Tag Archives: Virginia Boykin Burrell

SCLC’s SCOPE project in Wilcox County Summer 1965

June – August 1965 SCLC’S Summer Community Organization and Political Education (SCOPE) project – Wilcox County

Hosea L Williams with his top SCOPE staff outside the Freedom House in Atlanta in the Summer of 1965. As stated by his daughter, Dr. Barbara Williams Emerson in February 2012, "It is a good photo from the period, but it says nothing, or everything, about female participation": L to R- Benjamin Van Clarke, Stoney Cook, Carl Farris, Andrew Marquette , and Richard Boone. – Courtesy Barbara Emerson Williams. Copyright, all rights reserved.

Hosea L Williams with his top SCOPE staff outside the Freedom House in Atlanta in the Summer of 1965. As stated by his daughter, Dr. Barbara Williams Emerson in February 2012, “It is a good photo from the period, but it says nothing, or everything, about female participation”: L to R- Benjamin Van Clarke, Stoney Cook, Carl Farris, Andrew Marquette , and Richard Boone. – Courtesy Barbara Emerson Williams. Copyright, all rights reserved.

SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Project) SCOPE (Summer Community Organization and Education) project, directed by Rev. Hosea Williams, was part of an already active Alabama Voter Education Project that coordinated (or attempted to coordinate) efforts between multiple civil rights organizations. As many as 600 black and white college (and some high school) students were assigned to six states for ten weeks after a 5.5 day 14 hr a day intensive Orientation in Atlanta, GA June 14-19, 1965.

In Wilcox County, five white northern student volunteers joined SCLC’s Dan and Juanita Harrell, and Major Johns, two

Dan Harrell in front of Antioch Baptist church

Dan Harrell in front of Antioch Baptist church

(perhaps three) white seminary students from California and some SNCC field workers from Selma to support local leaders in voter education, voter registration and leadership development. In early April, Californian Bob Block, who had walked all five days of the March to Montgomery, came over from Selma with Strider Benston, Bruce Hartford and Charles Bonner to join a Camden Academy student demonstration led by Ralph Eggleston, Sim Pettway and other students. Block was recruited by Dan Harrell to stay on as SCLC field staff. Local activist Ethel Brooks was also on SCLC SCOPE staff that summer. Students Robert Powell, Grady and Charles Nettles, Don Green, and Frank Conner; Mary Alice Robinson and Betty Anderson were some of the many Camden Academy activists working with SCOPE on voter education and registration after their own demonstrations all spring. Local adult leaders included: Rev. Thomas L Threadgill, Mr Albert Gordon, Mrs Rosetta Anderson, Mrs. Virginia Boykin Burrell and many others from the rural areas of Wilcox County. About 30 total local and field workers canvassed all summer, resulting in 500 new registered voters before the passage of the Voting Rights Act in August. Soon after passage, more than 3,000 Wilcox residents were registered, creating a new African American majority.

Charles “Chuck” A. Bonner of Selma SNCC began to coordinate voting efforts in Wilcox County with SCLC and later, SCOPE. Bob Block and I (Joyce Brians/Maria Gitin) belonged to SNCC and SCLC. SCLC/SCOPE workers were the majority in Wilcox County that summer. Most local residents didn’t know or care who were with except for being “sent by Dr King” and “with the Movement.” Local white segregationists called us as “outside agitators.”

Ethel Brooks SCLC Wilcox County field staff

Ethel Brooks SCLC Wilcox County field staff

 

For more about SCOPE and Voting Rights in Wilcox County, AL  This Bright Light of Ours: Stories from the Voting Rights Fight by Maria Gitin: www.thisbrightlightofours.com

More about VEP: http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_voter_education_project/

Civil Rights Activists in Boiling Spring, Alabama

Although nearly abandoned today, in 1965 the tiny primarily Black community of Boiling Spring in remote northwestern Wilcox County was the center of a vibrant voting rights movement with leaders like the Lawsons, Burrells and Robinsons.

Satto Tilia Parker Burrell & James Burrell were parents of Boiling Springs leader Eddie Burrell and in-laws to his wife, Virginia Boykin Burrell. Their now abandoned home was once a vibrant political, religious and social center.

Sometimes I stayed with the Robinsons who had 12 children yet made room for me, a white teenage civil rights worker. I shared a bed with their teen daughter and several small children. When I rolled over, I had to be careful not to kick the little ones stacked at the end of the bedstead. Some evenings, we’d walk through the woods with kerosene lanterns to take meals at the Lawsons. After I returned to California, my letters to Robinsons and Lawsons were returned undeliverable. I searched for them for decades without success.

Forty-seven years later, Deborah Burrell Tucker, whose mother Virginia Boykin Burrell was a leader and voter literacy teacher in Boiling Spring, contacted me.

Voncille Burrell canvassed for voters from age 13. Her mother Virginia Boykin Burrell (right) taught literacy classes for new voters. Mary Robinson is on her left.

Her sister, Voncille Burrell Spencer, recalls canvassing for voters with me when she was just 13 years old.  Her Cousin Betty Lawson Henderson told me that her family maintained a civil rights safe house for years. After many years of searching, I discovered some of the Robinsons who housed me. Sadly, some still fear white retribution for their involvement in the Movement. While the Burrells and Lawsons, and another Robinson clan proudly claim their place in history, some of “my” Robinsons believe that the racial climate hasn’t changed a bit and asked me to omit their names from my book. It makes me sad but also helps explain why more progress hasn’t been made. The Robinsons and all civil rights activists who risked their lives and property to be active in the Movement, deserve to live in peace and comfort and to be honored for their contribution to the progress that has been made, most especially the right to vote.

Unsung Heroine of Boiling Springs is Recognized Posthumously

Recent unprovoked white on black murders tragically give credence to lingering fears. A new Civil Rights Movement calls for massive economic, social policy and educational change. We cannot give up, cannot rest, until everyone in this country can go to sleep without fear of being targeted for the color of their skin or for their commitment to racial justice. All of us must vote in every election until we change policies and politicians to secure these rights for all. The courageous heroes of Boiling Spring,both living and deceased, known and anonymous, continue to call us to action.