Pictured: Judge William Branch, Wadine Williams, Sheriff Thomas Gilmore,  Clarence Davis, Blue Musician, Glory 2 Glory Gospel group, Odessa Rice,  Quilter, Basket Weaver and  Martha Kimbrough, Quilter

There is a well known adage that has the message – If you don’t know your history you are doomed to repeat it. Greene County is noted for its political accomplishments mainly from 1965 through 1970, and to some extent beyond. In 1965, Black students from then Carver High School, joined later by Black students from Greene County Training School and Eatman Jr. High School, boycotted their places of learning to call attention to oppression and discrimination in Greene County and initiate change. The young people took a stand, assisted by the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and thus began the Civil Rights Movement in Greene County.
The outcomes are manifested in Black citizens, as 80% of the county’s population, registering to vote, organizing a political party, The National Democratic Party of Alabama (NDPA), running as candidates and winning local elections. Of course, none of this was easily gained. The young marchers were harassed, attacked, arrested and jailed. When the adults joined the local movement, many were also harmed and terrorized in various ways. Some were evicted off white-folk’s property; some lost very needed jobs. Those foot soldiers, young and older, knew fear and danger, but they embraced the cause for rights due them and justice denied and they had a victory.
There is a litany of the First Black Elected Officials in Greene County, but if you ask any scholar in Greene County schools to name one or two of the first Black elected officials, you are likely to be disappointed in the non-response. Approximately eight years ago, the Greene County Board of Education approved a policy that mandated the infusion of Black History into the curriculum. The intent is not to offer one course in Black History, but to incorporate the role and contributions or connections of Black people throughout each course. Sadly, there is no evidence that this policy is being implemented.
Many of our young people today don’t carry the significance of what the Civil Rights Movement in Greene County prepared them for. Nor do they carry the significance of our ancestral history from the African Continent.
Because of our ancestral history, in 1966, Rev. Peter J. Kirksey became the first Black school board member in Greene County and Rev. W. D. Lewis was elected to the Greene County Democratic Executive Committee.
Because of our ancestral history, in the 1969 Special Election ( held because Black candidates on the NDPA ticket were left off the state’s ballot in 1968) the first Black elected County Commissioners were Rev. Vassie Knott, Mr. Harry Means, Mr. Franchie Burton and Mr. Levi Morrow, Sr. Mr. James Posey, Sr. and Mr. Robert Hines were elected to the school board that same year.
Because of our ancestral history, in 1970, Rev. William McKinley Branch was able to become the first Black elected Probate Judge in this nation; Rev. Thomas Gilmore became the first Black elected Sheriff in Greene County; Mrs. Wadine Williams was elected as first Black Circuit Clerk and Mr. Robert Cook became the first Black Tax Collector. Rev. Harold (Abner) Milton was the first Black Coroner.
Because of our ancestral history, Deacon John Head and Mr. Earsrie Chambers also joined the school board in 1970 and the all Black board members hired Mr. Robert Brown as the first Black Superintendent of Schools in Greene County.
Because of our ancestral history, In 1978, Rev. John Kennard became the first Black elected Tax Assessor in Greene County.
Our children should know our people were survivors long before the early political revolution in Greene County and other parts of the Black Belt and the nation.
Because of our ancestral history, we survived enslavement (chattel slavery) in this country and other parts of the world. We survived the Jim Crow era and segregation. As the wise elders proclaimed: We took what we had and made what we needed.
At the annual Black Belt Folk Roots Festival, held in Eutaw, Greene County, AL, produced by the Society of Folk Arts & Culture, we can witness some ways our ancestors made it over. Their artistically designed quilts had a key role in the Underground Railroad through which our people manipulated the passage of our enslaved ancestors to areas of this country where slavery was not mandated. The design of the quilts and how they were positioned for view held messages for the special conductors who led others toward a semblance of freedom land.
The hand crafted baskets, carved wooden utinsels, wooden furnishings were all created from what the Earth of the region provided. At the annual festival elders continue to showcase their stories through baskets created from pine needles, bullrush grass, and cornshucks.
The ole timey blues and gospel music that draws so many to the festival each year recounts how our ancestors exhaled the weight of pain, grief and loss brought through enslavement and disenfranchisement. Those melodic voices then and now carry strong faith, hope and deep spiritual strength from an Almighty power.
The annual festival is one mirror to view history. There are many others, including the annual Bridge Crossing Commemoration and Jubilee held in Selma, AL the first week end in March each year.
We owe our children the exposure of our history. The children must learn from us there are shoulders to stand on, footsteps to follow, guides to build upon. They must learn from us how to live to make history that celebrates who we are and from whom and where we have come. History leads, preparing us to follow. We must know our history to travel our way.