Webster family lived Civil Rights era

Some have heard the stories of the Civil Rights Era, which was plagued with upheavals and transformations. Others remember the “black and white” days of segregation. The Allums family lived it, right here in Webster Parish.   

The 15 children of the late Jack Allums, Jr.  and the late Willie Mae Allums have always known which side of the tracks their parents represented — justice and equality.

“For as long as I can remember, Mama and Daddy were standing up for someone or something, so it became second nature to me to be of like mind,” said Cora Allums Ledet, the ninth of the Allums children.

“At the time, it (civil rights era) didn’t feel like a movement. It was just who you were.”

Despite Jack and Willie Mae only having sixth grade formal educations, they extended their voices, home, farm and vehicle during the struggle for equality.

Mrs. Allums was a key witness in federal court in the fight to equalize voter’s rights in Louisiana.

Mr. Allums attended Civil Rights conferences in Washington D.C. alongside Robert “Sargent” Shriver, who in the 60s served as the director of the Office of Economic Opportunity.

Many times with their children with them, Jack and Willie Mae walked the picket lines, participated in marches and sit-ins, transported civil rights demonstrators.  The Allums family walked hand in hand with James Farmer, Director of C.O.R.E (Congress on Racial Equality) during his visit in Minden.

They also served as leaders in the church and schools.

Minden did not go unscathed as the black communities of Webster Parish pushed to rise from beneath the rubble of segregation.

Under attack

1966 proved to be a year filled with life-changing events for the Allums clan, including the backlash of hate.

After losing his delivery job, transporting freight from the train to downtown Minden, Jack Allums was hired at the Evergreen School.

In August of that year, he was one of two victims of a “suspicious” explosion at the school.

“Daddy received life-threatening third-degree burns on 30 percent of his body,” Ledet said. “He was never able to work again. He would have had minimal burns if he had not gone back inside the burning building to save a white boy, who had been with him when the explosion occurred.”

Ledet said the boy later died upstairs in the Minden Hospital, where her father remained hospitalized for four months in the segregated basement.

In January of the same year, Minden High School was desegregated when two African-American male students were enrolled. On May 24, 1966, Elroy “Roy” Allums, the eighth-born of the Allums children, became the first black to graduate from the school.  Ledet was the second.

According to many of the black communities, like conquering segregation in public schools, every day living in general population was no easy task during the Civil Rights era, and Venita Allums Flournoy, the tenth child, was the third .

Ledet said she and her siblings were in bed asleep when the Allums family home, off Dorcheat Road was sprayed with bullets.

The shots reportedly rang out from the guns of three young white men.

“I remember hearing Daddy yelling for us not to get up, not to move,” Ledet said. “Mirrors were shattered, holes were in the furniture and the walls, and a bullet had gone into the mattress less than an inch from my sister’s head. My mom cried for days, while holding my baby sister and praising God. Our lives were never the same after that night.”
Reportedly, the men responsible for the shooting had worked with Roy Allums at Caney Lake.

“They (men) did not like that Roy had gone to Minden High School,” Ledet said.  “This was just another incident where our parents or someone in the family had been targeted because of our involvement in “The Movement.”

After the shooting, a group called “The Deacons of Defense” was established. The group was assigned to stand guard at the Allums home during the night hours.

“About a month later, the men came back and started shooting again,” Ledet said.

However, this time she said the men were caught, as the FBI had also been keeping tabs on the Allums home.

The Allums family was allowed to attend the trial of the three suspects.

“If my memory serves me correctly, two of the men were given a few weeks at the Penal Farm and the other got out of serving time because he was drafted into the military,” Ledet said.  “We later found out that he had been killed in Vietnam.”

Although covered by siding, today the bullet holes are still visible in the house that Jack Allums, Jr. built in the 1940s.

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