A Special Moment in Time – The Tougaloo Nine
Over the past weekend I attended a small gathering to take a few pictures as a favor. This is one of those times I was really glad my schedule allowed me to be free and thanks to my wife and my brother for freeing up my time. The event was a gathering of the California alumni from a small college from Mississippi called Tougaloo. I attended this event at the request of one of my biggest supporters, my mom.
As a child, hearing the name, Tougaloo College, in Tougaloo, Mississippi created giggles. For years the only real understanding I had of Tougaloo College was it being the undergraduate institution where my mother double majored and double minored in four years, thus meaning it had to be a pretty boring campus. The Tougaloo Alumni chose the Delancey Street Restaurant in San Francisco as the meeting place. This restaurant has very unique and interesting background. After setting up some remote flashes to keep the lighting consistent, more familiar faces from my childhood started showing up. Some I knew as good friends of my mom’s others I knew as aunts and uncles, not by blood, but by respect.
My mother the outgoing Chapter President performed duties as the moderator. She introduced a woman that I had seen many times at functions at her house but never knew who she really was. I never knew how important she was to me, to you or anyone else that benefited from all the hard work that brought about Civil Rights in Mississippi and the Country. I know her as Gerry or Geraldine Hollis, a fellow alumnus of my mom. She told the story a small group of Tougaloo College students that decided it was time for a change and on March 27th, 1961, they did something about it.
Nine students from Tougaloo College, went to the Carver Library to request some books. Knowing the books would not be available, they peacefully went to the Jackson Public Library, to find the books they requested. They retrieved the books and began reading them. In 1961, this was a very bold move for nine black students to leave the “black only” Carver Library and step foot inside the “white only” Jackson Public Library. This was in fact illegal and the nine students were arrested and held for over 30 hours in jail. This act, this peaceful act of sitting in the library (a “sit-in”), help start the major change that was needed in Mississippi and all over the South. Her name is Geraldine Hollis, formerly, Geraldine Edwards, and she is one of the Tougaloo Nine.
For more information, please follow these links:
Tougaloo Nine and Jackson State Protest
10 Most Endangered Historic Places List Unveiled – Jackson Municipal Library
For the record, I still giggle in my head when I say Tougaloo, but now its so much more than just my mom’s alma mater.
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