I Bet You Have a Story

2013 by Evangelist Catherine J. Carter. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 04/03/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4817-3529-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-3528-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013905552

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Contents

Dedication

Introduction

About the Book

Acknowledgments

What’s Your Story?

I Bet You Have a Stoy

Terrebonne Colored Public School

A Salute to Our Native Americans

of Terrebonne Parish

By Brenda Robichaux

A Salute to Arlanda J. Williams

Other Religious, Political, Educational, and Civic Achievement/Involvement

Our African American City—

Parish Officials

A Family that Prays

Together Stays Together

A Tribute to Charlie Moore

by His Daughter

A Tribute To Mrs. Gayle Moore Westley

Philosophy of Teaching

Essay #3

A Salute to Three Dynamic Women

of the NAACP Youth Council

The Terrebonne Parish Branch NAACP

Who Will Pick up the Torch?

A Tribute To Mr. Nelson Williams

by Naomi King (staff writer as Houma Courier)

My Mom

Memoirs of Southdown and St. Lucy

A Tribute to St. Lucy’s Catholic Elementary, High School, and Church for African-Americans

A Salute and Tribute to

Mr. Graham Douglas, My Daddy

by Asa Douglas

Integration

Clarence W. Johnson

Who Am I?

Your Vote Your Decision

Dr. Christine Ann Collins Hypolite

Shelby Joseph Hypolite

A Salute to Donald Verret

Ruby Joy Lyons Hamilton

A Tribute to Music

A Tribute to the New Rising Sun Baptist Church Soul Specials

A Salute to Our Angel of Mercy

Sisters Leola Stoves and

Rosadell Stoves

A Salute to Mr. Leroy Lyons

Dr. Cara Morgan

Mrs. Curtis L. Morgan

Suddenly Gone, My Angel Has Flown.

By Donsshaunneek R. Sims

Angels All Around Us

A Tribute To Reverend Larry Singleton

Product Description and Usage

The Story of

Reverend Matherne L. Johnson

Organizations

History of Blaine C. Clay Lodge #14

Legacy of J. J. Clement Chapter #15 Order of Eastern Star

Thanks to the Houma Courier

The Church

Hollywood Plantation Brief Facts

New Rising Sun Baptist Church

New Rising Sun Baptist Church: Looking Back

New Rising Sun Church History

In Their Own Words

A Salute to Reverend Dr. James Allen, Sr.

Plymouth Rock Baptist Church

Residence Baptist Church

Pastor, Reverend Howard Smith, Jr.

A Salute to Eagle Wright Baptist Church of Gray, LA

A Salute to Dularge Community Baptist Church

A Salute to Morning Star Baptist Church

History of Howard Third Zion Travelers Baptist Church

History of Mount Olive

Baptist Church in Gray, LA

The Academy

A Salute to Several Christian Leaders of Our Community

Reverend Daniel L. Brown and

Sister Maggie G. Brown

Reverend Alvin Charles Daniels

Reverend Dr. Isaiah Samuel Holmes, Sr.

Sister Betty Rose Lewis Brown

Reverend Dr. Cleveland

Lawrence Williams

Reverend Dr. Crispin Finnegan Smith

Reverend Dr. James Allen, Sr.

Sister Mattie Foster Daniels

Brother Daniel Wilson

Reverend Saulmon Thomas, Sr.

Sister Hazel Hawkins Navarre

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my number-one supporters, Aunt Remona, my mother, Mrs. Bertha Jones Harris, Ma Me, and Coach Nathaniel Denu, a true friend and confidant.

To my son Stanley Carnell Briggs and his children, Zakambi and Tanye Katelyn Briggs… and our God-given girl, Donsshaunneek Raydon Sims.

To Asa Douglas, a young lady who is fifteen years old at the time of this first print. Asa was about nine years old when I promised her that I would write a book about some outstanding African-Americans right here in Terrebonne Parish.

Introduction

Know your African-American facts—Terrebonne Parish:

1.   ______ was Houma’s first and only black mayor.

2.   –––––– was Houma’s first and only black assessor.

3.   ______, I was 113 years old when I added my name to Terrebonne Parish voter’s roll (4-11-1982).

4.   ______, with his fellow workers, founded and established a local AFL-CIO union. This union focuses on the concerns of wages and benefits and unfair treatment of blacks in the workplace.

5.   I was the founder of the Terrebonne Parish Voter’s League. ______ served as president of the league, and ______was district chairman.

6.   Who was Adrian P. Pertee?

7.   Five individuals served as principal of Southdown High School (on paper). Name them.

8.   Southdown had three distinct names. What were the names and renames of Southdown? ______, ______, and ______.

9.   Terrebonne Parish, the only Catholic high school for blacks, was ______. How did it get its name?

10.   Three African-American women have served on the parish council. Name them. ______, ______, and ______.

11.   List the six African-American men who have served as councilmen or police jurors. Now add Mr. John Navy to your list.

12.   List the six African-American men who have served as school board members.

13.   ______ served as our first African-American school board president.

14.   ______ served as our first African-American school board superintendent.

15.   ______ served as first principal of Ellender Memorial Junior High?

16.   ______ served as Terrebonne High School’s first African-American principal.

17.   ______ served as Terrebonne High School’s first African-American guidance counselor.

18.   ______ was the first African-American to receive the Terrebonne Parish Outstanding Citizen’s Award.

19.   ______ was the first African-American teenager to receive the Houma’s Teenager of the Year Award.

20.   There have been five presidents of the Terrebonne Parish NAACP under its present charter. Name them.

21.   Who was Donald Verret?

Wow! What an introduction! I cannot wait to read this book.

About the Book

I Bet You Have a Story is a collection of the life experiences of the author, Catherine Jones Carter. She lived some of these stories, and others stories were told to her. Many of these stories are given in tribute to individuals who made an impact on the life of the individual submitting the story or our community. Our author has always had an interest in the past. She was very shocked and surprised to find out that none of these stories were housed in print. You cannot go to the local library and pull a book from the shelf about any aspect of a local African-American. We have had so many great families, individuals, organizations, churches, civic clubs, and social clubs, dating back from slavery to now, yet there isn’t anything. Our stories, our existence, our struggles, our accomplishments are not interwoven into the brochures of the Houma-Terrebonne Chamber of Commerce Welcome Guide. Nor were we mentioned in the souvenir of the centennial celebration. Yes, you were mentioned as freed colored or slaves, and don’t forget the Little Red Souvenir of the Centennial Celebration booklet of Houma mentioned the only black (Negro) mayor, Joseph Dupart (1873), and Assessor and Constable Amos Simms (Negro).

This book is a small sample of our great unsung heroes, but it will meet the author’s goal of giving the reader an idea of growing up as an African-American on the bayou. It will share the experiences of a typical African-American child/children’s home life, education, and other experiences. It will share stories of some great people who we owe a great debt. It is my hope that after people read this tip of the iceberg of our greatness, others will be inspired to write about their lives. Write about growing up on the bayou, what Momma said, who helped you, the obstacles (economical, social, political, personal self-esteem). So many of you reading this book are success stories. I pray you leave your legacy in a book to inspire a young reader to dream dreams and seek goals. Let us stop burying our greatness but allow that story to live on in a book to help a youth struggling to reach their goal(s).

As our youth visit their local parish and school libraries, they will be able to pull from the shelf a book about us, about our great and our ordinary African-American citizens.

We must tell our story. If you don’t tell it, who will? What will they say?

Acknowledgments

This book is a testament to many African-American ancestors known and unknown who made many contributions and sacrifices. Because of these trailblazers, we, the fruit of their labor, are allow to enjoy many opportunities, rights, and privileges that many denied them during their lifetimes.

I am deeply grateful to the typists Ayesha Livas, Donsshaunneek Sims, Alex Whitley, and Mary Whitley. Carlos Crochet (reference and research librarian) allowed me to use his two binders of information on St. Lucy Catholic School and Southdown High School. The information in these binders was so important. I hope Carlos will get those documents bonded and published one day soon.

Thanks to my two former co-workers Diane Leblanc, the art teacher at Ellender High School, and Elizabeth Beth Plaisance, a former social studies teacher at Raceland Junior High and Central Lafourche High School, for their words of encouragement. Coach Nathaniel Denu, a lifelong friend and confidant, has always supported my many endeavors and encouraged me in a positive manner.

I owe a great debt, and the words thank you are truly inadequate for the contributions of the Houma Courier for the great articles and feature stories they have written on African-Americans. They assisted me in getting stories, listed me on their website, and completed a story on my dream to write this book for our youth and the citizens of Houma to enjoy.

Finally, to those of you who trusted me with your stories and tributes to loved ones and other outstanding citizens, thank you so much, and may God continue to bless you.

What’s Your Story?

As we pause to celebrate our rich African heritage with the nation and with the world, I challenge you to let the celebration continue throughout the year. Share your story with your children, with the neighbors’ children. The African-American people have a rich reservoir of ambition and energy. We are very diverse, very forgiving, very caring people, and our story is still unfolding. I will share some stories today and some quotes from several important thinkers of our present leadership and history in the making.

Let us set the record straight. Our story did not begin in 1619 when the captain of the Dutch naval vessel sailed into Jamestown, Virginia, and offered to trade twenty Negros to the settlers in return for provisions. Our story begins in the book of Genesis, specifically Genesis 1:26-8. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them. And God blessed them and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. God blessed us and created us to have dominion over everything. We are kings and queens. We are victorious. We are conquerors. The word says you are a mighty people, what is this—degrading of the black female—what is this determination to destroy yourself from within yourself? Where is this negative thought process coming from, and who lied to you and told you that you are ugly, that you are not smart enough to be a doctor, a chemist, a pilot, a writer, a poet, the president? Read your story. In the Bible, God can tell you who you are. Turn to Psalm 8:4-9 and begin to read with me:

What is man that thou are mindful of him? And the son of man that visited him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels and has crowned him with glory and honor. Thou has madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yes and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air and the fish of the sea and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O, Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

So the next time someone lies to you and tells you that you are a failure, you remember Psalm 8 and the first chapter of the Book of Genesis. The next time you allow your circumstances to define and question your worth as a person, you remember God created you, God blessed you, God loves you, and you have great value to God.

This story of ours is one of love, sadness, bitterness, and sweetness. It’s one of long suffering, tears, smiles, joys, and sorrows. Yes, our story is one of good days and bad days, but like the songwriter says, We can say our good days outweigh our bad days and we will not complain. But what happened to us? We were such a strong, united race. If we needed a cup of sugar, we knew we could go next door with no problem. As I grew up on Stovall, it seemed everyone was watching out for me and everyone was in charge of me. Now I look back, and I know it was love. It was a village raising a child. We enjoyed our fellowship, worship, and praise unto God. We knew God was our maker and waymaker, and he knew what was best for our lives. We continue to praise, worship, and trust God for everything. Now it seems that we have forgotten our foundation. God is around but not the center and head of everything we do. God and the Golden Rule are not in our schools, and the schoolhouse is a haven for trouble. God, integrity, loyalty, and moral righteousness are not a part of our government, and