday they called the Bloody Sunday.

Mrs. Brooks: Yes, when they were crossing the bridge.

Mrs. Brooks: Then they started arresting students. And they had several places they would take them to jail, little outlying places where they would take them and keep them for a few days.

RPW: How many other members of the Selma RP Church were involved with the marches?

Mrs. Brooks: Well, at that time, they had a lot of young people in high school, and so everybody was involved. They would go to school with the rest of the kids and take off. And we had a number of teachers that were members here, and all the teachers were very cooperative, and they all marched together.

We Had the Family

Mrs. Woodson: My first two sons marched from Hudson High; they were students there. The teachers also marched from Hudson up to the courthouse to let them know that they wanted to get registered to vote, and they wanted others to register to vote. When they did get ready to go to Montgomery, my children wanted to go, and Dad and I said, “Well, we guess we’ll let you go.” They would stop at different places all the way to Montgomery so we’d go over every night to check on them.

I was [afraid for their safety], but they wanted to go, and they were pretty adamant about wanting to go.There were other grownups I knew who were marching, so I would be telling them to look out for Coleman Jr. and Bertram. I didn’t let Avery and Greg go, my two younger boys, and of course I wasn’t going to let my daughter go.

So, I was always thinking about them, but I prayed. I’ve always trusted in God, that things were going to work out all right. Even though we didn’t have much, we still had a lot, because we had the family.

Just Went About Your Business

RPW: At times, you must have been very angry when you saw the prejudice that existed and even to the point of violence or threat of violence.

Mrs. Brown: I wasn’t. I don’t remember being angry. Discouraged, disturbed, but not angry. I don’t remember being angry, do you?

Mrs. Brooks: I don’t.

RPW: You knew that it wasn’t supposed to be this way in a world with plenty of Christians around. So what did you do?

Mrs. Brooks: You just went about your business. We knew other people who had enough conflicts, you know.

A Big Difference

RPW: What does the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America mean to you and to Selma RP Church?

Mrs. Brown: Well, certainly from the very beginning, it meant education for black people. Also helping to bring them to Christ, helping them to understand the Bible. All that was done when they established the work as a mission work here. That continues, and I think the one thing outstanding is that the church remains in operation and is growing today—after so many others have closed down in the South. When I went to the school up here, the contact with the white teachers gave me a different idea of,…you just hear “They’re mean. They’re mean.” Then you see the people that are loving and kind and it means a different thing to you.

RPW: Who said that teachers were mean?

Mrs. Brown: I was just saying what you hear about, as little black children you hear, “These white folk are mean. They’re mean. They do this. They do that.” And then you come together with them, and they’re loving and kind, just like your sisters and brothers and mothers and fathers.

Giving the Children Something To Do

RPW: Did the YMCA get its start here too?

Mrs. Brown: Right here in this room.

Mrs. Brooks: Yes, the black YMCA.

RPW: In this room?

Mrs. Brooks: Yes, it is now named the Claude Brown YMCA.

RPW: So there was a white YMCA and a black YMCA?

Mrs. Brown: He started right here first and then moved out to Broad Street. They outgrew that building, and they moved to First Avenue. And then when they built the new branch, that’s when Claude met with the directors of the white branch, and the two worked together. And it became a branch of the YMCA.

RPW: What moved your husband to start a boys’ club? I’m sure he had plenty to do.

Mrs. Brown: Well, boys started coming around and they would play games and things. That’s where it got started.

Mrs. Brooks: The church furnished the baseball equipment, and he just had an interest in young people. He later got college scholarships for students all over the country.

We Love the Psalms

Mrs. Woodson: Since the Grays have been here, we do have a lot of children. [For a time] we didn’t have any children. It seems as if the young people are more attuned to going to the churches that have the hand slapping and the foot tapping and all the praise dances. But since the Grays have been here we’ve had lots of children coming, along with their children. I do see one or two of the parents coming too. We’re hoping that maybe some of them will get enough from our services to join with us. I know it’s not the numbers that really count, because God says He’s there in the midst of us, whether we have a crowd or not. My sons are going to be here—Avery and Greg and Bert. And they love the Psalms, as I do. I just hope the church gets built up enough to maintain itself. Because we’ve been here a long time.

Racial Attitudes in the City

Mrs. Woodson: There are some who will get along with you, and some who won’t try to get along with you anyway. Some attitudes have changed, and some I don’t think will ever change. Maybe sooner or later people will begin having some groups that are working with trying to get people to come closer together and working on things in the city of Selma. I might not get to see it, but my children will.

They Put Their Arms Around Me

RPW: What are some particularly sweet memories you have about being in Selma, about being part of the church?

Mrs. Brown: Everybody has been working harmoniously together and it has been a lovely family. We’ve enjoyed that. Ever since I came into the church, they just put their arms around me. They just work together and loved each other and still do.