. "The people who had Martin Luther King Jr. killed thought that by killing the DREAMER, they could kill the DREAM,but they couldn't!" Sometime from 1955 - 1962,"THE PEOPLE IN MONROE, LOUISIANA THAT WERE BEHIND THE DISPLACEMENT OF NEGROES FROM THE OLD NEGRO NEIGHBORHOOD OF BRIGHT OAK, IN MONROE, LOUISIANA THOUGHT THAT THE NEXT GENERATION OF BLACK PEOPLE IN MONROE WOULD NOT FIND OUT ABOUT THE EVIL THAT THEY DID!" What they did caused a good number of Negro families in Monroe, Louisiana to be displaced from their homes. You see,it seems that Negroes in Monroe were told that they had to sell their land to the Louisiana State Highway Department, because of a pending highway project. However, after all was said and done,"MOSTLY ALL THAT WAS BUILT ON THE LAND THAT THEY SOLD WERE WHITE BUSINESSES ; TOWNHOUSES FOR WEALTHY WHITE PEOPLE ; A NEW SCHOOL FOR WHITE STUDENTS, ROBERT E. LEE JR. HIGH SCHOOL ; AND A NEW OUACHITA PARISH LIBRARY THAT WAS FOR WHITES ONLY!" For all of those who don't believe what you just read, all you have to do is ask some of the older adults, Black and White, or you can perform a thorough research. Thankfully, I was able to learn about what happened from one of my old church members, Bernard Menyweather, who had lived in "THE OLD NEGRO NEIGHBORHOOD OF BRIGHT OAK." Now that I've gotten that off my chest, let me provide everyone with a brief rundown of the names of a few of The former Pastors of Bright Oak Missionary Baptist Church. Although I wasn't able to find out the year that the church was founded, I was able to come up with the names of several of the former Pastors of the church. In the late 1940s, Reverend Lewis J. Jacobs was elected Pastor of Bright Oak Missionary Baptist Church. Next, there was Reverend Felix Thompson, followed by Reverend William H. Ellis, and lastly, Reverend A. T. Thomas, who was Pastor of The Bright Oak Missionary Baptist Church when it was "OFFICIALLY INCORPORATED," back in 1959! Interestingly, along with Pastor A.T. Thomas's name, three Deacons names also appear on the Document to Incorporate the church. The Deacons names were : James Monroe Menyweather, Tom Beavers, and Charles Tippit. Hopefully, in the coming months, more and more people will come forth with more information on the former Pastors of The Bright Oak Missionary Baptist Church! In closing, I would like for it to be known and recorded that there are probably less than 100 Black People presently living who actually lived in The Old Negro Neighborhood of BRIGHT OAK, one of them is Bernard Menyweather, who currently resides in Monroe, and a Black Lady by the name of Virginia Adams, who currently is living with family members in Texas is an
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