Danella Bryant

HUNTLEY: This is an interview with Ms. Danella Jones Bryant for the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute's Oral History Project. I am Dr. Horace Huntley. We are at Miles College. Today is June 23, 1995.

Ms. Bryant. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to come and sit with us today. What I want to do initially is to just start talking about your 00:01:00background. Tell me a bit about your parents. Where were they from? Were they from Jefferson County?

BRYANT: My mom was born in Andalusia, Alabama. My dad was born, I think in Vicksburg, Mississippi and they moved to Birmingham.

HUNTLEY: Were you born in Birmingham?

BRYANT: Oh, yes. I was born in Birmingham.

HUNTLEY: What about your parents' education and occupation?

BRYANT: My mom only had an eighth-grade education. My mom worked in domestics. She worked as a maid, if you will, a housekeeper at one of the local hospitals in Birmingham.

HUNTLEY: Which hospital?

BRYANT: It was South Highland.

HUNTLEY: And your father.

HUNTLEY: My father was self-employed. He owned his own business. He made and 00:02:00repaired hats, men's hats. He had always been in that line of business.

HUNTLEY: What was his business called?

BRYANT: Dan, The Hatter.

HUNTLEY: A very well-known person in Birmingham. Did you have brothers and sisters?

BRYANT: Oh yes. I have a younger brother and I have a half-sister.

HUNTLEY: So there were three of you?

BRYANT: Yes.

HUNTLEY: Tell me a bit about your education.

BRYANT: I went to Lincoln Elementary School and Parker High School. I graduated in '64. After graduating I moved to Los Angeles. I attended Los Angeles City College as well as the University of California-Los Angeles, UCLA as it's better known, but I didn't graduate. I came back to Birmingham and I have a degree as a 00:03:00word processing specialist from the Southern Institute here in Birmingham.

HUNTLEY: So you have been in the Birmingham school system and you finished at Parker. You're one of the Thundering Herd I assume?

BRYANT: Oh, yes.

HUNTLEY: Tell me just a bit about Parker as a student.

BRYANT: Well, other than it was a great, great high school. I had some great teachers. I remember one in particular; her name was M. C. Handy. I was having a little problem with math. I didn't think I was a very good math student and she changed my mind about that. She was my Algebra I teacher. And I came out of it with a B+ so I felt pretty good about that.

HUNTLEY: What about relationships with other students?

BRYANT: Oh, I intermingled with all the kids. I was pretty popular. I was a cheerleader and president of the French Club. I couldn't speak very much French though. I traveled with the football team when we played games and things, so I was pretty active. I was very open, very outgoing person. I always have been.

HUNTLEY: What community did you live in?

BRYANT: I lived in the Smithfield area. I was raised there.

HUNTLEY: Can you describe what the community was like at that time?

BRYANT: Well, it was a close-knit community. Everyone kind of looked out for one another. If you saw somebody's child doing something he shouldn't have been, he got in trouble and he got a spanking for it. Not like these days. We were kind of close knit. Everyone was close knit and cared about one another. And we had 00:05:00similar goals. It was a good community.

HUNTLEY: Growing up in Birmingham were there ever any incidents that really made you know that made know that you did not have all of the rights and privileges that other citizens had?

BRYANT: Oh, yes.

HUNTLEY: Can you elaborate on one or two of those?

BRYANT: Well, I remember one incident that sticks out in my mind very well. I was coming home from school one day with some of my girlfriends and we were walking. And this pick- up truck passed by. I believe I was in my junior year of High School, and it was three White guys in the pick-up truck and they yelled out at us.

HUNTLEY: What did they yell?

BRYANT: Hey you niggers. You niggers go home. I was pretty upset and I was 00:06:00really hurt about it. And so when I got home I talked to my parents about it and they basically just told me that they were just ignorant and don't worry about it. They don't really realize what they are doing. But it kind of stuck in my mind. It made me realize things were not right in Birmingham.

HUNTLEY: Were there any other incidents that you may remember? Do you remember riding the bus, do you remember going downtown to any of the theaters?

BRYANT: Oh, yes. I remember every time I got on the bus, if it was crowded in the back and there were seats in the front, I had to stand up. And I never liked that. I felt that was unfair. I remember not understanding why I couldn't go to 00:07:00the Alabama Theater. I had to go to the Lyric and sit upstairs where there were rats and roaches and everything. I remembered that and I didn't like it.

HUNTLEY: Well, it appears that you had at an early age, decided there were things that you did not like. By the time the Movement came around, it appeared that you probably had already made some decisions about what you wanted out of life?

BRYANT: Oh, yes.

HUNTLEY: How then did you get involved in the Movement? What were the circumstances of your getting involved in the Movement?

BRYANT: Well, I think how I first got involved in the Movement was my uncle, God rest his soul, Jimmy Walker. He was very active in churches and he was a Christian man. He first told me about the meetings, the mass meetings that were 00:08:00in town and what was going on. And of course, I've always been curious, and I decided to go and I did. And I never will forget. I was just spell bound. I felt like this was the answer to my prayers. I couldn't believe it. Oh, my goodness. I tried to be there every night.

HUNTLEY: Now you were what, 14 or 15 years old at the time?

BRYANT: I was sixteen years old.

HUNTLEY: But you felt that this was what you had been waiting for?

BRYANT: It was the answer to my prayers.

HUNTLEY: So when you started going to the mass meetings, can you describe what a typical mass meeting was like?

BRYANT: The mass meetings were where people got together and they talked about getting their rights. Being able to do the things that they couldn't do in a 00:09:00non-violent way. And that really impressed me because I wasn't into violence. God was involved. We always had prayer. We always held hands and it was like we were a family with one common goal. And so that's basically what it was. We shall overcome is a song I won't ever forget.

HUNTLEY: Can you tell me what was the relationship between your community and the police department? Did you ever have any incidents of being accosted by the police?

BRYANT: Oh, yes. I remember it was during the time that Rev. Shuttlesworth's house was bombed. An acquaintance of mine and I were out riding. It was late in the evening and the police came out of nowhere and stopped us. He came over to 00:10:00the driver's side and asked my friend for his driver's license and he showed it to him. And he was saying something nasty to him and told him to get out of the car and that he was going to arrest him.

By this time I had gotten out of the car and I asked him, "Sir, why are you arresting him? What have we done? We didn't run a red light. We didn't do anything?" And so, he pushed me to the ground. I had a hat on and I think I had some jeans and a shirt or a sweater or something on and he put the gun to my head and he said, "I could blow your brains out and no one would even care." And as soon as he said that he snatched my hat off and my hair fell down to my 00:11:00shoulders. And he looks to his partner and he says, "Oh, this is a nigger bitch." So then he told me to get up and run and don't look back. He said, "I mean you better not look back." And that's what I did. I was scared.

HUNTLEY: Where did you run to?

BRYANT: I ran to one of the apartments. The first apartment I saw, I knocked on the door. It was an older lady, she was very sweet. She opened the door and I explained to her what happened, and she let me in, hugged me. Then I called my mother and I told my mom what happened. She was real upset. So, the lady and my mother decided that I should spend the night there and my dad picked me up the next morning.

HUNTLEY: Did you know the lady?

BRYANT: I didn't know her personally, but she knew our family. And at that time things were different. You could do that.

HUNTLEY: During the Movement you participated in demonstrations?

BRYANT: Oh, yes.

HUNTLEY: You were also a student leader at Parker?

BRYANT: Yes.

HUNTLEY: And you assisted attracting other students to the Movement?

BRYANT: Yes.

HUNTLEY: Can you tell me something about that?

BRYANT: Well, I would go to my school, I was a senior and I would try and recruit kids, especially in my classroom or in the club that I was involved in, the cheerleaders. Just any of the kids and try to explain to them what was going on and that they needed to join us. I did it on several occasions. And I did recruit some. It wasn't a great deal. But I did because they were kind of scared.

HUNTLEY: During May of '63 when organizers were going to various schools to 00:13:00entice students to leave school and go and get involved in the Movement from 16th Street, were you involved in that?

BRYANT: Oh, yes.

HUNTLEY: How did that operate? Did you leave school during that time yourself?

BRYANT: Oh, yes. On many occasions. My parents were afraid I wasn't going to graduate because I did that, but I was a good student and I did graduate.

HUNTLEY: But you were actively involved in attracting others?

BRYANT: I was very actively involved.

HUNTLEY: In fact, you were a junior member of the organization I assume?

BRYANT: Oh, yes a junior staff member. Well, we would have strategy meetings and this would consist of how we would plan, you know when we were going to march, where we were going to march, how many of us, who was going to be our partners 00:14:00and this type of thing. That's basically what that was.

HUNTLEY: Did you ever go to jail?

BRYANT: Yes.

HUNTLEY: Do you remember the first time you went to jail?

BRYANT: The first time I went to jail, if I am not mistaken, I think if you're over 16 you go to jail. But at that time, I was over 16 but I said I was under 16 because I didn't want to go to jail. I went to juvenile. That's when I made up my mind that I would never do anything wrong. I remember this big old matronly lady that was screaming and hollering at us and telling us that if we don't get in the bed and shut up what she was going to do to us. It wasn't a very nice experience, but I didn't mind it at the time. I really didn't because it was for a good cause.

HUNTLEY: Why were you arrested?

BRYANT: Just for marching.

HUNTLEY: So you were marching and you were arrested along with several other people?

BRYANT: Oh, yes.

HUNTLEY: Were you taken to juvenile in a paddy wagon or police car?

BRYANT: Paddy wagon, just like regular people that get arrested. A bunch of us.

HUNTLEY: What else do you remember about being in juvenile detention?

BRYANT: It was overcrowded. The food was horrible and I knew that I never wanted to go there if I didn't have to. I knew I never wanted to do anything wrong. I knew they were going to get me out if I wanted to. But I always stayed. Some of the kids didn't want to stay very long, but I always stayed until they got me out.

HUNTLEY: How long did you stay?

BRYANT: Well, the first time I think about a week. And one time I stayed two 00:16:00weeks. Now the last time I went I think I stayed about a week.

HUNTLEY: What were the other circumstances of your arrest? You said you were arrested two or three times?

BRYANT: Well, it was basically the same. It was always for marching and they decided that they wanted to take some Blacks to jail, or niggers as they called us.

HUNTLEY: Did you always go to the juvenile detention?

BRYANT: Yes.

HUNTLEY: You were never housed in the jail?

BRYANT: No.

HUNTLEY: You were also arrested in St. Petersburg, Florida?

BRYANT: St. Augustine.

HUNTLEY: I'm sorry, St. Augustine. Why? What were you doing in St. Augustine?

BRYANT: We were marching down there trying to recruit and get kids involved in our movement and we got arrested down there.

HUNTLEY: What was that experience like?

BRYANT: The same. It was a jail. I didn't like it but it was for a good cause and I was willing to do whatever it took for us to succeed in what we were trying to do.

HUNTLEY: You, of course, were closely associated then with some of the people that would be household names. Can you tell us about any of those individuals?

BRYANT: Well, James Bevels was basically the person that did the recruiting of all the younger kids. We had our own mass meeting and the adults had their own mass meeting. Of course, we had them together also, so did Andrew Young. He worked along with James Bevels. I remember him distinctly because he was the one 00:18:00that really recruited me.

HUNTLEY: Bevels did?

BRYANT: Yes.

HUNTLEY: Did you have an opportunity to meet and talk with Dr. King?

BRYANT: No. I didn't actually talk with him personally. I had been in the same meetings with him, I saw him, but no, I didn't actually speak with him one-on-one, no.

HUNTLEY: You also attended the March on Washington.

BRYANT: Oh, yes I did. I'm very proud of that.

HUNTLEY: You were very active as a young person at that time. Tell me about that experience?

BRYANT: Oh, that was an experience. Well, we had decided in a meeting that we were going to take it to the capital and it had been planned for months and months. And the bus trip was only $8, can you believe it? So my parents got the money up and we went. A whole bunch of us and it was something I will never 00:19:00forget. I have never seen that many people in one place in my entire life for one cause. Everybody was there for the same thing. It was a beautiful experience. I enjoyed it. Even now when I see it being televised sometimes on TV it brings back memories. I remember it distinctly.

HUNTLEY: In talking to a number of other young people, some people who attended Ullman or who attended Parker, one individual suggested that she remembered the day of one of the demonstrations, a massive demonstration where she initially went towards school but she didn't quite get to school because there were others who were recruiting; and told them to come on to the church. Did you have that 00:20:00kind of experience or were you one of those that were in school and left school or did you make any detours?

BRYANT: Both.

HUNTLEY: What were your parents saying as a result of your activity?

BRYANT: Well, my mother was a little worried about me not graduating. But then she knew I had made good grades and everything and she knew I was really involved and she really didn't make a big fuss about it because it was something I was committed to do. And it was a good thing.

HUNTLEY: Well, were there others that were close to you, friends of yours that were as actively involved as you were?

BRYANT: There were three young ladies that I particularly hung out with that I tried and tried and tried to recruit them. But they would not get involved. And unfortunately, by me being so young and naive, at the time I can say now that they were afraid, but at that time I was pretty upset with them. Because they would not get involved at all.

HUNTLEY: Were others in your family, your parents or your siblings were they involved?

BRYANT: My brother went to jail. He wasn't as active as I was, but he did go to jail because I told him he needed to march and he needed to take a stand. And my mother and my great aunts and uncles they all went to the mass meetings.

HUNTLEY: So in your family, you didn't have people who were discouraging you?

BRYANT: Oh, no. I was really encouraged by my family.

HUNTLEY: What about teachers at your school?

BRYANT: Well, they kind of secretly commended me. They couldn't do it openly because I guess they were afraid for their jobs and everything. But I had 00:22:00several teachers that would say, "Danella, you're doing a good thing and we're really proud of you."

HUNTLEY: So you were encouraged all throughout then to get involved?

BRYANT: Yes.

HUNTLEY: How do you think your involvement impacted upon you as a person?

BRYANT: Well, I think personally it taught me about commitment and it made me understand about race relations a lot. It helped me a lot in a lot of ways. When I first moved to LA I was pretty bitter about certain things. But, eventually, I calmed down and it helped me a lot. It really helped me a lot.

HUNTLEY: Why were you bitter?

BRYANT: Racism is everywhere. But to me L.A. was a little better than Birmingham. And when I was in school I met some White girls and they wanted to be my friends. I didn't particularly want to be their friends but they seemed genuinely hurt by it. And, then, I started telling them what was going on in Birmingham and they said something to me like, "Danella, I don't have anything to do with that. I never lived in the south." So I sort of changed from that.

HUNTLEY: What were the circumstances of your moving to Los Angeles?

BRYANT: Well, after my last time in jail, which was in St. Augustine, my aunt 00:24:00flew in from Los Angeles to visit the family. And I had no idea that the family really wanted me to leave, to get away. They were beginning to get worried especially after the bombing of the church. So, I got out of jail and my aunt took me to Los Angeles which was in July of '64.

HUNTLEY: You were in Birmingham when the 16th Street Church was bombed?

BRYANT: Oh, yes.

HUNTLEY: What do you remember about that?

BRYANT: I remember that we had had a lot of our meetings there. I didn't belong to that church. I wasn't a member. But I used to go there a lot. I had a lot of friends there and I liked the church. They were having something special if I can remember, this particular Sunday and I told my mother that I wanted to go to 00:25:0016th Street Baptist Church to Sunday School. So she said, well fine, but I forgot to set my clock and I overslept. If I can recall, my uncle ran in the living room and told my mom, I heard him say, "They just bombed 16th Street Baptist Church and some people were killed." I don't really remember what happened. I remember I was crying and screaming and carrying on because I knew some children were down there. Some people were dead. I would have been there too.

HUNTLEY: If you had not overslept you would have been at 16th Street that morning?

BRYANT: Yes. So I think after that happened, my family kind of changed. They 00:26:00really wanted me to leave. So that was a sad day in everybody's life. It was really, really sad. Even when I first came back from L.A. and I went to 16th Street Baptist Church to look at it, it just brought all of the memories back.

HUNTLEY: So your family sent you to Los Angeles really for your protection?

BRYANT: Yes. As far as they were concerned.

HUNTLEY: Were there ever instances where, as a young student, that you were simply frightened of what you were involved in? The demonstrations or any of the other occurrences that happened. Were you ever just really afraid for your safety?

BRYANT: The only time I was afraid was when that man put that gun to my head. Other than that I can't say that I was. I wasn't afraid. All I could see was I wanted my freedom. I wanted the freedom for my people.

HUNTLEY: If you could turn the clock back, knowing what you know now and you could go back through the Movement and you had the ability to change any of the things that you went through, what would you change?

BRYANT: If I had the ability to change, first of all, I would tell everybody not to go to church that day the church was bombed. That's the main thing.

HUNTLEY: What about your activity? Would you change any of the things that you were actively involved in?

BRYANT: Oh, no. I would do everything exactly the same. I think it was just something that I was supposed to do. It was a very positive time in my life and I'm proud of that.

HUNTLEY: How did that period then shape the rest of your life? Since you left Birmingham right out of high school and you spent much of your adult life in Los Angeles, how did the experiences here in Birmingham help to shape you?

BRYANT: Well, it helped to shape me in a lot of ways. It made me a better person by, first of all, not doing anything wrong, but I never wanted to go to jail. L.A. is a fast town. I stayed pretty much an Alabama girl in L.A. It helped me 00:29:00with race relations. I can intermingle with anyone with no problem. And it made me understand about commitment and focusing on positive things and unity and the Black community and how important that is to everyone.

HUNTLEY: You are now a member of the advisory committee for the Civil Rights Institute?

BRYANT: Yes, I am.

HUNTLEY: What things have not been done at the Institute that you would like to see happen with that institution?

BRYANT: Well, one of the things I would like to -- we are in the process, hopefully of having a forum with young people from various schools all over the State of Alabama and to bring to them what the young people in our era went 00:30:00through. And we are just trying to figure out exactly how we want to do that so that they would really listen. Because this is a different day and age and the kids are a lot different than they were 30 years ago. But, I believe if they really understood exactly what our focus and our motives were it can kind of blend in with what's going on today and they would be better able to deal with their lives.

HUNTLEY: Do you see that as being an ongoing activity or a one-time sort of occurrence?

BRYANT: Oh, no. Ongoing. Because young people are our future. So we have got to invest in young people.

HUNTLEY: You have enlightened us today with all the activities that you were involved in as a young person and that's very commendable. I do remember though 00:31:00that you appeared in Life magazine.

BRYANT: Oh, yes. I sure did.

HUNTLEY: What was the occasion?

BRYANT: Well, we had been marching. It was right across from the city jail. And we had stopped for prayer. Oh, they were spraying the hoses as usual. They had the dogs. Of course, I had become accustomed to them by now. And I just fell to my knees and started praying to God because no other help I know. I had no idea I was being photographed until James Bevel, Rev. Bevel showed me the picture in Life magazine.

HUNTLEY: How did he show it to you? Were you at a meeting?

BRYANT: No. He came to my parents home and he had the magazine in his hand he just said casually, "I have something to show you Danella." I said, "Okay." And 00:32:00I said, "Oh, that's me." He said, "Yes." And that's how it came about.

HUNTLEY: Have you had any contact with any of the notable individuals you knew then? Have you had any contact with them in recent years?

BRYANT: Well, we had a program last year, I believe, if I'm not mistaken and I talked with Andrew Young. Whenever he's in town I usually get a chance to speak to him and Dorothy Cotton. I know them very well. I always tell my parents if you had not made me go to L.A. I would have gone with Dorothy and Andy and still been involved actively.

HUNTLEY: So do you regret then having gone to L.A.?

BRYANT: A lot of times I do. I really do. But it was just my destiny.

HUNTLEY: Well, is there anything else that you would like to add that we may not 00:33:00have touched upon today that you would like to share with the people that would read and view this?

BRYANT: No.

HUNTLEY: Thank you very much. You've been quite a help for us and we will be in touch with you and allow you to view this as well.

BRYANT: Okay.

HUNTLEY: Thank you.