By Garry Blanson
Well, well, well, whata’ you know? According to an Associated Press article from November 16, 1960, it was reported that “U.S. Senator Russell Long of Louisiana” actually urged the State Legislature to “consider abandoning the public school system and turning to private schools to maintain segregation in Louisiana.” .
So why am I bringing this up when it has been “MORE THAN 60 YEARS” since the article ran? Could it have to do with the recent “Neville Charter School Proposal by the Neville Charter Association that has now been denied twice?” Maybe even about the “Louisiana Gator Scholarship Program to give public funds to private schools” that Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed into law on “JUNETEENTH DAY” of last year?
As a matter of fact, after reading what Senator Long said, I could not help but see that the La. Gator Program and the Neville Charter School Proposal are very similar measures to what Senator Long was urging the State Legislature to do “OVER 60 YEARS AGO,”which was to ABANDON THE LOUISIANA PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM AND TURN TO PRIVATE SCHOOLS TO MAINTAIN SEGREGATION IN LOUISIANA SCHOOLS! WOW, it’s disheartening to know that after all these years, there are still people in Monroe and in the Louisiana State Congress who feel as Senator Russell Long did way back in 1960, during the days of the Civil Rights Movement when Black children went through hell and back,” just to be allowed the right to attend an All-White school in Louisiana!” Now that I got that out my head, let’s get to this week’s Black Pioneer.
Avery C. Alexander was born on June 29, 1910, in Louisiana’s Terrebonne Parish. Our story begins with Avery graduating from Union Baptist Theological Seminary in New Orleans Louisiana. Not long thereafter, in 1944, Avery was ordained as a Baptist minister. Also, his status as a minister helped keep him from being drafted into the World War ll, which gave him the perfect opportunity to join the NAACP Organization. Pretty soon Avery was participating in Civil Rights Marches & Sit-ins with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rev. Abraham Lincoln Davis.
By the way, Avery was arrested several times for holding public sit-in demonstrations in New Orleans. His most publicized arrest occurred in 1963 when he and Rev. Abraham Lincoln Davis organized a lunch-counter sit-in down in the basement of New Orleans City Hall. Not only was the arrest caught on film, but there was a picture of the two White police officers dragging Avery off to jail, with both legs spread apart, by the heels of his feet! Also, Avery wasn’t shy about speaking his mind. On one occasion, he spoke up and told Black People in New Orleans to boycott WHITE store owners located within the commercial zone on Dryades Street, because they wouldn’t hire Blacks to work at their stores.
Finally, a few of his accomplishments included : getting elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1975 ; helping register hundreds of New Voters in New Orleans through Vote Registration Drives ; his protest against former Klu Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke in 1993 at the Battle of Liberty Place Monument Ceremony in New Orleans ; and he was one of the founders of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus. When Avery C. Alexander passed away on March 5, 1999, the Black Citizens of Louisiana as well as the State of Louisiana, lost another one of our Civil Rights Icons. Three things of notice were done to honor his memory : 1. McDonogh #39 School on Saint Roch Avenue in New Orleans was renamed after him in 1999 ; 2. The Charity Hospital in New Orleans is now “The Avery C. Alexander Memorial Hospital” ; 3. A statue of him now sits in front of the remodeled University Medical Center at Galvez and Canal Streets in New Orleans.
