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| Civil rights legend Patricia Stephens Due |
The 72-year-old, whom they called the Joan of Arc of the
civil rights movement in Tallahassee, Fla., succumbed on Tuesday after a long
fight with thyroid cancer. She died in Atlanta, where she had moved to to be
closer to her three daughters.
During the civil rights era's peak in the 1960s, Due led
demonstrations at segregated theaters and pools and conducted
voter-registration drives. Her landmark moment was a "jail-in" at
Florida A&M when she and eight other black students tried to integrate a
Tallahassee lunch counter. When faced with paying a fine or going to jail, she
chose the latter. Her courage attracted the attention of Martin Luther King
Jr., who sent her a letter in jail. Her activism garnered her an FBI file that
ran more than 400 pages.
A member of several civil rights organizations, Due went on
to become the local field secretary for the Congress of Racial Equality.
"Patricia Stephens Due was the heart of the civil
rights movement in Tallahassee,'” said author Glenda Rabby, whose book, The Pain and the Promise, details the Tallahassee
civil rights movement. "Her bravery and lifetime commitment to the
advancement of racial justice and equality is legendary in this community and
in the annals of civil rights history."
Florida officials honored her contributions last year by
naming May 11 Patricia Stephens Due Day in the state.
Throughout her life, Due wore dark glasses because her eyes
became sensitive to light after a policeman threw a teargas bomb at her face in
1960. But despite her hampered vision, she kept fighting and saw the light at
the end of the tunnel clearly.
The same fight she gave cancer in her final two
years is the same energy and strength she gave to the civil rights movement. She may never have received the media attention of Malcolm
X, Rosa Parks or King, but one thing we can be assured of is that her legacy
and her spirit will endure. May she rest in peace.
Read more at CNN.com.
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