COMING SOON
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COMING SOON *
Willie Reed Plaza
Willie Reed: The Voice That Would Not Be Silenced
In the sweltering Mississippi summer of 1955, an eighteenyearold named Willie Reed walked a dusty road near Drew. He heard cries from a barn—pleas for mercy, the sound of blows, the echo of injustice. Though fear pressed heavy on his shoulders, Willie carried what he had witnessed into the courtroom. He spoke the truth, even as threats circled him, even as an allwhite jury turned its back on justice.
His words did not bring conviction, but they carried something greater: courage. Willie Reed chose truth over silence, knowing it might cost him everything. He later left Mississippi, living under another name, but history remembers him as the young man who dared to testify.
In the story of Emmett Till, Willie Reed’s voice reminds us that even in the darkest times, one person’s bravery can light the path toward justice.
Silver Rights Courtyard
Drew’s “Silver Rights” Courtyard will soon frame a local freedom marker called “Silver Rights” in the heart of downtown Drew. Inspired by the 1996 memoir, Silver Rights: The Story of the Carter Family’s Brave Decision to Send Their Children to an All-White School and Claim Their Civil Rights by Constance Curry, this project plans to landscape a vacant Main Street lot into a public space resembling the Carter family’s living room—where Mae Bertha Carter cared for her children through their fight for justice and gave them the courage to persevere.
Silver Rights highlights the choices the Carters made not only to secure their own rights but also those of all Mississippi families. The title draws from a rural Black expression in the Delta, where “civil rights” were reworded as “silver rights,” symbolizing something as valuable as silver. These rights empowered Mae Bertha Carter to stand by her children each day as they faced five years of mistreatment from classmates and adults in a segregated school system, andreinforced her determination to fight in court for equal access to education for every child in Mississippi. This civic courtyard commemorates Mae Bertha Carter and her family's pivotal role in integrating the Drew School District, transforming an unused area into a tribute to educational freedom in Mississippi.
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