Frankye Adams Johnson

## Early Life

She was born in Pocahontas, Mississippi to a family of sharecroppers. When her parents divorced, her mother became a domestic worker and a sharecropper to try and keep the family afloat. Frankye was one of four girls and they all went to private schools that she calls "church schools". Once they hit sixth grade, each of them took the bus to Clinton for school. Between the ages of twelve and fifteen, her mother moved the family to Jackson, Mississippi. She loved learning and hated that she would have to miss school during the harvest season to help the family. However, doing so was her first realization of what it meant to be black and poor. She struggled with it every once in a while. She continued learning this way all the way through high school. Frankye went to the newest of the three black high schools in Jackson and became very involved in the social life there. The Freedom Riders would come and give speeches at her school, but the school spoke negatively about protests.

While education was stressed in her family, no one would talk about race issues. Frankye did not even start to wonder about race until the murder of Emmett Till. He was close to her age and it started talk in her school, yet still her parents would not talk about it. She had to eavesdrop on the conversations that were held around the quilting circle to hear stories that were not from her peers. The black and white worlds were so separated and it had an immense impact on her mindset. For quite some time she even struggled with her religion due to it. Frankye could not understand how a God, who is always depicted as white, could love her when none of the whites she had known had not even gone as far as to be civil to her.

## NAACP

The Freedom Riders sparked some interest, but the biggest push into the movement came from her god-brother. His dad was a NAACP leader and held meetings in his home. Frankye went to a couple of those and fell in love with them. Eventually, she started attending the mass meetings. The singing was inspiring and there was always some kind of excitement. This association is what pushed her to help organize the walkout at her school to protest the attack on the Tougaloo College students. The three black high schools all had students participate and walk out to meet in the middle of them. Unfortunately, Frankye's group got surrounded and rounded up by the police not even a fourth a mile from her school. They were taken to the fairgrounds and held in the livestock stalls. She likened the experience to concentration camps when she heard about them because they were treated like animals and armed officers were patrolling around them day and night. Her mother hated that her and her siblings were in these marches. Especially because her brother was threatened by her mother's boss. This just caused more anger in Frankye's mind and pushed her to march in more protests.

So many more protests, in fact, that she considered it her summer job in 1963. She marched the day after Medgar's assassination. At this point, she knew that if she marched, she would be arrested and taken to jail. Because of this, Frankye took a writing pad and pencil with her every time so she could write about her experience while she was waiting to be released. That day was a particularly hot one, so she was fanning herself with the pad while sitting in the paddy wagon. In doing so, she accidentally dropped it on the ground and was still naive enough to ask the officer to hand it to her. He only sneered. So, being the young girl she was, Frankye hopped down, grabbed her notebook, and was climbing back in when the officer whacked her across the back. Everything she had been taught left her brain as she started to retaliate. That is until he pulled out his gun and cocked it. The other marchers grabbed her and dragged her back into the wagon to keep her from getting shot. That was the first time she had ever been hit by a man.

Medgar's death was a rough time for her along with other members of the NAACP. She felt a void in her after his death as he was one of the only father figures she had looked up to. He fought to get the young people out of jail and many young people quit marching after his death.

Frankye went to Tougaloo College on a music scholarship in 1964 and went to pre-freshman program that summer. The whole program got tutors from Brown University. Tougaloo itself was not super progressive, but some kids were. For example, the music teacher told Frankye that she had to straiten her hair before every performance, but she had multiple white friends. Most of the kids did not treat her any differently so she came to the conclusion that not all white people are bad. Even though she was kicked out of the program for being an activist, she kept that mentality and even brought some white friends home. Her mother got extremely angry though and told her she could not do that as it was putting the whole family in danger.

A huge influence on Frankye's life was when she went to the March on Washington. The biggest impact it had was shown through a rest stop bathroom. On the way there, at a certain rest stop, they used the blacks' bathroom. On the way back, they were energized and decided to protest by using the whites' restroom. A group of white men attacked the black men and a fight broke out until a mob showed up. When they appeared, the preachers got everyone back on the buses and they left. They did have to go back for a hearing the next week for a hearing, but nothing ever came of it.

## Black Panther Party

When her mother became too afraid for Frankye's life, she sent her to live with one of her sisters in White Plains, New York. It was when she visited the city that she was exposed to who the Black Panthers were. She was interested, but getting to New York City that often just was not an option. Thus, the Black Panthers helped her create a White Plains chapter. She was teaching at a daycare at the time and thought everyone was aware of the movement and on board with it so she brought papers to work. Everyone was not. She was fired. The main issue she fought against as of the main people of the chapter was urban renewal. Basically, blacks were being forced out of their homes and into apartments. Then, a shopping center was built where their homes were. Another thing she fought for was breakfast at school. Too many children were coming to school hungry and she wanted breakfast at school so kids had a better opportunity to learn.

Later on, it was harder to be in the Black Panthers. As she started a family and had children, Frankye had to be more careful about what she did and said while in the Party. It was hard to go on the lamb with kids. However, she said her greatest mistake was doing something that made her do just that. She went underground for four years and had her youngest child while on the lamb. Eventually, she talked to a lawyer and got it to where she was just on probation for two years and could come out. Except, then her husband did something and her sentence was changed to five years of probation.

## Life After the Party

She never knew what to do with her life once the Black Panther Party became unorganized. She always felt like she was going to be arrested or gunned down one of these days and never knew which day it would be. Frankye moved back and forth between Mississippi and New York a couple of times, but is now in Mississippi for good. Her advice to young people is to stand up for something because it was the best thing she ever did in her life, but to be smart about it and think before acting. She also said to be open to new ideas so you can learn what fits you.

## References

Jackson Free Press Article
Library of Congress Interview

The Freedom Riders

Emmett Till Murder

Medgar Evers

NAACP