JACKSON, Tenn. – A new exhibition commemorates a group of activists who helped change Jackson forever.
Woolworth Store stool on display at Jackson City Hall.
A crowd gathered at City Hall – where the old Woolworth Store once stood – to watch the unveiling of a new display commemorating the sit-down protests that rocked the community in 1960.
The most famous of these were the “Freshmen Four” here in Jackson.
“As a freshman, they were active catalysts in influencing change in Jackson, Tennessee. We’re standing here today because these four newbies have acted bravely, ”said Scott Conger, Jackson Mayor.
The four were a group of black students from Lane College who walked into the Woolworth Store and sat at the white-only counter to protest segregation.
The group included the late father of the current city council, Ernest Brooks II.
“[Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.] said one day that we as a people will enter the promised land. Dr. Ernest Brooks Sr. didn’t come there with us. Dr. Wesley Cornelius McClure didn’t come there with us. Reverend Kimmie Davis didn’t come there with us, ”said Brooks.
The display preserves a piece of history, a story that fades over the years.
“Everyone else went on. They were all good friends of mine, all Jacksonians, Merry High graduates, “said Shirlene Mercer, one of the” Freshmen Four. “
She shared her experiences as an activist. She talked about how her dream of becoming a school teacher in Madison County was put down just because she stood up for what she believed in.
Shirlene Mercer – one of the “Newbie Four” – at Jackson City Hall.
I said, ‘Well what I did was right. What I felt was right in those times. Why should you punish me for it? ‘He said, “They won’t hire you.” And they haven’t, ”Mercer said.
Mercer instead taught in Hardeman County for most of her career.
The current exhibition in the town hall reports on their contributions as well as on the movement in Jackson.
“Black history is Jackson history and Jackson history is Tennessee history and Tennessee history is the history of the United States,” Brooks said.
And now Mercer can take pictures in front of the stools where she was once rejected.
“I never thought I’d see the day that Jackson would have a group of integrated people in black and white in town hall paying tribute to people who marched in the 1960s,” Mercer said.
The stools for the exhibit were donated by the late Clark Shaw of Brooks Shaw’s Old County Store.
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