"OUR RICH BLACK HERITAGE" Gladys Noel Bates

Recently, during a conversation, a local Black Female Teacher that teaches in the Monroe City School System, presented me with a question that left me almost speechless. Her question was, "How do you think I felt as an Educator when I encountered a Black High School Student who couldn't read, write, or multiply in High School? Notice that she said a High School Student, not a Kindergarten Student, not an Middle School Student, but a High School Student! The conversation that led to her question more or less had to do with how I think that the current school model, school system, school curriculum, and even the school testing processes are outdated and need to be replaced ; "not reformed but transformed into something new!". You see, it is very difficult for me to understand how year after year, so many schools in Monroe, Louisiana, along with other cities and parishes in Louisiana, "CONTINUE TO CHURN OUT "FUNCTIONAL ILLITERATE STUDENTS!" It seems that somehow or another the students are learning how to memorize questions and answers to pass standardized tests, without becoming proficient in reading, writing, or math. Recently, "I CHECKED ONLINE TO SEE HOW PROFICIENT BLACK STUDENTS AT THE SCHOOLS LOCATED NEAR BLACK COMMUNITIES, IN MONROE" were in reading and math. At just about all of the schools, the students were reportedly tested at between 40% -55% PROFICIENCY in READING and MATH. Long story short, I feel that it is insane for us to go on expecting better results, different results, results that we need to see from students, under the current school conditions. Furthermore, this could be part of the reason why so many of our Black Youth are out on the streets of Monroe, running around misbehaving and behaving like Neanderthals!!! Well, on to this week's Black Pioneer. Gladys Noel Bates was born born March 26, 1920, in McComb, Mississippi. Sometimes thereafter, her family moved to Jackson, Mississippi. Upon finishing high school, Gladys enrolled at Alcorn A&M College in 1937. She also attended several other colleges including : Tougaloo College ; West Virginia State University ; and the University of Colorado in Denver. Over the years, she earned a Bachelor's Degree as well as a Master's Degree. Although Gladys had many other Civil Rights accomplishments, she is mostly known for her "LANDMARK SALARY DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT COURT CASE AGAINST THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI IN 1948! According to records, her lawsuit was the first Civil Rights Court Case in the State of Mississippi involving charges of wage discrimination. By the way, since Gladys was an officer in the Jackson, Mississippi Chapter of the NAACP, the NAACP assigned a young Negro Attorney by the name of Thurgood Marshall to act as Chief Council for her case. However, they also got an elderly Negro Attorney from Meridian, Mississippi by the name of James S. Burns to represent her during the court proceedings. From the start,Thurgood Marshall advised her and the local Mississippi Negro Teacher's Association that she would need at least $5,000 dollars before filing her lawsuit. While time and space does not permit me to go into all the details as to how they raised the $5,000 dollars, I must say that they were very creative! Interestingly, one of the ways they raised the money was by accepting private donations.For safety purposes, they decided that it was best to exclude White People and other White Teachers from helping raise the funds.Additionally, they kept the times and places of their meetings a secret. Not only was that done, but at the end of their meetings, they would pass a gunny sack around the room,"AND EVERYONE AT THE MEETING HAD TO PUT THEIR CLENCHED FISTS INSIDE THE SACK,WHETHER THEY HAD ANY MONEY TO CHIP IN OR NOT!" This was done as a safety measure, "JUST IN CASE THERE WERE ANY SNITCHES IN THE ROOM!" Therefore, the snitches wouldn't be able to tell who had or hadn't donated money toward the lawsuit. Within a few months they had surpassed their goal of raising the $5,000 dollars needed. On March 4, 1948, Gladys and her legal team filed her "LANDMARK SALARY DISCRIMINATION COURT CASE," THE FIRST EVER SALARY DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT AGAINST THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI INITIATED BY A NEGRO! Although her court case went on for 4 years, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear her case on the grounds that all administrative remedies hadn't been exhausted.They said that Gladys had failed to reached out to the local school board, the county Board of Education , or the Mississippi State Department of Education, before she had filed her lawsuit. Never-the-less, all was not lost, because her case helped exposed the gross discrepancy between the salary amounts that Negro teachers received in comparison to their White counterparts as well as serve as an example case for all other salary lawsuits filed by other Negroes that followed hers, which were many!!!

"OUR RICH BLACK HERITAGE" . ATTORNEY JOHNNIE A. JONES

Strangely, as I was researching U.S. Senator Russell Long, I came across an article that mentioned the term,"SEGREGATED ACADEMY." Come to find out that after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Landmark Civil Rights Case,"Brown versus The Board of Education in 1954," a bunch of the White Parents in Louisiana, and other states in the South decided to withdraw their children from public schools and start their own private schools. As a matter of fact, "many of the Southern States actually went as far as to defund many public schools!" By the way, the Era of the Segregated Academy in the South, where only White Children were allowed to attend certain private schools, and Black Children couldn't, was said to have started in 1954 and ended in 1976 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it's decision in a "LESSER KNOWN" Landmark Civil Rights Case,"Ruyon versus McCrary" that declared private schools for "WHITE ONLY" as unconstitutional. Although the ruling brought an abrupt end to the SEGREGATED ACADEMY SCHOOLS, "AS THEY HAD EXISTED FOR MORE THAN 20 YEARS," White Parents and White officials at the private schools came up with new policies and higher tuition fees to dissuade Black Parents from even thinking about enrolling their children into their private schools! Well, I don't know about everyone else, but this new information about the former "SEGREGATED ACADEMY ERA" has certainly got me thinking more and more about Governor Jeff Landry's NEW LOUISIANA GATOR SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM that he signed into law "ON NATIONAL JUNETEENTH DAY, JUNE 19, 2024," which allows public funds to be used to pay for private education fees, and goes into effect this year. So much for that, let's get to this week's Black Pioneer! Johnnie A. Jones was born on November 30, 1919, in Laurel Hill, Louisiana. According to records, Johnnie attended elementary school in the West Feliciana Parish School System. From there, he enrolled in what is now known as Southern Lab High School. During World War ll, Johnnie enlisted in the U.S. Military, where he received an injury to his neck. Upon being honorably discharged from the military, a strange incident occurred on his way to New Orleans, Louisiana to have surgery. During a traffic stop, for some unknown reason Johnnie was attacked and beaten by a Caucasian Louisiana Sheriff. A strange thing indeed, considering he had just been injured defending his country! Never-the-less, after he recovered from surgery, Johnnie enrolled in Southern University, where he went on to earn his Law Degree in 1953. By the way, it has been said that being at the right place at the right time and knowing the right people can play a big part in one's success, which it did for Johnnie. By him being in Baton Rouge, knowing Rev. T.J. Jemison, and having just earned his law degree from Southern University, he was hired on to represent the Black People who were arrested during the Baton Rouge Bus Boycott in 1953. Well, some of the other interesting things about Johnnie included; In 2019, becoming a member of the "National Black Centenarian Club", all of whom were over the age of 100 ; In 2013, when he was one of the oldest Attorneys to practice Law in America, at the age of 93 ; From 1968 - 1972 when he served as the Assistant Parish Attorney for East Baton Rouge Parish ; and in 1972 when he was elected to The Louisiana State House of Representatives for East Baton Rouge Parish, just to name a few! Lastly, a year before his demise, Johnnie finally received his Purple Heart Medal, some 77 years after he was injured by shrapnel during "Operation Overlord," the D-Day invasion of Omaha Beach in World War ll. On April 23, 2022, after years of dedicated service as an Attorney, Louisiana State Representative, and service in the U.S. Military, Johnny Anderson Jones passed away peaceably at a veteran's home in Jackson, Louisiana, at the age of 102.

"OUR RICH BLACK HERITAGE" . REV. AVERY C. ALEXANDER, New Orleans Civil Rights Icon

Well, well, well, whata' you know? According to an Associated Press article from November 16, 1960, it was reported that "U.S. Senator Russell Long of Louisiana" actually urged the State Legislature to "consider abandoning the public school system and turning to private schools to maintain segregation in Louisiana." . So why am I bringing this up when it has been "MORE THAN 60 YEARS" since the article ran? Could it have to do with the recent "Neville Charter School Proposal by the Neville Charter Association that has now been denied twice?" Maybe even about the "Louisiana Gator Scholarship Program to give public funds to private schools" that Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed into law on "JUNETEENTH DAY" of last year? As a matter of fact, after reading what Senator Long said, I could not help but see that the La. Gator Program and the Neville Charter School Proposal are very similar measures to what Senator Long was urging the State Legislature to do "OVER 60 YEARS AGO,"which was to ABANDON THE LOUISIANA PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM AND TURN TO PRIVATE SCHOOLS TO MAINTAIN SEGREGATION IN LOUISIANA SCHOOLS! WOW, it's disheartening to know that after all these years, there are still people in Monroe and in the Louisiana State Congress who feel as Senator Russell Long did way back in 1960, during the days of the Civil Rights Movement when Black children went through hell and back," just to be allowed the right to attend an All-White school in Louisiana!" Now that I got that out my head, let's get to this week's Black Pioneer. Avery C. Alexander was born on June 29, 1910, in Louisiana's Terrebonne Parish. Our story begins with Avery graduating from Union Baptist Theological Seminary in New Orleans Louisiana. Not long thereafter, in 1944, Avery was ordained as a Baptist minister. Also, his status as a minister helped keep him from being drafted into the World War ll, which gave him the perfect opportunity to join the NAACP Organization. Pretty soon Avery was participating in Civil Rights Marches & Sit-ins with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rev. Abraham Lincoln Davis. By the way, Avery was arrested several times for holding public sit-in demonstrations in New Orleans. His most publicized arrest occurred in 1963 when he and Rev. Abraham Lincoln Davis organized a lunch-counter sit-in down in the basement of New Orleans City Hall. Not only was the arrest caught on film, but there was a picture of the two White police officers dragging Avery off to jail, with both legs spread apart, by the heels of his feet! Also, Avery wasn't shy about speaking his mind. On one occasion, he spoke up and told Black People in New Orleans to boycott WHITE store owners located within the commercial zone on Dryades Street, because they wouldn't hire Blacks to work at their stores. Finally, a few of his accomplishments included : getting elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1975 ; helping register hundreds of New Voters in New Orleans through Vote Registration Drives ; his protest against former Klu Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke in 1993 at the Battle of Liberty Place Monument Ceremony in New Orleans ; and he was one of the founders of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus. When Avery C. Alexander passed away on March 5, 1999, the Black Citizens of Louisiana as well as the State of Louisiana, lost another one of our Civil Rights Icons. Three things of notice were done to honor his memory : 1. McDonogh #39 School on Saint Roch Avenue in New Orleans was renamed after him in 1999 ; 2. The Charity Hospital in New Orleans is now "The Avery C. Alexander Memorial Hospital" ; 3. A statue of him now sits in front of the remodeled University Medical Center at Galvez and Canal Streets in New Orleans. .

"OUR RICH BLACK HERITAGE" REV. M. M. FLYNN

It's fascinating how every week I'm able to find a different "FORGOTTEN BLACK PIONEER!" Sometimes while I'm researching a totally different subject, I get drawn to an event, post, or person that leads me to someone new, just as it was this week. As I was reading a post on Facebook, I was drawn to a comment that mentioned the name of a forgotten Negro Preacher named ,"REV. M. M. FLYNN." Moments after googling his name, I knew that I had found this week's Black Pioneer! Once again, this was my very first time ever, ever hearing about him or his remarkable achievements in the State of Louisiana. Our story begins when Milton McElroy Sr. was born in Northwestern Louisiana on Christmas Day, in 1900. Although I didn't find any records of his early childhood and schooling, it was reported that by the age of 22, Milton had taken a bride and the couple had welcomed their first child, Milton McElroy Jr., into the world. Also, by the age of 31, he had officially become a Baptist Preacher. A few of the churches in Louisiana that he pastored included : Rocky Valley Baptist Church, in Grambling, La. ; Greenwood Acres Baptist Church, in Shreveport, La. ; Mt. Bethel Baptist Church, in Keithville, La. ; and Ebenezer Baptist Church, in Homer. While Rev. M.M. Flynn held down the duties of pastor, he was also elected as President of the Shreveport Chapter of the NAACP. Well, on March 22, 1938, Rev. M.M. Flynn had called for a NAACP Meeting to be held at "The Little Union Baptist Church in Shreveport," to inform Negroes about their rights as American Citizens.The guest speaker was William Pickens, a National Acclaimed Negro and a Field Secretary for the NAACP. In case you were wondering,"Little Union Baptist Church" just so happened to be the same Baptist Church in Shreveport that a "different NAACP official called a different NAACP Meeting some 25 years later," where a Civil Rights Icon, by the name of Rev. Harry Blakes, was severely beaten by White Shreveport Police! However, unlike the meeting in 1963, where Rev, Harry Blakes was attacked, Black People in Shreveport found out about the White Sheriff's scheme to lynch William Pickens, and William was able to escape from the church unharmed! By the way, during W.W.ll, when Rev. M.M. Flynn was pastor of Rocky Valley Baptist Church in Grambling, Louisiana, he and his church congregation appeared in a scene of a government-sponsored film called,"Food For Victory!" Out of thousands of rural Southern Churches in the South, Rocky Valley was the church selected, "and you could bet that the Black People in Grambling, Louisiana were sho' nuff proud of themselves about that!" A few other interesting things about Rev. M.M. Flynn included that he and his wife Beatrice donated food from their home garden, known as "Victory Gardens," to the Allied Military Troops, during World War ll. Also, the couple operated a Book & Bible Store in Shreveport that was located on Looney Street. In 1940, by the time that the Louisiana State Baptist Convention convened In Shreveport, La., Rev. M.M. Flynn had also become the business manager of a local Negro Newspaper called,"The Announcer." In the early 1970s, he and a group of other Black Men ran for offices on the Caddo Parish Police Jury. Rev. M.M. Flynn ran on the theme "You Can Depend On Flynn!" When the Negro Candidates C.M. Lester, Hersey D. Wilson, Rev. Edward Jones, and Rev. M.M. Flynn were officially seated," they were the first Blacks to hold seats on the Caddo Parish Police Jury, since the period in America that was known as Reconstruction!" On January 5, 1985, a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement, a widely respected Preacher, former President of the Shreveport Chapter of the NAACP, and former Caddo Parish Police Juror passed away in Seattle Washington.