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16. Changed Lives
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273 16 Changed Lives Celebrating the Movement and Its People We rarely celebrated. We just kept on working. The files Henry and I so carefully packed were full of the struggle, the lawsuits, the posters, the data, the agendas, and the strategy. It is rare to find information on the final project outcomes of any of the initiatives. Although they deserved it, I don’t remember any event to honor the First Fourteen and others who tried to register in those earliest days: Alma Mitchell Carnegie, Sam Redmond, John Daniel Wesley, Reverend Jesse James Russell, Rosebud Clark, and Hartman Turnbow, Annie Bell Mitchell, Charlie Carnegie, Norman Clark, Chester Hayes, Ralthus Hayes, Jack Louie , Ozell Mitchell, Joe T. Mitchell, Reverend Nelson Trent, and the others. They were respected and their stories were told in meetings, at kitchen tables, and on front porches, but there was too much to do to stop and celebrate. In the early days, the Holmes County Community Center at Mileston embodied the movement work, and hope, and excitement. Standing there, just off the highway and the train tracks, visible to all who passed by, the HCCC shouted to the world that there were people taking charge of their lives. It was a symbol of democracy and self-government, of education and health care. It was a symbol of defiance to the system. The FDP, too, picked up and carried on that enthusiasm and energy as leaders built the movement throughout the county. When Ralthus Hayes and Henry asked me to read my “The Some People” story at a 1967 election kick-off meeting, it was for a purpose. We wanted to unite the grassroots leaders and the professionals in an election effort. I read, and those in that crowded meeting room heard my tribute to their actions. And finally, we celebrated. 274 DEVELOPING THE SLATE OF CANDIDATES We celebrated the civil rights leaders of Holmes County who did something more than just live as their mothers and fathers had before them. They changed their lives—and not just each individual, not just their families, not just Holmes County—they worked to change the lives of all people. It was an honor and an education to work alongside them. Robert Cooper Howard (left) and Burrell Tate (next to Howard) lighten a Countywide Meeting with their laughter. ...