Harris Johnson-- Still vying for equality, N&O, December 31, 1999 -excerpt-
With sit-ins and Freedom Rides, speeches and hard negotiations, civil rights activists wiped out the nation's Jim Crow laws in the 1950s and 1960s. But as Durham political activist Harris Johnson knows, the struggle for equality goes on. Johnson, 63, came to N.C. Central University as a freshman in 1950. After college and a career as a rehabilitation therapist at UNC Hospitals, he now leads not-for-profit groups that promote voter education and place NCCU student volunteers in Durham's public school classrooms.
"I grew up in Klan country - Salisbury, N.C. The city limits joined the city limits of Granite Quarry, and the Grand Dragon of the United Klans of America, his home was in Granite Quarry. I used to watch the Klan parade up and down Salisbury's main street. I remember once being ordered out of a drugstore. I went in the front door. Nobody had told me black folks don't go to the front door. They royally put me out. I just wanted to buy a Coke.
"As an undergraduate at Central, we'd go over to Chapel Hill, four or five of us, and join in the demonstrations against the university for discrimination. We were protesting the working conditions of low-income employees - housekeepers and others. My little group was considered radicals.
"In Durham, there were demonstrations. Howard Johnson's, which used to be right across from South Square, we had a wall of black people along the hill in front of it [in 1963]. They refused to let blacks be served. They didn't want to integrate. Then there was the demonstration at the Royal Ice Cream Co. on North Roxboro Street in Durham. There was a black side and the white side. On the black side, you couldn't sit down and eat your ice cream. On the white side there were stools and booths. Sopeople ordered ice cream on the black side and went over to the white side and sat down. Everybody was summarily arrested for trespassing.
"There was an organization called the United Organization for Community Development in Durham that led the boycott of white businesses [in 1968]. There were few blacks employed as clerks at the businesses in Durham, in Northgate Mall and downtown. So blacks got together. It was before the Christmas shopping season. There were picket lines at Northgate, Kress', Woolworth's - stores with lunch counters. At times, it got a little bit hairy with the police. A lot of people were arrested.
The schools have always been a battleground. We were at a school board meeting [in 1972]. I asked them for an update on their plans to desegregate the schools. They refused, saying the litigation was privileged information. So [some of the black leaders in attendance] got up and said, 'Answer the man's question or nobody leaves.' They couldn't even go call the police. It's a wonder we didn't all end up in jail.
"Now things are more settled. The Klan wears pin-striped suits. [But] the glass ceiling is there. Look at poverty rates, you'll find that poor people are not any better off. The percentage of unemployment in the African-American community is high. Look at the number of blacks who live in poverty. In homeownership, whites outstrip blacks 3 to 1."
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Harris Johnson quoted in The Chronicle, 11/08/2006 ---
"This goes to show that justice can't be bought by a bunch of rich white boys from New York," said Harris Johnson, a former state Democratic party official and Durham resident for 56 years.
"Duke has a habit of sweeping things under the carpet. I guess this goes to show that no matter how much money you have, Durham is owned by its citizens," he added.
Johnson said the results have national implications.
"If Nifong had lost, every woman in America would have been at risk," he said, adding that it is Nifong's opponents who have been unethical, not the district attorney himself.
Johnson worked Tuesday at a precinct near North Carolina Central University and said students there turned out in droves, playing a major role in Nifong's victory.
"I know they were in favor of Mr. Nifong," Johnson said. "They feel very strongly that this case has to go to court."
* Mr. Johnson is a long-time friend of Lavonia and a stalwart Committee man.
November 9, 2006
TO: Members of the Executive Committee
Of the Durham County Democratic Party
FROM: Floyd B. McKissick, Jr.
Chairman
Durham County Democratic Party
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who assisted in helping us obtain the tremendous success, which we observed in the November 7, 2006, General Election.
Despite the heavy rain, which we experienced all day long we had close to a 39% turn-out rate. According to preliminary tabulations, Congressman David Price received approximately 76% of the votes in Durham County and the Democrats running for the North Carolina Court of Appeals and the North Carolina Supreme Court received between 66% to 79% of the votes coming out of Durham County.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Zack Hawkins, T.E. Austin, Tracey Lovette, Laura Thrift, Kate Roetzer, Catherine Liao, and Phil Faegan for their valuable assistance. I would also like to thank Troy McLean, Karen Gray, Kevin Farmer, Susan Baylies, Larry Hall, Milo Pyne, Susan Sewell, Harris Johnson, Jeremy Collin, Dr. Lavonia Allison, George Bridgers, Brenda Pollard, Diana Palmer, Curtis Lawson, Towanda Lawson, my son Floyd B. McKissick III, and the many others who assisted us in achieving this tremendous victory. I am sure there are people who I have failed to recognize, however, any omissions are unintended.
Once again thanks for your hard work.
Sincerely,
Floyd B. McKissick, Jr.
http://durhamdemocrats.org/
http://durhamdemocrats.org/photo.php?photoid=67&albumid=5&page=1
* Do not confuse this organization with the Committee. The Committee is blacks only.