Article from Ebony on Pickens County

    The Gounty Where
For many Blacks, Pickens County,

D ICKI'l ,r-S (lotrrrtr'. ,\lrtlritrtut. is
I rrrrrt'lr likc tlrc trpit'irl ltrrirl <'orrrrtics
in tlrc l)trr:1t Srlrrtlr. 'l'ltc strrtuttcrs arc
hot, tlr<'wirrtels rrriltl, rrrr<l tltc cotton
grorvs lrigh. Irr I)ickcns Corrttlr', lrtrz.z-
irrg cltirirr sarvs unrI tlrc thrrrrtlt'r' ol
crasltirrg tirrrlrt'r crrrr lrc hclrrtl li'orrt
Aliccvillc to Ik.lirrrrr. Irr (ltrrolltorr, the
corrrrtv st'ut, t'vcrvtlring is <lrrict trntil
pcolllt'go irrto "torvrr" rlrt Sittrrrtluy.
'l'he Iirst stop is (ltrrolltorr Superrnirr-

kct Ibr the rvcck's gnlcr.ries, then
sorrte tirttt's tliirrtts alt' rrcetled fi'orn the
(lirrrolltorr l larlurrrc Strlre ircross the
strcet.

Ilrrt with all ol'its sirrrilaritics to otlrer
Sorrthern cotrrrtit's, I'ickcrrs Courtty is
still sorrrewlrat rlill'crerrt. ln nrany
wat,s, it socrr))s likc tlris courrty (90
rniles s<xrthr.r,cst ol' llirrrrirrglrarn) has
been covcrerl lry a protr.ctivc lltrbllle
and thus has cscapr:d thc ell'ects of

Pickens County, Ala,, is orrt, ,rl tlrost, phces u.here
tlrt: 'Okl Sorrth' is still vt'ry rrurclr alive. Marry
lllircks say tlrt.corrrrty "is 25 yeirrs lrchirrd other
Alalrarrra corrrrt i<:s. "

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Alter all-lYhite jurtes conyicted \lrs. \,llggit,[]ozernan (lt'li) and Mrs. Julia
\\'ilrlcrorr vott -lirrrrrl clr,rrgt's rur<l st'rttt'rrtt'<l tltt'rrt to ltarslt prisolt tcrtns,
rrrrgrr Illiu ks trrrrrluc tt'tl rr l3-rlav rnarclt lirlrtr (larrolltott to l\'lrlntgorrrery to
llrotcst tltt' artiorts.

EBONY . lv1oy, 1982

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the '0ld South' Refuses to Die
Ala., is a painful reflection of the past
Freedom Riders, thc civil rights city workers (mainly sanitation w<lrk-

ers) who have bee rr on the job 16 and 17

!'ears are paid less than Whites rvho do
the same job but have been employed
less than three years.

. Although there aren't any "Col-
orecl" and "White" signs to suggest
segregation, there are separate waiting
rooms for Black and White patients at

ment and the host of civil rights

since 1954," says Willie Davis,
sident of the Pickens County

lEouthern Christian Leadership Con-
Srence.

C,onsider these examples:
.In Aliceville, the county's largest one White doctor's olfice in Carrollton.

Black Patients say it's "understood" which

rts that followed. "It's a shame, but
vcry little has changed in Pickens

BY WALTER LEAVY

waiting room they arc, to enter.
. Dcspite the lrct that 42 1>ercent of

the county's residents are Black, no
Black candidate hirs ever rvon in a
county-wide election. Sorne Blacks say
they are told by Whites that Blacks
can't vote in certain elections and
many others fear being intimidated by
Whites if they do vote, so they choose
not to go to the polls.

. Mrs. Johnnie Matthews, viceBlack leaders say some

l aonumenl outside the Pickens County Court I Iouse in Carrollton is dt:dicated to mcrnory of veter:rrts o[the Spanish-American War, the World Wars, and
b'1the men who wore the grey." Sheri[I kruie Colcrnan denies irny racisrn in l'ickens Cotrnty. "Colored people do whatever they want here," he says.

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Pickens Academy in Carrollton is the only private school in the county. No Bltcks lrave sent their children there because "private" means "White

Continued on Next Poge 145



circuit court,ludge clatus Junkin, w'rr. h.ard tr*: cascs.[ Mrs. I].zenrarr (alxrve, l.) an<r Mrs.wildcr, listcrrs t() t('stirror)v rlrrrirrga rrt:irrirrg. Jtrrrkirr rt:{irscrr kr placc t},;;";;;;, rn prntu-ti.rr, lrrrt grrvt: a H/lritc Jxriicr: clri.[ a six-r,orrtlr-srrslx,rxleil .,,,rtcrrcs r, , 
"frrr{; 

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izt'tl .id to a r.tt,r. "l)art .l rry scrrtcrrcc u,as lrast:rl irrr tlrc lirct that lrcid ;"sigu:1,;"[i,, *yr,

PICKENS COUNTY co.r;,,.a
I)resident of thc: lrickens County,
SCLC, operatcs the orrly Illack-<lwnccl
lrusirress (a rccord rhn1,) i,, <Lrwnlowrr
Aliceville. 'Ihr: outspoken civil riglrts
worker says slle has been threatencd
many times by \A/hitcs who say thcy
are going to "slrut rny rnouth and rurr
me out of dorvntown."

.In many instances, IJlacks are
sutrjected to arrcst if thev socializc
with Whites. Such wts the cu.e of trr,,
young Illack rnen in Ilclilrrn, Ala., wlr<l
were arrestc<l :trrrl clrarged with "r<tw-
<lyism" while htving un integratccl
party at a motel. "Whitc lblks don't

play that hcre, " sitvs or)c cldcrly
I:rrrrrr:r who lrus lirrerl irr lricken.s
C'ourrty all ol'his lili:.

. S<lrne banks ancl <lther lrrrsinesses
rc(usc to serve Blacks, espt:cially if
tlrcy 1>articipate irr any li-rrrn of pnriest
or dernotrstration.

. 'I'here is only one Illack rleprrty on
Sheril[ lxtuie Colernan's stall, but he
hus no arrthority to urrcst unyone.
I|<lbby John Wirr<lorn can't writc tnd
c'rlrrldrr't pass tlrc rrcct:ssirry cxarrrirra-
tiorrs t<l l>ccorne a <lcprrty .shcrill, but,
rrcvertlrclcss, Colernun suys he hired
Itirn lrccause he's "a good b<-ry."

. l)rrrirrg the ltast few years, there
havc llcen scveral unsolved rnysteries
irrvolving thc cleaths and disapltear-
anccs o{' I}lack persons in pickens
County. "1'he lynching of Illacks has
ncver stopperl in west Alabama, and
Illacks, espccially in Pickens County,
keelt their rnouths shut llecause they
don't want to l>e next on the list," sayi
Wcndcll Paris ol'the Minority peoples
Council in ncarlty Sunrter County.

D i'r: : l'.:':T i,,j L':'i:"';,'i;TJ,l i
laws, Pickcns County didn't receive

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After a rainy and snowy I3-day trek lirrrrr Carnrllton to IVtorrtgorrrt.ry, [)rot(,st-
t:rs r.rrrrvirrg plircarrls (at riglrt) .,:rt.h tlrc str,ps,l'tlre Orrpit.l tir ,1,,,,,r,,,1
p'rrlrrrs frrr tlre tw. c.rrvictctl civil riglrts wrirkcrs irrrl t, tlcrrrirrrtl cxtr:rr
siorr ol'tlrc 1965 Vrtirrg Iliglrts Act.

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146 EBONY . Moy, l9B2



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much attention until it was thrust
into the national spotlight when the
county's two top civil rights leaders,
Mrs. Julia Wilder, 70, and Mrs.
Maggie Bozeman, 51, were accused
of vote fraud, tried separately by
all-White juries, convicted and given
harsh prison sentences. Angry Blacks
protested that it was "a political
lynching," "selective prosecution"
and an attempt by Whites to get the
women out of the county because
they were helping to bring about
changes that Whites weren't ready to
accept. The convictions so enraged

trs. Ella Cameron, (lcft),
who has run for City
Corrncil ln Alicsvillc
twicc and l<>st, says, "I
haven't had any rcal
problems with White
ft>lk hcre." But Matthews
Music Center owner
Mrs. Johnnie Matthews
says'Whites thrcatened
to "shut my morrth" and
close tlre d<xrrs of only
downtown Black-owned
business.

Blacks that their pent-up frustrations
exploded and gave birth to a 13-day,
160-mile, Carrollton-to-Montgomery
protest march that swelled to 4,000
by the time the procession reached
the marble steps of Alabama's
Capitol on February 18. "This was
only the beginning of the new civil
rights movement," says the leader of
the march, the Rev. Joseph Lowery,
president of the SCLC.

While protesters demanded the
release of Mrs. Wilder, president of
the Pickens County Voters League,
and Mrs. Bozeman, president of the

l'ickens County NAACP, the women'
rvcrc hoping f<rr pardons from the
Alabama Board of Pardons and
I'aroles. The charges against them
stemmed from their efforts to help .
olderly and illiterate Blacks cast ab-
sentee ballots during the 1978
Democratic primary runoff election.
Pickens County District Attorney
l'reslcy Johnston, wlro describes
Mrs. Bozeman as "a divisive force in
the Black community," says the
women cast absentee ballots for 39
elderly Blacks without their permis-
sion. "The women collected absentee
ballot applications from the County
Elections Commission and used cen-
tral addresses for mailing them," the
prosecutor says. "Afiter they were all.
notarizecl by the same person (who
dicln't witness the signatures), they'
lcft the ballots with the County
Elections Commission. Each ballot
had the same candidate preference."

However, on election day, Mrs.
Sophie Spann, whose name was on one
of the ballots in question, showed up at
the polls to vote and insisted that she
hod not signed an absentee ballot.
After unlocking the ballot box and.
finding Mrs. Spinn's name on a ballot,'
Mrs. Wilder and Mrs. Bozeman were
arrested, charged and indicted on one
count ofvote fraud. Later, at the trial,
both insisted they were innocent and
chose not to testi$. Meanwhile, 12 of
the prosecution's 13 witnesses said
they asked the women to help them.
cast absentee ballots, but Mrs. Spann
(79 years old at the time) said she didn't
remember signing an absentee ballot.
So, despite several questions con-
cerning the soundness ofthe case, the
all-White juries voted for convictions
and sentenced Mrs. Wilder to five
years in prison (the maximum) and
Mrs. Bozeman to four years. Under
Alabama law, the juries set the sen-
tence. They could have sentenced
thern to prison terms ranging from two
to live years instead of to the maxi-
mum.

Irnrncdiatcly aftcr thc trial, the
women s trttorney, Solomon Seay Jr.,
{iled for an apperl, but the convictions
were upheld by the all-White Alabama
Court ofAppeals even though the jus-
tices wrote that "the testimony was
l>oth confusing and conflicting." The
state Supreme Court refused to review
the case, as did the U.S. Supreme
Court in November. So, in one last
attempt to keep the women out of
prison, Seay asked Circuit Court Judge
Clatus Junkin, who heard the cases, to
set aside the sentences and place his

ln neighboring Creene County, Probate Court Judge lVilliam M. Branch (1.) and SheriffThomas
Gilmore pose outside thc sheriffs office in Eutaw, the courrty seat. Unlike Pickens County, Blacks fill
all of Greene County's elected positi<.rns except one judgeship.

EBONY . lrloy, 1982 Continued on Nexl Poge 117



llrrtrrt tavender, principal of Aliceville tligh School for four years, says, "There's a lot to be desired here (Pickens County). We're certainly not where we
ought to be"'And Cheryl Blair, a longtime SCLC member, says Blacks have bien intimidated by Whites and "are aF*d to rock the boat.".

PICKENS COU NTY co,r;n,,ed

clients on probation. Ironically, it was
Junkin who sat at Mrs. Wilder's
kitchen table and showed her how to
fill out absentee ballots when she and
Mrs. Bozeman were supporting his
re-election in 1976, but he refused le-
niency (Junkin had earlier sentenced a
White police chief in Haleyville, Ala.,
to six months on a charge of unau-
thorized aid to a voter and then sus-
pended the sentence). The women
were whisked to Tutwiler State Prison
for Women in Wetumpka, Ala., in Jan-
uary. However, after only ll days be-
hind prison walls, Alabama Gov. For-
rest (Fob) James intervened and Mrs.
Wilder and Mrs. Bozeman were
placed in an unusual work release pro-
gram. The procedure gave Macon
County Sheriff Lucius Amerson (first
Black sheriff after Reconstruction) cus-
tody of the women, who are doing
public service work and living with a
longtime friend in Tuskegce, Ala. At
no tirne are they l<lckcd up.

EVIiN tlr<>uglr thc abstxrcc ol' Mrs.
L Wilrlcr arrrl Mrs. Iloz.crrrirrr is r:vi-
dcnt, life gocs on in this slow-paced
county where Illack pcople in
Aliceville, Carrollton, Pickensville,
Ileform and other Pickens Corrnty
towns are just like numerous others
who live in rural areas throughout the
South. Some live in modest homes
neartown, but thedusty back roads are
<lecorated with shacks and shanties
that are barely standing. Workdays
usually begin at sunrise and end at sun-
148

set. And, after a long day of hauling
timber or working in soybean or cotton
fields, many spend the evening relax-
ing on their porches 

- enjoying the
bench-like swing and exchanging
stories while smoke from a smoldering
fire in a washtub or bucket swirls into
the air to keep mosquitoes away. If
they don't go to church for prayer
meeting, they are usually in bed before
10 p. m., and like clockwork, their daily
routines begin all over again right after
the next day's sun peeks over the hori-
zon.

For most of the 2f,000 people in
Pickens County, this is how they've
lived much of their lives - by certain
rules and fearful ofchange. It has been
more than difficult for young civil
rights workers to persuade older
Blacks to exercise some of their rights
(like voting) or fight for those rights
they are being denied. "Black people
here have been intimidated by Whites
who thrcatcn to deny thcm ccrtain
scrviccs il'tlrcy gct out ol'linc," says
Clrcryl llltir, a Iongtirnc SCLC
rncrnlrcr wlur lras w<lrkcd sidc-by-sidc
with Mrs. Wildcr and Mrs. Bozernan.
"Illacks in Pickcns C<lunty arcn't rc-
bcllious people, and many of those
who have lived lrere a long time are
scared to buck the system."

Despite the fact that Blacks continue
to cry that there's a conspiracy to keep
the county in the hands of White
elected officials, many Whites are
quick to say it's not true. "There's no
conspiracy," District Attorney John-

ston says flatly. And Sheriff Coleman,
who has a picture of former Alabama ,

Cov. George Wallace on the wall be-,
hind his desk, says: "There's no racism I ,

here. I got all kinds of colored Fiends

-good friends. Colored people cpme _ '.
and go as they please, and even the 'r'
voting is open to them."

Whether there's a conspiracy or not,
Pickens County has lagged far behind
it's sister counties just a few miles
down the road. In Greene, Sumter,
Lowndes, Wilcox and Perry counties,
Black elected officials are in the major-
ity. But it will be difficult to elect a
Black county oflicial in Pickens County
as long as there's an at-large voting
system (where candidates run county
wide), instead of electoral districts in ,

which a candidate is chosen by voters
in the district only. With 12,873 regis-
tered White voters and only 4,429 .

registered Black voters, Whites can . ;

control the county-widc system. Some i

Illack leaders say Whites have even
gonc to thc cxtcnt of giving Black
pcoplc lrams and turkeys in exchange
lbr agrccing to stay away frorn the polls
on election day. "As long as actions like
these continue, tslacks will never move
furward in this county," says Mrs. Mat- .," ,1
thews of the SCLC. . ,

In many ways, Alabama's Pickens
County has somehow managed not to
move into the 1980s, the '70s or even
the mid-'60s. Whites seem to be satis-
fied, but most of the Blacks feel like
they are Iiving in "one ofthe last pock-
ets of the Old South."

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EBONY . A,loy, 1982