This is a historical fiction novel. I do not intend to insult or offend anyone. I have a story to tell and that is all I am doing. The events in the following chapters have been created from my imagination. I have used histoical events to tell the story and have included prominent historical personalities. I have used places that are real and fictional to tell this story. If something is ofenceive I make no apoplogies, and I make no excuses. This is fiction, and my story to tell, thus I will tell it to the best of my ability and the only way I know how.
Chapter 1
March 3rd, 1963
“Kate, you know how mom and dad feel about you hanging around with that boy.” Julie says flinging her sandy blond hair over her shoulder while giving her sister the look of such irritation Kate could hardly look her sister in the eye. “They care about you. So here I am, they sent me up here to talk some sense into you. He’s no good white trash. They want you to see that before you destroy your reputation and the reputation of this family.”
“Like you haven’t done enough of that yourself?” Kate says and stands up before Julie can respond, “I’ll have you know Julie…” Kate says walking over to stand confidently before her sister. “…I will do as I please, I will do what I want, and I will date who ever I want. Now what do you have to say about that?” she asks not waiting to hear Julie’s response she continues, “I don’t know why you care anyways you will be married in two months, then I won’t be any of your problem. So why do you care Julie. I’m not you, and I never will be, I don’t want to be with a man like David, nothing against him, but his isn’t the one for me. I don’t want to marry a man like father. You may, but I don’t. I don’t care if you hold that against me. Go ahead it matters not to me. The world is changing and you…George, Mother and Father will all have to face that. If you don’t fine, but I will not turn away from change, and it won’t matter what you say…it won’t matter what mother and father say…I will embrace that change.”
“You’re a fool.” Julie says, “thinking that you can get away with this.”
“Next year I will walk down the same hall ways as those boys and girls that you hate so much. You won’t walk down those hallways with them. I will, I will face it every day, I’m not afraid Julie.”
“Father is powerful Kate; he won’t let you do this.”
“He’ll have to kill me to stop me.” Kate says crossing her arms and looking confidently at her sister, just as their mother hollers up to Julie.
“Julie dear, David is here to take you out to dinner, are you ready?” she asks from the bottom of the steps.
“Coming mother,” Julie shouts down to her mother, “Watch yourself Kate. Ambitious women like you don’t last long here. They will beat it out of you, taking a little each time. Remember that Kate. Just remember this ambition of yours won’t last long in Alabama.” Julie adds then leaves to head down stairs to meet her fiancée for their date.
Kate turns back to her desk, she couldn’t talk to him, the boys she hung out with were no good white trash, but the boy she wanted to go out with she couldn’t even talk to. That wasn’t allowed in Alabama, but that was changing. Things were changing. She may be only 16 but she knew that change was in the air, and Ryan knew it too. She returns to her desk, takes out paper and pen. With tears in her eyes she writes to Ryan, the young man she would face her father’s wrath to be with.
She finishes her letter, and takes a deep breath then puts it in an envelope. Kate looks to her door; to be sure her parents were not there. Knowing that what she is doing is dangerous she closes her eyes and pushes her father’s face from her mind. He could do whatever he wished to her later, now it was time for change. She seals the letter in an envelope and addresses it to R. J. Banks with his address and adds a stamp. She puts it in the pocket of her twill pants. Kate walks to the door, she will get it into the mailbox without her father knowing a thing.
March 6th 1963
Ryan grabs the mail on his way home from school. He has one year left, and it will be a tough one. The schools are combining and desegregating. He shakes his head; the world is changing, at last. He says to himself, imagining the ability to vote once he is 18. He looks down at the letter, it is to R.J. Banks with his address, and the return address simply says, K. Johnson, 122 2nd Street. He looks it over for a few moments, as realization of it hits him, she wrote to him. She actually wrote to him. He enters the house his eyes still on the white envelope in his dark hand. Dropping the mail on the table he opens the letter and reads.
Dear Ryan,
My parents seem not to care, and to care too much about what I do. Julie is everything right now. She is their sun, their moon, their world. I am an afterthought. I’m writing to you again, partly because I know you will listen, and partly because I feel I need to. I look forward to the day we can see each other and hold hands in public and not be judged or harassed for it. I feel like that day will never come. I fear for you constantly, afraid of what will happen if we are discovered. Yet I don’t care what happens as long as we can spend time together. I know that makes no sense, but I don’t care. I want to be with you, but I can’t because the laws of this country don’t allow it. I don’t think it is fare, or just. It may not make sense, but my father as cruel and corrupt as he is always told me to do what I thought was just. He taught me to fight for what I believe in, well the way it is in this state I believe is corrupt, so I will join the movement in Birmingham. I hope you join me to fight for desegregation, I hope you will fight with me for us to have a chance to be together. I want to say so much more, but I don’t know how to. I’m driving to Birmingham, and I will take you and anyone else who wishes to go. I may be young, but I still have my own beliefs. I will be seventeen soon and I intend on doing what my heart and my soul tell me. I’m sorry I must make this letter so brief but my mother is down stairs and I don’t want her to find it.
Ryan, I cannot say how much I love you, for words do not embrace the truth I feel in my heart. I may be young but my soul is not, and my soul aches for you as it has never ached before. I would circle the earth just to see your face, and I would face the world just to have dinner with you Saturday night, the 9th. I’ll meet you outside my house at say, 7:30. My father won’t be around then to call in the mob, or find another way to cause probelms. I don’t know why Ryan, I just know I must find a way to be with you. I feel it in my heart, we are made for each other, and the feelings I have will not be dampened by hate, or rage. I love you, and I want to be with you.
Sincerely,
Kate Johnson
P.S. Fear not my intentions they are good and honorable, for my love for you is blind to all things save your soul, that I see clearly, and love entirely.
His heart skips and he sits down suddenly in the chair as his brother Joe walks in. “What’s this?” he asks with a nod towards the letter.
Ryan sits stunned and shocked, he doesn’t know how to respond, he’s only 17, but he has a chance to take Kate on a date. He sits there bemused for a few moments while his brother takes the letter and reads it. “Have you made a decision?” Joe asks, “Before you answer you need to think about the repercussions. Her father is powerful, and the people of this city won’t take kindly to you going out to eat with a white girl.”
“And her father won’t like her going out with a boy, let alone a black one, but Joe, she says she loves me. How do I respond to that? She says, ‘…my love for you is blind to all things save your soul; that I see clearly and love entirely.’ How can she love me so when we have only ever seen each other twice.”
“You did what?” Joe asks, “You have gone out with this girl; are you mad, you’ll bring the Klan down upon us for sure. Going out with her is a death sentence.”
“And times are changing.” Ryan says and stands up with ambition.
“Not here, not in Alabama,” Joe says.
“She is willing to drive to Birmingham to march with Doctor King. She is willing to go to jail to end the injustice. She is willing to die to be with me.” Ryan adds, “She will take anyone who wishes to go.”
Joe sits down at the table, looks at his brother, and speaks softly, “Are you willing to go to jail…willing to be beat…pushed…are you willing to let her take a beating…be humiliated…put in jail…killed?”
Ryan sits in silence, and looks at the letter, “She is willing to die so we can walk down the street together, so how can I not stand beside her? She will march for equality with me, so how can I not fight for the right to walk beside her?”
Joe sits silently in thought; he didn’t know how to answer. As he sits in thought, Bethany walks in, “Boys what are you two up to?”
“Birmingham, mamma,” Joe says, “They’re protesting for equality.”
“Is you boys planning on goin’?” Bethany asks.
“We have a ride, we are working on deciding; I think Ryan already decided.” Joe says, “and I’m going too. I had it planned, but the more protesters the better.”
“Who?” Bethany asks, “Who is driving you up to Birmingham?”
“Kate,” Ryan says, “She’s got a car, and a license and is going to drive us there.”
Bethany turns on her sons, “Are you telling me you are going drive up to Birmingham with a white girl? Do you really think that is a good idea?”
“She asked if we wanted to go with her. She is going with or without us.” Ryan says. “She made plans to leave, and I don’t think even her father could stop her.”
“I won’t stop you boys from doing what you believe in, and I’ll see if I can join you.”
“Momma?” Joe says looking at his mother.
“There are times in one’s life when you need to stand up for yourself, those boys in North Carolina sat at those lunch counters and they finally got served. It is a dangerous business fighting for freedom, but I’ll support my children as I know they would support me.”
“Momma, can I take a girl out for supper on Saturday night?” Ryan asks.
“Why don’t you bring her over for super, I would love to meet her, and we could eat dinner together.”
“Thank you mamma, but I think I would like to take her out to dinner.” Ryan says.
“Is that a good idea, if this Kate is the Kate I think she is, you are playing with fire.” Bethany says, “But I will not say no, you must do what you must do, just be careful. The world may be changing, but Alabama isn’t the rest of the world.” Bethany says and sits down at the table with her sons joining them in a comfortable silence.
March 9th 1963
Kate looks at herself in the mirror. She knows this will be one of the hardest nights of her life. She straitens up and adjusts her blouse and walks down the stairs. “Mother I’m going out, I’ll be back later.” She says and exits without interference from her mother. She walks to the end of her drive and waits for Ryan to pull up in his father’s car. She smiles at him and gets in. “You best be going before my father gets home.”
“Kate, you look…ahh…beautiful,” Ryan nervously.
“Thank you.” She says as he drives away from her house. “So where do we want to go?”
“Is there anywhere we can go?” Ryan asks.
“We could go to Sally’s,” Kate says with defiance in her eyes. “How long are you willing to sit and wait to be served?” she asks as he drives.
“How about we go eat at my house first, and then go make a statement.” Ryan says. “I don’t really want to get arrested just yet. I would like to spend some time with you. This is only our second date.”
“True, then let’s go meet your family.” Kate says, “so what is your answer to my question about Birmingham?”
“We will talk about that with my family, right now I just want to know how you are.”
“Never better, I am with you.” Kate says and takes his hand in hers.
“Do you ever fear those who would pull us apart?” Ryan asks her bringing her hand to his lips to kiss.
“I know what is right, and this feels right, so no one will ever pull that apart. This world is changing Ryan. This,” she says motioning with her hand to encompass them in the car “used to be illegal; and it still would be if people like us didn’t test it. If the law is not enforced then the law means nothing. This means a lot to me. I find it wrong that I can legally drive in a car with you, but I can’t eat supper with you. They close the parks because they are afraid of change. Alabama is cutting their feet out from under themselves. They think this is better; they are just afraid, afraid of you, of me, of anyone who sees the world for how it can be. For how it should be, and there is my father conducting it like the director of a play.” Kate says and drops her head in defeat.
“You want to change his mind?” Ryan says as he pulls into his driveway. “Kate,” he adds turning to face her and taking her hands in his, “You can’t, make him like me. I wish you could, for I think he is a great man, his beliefs I think are wrong, but not all great men were good men; and I fear you father is one such man. I fear for you going against him, I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Kate looks up at him, with tears glistening in her eyes, “It is my duty to defy my father, for what he thinks is wrong. I cannot let that stand, he may be my father but I am still allowed to have an opinion. It may not sway with his, but it is mine, and I won’t let him tell me what to think.”
“Kate, don’t do this, don’t fight to make your father angry.” Ryan says putting his hand back on the wheel.
“I’m not,” Kate says, “My birthday is on April 3rd, and I want to go celebrate it with you. I want to walk down the street hand in hand with you. That’s the problem Ryan, I can’t. I can’t because they don’t want us to, those men and women who are like my father, full of hate and fear. Thinking they are still masters of you and all others like you. I am not one of them, Ryan. I know what should be, I know how it should be. I should be able to bring you home and say, ‘father this is Ryan Banks, he’s taking me out to dinner this evening, I just thought you two should meet.’ But I CAN’T, not because I don’t want to, but because this world is so corrupt and prejudice that they can’t see past flesh to heart, soul, and character.” Kate pauses and drops her hands into her lap. “I want to be able to introduce you to my father and mother and have them say ‘be home before 10’ rather than the words of hate that would flow from my father’s lips.” Kate says with tears in her eyes, she looks up at the house, composes herself then looks over at Ryan, “Shall we go meet them; I believe they are all standing at the window waiting for us to come inside.”
Ryan looks at the house and sees his mother Bethany in the window shooing his brothers’ from the door. “I guess we had better.” Ryan says and gets out; Kate follows not waiting for him to open her door. “I would have gotten that for you.”
“Thanks, but I can get it, there is no trick to closing it is there.” Kate asks with a giggle in her voice.
“No,” Ryan says, “it’s not like your car.” He adds with a smile.
“Hah, hah,” Kate says and walks to the front of the car and takes his hand in hers.
“One day Kate, one day I will meet your parents and they won’t hate me. One day.” He says and they walk up to his house. Ryan goes to open the door, but it opens from within to reveal Bethany standing just inside.
“So this is Kate,” she says drawing her into the house and into a hug, “It is so good to meet you, it seems Ryan talks of no one else.” She says, “How was the ride over, I hope Mike’s car was kind to you both, there are times when that car doesn’t give the best ride.”
“It was fine Mam’ thank you,” Kate says as Ryan closes the door behind her.
“Kate this is my mom, Bethany, momma this is Kate.” Ryan says, “Kate, this is Joe, Ben, and my father Mike.”
“Pleased to meet you all,” Kate says, “may I ask what you are making, it smells wonderful.”
“Family recipe, hope you like it.” Bethany says as they move to the living room.
April 7th, 1963
“Kate, it’s time to go home,” Ryan says as she walks to him after being let out of jail. “Your father won’t come here for you, and your mother won’t admit where you are, but Kate, we have to go back to school. You have skipped for almost a week, as have I. We need to go back so we can go to college. Kate, are you listening to me.
She is silent, she walks over to the group, “I can’t go back,” she says, as two young black men walk out of the jail house just behind her and join them.
“She’s with you, does she ever talk?” the first young man asks.
“Sorry,” Kate says, “They deserved to hear nothing from me but silence. I had nothing good to say to them, and saying nothing has more impact than saying the wrong thing.”
“So she has a voice,” the second young man says, “Well we are going to join the march, are you coming?” he adds, “Johnny is the name,” he says and shakes her hand.
“I’m James, what is your name?” James asks.
“Kate, again I apologize for my silence, but my best weapon has always been my silence, it has held me through a lot, and sometimes silence is more deafening than a thousand voices shouting.”
“True, Kate, very true. It is good to meet you.” James says and shakes her hand as well. Kate then introduces them to Ryan, Bethany, and Joe.
“We were happy to stand with you all, but we must get these three back to school, they have been out of school for long enough, I wouldn’t want Kate’s parents to worry about her.”
James and Johnny look at Kate, “How old are you Johnny asks.
“I turned seventeen on the 3rd.” Kate says, “I also go arrested on the 3rd. But if I said who I was my father would have been here to drag me away. I figured if he didn’t know where I was, and the police didn’t know who I was, then I was safe to do as I like. King leads this flock, while I avoid mine to join him.”
“You talk like he is a Sheppard.” Bethany says.
“In a way he is. What we do now in our lives, here in this city, and in this country will change this country for generations.” Kate says, “I am sorry, but I really have to be going. I’m driving this crew home. I will return if I can, but right now I have to make an appearance at my house to show my father that I didn’t do anything stupid. You know, keep the pot from boiling over on the home front.”
“I understand that, I wish you could join us tomorrow.”
“So do I,” Kate says and joins Bethany, Joe, and Ryan, they all head to get her car.
“Kate, I will keep you informed.” James says.
Kate turns to face them, “Inform Bethany, Joe and Ryan, they can get any message to me. Unfortunately that is safer for me,” Kate says, “my family and I don’t see eye to eye on issues.”
“Okay,” James adds and Johnny joins him. They wave to Kate, Ryan, Bethany and Joe before walking back to the sixth street Baptist Church.
“Kate,” Bethany says, “Do you think it is safe to drive back to Clanton tonight?” She asks this as the church bells in Birmingham ring 5:00 pm.
“Bethany,” Kate says, “If I have learned anything from Birmingham it is that I cannot fear the people in this country, it is as much mine as it is yours, so we should be able to live here together, and drive home in the same car.”
“But,” Bethany says a quiver in her voice as she looks at the children with her, “I am responsible for you three,” she says, “I remember the Freedom Rides like they were yesterday, it is getting late, do you really think it a good idea to take to the roads this late.”
“Momma,” Joe says, “If they are going to attack us for driving home together, it won’t matter the time of day. Don’t worry momma, we are changing this world, one day at a time.”
“Bethany, I will get you three home completely unharmed, if not a little hard of hearing, but that is from all the talking I will be doing on the drive.” Kate says and they all pile in to Kate’s blue 61’ Oldsmobile Cutlass. Kate starts the car and leaves town. The evening is coming and the town is calming down. The protesters are leaving the stores for the night. Turmoil is hidden just under the surface of this town as the night is quiet so suddenly after its daily upheaval . A town on the brink of change where half its citizens are trying to deny it and the other half are demanding it. Kate took one more look at Birmingham before she drove home for the night. Kate couldn’t ask Bethany to rent a room for another evening, and she couldn’t expect them to house her for the night either. Kate had to face the music at home, no matter what the outcome was. She pulls her car on to the road and heads south to Clanton, a small town as turbulent as the rest of the south. Though their turbulence is less seen, fear and anger is everywhere. Some people are embracing the change, others are resisting it. Her school was integrating the next year, they could no longer keep the schools segregated, so they were integrating, and the town was unhappy about that too.
The drive is short, the conversation stimulating, each talking about what was done and what still waits to be done. Kate knows that she is helping in some small way, but she is just doing what she thinks is right. She relays her experience in jail, as Bethany does the same.
“I am surprised they arrested you Kate,” Joe says, “They just hauled you off like you were doing something wrong. I would think to them you would not have been a threat.” Joe says from the back seat next to Ryan.
“Well Joe my boy,” Bethany says, “They arrested her because she was not following the rules, she was joining you, speaking her mind, holding Ryan’s hand. They arrested her because she was breaking their law and integrating with us. She was seeing us for who we are, rather than what we look like.” Bethany adds as Kate turns off the interstate and heads into Clanton. “Joe, you see it in people’s eyes that they hate, or that they love. Open to allowing people to let them show you they are good people or closed to anything but their own ideas. They saw, and will see Kate as a threat because she is like those Freedom Riders; she will face injustice and fight against it. She is color blind, and she plainly told that officer, ‘we hold these truths to be self-evident that ALL men are created equal.’ Her saying that and holding Ryan’s hand was ‘breaking the peace’ in their minds, and so she was seen as a threat.” Bethany says to her sons and to Kate, then looks to Kate and says softly, “You are brave girl, braver than I thought I would ever see. It takes guts to sit with anyone of us. You didn’t have to—”
“Yes Bethany I did, for I am an American, and it is my duty to fight against injustice. It says in the Declaration of Independence ‘when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.—’ Thus it is my duty as an American to stand against those abuses to instill a better future for my children.” Kate says, “You see Ryan I am bound by the history of this country, and by the Declaration of Independence to fight for the rights of those who have been wrongfully, and sometimes violently held in a place of malcontent servitude. I am bound by those words and held accountable by those words to rid this world of such oppression and secure the rights of my fellow American and future generations, despite the color of their skin.”
“And if your father heard you talk like that?” Ryan asks leaning forward in the seat.
“I would get a beating, but that would not change the truth. Truth is set in stone.” Kate says and pulls into the Banks driveway. It is dark now, and Kate joins them in the house for a short time. Mike thanks Kate for driving them.
“You are a real warrior for the cause.” Mike says, “If I didn’t have to work I would have gone, but despite the world falling to pieces around us, money still has to be made.” Mike adds.
“And that will make a difference too.” Kate says, “Someone has to feed all us protesters.” She says with a smile, “Well I have to get home and face the music.” Kate says with dwindling hope in her eyes. “I am sorry I could not do more. But what happens in Birmingham will spread like wild fire, and true freedom will come. The world will eventually see past hate.” Kate adds and gives Bethany, and Joe hugs. “This was a good thing we did, we will go again soon, but we have too much to lose if we don’t get our educations. Worry not, it will be a long summer, but we will get equality, no matter what happens. Keep me informed about other protests here in town, and I’ll see you after school tomorrow.” Kate adds and kisses Ryan as he walks her to her car.
“What you did for me, and for us I will never be able to thank you enough for.” Ryan says, “You risk too much.”
“Ryan there is risk in everything, living is a risk. I cannot hide in my room my whole life. I must live, even if it kills me.” She says and gets in her car. She rolls down the window, “You stay safe; I don’t want to lose you now that we are finally getting to know each other.” She adds and backs out of the driveway. With a wave she is on her way.