Oral History # 25
Edna Branch Jackson
September 30, 2003
Savannah, Georgia
LS Im just going to start off by doing a verbal stamp for my recording. So today is September
30th, 2003. And this is Luciana Spracher, project historian for the Benjamin Van Clark
Neighborhood documentation project for the City of Savannahs Department of Cultural Affairs.
Im speaking with Edna Jackson Savannah city Alderwoman at her private residence in
Savannah, GA. Now let me tell you a little bit about our project. Were doing a social history of
the Benjamin Van Clark Neighborhood, which were recognizing that neighborhood as being
bound on the north by Wheaton St., on the south by Anderson, on the west by Harmon, and
on the east by Bee Rd. So its a fairly large neighborhood that actually encompasses several
historic neighborhoods. Were focusing on three themes and how they have effected the
development of the neighborhood. Those being transportation and the streetcars that really
got that area started, desegregation and the current revitalization efforts that are occurring with
hope 6 and those type projects. Ill start by asking yourself and then move into desegregation
and civil rights. Could you please state your full name including middle and/or maiden name.
EJ Ok, Edna Branch Jackson.
LS Is Branch your middle or maiden name?
EJ Branch is my maiden name.
LS If you are comfortable could you please state your birthday and place of birth?
EJ Sure, I was born September eighteenth, 1944, here in Savannah.
LS Have you ever lived within the Benjamin Van Clark neighborhood?
EJ Yes, I did for a very short time. I lived on East Bolton St., but that was in the late 60s.
LS Why did you move there?
EJ I moved into that area because at that time I was looking for a place for me and my son to live
after I divorced my husband, and so I like d the little bungalow house I saw over there and I
decided to move into it.
LS And do you remember what block you lived on?
EJ Yes, I was at 1014 East Bolton. And the house is still there.
LS And did you rent or buy?
EJ I rented.
LS Do you remember who you rented from?
Benjamin Van Clark Neighborhood Documentation Project
Neighborhood Oral History Project
Savannah Department of Cultural Affairs
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EJ I believe the name was Cooks.
LS Do you have any memories or anything from that time living there? Anything about the
neighborhood or People?
EJ Oh yes. During that time a lot of the property in that was a mixed sort of neighborhood with
both rental property and home owners. And it was more of a neighborhood where everyone
got together and knew each other. And they looked out for your children and of course I in turn
looked out for their children. So it was a neighborhood that worked very well together. And
even since moving, even though I didnt stay there very long I still see some of the people from
the neighborhood.
LS Ok. How long do you think you lived there?
EJ I lived there from about, I think it was. I think I moved there about 70, no 69. And I moved
in 71 when I purchased this home.
LS Ok. So you really left the neighborhood to buy your own home.
EJ Right, but I worked in the neighborhood. I used to work for EOA as a social worker. And they
had an Eastside location at that time, and I worked as a social worker for that area.
LS Were you working with residents of the area?
EJ Yes, definitely so. I worked with trying to get people on public assistance, particularly elderly. I
worked with single parents. I tried to assist them getting daycare services for their children.
And of course all of the other services that EOA offered during that time.
LS Could you state what EOA stands for?
EJ EOA stands for Emergency School Assistance program. Its a part of the old anti poverty
program. And its still in existence here in Savannah now.
LS Is there still an eastside center?
EJ No, they have some daycare services over on the eastside now, but I dont think that there is
an eastside center.
LS Just a side note, could you tell me how long you have been an alderwoman?
EJ Im coming to the end of my fourth year my first term, the end of my first term.
LS Ok, are there any other roles or careers you would like to mention?
EJ Well I retired from Savannah State University after thirty years. I started there as a part of a
program, as director of a program called the Emergency School Assistance program that dealt
with the desegregation of the public school system. And our role was to help students
transition into an integrated environment. And I served as consumer services coordinator. I
worked in the counseling center, recruiter, alumni affairs director, financial aid counselor, you
name it, I did it.
LS That brings up a good question, Ive been looking at the schools in the neighborhood, and
where the different children were going to school. And within our bounds we have Ramona
Riley, which used to be the Waters Avenue School, which was a white elementary school.
And I sort of have determined that the African American students in that neighborhood, most of 
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them would go to Paulsen. And then later, when Paulsen Street School was torn down, to
Frank W. Spencer. Do you want to talk a little bit about what occurred in the elementary
schools during the desegregation process?
EJ Ok, remember now when all the desegregation of the schools came about they closed a lot of
the predominately black schools and they integrated some of the other ones. A number of
students in that area did go, even though I think Spencer was the most segregated school,
only few white students were enrolled there, but then Ramona Riley became one of the
desegregated schools. If you notice I dont say integrated. I would prefer say desegregated.
The transition into the elementary schools was much easier of course, than into the high
schools and middle schools, they were called junior high schools at that time.
LS Do you think that has to do with the age of children, that they were more open to different types
of people than maybe older children?
EJ Well, yes in some ways because they had not developed, they have not seen the prejudices
that others, because children are sort of sheltered at a very early age, I know I was at a very
early age, unless they raised questions. When you get to the high school they have heard so
many things, both on the negative side and on the positive side. And then you know youre
coming out of your families, with families that may have believed in a segregated system. And
everyone had a fear of the unknown at that time until you really get in there and you see what
people are all about. Then you see that there was really no difference there. So I think even in
my job as director of Emergency School Assistance program, it helped me to work with a
group of kids that were from all ethnic groups to help with a smooth transition, particularly on
the high school level. Elementary schools, not so difficult. But in the high schools of course
you are going to have the resistance to change. And that did happen of course, but Savannah
was easier to desegregate than I would say some of the other cities in the south.
LS What do you think contributed to making it an easier transition?
EJ I think because the leadership here in our city at the time and particularly the black leadership
when you had people like W. W. Law and Jean Gaston, Mercedes Onno, Curtis Cooper, and
on and on and on. There were so many people that worked together with people from both
the white and Jewish community to make sure that we stood tall and what we felt was best for
this community. It was not an easy process because, of course, you had Sell Vs. Board of
Education that brought about the desegregation of the public school system, and of course you
had to find the students that were willing to make that transition and to go into the
predominately white schools.
LS Just a little side note, it was probably easier for the elementary schools also because, time
wise, it occurred much later than the high schools.
EJ Exactly. And I think that the fears were not there. Kids are just kids. And unless they have
been exposed to a lot of prejudice already or have been exposed to people who are on the
other extreme where they were stark segregationists. They really dont see the black and
white issue unless someone has instilled that into them.
LS Let me ask you about your personal involvement with the Civil Rights movement. How were
you active?
EJ Well, I was one of the original sit-inners here in the city of Savannah. We had an NAACP
youth council at that time and it was through the leadership of people like Benjamin Van Clark,
and Carolyn Coleman, and James Brown, and I could go on and on and name them, that saw
a need for us to integrate the downtown area. And thats how we started with sit-ins here in
the city in March of 1960. And we believed in what we were doing because we had been
taught our history by W.W. Law and Jean Gaston very young. And when we saw other 
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students in other parts of the country going down and fighting for the force of civil rights we
knew we had to reach out and do the same kind of thing here in the city of Savannah.
Fortunately Savannah may have been, I think that Savannah was one of the cities that did not
have as many problems as others because of the leadership again. When you look at it
because not only did you have the black leadership but you had leadership coming from the
white community as well that saw the same kind of needs that we needed to desegregate or
integrate the downtown area. You have to realize that during that time there were separate
restrooms. There were separate water fountains, you may have a colored and a white, the
white was cold and the colored was just regular tap water. You know, those kind of things. So
they saw the need, too, even though it took us a little while to integrate, but with the kind of
leadership and the support of the community we had the transition happened a little easier.
Now there were some marches, there were arrests and all those things. That was my
involvement, and in the it went on from there to the kneel-ins that where we knelt in at various
churches, because you know the most segregated hour in the city was eleven oclock service
on Sunday mornings and so we did kneel in at several of the churches here in the city. And it
amazes me now, you know, all the churches are just open; I dont think there are any closed
churches. But during those days you could not enter the churches. And then of course we
had the economic boycott of Broughton St. that finally led to the hiring, it was not just to eat at
the lunch counters, but also to get Clarksons Stores ringing cash registers and working other
than doing the sweeping and the cleaning and what have you. And of course we had the
wade-ins, that was another phase of it, you know we did a little bit of all of it, and that was to
integrate Tybee Island. So, thats my life in the civil rights movement, locally.
LS Where was the NAACP youth council drawings its workers from? Was it high school, college
level?
EJ Mostly form high school. And we pulled from all of the high schools back then it was Alfred E.
Lee Beach High School, Johnson, and also Tompkins High School. So we pulled from, those
were the three schools here, and so thats where the students came from. So you had a
mixture of students coming. When I say mixture I mean you had them coming form all of the
areas segregated high schools.
LS And who were your most prominent adult advisors leading the council?
EJ Wesley W. Law, and I would say, there was a man called Pop Webley and Mrs. Jesse Stells
who at that time was our advisor of the youth council.
LS Ok, you brought up the segregated businesses and facilities downtown. How did the
segregation of businesses and schools translate into residential neighborhoods?
EJ Well, you know even though in the downtown area, and Im talking mainly about Broughton
St., when you came to West Broad, which is now M. L. King Boulevard, the stores there had
black salespersons, cashiers, what have you, but most of those stores were owned by people
in the Jewish community. So, they were very open, they owned grocery stores and what have
you as well. So thats where we shopped, and they gave a lot of support, they were very
supportive of what we doing. So when we started withdrawing our funds from the Broughton
St. area they saw the economic impact it was making on their businesses and people were
ready to come to the table.
LS So were the neighborhoods segregated then as well? And theres a lot of neighborhoods as
well, so
EJ You know they were segregated in a sense where you would have on one side, for instance let
me use my neighborhood. I grew up in Curry town, off of M.L. King and Bolton St. And when
you were talking West of West Broad, most of your African Americans were living in that area.
And if you were talking about your eastside then you have your whites living in that area. And 
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then you had your mixtures of all of them even a little cluster of all. So even though we were
segregated in a sense, we were probably desegregated. Now as far as the eastside of
Savannah is concerned I really didnt know the makeup of it because remember I was in my
teens at that time. And Ill tell you during that time if you lived on the Westside of town you
didnt go to the eastside because you either had to walk or take a bus, so you know, it was that
easy unless you had a car. We would go over to the eastside, because during that time the
only library that was open to us was the Carnegie Library, so we had to go over there in order
to do our studying if the books were not available to us in the high schools, and they were
limited in our high school.
LS Did you do any efforts to desegregate the other libraries so you didnt have to go to Carnegie?
EJ Later on during the movement, yes. But we, during that time, you know, the movement was
just getting off, you know, off as a full fledge movement, but Carnegie was the only one we had
at that time.
LS Let me ask you, are you aware of any protest activity or organizational activity that was actually
occurring in what we now call the Benjamin Van Clark neighborhood?
EJ There was citywide, you see, the demonstrations were citywide, and thats why I say that the
young people came from all over. And when you talk about Benjamin Van Clark, of course its
named for one of its leaders. Ben was a very, very short in stature. I would say Ben may have
been five two. A very powerful young leader during that time. And so we didnt look at it as a
leadership that was being handled from the eastside or the Westside, it was just a total
leadership. And he was very much a part. Now what happened though, in the 60s the civil
rights movement was led originally by NAACP. And then there was a group that broke off
NAACP and started the Southern Christian Leadership Conference which was under Dr. King.
So the strong leadership really came through NAACP. But Ben, at the time, chose to go with
the group that was called the Crusade for Voters. He decided to break off and go with
Crusade for Voters and he later left Savannah and worked with them on a national level. And
there were a group of us that left locally to go work on a national level for NAACP as youth task
force workers. So Savannah produced quite a few civil rights activists during that time. And
we were young. And some stayed with the branch though some of us returned. And some
died doing the work. Not fighting for the rights but for medical reasons.
LS Now the Crusade for Voters is like an arm of the Southern Christina Leadership Conference,
right?
EJ Yes, it was, it was. And it later died out. I was under Josiah Williams, and Im sure you are
probably familiar with Josiah Williams. It was an arm that he broke off. And, you know, of
course in every situation you have some that will go with whomever breaks off.
LS As far as Savannahs movement, so you feel that the NAACP was really more important than
the crusade or the Southern Leadership Conference.
EJ I would say that, well I guess Im partial to the NAACP for many reasons because they, you
know, the have always fought for the rights of others, and sometimes I feel the NAACP does
not get the credit for many of things that happened here, in this community. And, yet, like I
said Im partial, but I think that the Crusade for Voters did bring another kind of movement to
our community.
LS Since you brought that up, kind of just let us know what's different on the two ends.
EJ Ok, well the Crusade for Voters had more of the night marches, whereas NAACP believed
even though we demonstrated and went to jail and what have you, we also believed in the 
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court system, and taking them to court to fight for equal rights, equal rights and justice through
the courts system.
LS Could you talk a little bit about the weekly meetings that the NAACP held? One of which I
know was held at St. Pius which was the African American Catholic church that was near the
Benjamin Van Clark neighborhood.
EJ Right, the NAACP meetings, they were called mass meetings, because we met every Sunday
at four oclock to do updates if what had happened during the week. And in order to involve
more people in the community the meetings moved from church to church and St. Pius was
one of the locations. And these were huge gatherings of mass meetings because during that
time we needed the support of the people and they needed to know what we were doing and
what the NAACP was doing, and what progress was being made. Not only that but during the
economic boycott we used the mass meetings as a forum to announce the names of
individuals who crossed the picket line. And you see during that time you had stores in
Savannah that tried to be slick and they would send the merchandise out to the residents
homes. And of course there was always that neighbor that would report it. And they were
announced, you know. My good friend, one of my best friends, Mercedes Wright, she would
get up in the meeting and say Mr. Law, it has been reported that the Hogans truck was seen
at the home of Ms. So and so and so, or Mr. So and so and so, or the Fides truck of the Levys
truck, whatever. People would report that and thats why the boycott was effective here.
LS Ok, who was setting up the meetings?
EJ There were set, they were being set up by the branch of the NAACP through leadership of Mr.
Law and the executive board.
LS Ok, and how would they get the word out as to the location?
EJ Oh, they would announce it the previous, you know if it was this Sunday they would announce
it for the following Sunday. During the time, you know, the black newspapers were very, very,
very, important because you couldnt get the Morning News to put a whole lot of information
about the movement in. So the Herald and Tribune were the two papers that were getting all
the information out to the media. And of course by word of mouth, too. Because people
wanted come because the mass meetings even though you were there to get a lot of
information, it was a joyous, you know, when we sang many freedom songs, you know, lots of
freedom songs. You know, Give me that Ol Freedom Spirit, and I mean just lots and lots of
songs.
LS So would you say that the meetings, as well as the whole movement, acted as a unifying force
among the separate pockets of African American communities around Savannah?
EJ Definitely so, and then not only that, you know, thats where you had some of your white
groups coming in too and being a part of it. Savannahs movement was not just African
American. You had the white community, pockets of the white community that were totally
involved in it as well.
LS Ok, Maybe you could mention some of the white people?
EJ Well one of the ones that I know, there was a part of our legal team was Aaron Bushbaum.
Then we had a mayor that I would say was at the time, was a man before his time, Malcolm
McClain. He made decisions to integrate City Hall long before it became very popular to do
so. And I could go, I cant, you know I dont want to just continue to name people and then I
dont name someone who really played a major role here in our city.
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LS How about naming, can you name any residents of that Benjamin Van Clark eastside
neighborhood that were active?
EJ I cant remember this ladys name but I can see her so vividly in my mind.
LS Thats Ok.
EJ There were just so many people. And remember now I was a teenager back then. I finished
high school when I was seventeen years old. And I left here to work for NAACP at eighteen.
So, you know. And I just dont want to get into. There was this one lady, oh god, remember
her name. She was so much into the movement. It skips me. You know its been a long time.
LS Could you comment on how the desegregation of the schools and the businesses, etc.,
effected residential areas? After you had the civil rights movement and you accomplished
certain goals like desegregating movie theaters, or lunch counters, how did that filter out?
EJ Ok, let me tell you this. By the time the Civil Rights Act was passed I was not living in
Savannah. NAACP had sent me to work in Florida, and Alabama, and Mississippi, so I was
there working in other states doing the same kind of things that we were trained to do here in
Savannah. My base at that time was Tampa, Florida. And I worked with the field director, a
guy by the name of Bob Saunders, in the state of Florida. Then they moved us from there to
go back to the state of Alabama where the NAACP had been banned from the 50s when they
first started with Rosa Parks and the bus boycott they banned the NAACP, but we were able to
win it through a court battle. My girlfriend and I, Carolyn Coleman, Willin Coleman, who was
the first person arrested here, went there to reorganize the NAACP college chapters and youth
councils. So they had moved us and we would come back ever so often and do whatever, you
know, they were doing.
LS So when you came back to Savannah, did anything jump out at you like that had changed so
much while you were gone?
EJ To see people working in Woolworth and Kress. Being able to go to the lunch counters and sit
and not, Kress used to have a little downstairs thing, not Kress, Woolworths, and we didnt
have to go down there anymore. And the restrooms were opened up. It made you feel good
when you had African Americans working in these places.
LS Speaking specifically of the Benjamin Van Clark neighborhood, the period of desegregation of
the late 60s early 70s, we see a change in that neighborhood to actually a more segregated
community. We went from mixed pockets of white and African American population, to
predominantly African American population. And I was wondering if you had any theory,
maybe its white flight did this come out of the movement?
EJ It was, I think that part of it probably did. People started moving to the southside. They were
building up the southside. Or to the islands. And then renting to African Americans. And then
the areas in some instances, even though on the eastside, East Broad, not East Broad, Price
St. going towards East Broad, blacks living in that area, even the white living in that area,
started moving out, but they did have the stores and what have you. And I do think it was the
white flight, but then the value of the properties started going up in the area and I think as you
see it now, the people are moving back into to area and want to live in our downtown area, but
by the time the refurbish a home and what have you whites could not afford to pay the kind of
rent that they were asking for. And could not afford to buy the houses. And thats why the city
is looking into, you know, is purchasing a lot of property, and making it affordable housing in
that area so that renters could now become first time home owners.
LS Do you have any involvement with the Hope 6 project or any of those projects?
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EJ The city is involved with Hope 6. And I think Hope 6 is really going to be a great improvement
for our city. I had the opportunity of touring a Hope 6 project in Tampa. And what you have,
youre going to have mixed neighborhoods of renters as well as homeowners. And its going to
help to eradicate all the blight of the areas, the blighted areas, and to refurbish those areas and
people can appreciate where they are living even more.
LS So you dont foresee that the revitalization through that type of a program causing the same
type of gentrification that happened in the Historic District?
EJ I dont think so. What I do think what is going to happen is you are going to see a flight back to
the city. And more people coming back because with Hope 6, priority is given to those families
who moved out of the area because of where they had torn it down, yeah, were displaced.
And what they are going to do, they are going to be given the privilege of moving back. Which
is going to give you the mixed neighborhoods not just as far as low income housing but also
low income, middle income, and upper. So you are going to have real nice neighborhoods
because you are talking about the landscaping. And people have a tendency to appreciate
more, you know, when they can see they are living in a clean environment. They will take care
of what they have.
LS The potential for home ownership also would.
EJ Yeah, particularly, and the potential is there now, you know through the city programs. Were
looking for people to try and purchase homes. The eastside concerned citizens neighborhood
association is working very hard in trying to get people to purchase homes in that area
through. I cant think of the name of the project that is going on on the eastside. There are
several homes that they have redone, not the neighborhood association, but they are homes
that have been refurbished and they are selling then and people are becoming first time home
owners. And through the Habitat program where are becoming first time homeowners. And of
course we partnered with programs like EOA, to help families, to educated families on how to
become first time homeowners, and help them get their credit straight so that they can be first
time homeowners.
LS Do you remember when they renamed Live Oak Park to Benjamin Van Clark Park? Were you
in Savannah?
EJ Yeah, I was in Savannah and I remember it and I thought that was an honor that was really to
Benjamin Van Clark because if you knew him as an individual this young man gave his life
really to the civil rights movement. Unfortunately Ben came back to Savannah, he was ill, and
he did not, to me at that time, receive the kind of due that he should have. And fortunately I do
believe that he has because he was one of the leaders that made a lot of sacrifices here in this
community.
LS So could we think of him possibly and a symbol of efforts of the young people that were
involved?
EJ Definitely so, definitely so. He and there was another young man who we dont talk about,
who we dont hear that much about and he was from the Westside of town and that was
James Brown, who later went on to become the national youth director for the NAACP out of
New York. But he later died of cancer, in New York.
LS So he was the other?
EJ Yeah, there were several, and, oh God, I cant think of the young man that was president of the
youth council. But there are so many here in Savannah that were, that are the unsung heroes
of the civil rights movement. Young people, well theyre my age now, that did so much for the
movement. And I know that they are trying to get together some kind of effort now to 
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recognize those individuals that were so active in the movement. And then were talking about
having a reunion.
LS We as in anybody?
EJ We as in, no, a group of us that were sit-inners during that time. Civil rights activists during that
time. Hopefully we can pull together a celebration during the month of March, because we feel
the story is not getting to our young people. If you ask young people about Benjamin Van
Clark they wouldnt know who he was. Everybody talks about King, but there were so many
local heroes in our community that did so many things. And Savannahs civil rights movement
was unique in as much as you didnt have outsiders that came in to do the actual
demonstrations, and what have you. It was all done by the residents of the city of Savannah.
And thats unique. You know in other areas you had people, like I went into Florida. You know
Carolyn went into Georgia, she went into other areas of Georgia, North Carolina, South
Carolina. You know there were those of us that were put into other areas. But in Savannah, in
Savannah, we did it. And during that time whatever Savannah did, those areas surrounding
Savannah did likewise. Liberty County and Statesboro. Statesboro had its movement that
was led by NAACP in that area. So all eyes were on Savannah. Not only for the civil rights
side of it, but even for the political side of it. Because back then one of the big things was to
increase the number of African Americans on the voter registration. And then of course the
other part of that is to get people to understand the power of the vote. And then the next thing
was to put up candidates that were sensitive to the needs of the African American community,
vote for them, and also get African Americans elected to public office. So the civil rights
movement, the sit-in movement, transcend just sit-ins. It ran the whole gamut. And thats why
Im sitting in City Hall today, because of the efforts that were made in the civil rights movement.
LS Do you have anything else you would like to add?
EJ Let me expand on one of the things that I think that is needed here. And let me compliment
you on putting this documentary together. I do think there was an untold story here in the city
of Savannah. And I do hope that through the cultural affairs that whatever comes out of the
interviews that you are doing that will be put into the public schools and into the libraries so that
people will know what actually happened here in this city.
LS Well, I can tell you that the plans for this project include an exhibit that will travel around to
cultural affairs in different community centers. I know all the research I collect will be available
at City Hall in the library, so thats a start right there.
EJ And I do think that thats good. But what I would like to see is Cultural Affairs, and this is
something you can pass on, Cultural Affairs putting together something, making some effort to
bring people in that were a part of the movement that can move with whatever projects that
they are having. So when people can visualize, or see people, that actually were apart of it, to
me it has more meaning.
LS It makes that personal connection.
EJ To make that, and I guess I say that in talking with young people and telling them about your
life story, you know, they cant fathom what happened until you are really in depth. And youd
be surprised the questions you received from the people.
LS Ok, well thank you very much.
EJ You are so welcome.
? Page 10 of 10 October 29, 2014 -End of interviewTranscript prepared by:
Luciana M. Spracher
Project Historian
and
Kate Ellen Ryan
Project Intern