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Tuesday, January 20, 2009 10:14 AM Civil rights marcher returns to Washington for inauguration By Janet Conner-Knox | Times Staff Writer As Wilson and Rocky Mount residents boarded a bus headed to the inauguration festivities Monday morning, Barbara Simmons said she couldn't help but compare this trip to the historic march on Washington in 1963. In 1963, Simmons said they sang lots of freedom songs as they rode up on the bus. She said ministers prayed all of the way to Washington asking God for protection as they traveled. This time there was no singing at all. There was a prayer, but only one. "But what both times have in common is the feeling that change is on the way," Simmons said. "It's wonderful that God allowed me to live to see some of what Dr. King dreamed about become a reality in the election of Barack Obama to the presidency." Simmons, a retired school teacher, said that when she looks back, she can't help but shed tears. Simmons said many of the people she marched with back in the 1960s in eastern North Carolina are dead now. In the '60s, Simmons lived in Enfield and took part in the protests and marches her town had trying to bring attention to unequal accommodations in their segregated town. Simmons said when she was growing up, she was allowed to go to the movies, but she and other African-Americans had to watch from the balcony. She said they were allowed to buy from restaurants but had to purchase what they wanted from the back window or door. Simmons said at a young age she wanted to be part of the civil rights movement. But she said standing up for her rights was not easy. There were civil rights workers who kept them focused on what the mission was, and they had to be committed to non-violence. "Back then as we would march and carry signs, we had water hoses turned on us also," she said. "We had a taste of what was seen on television right here." Simmons remembers a classmate who suffered permanent hearing loss after a water hose was turned on her in a march. "She's no longer alive," Simmons said. "I thought about her when Obama won." Simmons, who was 17 years old at the time, said going to Washington in 1963 meant standing up for what was right. She saw King from afar but remembers the flood of emotion as he was speaking. "It didn't matter that I didn't get to touch him or see him up close," Simmons said. "I saw him from afar, but his words were just shaking my heart and my soul. I stood there and just cried." It has been more than 40 years, but Simmons said she still cries whenever she hears that speech. When she was an elementary school teacher in Wilson and Edgecombe counties, Simmons said she would always talk about that day in 1963. "It always made me happy to tell my students that I was right there when Dr. King made that speech," she said. "Even though I would tell them about what had happened, I couldn't help but think that we had not made much progress in our country. I wondered if all of the work Dr. King had done would only be talking about the past, with not much to offer these young people in the present and future." As she heads for the inauguration ceremonies this morning, Simmons said her hope is renewed. Simmons, who is now in her 60s, said once again, it is important to be present at the moment history is being made. She is sharing the moment with her 8-year-old grandson and her two daughters. Again, Simmons realizes she may not get close enough to touch Obama, but said there is no other place she would rather be. "My husband said that he will be able to see the inauguration better than I can at home," she laughed. "But I will be there right in the spirit of the whole thing. You can't beat that." janet@wilsontimes.com | 265-784 |
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