'After We Signed The Petition, Tensions Rose'
Mrs.
Sarah
Ragin-Williams,
Lexington,
South Carolina
In 1949 I was a 14-year-old 10th grader at Scott's Branch High School in Summerton, South Carolina. I became a petitioner in the case of Briggs v. Elliott. The case was later combined with four other cases that became known as Brown v. Board of Education, which brought the landmark decision abolishing school segregation. When the case was heard in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954, my father, Hazel Ragin, was one of 20 plaintiffs.
After we signed the petition, tensions rose to the extreme between blacks and whites in my hometown. Jobs for blacks immediately became nearly nonexistent. My father, the only house painter in town, was replaced by out-of-town white painters. His secondary job as a hunting and fishing guide provided a very limited income. As property owners, we planted crops to provide some food for the family (my mother and two brothers). My oldest brother was in Korea, fighting for his country.
The black school was no longer accredited. As a high school senior in 1950-51, I transferred to a school in another town and traveled 20 miles roundtrip by car every day. I spent one year at South Carolina State College (Orangeburg), but without enough money for a second year's tuition, I moved north. I worked many jobs. The last was for the New York City Transit Authority for 23 years. For the final 12 years, I was a station supervisor.
Returning to South Carolina in 1994, I resumed the struggle for equality. I am a board member of the Briggs-DeLaine-Pearson Foundation.
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