"We just had to endure it:" Freshman Four celebrated at Union University
The Jackson community celebrated Black History Month Thursday night by honoring a number of prevalent members of Jackson’s civil rights movement—including the last living member of the famed “Freshman Four.”
The four freshman students from Lane College fought to end segregation and Jim Crow era laws by participating in sit-in protests at the local Woolworth’s store in the fall of 1960, facing violence and harassment from many city residents.
Thursday’s event, hosted by Union University as part of their second annual Black Heritage Month celebration, sought to celebrate the sacrifices and bravery of the four students.
“Tonight we’re celebrating the Black Heritage Month celebration at Union,” said Veronica Perry, the coordinator of the event and director for university mailing service at Union. “We’re celebrating those in our community that paid a tremendous cost so that we all can enjoy civil rights and equality in the city of Jackson.”
Family members of Freshmen Four who are already deceased - Reverend Kimmie Davis, former Lane College President Dr. Wesley McClure and Dr. Ernest Brooks Sr. - were honored with recognitions for their life and sacrifices to the civil rights movement.
“So many of those in the Black community who fought for equality, who fought for civil rights justice—they’ve passed on without being able to share their stories, without us being able to know their rich legacy they’ve left for us,” Perry said. “Tonight is so important for us to hear from those who went before us and the cost that they paid so we can appreciate all that we can enjoy now.
“It’s all because of those who came before us.”
City Council member Ernest Brooks Jr., son of elder Ernest Brooks Sr., agreed.
“It’s a wonderful experience to be here,” he said. “(My father) worked tirelessly for equality and justice here, not only in Jackson, but Madison County and the entire state of Tennessee.”
Brooks believes events like these help younger generations understand how far they have come, and how much farther they can go.
“We want to teach them about the struggle,” he said. “I have a young daughter who kind of doesn’t have a concept about discrimination and racial injustice, but as she lives life she is beginning to experience something of that. Events like this remind us not only of where we’ve been, but also caution as to where we need to go.
“We’re all part of the human race—it’s about humanity. Right is right and wrong is wrong ….it’s events like this that remind us as a community that we can come together.”
The keynote speaker of the night was Shirlene Mercer, the last surviving member of the Freshman Four.
“I went through a lot I called hell during the civil rights movement,” she said. “I’m so glad the good Lord let me live to come out and speak to these students about it.”
Mercer recounted her school days and the struggles she faced simply trying to exist in a segregated world, like the times she was slapped and spit on for sitting at the ‘whites only’ counter at Woolworth's.
“Sometimes I want to cry, because it’s just so heartbreaking,” she said. “Thinking about (what we went through). We had some terrible days. We just had to endure…So we did it.”
Union University President Dr. Samuel Oliver closed the night by stating that “Union University should have celebrated this many years ago.”
“Dr. (Martin Luther) King said ‘It’s always the right time to do right,’” he said. “So I praise God that we’re gathered here tonight in 2022. It may seem late, but it’s not too late.”
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This article originally appeared on Jackson Sun: "We just had to endure it:" Freshman Four celebrated at Union University
