Commentary: Time to honor Black heroes from Little Dixie

Originally published in the Columbia Tribune on July 20, 2020

In my six decades, I’ve had the pleasure of considerable travel and public contact, so often I’ve been asked “What part of Missouri are you from?” My first thought makes me quietly cringe inside — the part called “Little Dixie,” because of its historic support of slavery. (It includes more than a dozen mid-Missouri counties, including Boone, Howard and Randolph.)

But the more comfortable and safe answer I give is, “The central part, near Columbia.”

Actually, I grew up 36 miles north of Columbia, in Moberly, and have almost nothing but wonderful memories of a decade spent there. Of course, I enjoy the privilege of being white.

In later years, however, I learned that in 1919, in my hometown, “in front of a crowd of about a thousand masked men, an attempt was made to hang four black men” simultaneously on one branch. The branch broke, chaos ensued, one man “was shot one down and the three remaining were able to escape.”

Sixty years before that, two blacks were lynched in my hometown.

This all comes to mind as our nation is roiling with justifiable outrage over deeply entrenched racism and as I read of the recent passing of Rev. C.T. Vivian, an extraordinarily brave, often-arrested and sometimes physically beaten civil rights activist who worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King.

Rev. Vivian also hailed from ‘Little Dixie.’ He spent the first six years of his life in Boonville.

Protesters filling mostly urban streets these days are rightfully pushing for substantive reforms, in policing practices but also in economic policy. Meeting their demands may prove tough for some governmental officials.

But I’m convinced there are tiny, quick and painless steps toward healing and sensitivity within our immediate reach, even in largely conservative and rural Missouri.

Taking down offensive Confederate statues helps. Renaming buildings that honor the undeserving helps.

But let’s go further. Let’s honor people like Rev. Vivian. Boonville citizens, black and white, should be proud of their native son who, according to the New York Times, “was a paladin of nonviolence (who) led passive protesters through shrieking white mobs and, with discipline and endurance, absorbed the blows of segregationists and complicit law enforcement officials across the South.”

My hometown has its own largely unsung civil rights hero. He’s Melvin Tolson, a black Moberly native who became a noted educator and the subject of an acclaimed film (he was portrayed by Denzel Washington in “The Great Debaters”) and ultimately, the poet laureate of Liberia.

Tolson built an award-winning debate team at a small black college which became a pioneer in interracial debates. He also found time to coach football, direct the school theater club and help organize farm laborers and tenant farmers during the 1930s.

As best I can tell, the accomplishments of these brilliant and courageous men haven’t been publicly acknowledged in central Missouri.

A memorial, plaque or statue of Vivian or Tolson would be ideal. But prompt action is best in a crisis. So why not a simple City Council resolution raising awareness of these men and their admirable work?

If these moves bring even a scintilla of comfort to even a handful, they would be worth it. They might also inspire others in public positions to bring attention to the many long-overlooked black heroes in our troubled nation.

David Clohessy, of St. Louis, is a former executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).