14 CityLight.org
february 2012
in an attempt to encourage voter registration
by African Americans in the South. I was
not in school at the time and momma al-
lowed me to march alongside her.
My mother worked tirelessly then and
works even now at age 81 to get people
out to vote. She uses her car to go pick
people up to make sure they are registered
to vote and again when it's time to vote.
She does this because she truly believes
in the power of the vote. She's picketed
and boycotted outside stores and busi-
nesses that discriminated against the poor
and blacks in Senatobia for jobs and fair
treatment. Everybody in town knows that
if momma is picketing or boycotting, you
better not think about crossing the line.
My momma worked years to help inte-
grate our local public schools. Recently,
she campaigned tirelessly to help get the
town's first black Chief of Police elected.
This was a momentous occasion for our
small town. She boycotted to get blacks
elected to an all white School Board and
City Hall. When politicians (black or
white) want to be considered a serious
candidate for any office they seek her out
for help to campaign for them. She says
that, "If a person wants to make a change
then they need to vote." One of her favorite
sayings is, "We've come a long way, but we
still got a long way to go." I am so proud
of my momma and the contributions she's
made to the town of Senatobia, the State
of Mississippi, and our Nation. I person-
ally don't think that the great civil rights
leaders would have accomplished all they
had, had it not been for men and women
like my mother, Juanita Walker-Ross.
her to be ostracized by the people in our
small community, both black and white,
and occasionally harassed by the police. I
feel that many of the blacks acted out of
fear of retaliation, and the whites out of
fear of change. However, in spite of all this,
Momma was even more determined to help
make a change. And over the years, some of
these students, now adults of course, pass-
ing through Senatobia, stop by Momma's
house just to say hello and thanks.
Momma marched with Medgar Evers, a
civil rights activist and the first field secre-
tary from MS for the NAACP. She was
able to advocate with him before he was
shot and killed in Jackson, MS due to his
involvement in overturning segregation at
the University of MS and disbanding the
old "Jim Crow" laws. She also marched
with Dr. Martin Luther king
Jr., In the "March Against Fear",
from Coldwater to Batesville,
MS. This was shortly after James
Meredith, civil rights activist
and the first black male to be ac-
cepted into the University of MS,
was wounded by a sniper's bullet.
This march started in Memphis,
TN and ended in Jackson, MS.
It attracted thousands of black
men and women along the way
Juanita Walker-Ross:
An Unsung Hero in Civil Rights.
Continued from page 5
Juanita Walker-Ross, Annette Balaguer
Juanita Walker-Ross