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Unsung heroes prevented the Civil Rights Movement from dying at the hands of authorities as they fought alongside well-known figures who assumed the spotlight. They soldiered behind the scenes and, when the dust cleared, were left to pick up the pieces and faced death as first responders.

 One such leader was Prathia Hall, who put her life on the line for freedom. Her work in the rural South piqued my interest, and her drive to succeed outweighed the forces that tried to keep her down.

It seemed as though Hall, born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, had been placed on the back burner when I heard her incredible story. She was an accomplished orator, poet, and defender of human rights who inspired Dr. Martin Luther King and countless others in her quest to uplift the lives of the economically and politically oppressed.  Hall worked on their behalf until the end of her life.

In 1962, after graduating from Temple University in Philadelphia with a degree in Political Science, Hall could have enjoyed a comfortable middle-class life away from the pitfalls of the South. However, she longed to travel to the deep South after studying nonviolence techniques in high school and being arrested on Maryland's Eastern Shore as a junior in college for protesting discrimination.

Upon arrival in Southwest Georgia, she joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and worked with Charles Sherrod. (1) She became one of the first female field leaders and played a role in bringing about change. She was stationed in Terrell County, known as Terrible Terrell for how it treated its black majority, including church burnings, and African Americans also went missing for simply standing up for their rights. 

While working with black citizens in Terrell County, Hall engaged in activities that put her life in danger. For instance, she went from door to door registering voters, even in the crucial countryside, and helped citizens pass voter registration tests at local freedom schools. As a result, "On September 6, 1962, night riders fired into the home where Hall and other activists were staying, wounding her, Jack Chatfield, and Christopher Allen" (2)

Although Hall faced gunshots and was jailed numerous times in Southwest Georgia, including the infamous Sasser, Georgia jail, in Terrell County, she would not be deterred. (3) When Mount Olive Baptist Church in the Sasser community, which welcomed Civil rights Workers to its mass meetings, was burned to the ground in September of 1962, it bothered her deeply. During a commemorative ceremony on the church grounds, which included Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., she delivered a speech in which she repeated the phrase, "I have a dream," according to those in attendance. It inspired King, who used her words as the framework for his historic "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Hall also participated in the renowned Albany Movement (1961-62) in the largest city of Southwest Georgia and home to historically black Albany State College, where SNCC was based.  Hall, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., encountered legendary police chief Laurie Pritchett, who studied the concept of nonviolence and used it against the protesters. He allowed the marches to proceed peacefully so as to not arouse national attention. Pritchett then calmly arrested large numbers of demonstrators and dispersed them to area detention centers to prevent his jail from filling up. His goal was to break the back of the movement.

Although many viewed their time in Albany as a setback, Hall and others saw it as a teaching moment or a window into what strategies could work best in the future. The city soon integrated as African Americans gained better housing, jobs, and education.

A year later, Hall was summoned to Selma, Alabama, during a period of violence. Before her arrival, SNCC field secretary Bernard Lafayette was severely beaten and jailed. It all came to a head in 1965, when demonstrators, attempting to cross the Pettus Bridge on their way to Montgomery to dramatize discrimination, were savagely attacked by State patrolmen, known as Bloody Sunday. It profoundly affected Hall, who found it hard to believe people could be so cruel. 

Hall later broke with SNCC, believing it had become militant. She endured dire times with the organization, which had given her the opportunity of a lifetime. Hall wrapped up business with friends and associates as she pondered her next move. 

After weighing her options, Hall returned North and earned a Master of Divinity, Master of Theology, and Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey "after many years of wrestling with a calling to the ministry."(4) She became one of the first women ordained in the American Baptist Association, and served on the faculty of United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, "eventually becoming dean of African American Studies and director of the school's Harriet Miller Women's Center."(5)  In 1978, she assumed the role of pastor of Mt. Sharon Baptist in Philadelphia. 

In later years, Hall served as a visiting scholar at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, GA, and taught at Boston University School of Theology, holding the Martin Luther King Chair of Social Ethics, and focused on womanist theology. (6) 

Following a lengthy illness, Hall passed away on April 12, 2002, in Boston, Massachusetts.  She was remembered as an exceptional orator, freedom fighter, and preacher who went out of her way for others. 

Sources: Historical records, Wikipedia

March on Washington Celebrates Sixty Years

The March on Washington highlighted changes the country needed to make on race that had yet to come to fruition during the hundred years since slavery. 

A crowd of over 250 thousand African Americans and other concerned citizens assembled near the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963, for jobs and freedom. They were inspired by the words of Freedom Rider John Lewis, who demanded freedom at any cost; Byron Rustin, who played a significant role in organizing the event; and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s historic "I Have a Dream" Speech, which was heard around the world. Other brave leaders like Whitney Young also shared the podium.

A. Phillip Randolph, who had hoped for such a march since the 1940s, ensured it went off without a hitch, while Mahalia Jackson graced the audience with her singing ability. The acting team of Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, as well as other celebrities, were also on hand for the event. It propelled the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement to new heights. 

 President John F. Kennedy, who would be pressured to modify his stance on Civil Rights, and members of his cabinet watched from the sidelines as African Americans departed the gathering filled with hope and optimism for the future.

The timing could not have been better, as the country was mired in Jim Crow in the South and deep-seated racism in the North.  A system of Sharecropping caused many blacks to live in abject poverty in the Southern States, as scores of Northern blacks were confined to public housing with few job opportunities. Schools and other facilities south of the so-called Mason-Dixon Line and parts of the Midwest were still segregated despite Supreme Court rulings. 

The march and other crucial events also accelerated the passage of the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. People of color were no longer mandated to sit in separate seating areas in restaurants or other establishments, for instance, or could receive care at any hospital. It also improved housing for blacks and quickened the process of school integration. 

Voting took center stage for African Americans in the elections between 1964 and 1968, and the number of elected Black officials increased from 400 to 4,000, as Black voters turned out in large numbers. Registration offices in places like Americus, Georgia, and other rural communities were ground zero in the fight for freedom.

Although the March on Washington intended to make changes that the country desperately needed, it endured heartbreaking challenges. A month after the march, four little black girls lost their lives in a church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama. It brought men and women of all races to their knees. Two years later, in 1965, black protestors attempting to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on their way to the state capitol in Montgomery, were beaten mercilessly by State officials in an incident that became known as Bloody Sunday.

In the decades since that historic day in Washington,  D.C., African Americans have enjoyed a standard of living their ancestors never dreamed possible in a nation smoldering with hate for its fellow man. Although there may be uncertainty about the future, many believe the best is yet to come.