FACES IN THE CROWD
'You Don't Have to Love Me, but You Have to Respect Me'
Gertrude Bridgeforth, 85, experienced Jim Crow politics firsthand.
(Courtesy Of Kelly Jacobs)
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Sunday, January 18, 2009
People from across the country are arriving for the inauguration of America's first black president. Who are these people? In their stories is a portrait of a nation. Last in a series.
The police never actually came into the meetings. Gertrude Bridgeforth and her father were never actually arrested. But in town after town, "the constables and the sheriffs would be standing around outside the church," said Bridgeforth, 85. Taking names. Intimidating. Staring.
Bridgeforth would walk past, eyes forward. On to the next church, to explain to the next group of black people why they needed to register to vote.
"Daddy and I would go all over DeSoto County," she said. "I would do the driving, and he would do the talking."
It was Jim Crow Mississippi.
Bridgeforth, who lives in the Memphis suburb of Southaven, Miss., has voted in every election for which she has been eligible. A responsibility, a privilege, and sometimes the only thing she had.
Because even though her parents had to pay for a private church-affiliated school -- local schools allowed black students only four months of education a year and only up to eighth grade -- she could still vote.
Because even though her son's doctor made her wait in the hallway for hours, until all of the white patients had been seen, she could still vote.
The idea of voting for -- and electing -- a black president seemed absurd. "You kind of dreamed about it a little," Bridgeforth said. "But you would never put it on the front burner. Because I didn't think this would happen in my lifetime, I really didn't."
But it did, and so Bridgeforth decided she had to see it with her own eyes. "I just knew I was coming. Ever since President-elect Obama was elected, I've been saying I was coming."
She'll make the 18-hour drive from her home with a friend, and stay with her sister in Mitchellville. She's already looked at an inaugural map and planned where she'll try to stand. She uses a walker now.
"We have come a long way," Bridgeforth said. "I'm living in an integrated neighborhood now. I never thought I'd see that."
She wants the future president to bring more change, to help people bridge more of the gaps that separate them. "You don't have to love me, but you have to respect me. You don't have to visit me, but you need to be my neighbor. I just want to be in D.C. with other people who feel the same way I do."
