SALISBURY – On the 60th anniversary of the day she was one of 191 students arrested and imprisoned in Columbia, South Carolina, for protesting peacefully, DeeDee Wright last week returned to the place where she was once handcuffed and taken away.
Wright, who now calls Salisbury home, visited Columbia for a ceremony in honor of the peaceful protest at the state capitol on March 2, 1961, which led to a critical Supreme Court decision that provided greater protection for protesters.
Wright found her name engraved on the bottom of the monument that will remain for years in the same place where she was forcibly removed.
The day before, US Congressman James Clyburn, DS.C., who also participated in the march, included a tribute in the proceedings of the congress that stated: “As one of the young people involved in this historic event, I can attest that we were committed to the struggle for civil rights and we had no idea that our actions would contribute to preserving the right to protest peacefully for future generations ”.
When Wright got in a car and drove from his hometown, Greenville, South Carolina, to Columbia to join the march in early 1961, she was already well established as a civil rights activist.
As president of the NAACP Greenville Branch Youth Council and secretary of the State Youth Council, Wright had been involved in several protests in his hometown in the past year.
Photo submitted – The marker was unveiled in Columbia, South Carolina, last week.
Together with civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, Wright was one of eight students known as “Greenville Eight” who staged a demonstration at the Greenville Public Library’s exclusive white branch in July 1960. During the demonstration, Wright was arrested with only 15 years.
“Back then, most adults really weren’t involved,” said Wright. “Not that they pushed us out, but many of them were afraid of losing their jobs, whatever they were, whether they were teachers, postmen or domestic servants. We decided that we would fight for our rights. “
Wright’s contact with the police did not prevent her from participating in other protests, including a series of protests at the cafeteria counter in a variety of shops in downtown Greenville.
As one of the students who was arrested during a demonstration at SS Kress & Co., Wright was a defendant at the Peterson v. City of Greenville finally decided by the US Supreme Court in 1963. The court’s decision helped to establish equality in accommodation for African Americans.
Peterson v. Greenville was not the only time Wright was involved in a historic Supreme Court case. The next one would come from his participation in the March 2, 1961 march in the state capital of South Carolina. The protest itself was organized by the NAACP and brought together about 200 high school and university students in a demonstration at Zion Baptist Church. to the State House to protest racial inequality.
“We were protesting against the capital at that time because we felt that we were not being treated fairly,” said Wright.
After the demonstrators took a walk around the Chamber, they were told to disperse. Instead, they stayed and started singing. Citing disturbances in the peace, the police arrested almost all the protesters.
Photo submitted – DeeDee Wright points to his name at a landmark opened in Columbia, South Carolina.
Wright had been arrested before, but this time, she had to spend the night in prison. Wright said she remained in prison for about 24 hours, fed meals comparable to dog food, and spent time in solitary confinement.
As soon as Wright was released, she returned home to Greenville and her mother worried.
“She said, ‘My God, you’re going to kill us,'” recalls Wright.
No one harmed Wright or his family, but the increasingly dire threats they received forced them to leave South Carolina for New York.
“In the end, we were expelled from Greenville,” said Wright. “We started to receive threats to be killed and our house to be bombed.”
The ramifications of the march on the South Carolina Capitol were long-lasting. On February 25, 1963, the United States Supreme Court voted 8-1 in favor of the student defendants who were appealing their convictions for their participation in the march. The Edwards vs. Vs. decision South Carolina remains one of the most important precedents for protecting protest rights.
Wright has returned to his home state numerous times and has visited Columbia on several occasions. Perhaps most significant was when she returned to the Capitol last week to see the historic monument in honor of the protest and its part in it.
“It was surreal, in a word,” said Wright. “After reflecting and returning to Salisbury, it is something that I think will live on. It is something to be honored in this way. I never dreamed that this moment would come. “
The plaque was placed in the capital by the University of South Carolina’s Center for Civil Rights Research and History. Wright credits Bobby Donaldson, the organization’s director, for making the memorial a reality.
“I owe him a great deal of gratitude for being persistent, a magnificent historian and I am very happy that he continues to document our stories,” said Wright.
The new monument was not the only thing Wright noticed on his visit. The Confederate flag that flapped on top of the capitol building for more than five decades was no longer there. It was removed in 2015 after the mass shooting in the African Methodist Episcopal Church Emanuel in Charleston.
“After marching on the state capitol, the Confederacy flag was placed on top of the state capitol and did not fall until nine people were killed in Charleston about 50 and a few years later,” said Wright.
Although it has been 60 years since the Capitol march, Wright has not given up the fight.
“I am still fighting for the rights of others and, as Salisbury is my home, it still has a lot of growth,” said Wright. “There is always a struggle for African Americans and, given the current climate, the struggle continues.”