“The Cost of Freedom,” an event hosted as part of Union University’s Black Heritage Month celebration, was held on the evening of Feb. 17 in the Carl Grant Events Center to honor a group of four African American students who held a sit-in protest at a “whites only” counter in Jackson, Tenn.
The event was hosted by the Great Commandment Collaborative, a group that serves as a tool for Union’s campus and community to understand race and to help with diversity initiatives.
In 1960, the four college-aged students Shirlene Mercer, Kimmie Davis, Wesley McClure and Ernest Brooks Sr. were harrassed and threatened as they protested racial segregation through their sit-in at Woolworth’s store in Jackson. This protest began a local movement and encouraged others to fight to end Jim Crow laws, and their efforts are now regarded as vital to the integration of Jackson.
The last living member of the “Freshman Four,” Shirlene Mercer, spoke firsthand of stories on fighting racial segregation and the struggles she faced growing up in the civil rights era.
“We just went through so much. I didn’t ever think I’d be able to see the day that things would be like they are now,” Mercer said.
Friends and family spoke on behalf of the late Kimmie Davis, Wesley McClure and Ernest Brooks Sr. All four of them were honored for the lives that they lived and for their contributions and sacrifices to help impact change around them.
Union University President Samuel W. “Dub” Oliver closed the evening by encouraging the audience to be deeply grateful for the contributions the “Freshman Four” made to the community of Jackson. He asked that the audience press on and continue living out a vision for the future where we all share brotherly love in our community.
The evening also included a word of welcome from Veronica Perry, the event organizer and director of print and mailing services at Union University, followed by a prayer from William Watson, pastor at Historic First Baptist Church, and the Litany of Praise spoken by members of the Black Student Union. Throughout the evening there were choral performances from the Lane College Concert Choir and Union University’s Voices of Proclamation.
Photo by Laila Al-Hagal
