“Equal Everything” Petition
November 11, 1949
First row, from left: Celestine Parsons, unidentified child, Plummie Parsons, unidentified child, Sarah Ragin, Mary Oliver, Esther Fludd, Annie Gibson, Maxine Gibson, Rebecca Richburg, Jimmie Bennett. Second row, from left: Gilbert Henry, unidentified man, Bennie Parsons, Edward Ragin, Eliza Briggs, Catherine Briggs, Harry Briggs Sr., Brumit “B.B.” DeLaine, Robert Georgia, Lee Richardson. Back row, from left: Charlotte Pearson, Rev. E.E. Richburg, Rev. J.A. DeLaine, Harry Briggs Jr., Rev. J.W. Seals, Hammett Pearson, Levi Pearson, Jessie Pearson Jr. Photo courtesy of South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina.
“The 1948 state conference of the NAACP ended with a battle cry: ‘We emphasize our unalterable opposition to any form of segregated education. Equality of citizenship must begin in the school system and our branches are instructed to carry on a campaign both in the Negro communities and in the cities and towns to end segregation in the elementary, high school, college and university levels.”
“[NAACP field secretary Eugene A. R.} Montgomery based the search for petitioners at four churches: Mount Zion AME, Union Cypress AME, Saint Mark AME, and Ebenezer Baptist. The churches filled with the curious, the anxious, and the hopeful. Children attended with their parents, doing schoolwork then sleeping in the back pews. After a May meeting at Saint Mark, Montgomery wrote that he was certain action could begin because he was assured of the people’s support.
Attorney [Thurgood] Marshall zoomed in and out of the county, appearing at meetings, staying overnight at someone’s home then leaving, his schedule always a secret. Next to Levi Pearson’s home, ‘There was a big old tree, and a table under the tree. They would work all day under that tree,’ said Jesse Pearson. Marshall told the Pearsons, ‘I’ll be prepared to ask a thousand questions.’”
“This time the lawsuit asked for buses, books, and buildings, for all that white children had. Reverend [Joseph Armstrong] DeLaine adopted the NAACP language and called the new focus ‘asking Equal Everything.’”
