“I live in Ormond Beach, but I write from the county jail in St. Augustine. I write to you, my community, because I learned that you have been informed of my presence here and I wish to discuss it with you. Twenty years ago this week my father was killed in action on an island in the Pacific, fighting for the freedom of his family, his country, his world. Twenty years ago, on the same day he died, I was born, and it is fitting that I am now fighting for the same thing.
The army I have joined is a non-violent one born out of suffering and love and concerned not only with the welfare of America’s Negro citizens but with the spiritual well being of our whole country. I marched quietly with more than 400 others through the streets of St. Augustine and looked into eyes of hatred. I felt sick to my stomach when some behind me were attacked and all we knew was the sound of screaming, bricks being thrown, and barking dogs.
I hurt for those that suffered then, I hurt because there is only one of me from my community; I hurt for my state that tries in vain to cling to the immoral traditions of the past; I hurt for my country that has failed to live up to the principles on which it was founded. I hurt for all humanity that has not yet learned how to live in a spirit of love and brotherhood. That is why I am here: I hurt.”
Kathryn Fentress was 17 years old when she was sent to a Conference on Human Relations by her Congressional Church in Daytona Beach, Florida. She was a white young woman born and brought up in the South between her junior and senior years of high school. She was an honor student and was planning on going to college. At the conference she met a group of young people that was led by John Lewis of Georgia. He was organizing a number of students to do some picketing there in Nashville, protesting against the segregation laws and for the civil rights of all Americans.
Kathryn finished her senior year and began her studies at Duke University. In the summer of 1963 when visiting some friends, they all decided to join in at a sit-in at Woolworth’s Dime store. Some black kids went to in to sit at the counter and request service. Some black and white marched in front of the store with protest signs. She later joined a bus of students that was going to Washington D.C to take part in the march on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. would give his “I Have A Dream” speech.
She worked with Dr. Martin Luther king in all the marches and nonviolence movements he had. She was moved and inspired by him. Kathryn faced people’s hatred wherever they went. She was arrested in many occasions but that didn’t stop her. A policeman couldn’t understand what she was doing with the black people and when he was informed that she went to Duke University he couldn’t believe it. He made it clear that someone like her couldn’t be possibly going to Duke because only smart people went there.
Kathryn’s active involvement in the civil rights movement in St. Augustine ended after the summer of 1964. She returned to Duke University and got her degree in psychology eventually earning her doctorate in psychology. Kathryn says that “I basically went underground politically, letting my political activism be expressed through my work, as a psychologist. I try to empower my clients to challenge their programs, their belief systems, helping them to be more compassionate and empathetic.” She says that she still believes as she did at 17 that she needs to stand up and participate in these humanitarian causes.
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