Silver Rights: The Carter Family's Fight for Education in Mississippi

Introduction: Faith and Courage in the Cotton Fields

The story told in Silver Rights — the story of the Carters of Mississippi — is one of seemingly unshakable faith and courage. The Carters were sharecroppers, individuals who were virtually one step above slavery, tied to the land in an unfair system where they could never earn enough money to own their land or escape the grip of white landowners. They lived and labored on a cotton plantation almost like slaves. The state government of Mississippi was controlled by whites, and Black citizens had little voice or political support within the community. Even poor whites, looking for someone to blame because of the terrible circumstances of their own condition, looked down upon African Americans in their midst.

But the Carters had one great asset: they loved their children and were determined that those children would have a better future. Bertha Mae and Matthew Carter believed that sharecropping represented a dead end, and that education was the only road out.

The Freedom of Choice Law and Its Hidden Coercion

When Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, the Carters decided to enroll their children in the best schools they could demand — which happened, at the time, to be white schools. The Carters had fourteen children, and neither of the elder Carters had received a formal education. To circumvent the federal law mandating equal education for all students, Mississippi had passed a law granting "freedom of choice" to all parents in selecting the institution their children attended. Although it was called the "Freedom of Choice" law, in reality this freedom was no choice at all, because parents were socially pressured through intimidation tactics to send their children to schools that were either all-white or all-Black.

No doubt, the lawmakers thought that people like the Carters would be too afraid, and too confused by the bureaucracy of the system, to demand their rights. But they were wrong.

Demanding Rights Beyond the Political Movement

The Carters were not part of any organized political movement, and even the marches and boycotts that had demanded a change in the law could not really defend them. The letter of the law had been changed, but society and the spirits of legislators and educators were still saturated with racism. Constance Curry's book suggests that the Carters were warriors of a different kind. Once the legal battles had been won by the political titans of the civil rights movement, ordinary people had to step in, demand their rights, and try to change hearts and minds to create a better future for their children — and ultimately for America.

"All of the problems in the Black community go hand in hand. Lack of education is the key. No education, no jobs; no jobs, no money," said one of the Carter children, now grown (146). Bertha Mae and Matthew Carter believed education meant economic empowerment, so they would secure the best education for their children, come what may. Curry, herself a member of the American Friends Service Committee — an organization that later helped the Carters through their struggles — makes clear that for most of the early part of their fight, the family battled the law and society entirely alone.