street because that was wrong,” said Reed. “I told them we would accept their offer as long as we had a say in where we wanted to be relocated.” The History of the After having the map enlarged to see more of the nearby undeveloped land, the area Reed chose was up near the bank and what is now the Southland Mall area. It was a beautiful, tree-lined area, just the ideal place for a park. When Reed told the Park Commission that this was the location the Whitehaven Civic Club had chosen for their park, the meeting ended and Reed never heard from Bonds or his group again. There were many other challenges Reed faced as a child and as an adult. As a young adult of some 8 to 12 years of age, Reed would ride to the cotton gin with his grandfather where he witnessed his grandfather’s cotton, and the cotton belonging to some other poor white people, being syphoned by the workers at the Hilderbrand gin for its owner. “My grandfather and grandmother were farmers,” said Reed. “They raised some cotton and corn on some rented land. He would always tell me to ‘Put some extra piling on there for the man,’ but I didn’t know what he was talking about at the present. When we got to gin, grandpa would tell me to get down off the wagon because he didn’t want them to weigh me in. Like most youngsters, I would wander around inside the gin where I would hear the people who were sucking the cotton out of grandpa’s wagon say, ‘Well Reed, you got a good bale here.’ This was almost like a microphone telling the people who were upstairs to divert grandpa’s cotton to Mr. Hildrebrand’s gin for free.” Reed helped to organize youth including Josephine Bell, Mary Hyman, and other members of the Whitehaven Junior Civic Club to stage sit-ins at Crescent, Woolworth’s and other locations that refused to serve blacks. And after Reed had the plans drawn for his present home, he visited a bank in the city of Memphis for funding. The white banker who waited on him told him that, ‘A nigger had no business living in a house like this,’ but that didn’t deter William Henry Reed either. “This was a long time before they built Alcy and Lakeview Gardens,” said Reed. “I just said ‘We will get the house built. We will get the house built like we want it built’ and we did by the Grace of Almighty God.” William Reed has been a member of Mt. Joyner Baptist Church, 5113 Hillbrook Road, in southwest Memphis, all of his life. He remembers when the church sat on Tulane at Windsor Road where its cemetery still sits across the street from its original location. “After a short length of time, I became an officer, a Deacon - at Mt. Joyner Baptist Church, where Rev. Champion was the Senior Pastor,” said Reed. “There were those who were around me who saw something within me that I didn’t know about. So, they started me to teach Sunday School, the Bible, which was very important. And during that time, I was able to help a great many young people who came through the teaching in which I taught from the Word of God. There are so many of them, I would be amiss to try to name them all, but I will name a few of them. There is the new Shelby County Mayor, Lee Harris, Esq. and the University of TN at Martin, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Dr. Mark McCloud. I can’t even keep up with all of the young men and young women.” “We don’t need to run to Southaven or Arkansas to have a decent place to live, for with the per capita, they tell me, within Whitehaven, we can have anything we want here.” “So, I challenge the young people to try to keep the per capita here, in Whitehaven, to make Whitehaven what it should and ought to be or what they want it to be.” “It’s a fight, but it’s a good fight. It’s not a fight with guns and bullets and what-have-you. It is a mental, a physical, a spiritual fight that we must fight, the good fight.“ “I’m just blessed, I’m blessed in so many ways. I’ve had a good life here in Whitehaven and it’s been a productive life. I’ve lived here practically all my life, even after I got married, I was still here.” “To God Be the Glory,” said Reed speaking of his life and Mr. William Henry Reed and the late Mrs. Leola Glover Reed times, family and children, experiences and leadership, and his ability to still be living and doing mostly well. “It has been a blessing for me to be a part of what is Whitehaven now, but I call it Blackhaven because there’s nothing here now but blacks.” 4 Mrs. Pauline Poe If the most outstanding of the above as a standout member, it would be Mrs. Pauline Poe. Her most outstanding contribution would be that she had three daughters to serve as the Adult Queen, two of which served two different years. Mrs. Pauline Poe was found supporting every phase of the celebration. One of Mrs. Poe’s passions was ceramic artifacts she designed and donate to the Jubilee each year that were sold as souvenirs. She made items such as coffee mugs, goblets, pyramids, and other novelties. Mrs. Poe would not allow the Jubilee to reimburse her for any of the items she created for 10 years, which totaled over 900 items. Shown below are a few of the items Mrs. Poe created. The goblets were sold by Mrs. Poe in support of the Dr. R. Q. Venson Scholarship Foundation. The coffee mugs were sold by Mrs. Poe I support of the Adult King and Queen programs. The pyramid created was sold by Mrs. Poe to help fund the Jubilee’s name change from “Memphis Cotton Makers’ Jubilee” to “Memphis Kemet Jubilee.” The name Memphis Kemet Jubilee was used from 1999 to 2008. Kemet was the name of Egypt before the country’s name was changed to Egypt. If there were copies that went unsold, she gave them as gifts to individuals attending Jubilee events or she donated them to be used as table center pieces at different events. When Jubilee board members were asked to sell tickets to different events, Mrs. Poe always sold her share of tickets. When asked to sell advertisement space in the Jubilee’s souvenir program, she sold add spaces. When it came time to decorate for a banquet or a coronation ball, she was always on hand to do her part. Mrs. Poe never wavered when it came time to get the job done. For these and other reasons, Mrs. Pauline Poe in the writer’s view stood head and shoulder above other board members. 33 Memphis Cotton Makers’ Jubilee, Inc. 1936-2019 Followed with the Rebirth and Passing of the Mantle 2019 By Clyde R. Venson Dedication I dedicate this documentary to members of the MCMJ that served on the Jubilee’s Board of Directors for twenty years or more or until their death. These men and women are: Dr. R. Q. Venson, Mrs. Ethyl H. Venson, Professor Nathaniel “Nat” D. Williams, Professor Robert “Bob” Morris, Mr. Clifton Satterfield, Mrs. Calverta Ishmael, Mr. Eddie Hayes, Sr., Dr. B. F. McCleave, Mr. Joe Lee Nelson, Elder Blair T. Hunt, Mr. L. O. Swingler, Mr. Frank T. Scott, Atty. B. L. Hooks, Mr. Robert Henry, Mr. Elmo Berkley, Mr. Elmer Henderson, Mr. Melvin Conley, Mrs. Susie P. Hightower, Mr. John Arnold, Jr., Professor Edward Gray, Mrs. Kattie Johnson, Mrs. Lillian Dunlap, Mrs. Valois Perry, Mr. Clyde R. Venson, Mrs. Verna Mae Lemons, Ms. Inez Brown, M. Willie E. Lindsey Jr., Mrs. Emma J. Carpenter, Mr. William H. Wheeler, Mrs. Pauline Poe, Mrs. Julia Ross, Ms. Louise Smith, Mrs. Silvia Sherrod, Ms. Melody Poe, Mrs. Catherine Doggett Hernandez, Mr. Chester Phillips, Mr. Michael Marsh, Mr. Michael P. Sadler, Rev. Lorenzo Caldwell, and Mr. Lorenzo Jones. The above mentioned members of the Jubilee’s Board of Directors served 20 years or more, twelve of which served for 50 years or more. This is a record for the Jubilee, compared to other organizations.
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