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67 YELLOW SPRINGS NEWS The GUIDE to YELLOW SPRINGS 2019 – 20 Sharon Emery, R.P h ., mgr. Emma Robinow, R.P h . 263 Xenia Avenue 937-767-1070 Monday – Friday 9 a.m.–6 p.m. Saturday 9 a.m.–1 p.m. Sunday – Closed Diabetes Management Medication Synchronization Immunization Programs Pet Meds This article was originally published in January 2017. By DIANE CHIDDI STER Two longtime village residents were celebrated for their social justice efforts and significant impact on Yellow Springs, especially the village’s African-American community, at the 2019 Martin Luther King Day event. Phyllis Jackson and Isabel Newman were honored as Martin Luther King Jr. Community Peacemakers. “These two ladies, by the lives they have lived and by their actions, have inspired others,” said Nan Harshaw, chairperson of the MLK Day Committee, in an interview. Jackson and Newman were nominated for the award by villagers Andrée Bognar and Donna and Al Denman, past Peace- maker Award recipients. “These women are elders of Yellow Springs who throughout their lives worked in their own way for the ideals of Dr. Martin Luther King,” according to the nomination letter sent by Bognar and the Denmans. The award honors villagers who “walk the walk” of nonviolence and social justice, according to a written statement by the MLK Day committee. “The award is an oppor - tunity to honor the ‘unsung heroes’ of our community who are working to make the world better locally, regionally or globally.” While the MLK Day celebration is a longtime village tradition, the recognition of Community Peacemakers is relatively recent. Past recipients of the honor also include the late peace activists Hazel Tulecke and Bill Houston, The 365 Project leader John Gudgel, World House Choir director Cathy Roma, longtime social worker and community activist Bognar, and retired Antioch College religion profes - sor Denman and his wife, Donna. The 2019 Peacemaker recipients are being recognized for their unique interests and contributions to Yellow Springs, with Jackson honored as the town’s unofficial historian, especially of the African-Ameri- can community, and Newman as a longtime voice for local social justice. Jackson expressed gratitude for the recognition. “I feel honored,” Jackson said. The award is especially significant, she said, because a highlight of her life was meeting Dr. King when he delivered the Antioch College com - mencement address in 1965. She had had a long connection with King’s wife, the former Coretta Scott, a one-time student at Antioch College, who while at Antioch had a close relationship with Jackson’s uncle and aunt, often spending the weekend with them. As well as having known Coretta Scott King, Jackson was a strong admirer of the civil rights leader. “He was important to me, there’s no doubt about it,” she said. Newman, too, expressed appreciation for having been chosen for the honor, although she was also surprised. “I feel thankful,” she said. Deep roots in village It would be hard to find two people with deeper roots in Yellow Springs than Jackson and Newman. Jackson, 94, is the fifth gen - MLK DAY COMMUNITY PEACEMAKER AWARDS 2019— Jackson, Newman honored eration of her family — her maiden name is Lawson — to live in the village, according to a 2016 News profile. And Newman, 93, is a fourth generation descendant of the Conway Colony, the group of freed slaves brought to Yellow Springs in 1862 by the abolitionist Moncure Conway. Both women describe growing up in a Yellow Springs that differed significantly from the Yellow Springs of today. Specifi - cally, the village then had a robust popula- tion of African Americans, almost 30% of the town at its height, compared to less than half that today. According to Jackson, she was compelled to write about history partly out of curiosity about the signifi - cant presence of blacks in the village and especially the leadership role held by local African Americans. Her great-great grand- father had been the town’s constable, and when Jackson was an adult, her brother, James, served as mayor. Blacks also led the police department, the fire department and the school board. Newman also didn’t have to look far to see African Americans having an influ - ence in Yellow Springs — her father, Lewis Adams, was a member of Village Council. Jackson remembers, as a child, growing up in a town in which racial relations were largely harmonious. The public schools were integrated (although the outhouses were not) and many community events, such as the summer “moonlight picnics” sponsored by the Central Chapel AME Church, drew both black and white villag- ers. Yet Yellow Springs also reflected the divisions of the wider nation, and Jackson remembers that private events in homes, such as children’s birthday parties, included only white children if the birthday child was white, and only black children if the child was black. Segregation was a reality in Yellow Springs, and Newman remembered that when she was a child, her father, as a Councilman, authored an ordinance that prohibited discrimination and segregation on the basis of race in public places in Yellow Springs. The 1940s and ’50s were not an easy time to be a young, African-American woman in America, and both women pushed against societal limits and economic realities. Jackson remembers that her high school English teacher took an interest in her writing, and encouraged her to go to PHOTOS BY DIANE CHIDDISTER Phyllis Jackson, left, and Isabel Newman were honored for their social justice efforts at the 2019 Martin Luther King Day event in Yellow Springs. Continued on page 68