Everyone at some point in life finds a crossroads, a moment where they are faced with a choice, to follow the status quo or to choose the, often more challenging, path others have failed to follow.
In the March of 1960, a crossroad was presented to the Lee family. Anyone who has lived in Memphis for even a short amount of time, or in the South even, has likely heard of the events of the National Civil Rights movement that occurred here. These seven sisters found themselves thrust into the center of the struggle and chose to bravely stand against the bigotry and racism that was facing them. Despite this, their story has been largely overlooked until recently when the Shelby County Historical Commission finally brought their story to light by erecting a historical marker downtown commemorating their extreme sacrifice to the movement.
Though the Civil Rights Movement had won its first major national victory in 1954 with the Supreme Court ruling on Brown vs. The Board of Education, which stated that segregation of the races was unconstitutional, many cities and states quickly found legal loopholes that allowed for the continued subjugation of African Americans. Memphis was among the ranks of southern cities who sought to continue the separation of races within the school system. The local government, set about redrawing school districts to exclude predominantly African American neighborhoods. Meanwhile affluent white families and churches began building private schools that were still legally to refuse admission to anyone who did not meet their criteria for enrollment. As this practice became more apparent, African Americans began to protest against these changes. When E. H. Crump, also known as Boss Crump, died just five months after the landmark victory, African Americans in the city saw an opportunity to increase their political voice. Crump had dominated Memphis politics since the 1920’s. He held strong influence. insuring that any politician willing to wield power in his name found a place in the Memphis government. In the city elections that followed his death, not only did several African American candidates run in the election, but also a sizable spike in the number of registered black voters. As the decade came to a close Memphis found itself at a turning point, like many other southern cities as the issues of Civil Rights came to the forefront of the city’s politics.
It was at this crossroads that Ernestine Lee Henning, the oldest of the sisters, found herself when the Movement came to the campus of LeMoyne College in the spring of her Junior year. Students had begun to organize in an attempt to fight against the social inequality that the city still harbored. Despite the ending of legal public-school segregation, many public government owned buildings were still restricted along racial lines. Despite the fact that African Americans paid taxes that went to funding these institutions, they were still denied use of them. Earnestine was a part of a group who decided to change this by engaging in peaceful civil disobedience. Their first target became the public libraries, her sister told me.
“They wanted to target public facilities first instead of privately owned businesses because of the taxes they had paid to fund them.” Elaine Lee Turner, the fourth oldest sister said, “It was equality and social justice that they wanted.”
Two libraries were forums in which Earnestine and around 40 other students staged their first protest. All of them were arrested for either trespassing or loitering. This became the first arrest in the Lee family, however it was far from the last. Earnestine set an example, whether she realized it or not, that day for her younger sisters. Their parents had always imparted a sense of the injustice that was the treatment of African Americans in the south.
Robert and Alversa Williams Lee had moved to Memphis from Haywood County a little over 60 miles away from the city. Together they raised 14 children total, seven girls and 7 boys. Robert had a 6th grade education and worked tirelessly at a hardwood flooring company and as a barber. Alversa was a homemaker, caring for her children and volunteering for the NAACP as well as African American voter registration efforts. She also was very active in her children’s’ educations by working as a PTA member and even founding a PTA group at the younger daughters’ elementary school and leading it. By all accounts the parents of the Lee Sisters were extremely hard working and nurturing to their daughters.
Brenda Lee Turner, the third oldest daughter of the seven, remembered that “Our parents were never upset [when we were arrested] they were always proud because they knew how important it was.”
From their daughters’ youngest days, both parents especially Alversa, had made sure that they understood that the discrimination and harsh treatment they endured was unjust. She made sure that they understood that they were not powerless to bring about change and so as Earnestine entered into the movement, her younger sisters decided to follow her example. Soon it was a fair bet that if there was a demonstration of any kind in or near Memphis that one or more of the Lee Sisters would be in attendance. Brenda was arrested for the first time at the age of 16, she and her other sisters had gone into lunch counters along Main St downtown. They took up positions with picket signs held high. They had been told by the group that organized the protest to follow three simple rules. First, they were to continue moving along the sidewalk. Secondly, they were not to block the entrance of the business. Thirdly they were not to allow themselves to be provoked by anyone challenging them. If they followed these rules, they would theoretically not be in violation of any laws, however this proved not to be true.
As the protesters continued in front of the building, a number of Memphis Police officers arrived on the scene with a paddy wagon. Without warning, Brenda and her younger sister Susan, who was merely 12 years old, were grabbed by the officers and thrown into the truck on top of their fellow protestors, before they had time to move, other bodies were being thrown on top of them.
“We accepted that there was a possibility that we would be arrested, but it was still scary,” Brenda remembers.
She and her sister were taken to Juvenile Hall and placed in the jail’s library rather than the holding cell. They had been charged with loitering and were held there for 3-4 hours before they were finally released. The cycle of protest, arrest and release became part of the family routine. The older sisters would go to the protests, if they were arrested, the younger sisters would sit at home with their parents waiting anxiously for their release. Alversa took up the role of appearing in court on her daughters’ behalf as Robert was usually too busy with work to attend the hearings.
As the Lee Sisters gained notoriety, local papers began including them in stories about those who were arrested at sit-ins around the city. In these stories, the names and addresses of activists were often published giving whites who wished to slow down the movement the opportunity to intimidate those who were participating in protests. It became a common occurrence for white police officers and civilians to drive down the street in front of the Lee’s home as a means of intimidation though this was as far as the tactics went for the Lee’s. However, their presence did not go unnoticed by neighbors and some relatives. They urged Robert and Alversa to stop their daughters from participating fearing for their safety. For the Lee Sisters, the thought of limiting their participation was inconceivable, they knew that doing so
would be selfish because they were not only working for themselves but all black citizens of the city. As for their parents’ reservations about their work, Brenda remembers that her father was more apprehensive about their participation than their mother, who was an activist at heart. Robert never stopped his daughters from participating however.
As the Civil Rights Movement began gaining momentum across the south, the sisters began to travel in order to participate in the larger demonstrations. Joan who was the third youngest sister participated in the March on Washington in 1963 where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his now iconic “I have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Two years later, Elaine travelled to Selma where she also heard Dr. King speak before what would become one of the great turning points of the movement. She remembers the charisma that was instantly recognizable to those who heard him speak, she felt that he was unwavering in his devotion to cause and would lead the movement toward its ultimate goal.
The March on Selma was covered by the national media groups of the day. They were present with television cameras rolling and cameras at the ready. The images that they captured as the Alabama State Troopers confronted the peaceful protestors with attack dogs and fire hoses were the first exposure that many Americans outside of the had seen. This moment became known as “Bloody Sunday” and today is regarded as a crucial part of the Movement’s progress.
As the 1960’s came to a close, the Lee Sisters had become the “most arrested family in the country.” They had devoted a large part of their lives as children and young adults, respectively, in the pursuit of social justice and equality. They had seen the passage of landmark legislation like the Civil Rights Act of 1963. However, their work was not done. They had fought for the rights of their fellow citizens peacefully forcing the acceptance of African Americans as full citizens. Now that they had realized this goal, they set their sights on the horizon.
Several of the sisters were deeply affected by their experiences from the movement. They likewise devoted their lives to the continued advancement of Civil Rights. Earnestine recognizing the value of education, became a Teacher. Elaine and Joan together opened Heritage Tours in Memphis which today still operates showing visitors notable landmarks around the city including the sight of an underground railroad stop. Peggy Jayne, the second youngest sister obtained a law degree from Memphis State and today dedicates the majority of her time to civil rights cases in the city. Susan, who is the youngest of the seven, opened an African Clothing store in Whitehaven. Each in their own way found a path that they could follow in order to continue the fight for economic, social and racial equality within the city. In dedicating their lives to justice, heritage and education the Lee Sisters insured that not only they would remember the struggle they went through, but that those who came after them would also remember their struggle and continue pushing forward.
Today the next generation of Lees have taken the reigns of the family struggle. Neither Brenda or Elaine think of their struggle as over, or even slowing. Both still know that true social and economic equality have not been achieved, though the Civil Rights Struggle of today does look different than the one they participated in during the 60’s. Their decedents today have not forgotten their family’s struggles and contributions to the movement. The daughter of one of the Lee’s sons, who wished to remain anonymous, was raised to believe that there was nothing more valuable than education and so has earned four degrees from various universities and is working on her fifth. She says that she was raised by her mother and her aunts to do everything necessary to achieve in life.
She believes that even today 50 years after the height of the Movement that, “because we are black, we have to have be more educated…We have to go to college.”
She believes that for an African American to succeed that they must attend for several reasons, firstly her aunts and others fought for her right to go to a university. Secondly, there is still discrimination in the American job market and she believes that sometimes if two applicants, one white and one black, apply for a job and are equally qualified, that the white applicant is more likely to be hired. For this reason, she feels that an advanced degree(s) allows her to continue to move up through society. Finally, she feels like she owes it to her aunts and all those who struggled to continue their mission of true equality. She is acutely aware that one of the biggest motivations for her aunts was that the next generation would have an easier life.
Today the surviving Lee Sisters have continued to push for equality. They follow movements like Black Lives Matter and track their progress. They dedicate their time to helping fellow African Americans who would otherwise be helpless achieve justice. They spend their days making sure that the generations that follow them will remember the struggle that allowed them to drink from the same fountain of a white man. They succeeded in paving the way for the next generation of African Americans to encounter less resistance than they did during their early lives and now hope the next generation will encounter even less.
The next steps toward true equality are clear according to Elaine who, “[hopes] the future will be a realization of Dr. King’s vision,” as he articulated it to her as she stood in a crowed sanctuary in Selma Alabama but, “while the signs may be taken down, there is still subtle racism,” and thus more work to be done.
