This is the 10th in a series
of profiles that chronicle Alexandria's Living Legends,
people who are today's history makers. Living Legends of
Alexandria is a joint project of the Rotary Club of
Alexandria and the Alexandria Gazette Packet. Conceived
and directed by Nina Tisara, it is designed as an
ongoing project to identify and honor those individuals
whose vision and dedication make a tangible difference
to the quality of life in Alexandria. For more
information or to nominate a Legend for next year's
program, visit http://www.tisaraphoto.com/legends/
It
doesn’t take long to discover that Living Legend
Reverend Doctor Elbert Ransom, Jr. reaches out to
everyone. This man of note — musical and renowned —
makes everyone part of his life — and what a
life.
Ransom arrived in Montgomery — to attend
Alabama State College for Negroes — three months after
Dr. Martin Luther King. King’s Morehouse College
classmate — and Ransom’s voice coach — Robert Williams
introduced Ransom and King. Eventually Ransom joined
King’s church, Dexter Avenue Baptist, where he sang in
the choir, performed chores at the parsonage, and
babysat the Kings’ first child. Ransom found himself at
the birth of the Civil Rights Movement: the Montgomery
Bus Boycott, recruiting volunteers and distributing
informational literature.
During those days,
civil disobedience became a major method of bringing
broad attention to inequities in the South, and being
arrested was a major attention-getter. Going to jail was
a frightening experience. Often when black persons were
arrested, they might disappear permanently. The civil
rights demonstrators overcame their fears, and packed
the jails for freedom. In many cases, there was not
enough room in the jails.
“Bert” Ransom was born
in Jackson, Miss. His father labored to build Kessler
Air Force Base before moving to New Orleans to work at
Higgins Shipbuilders. Eventually, the senior Ransoms put
together $700 to go into the dry cleaning business where
the younger Ransom worked through 12th grade. By high
school graduation, he had four music scholarship offers.
“I accepted Alabama’s as it was the farthest from the
store.” The 17 year old boarded a train for college
armed with his mother’s southern fried chicken and pound
cake. His mother knew that in the segregated south he
would not be allowed in the dining car.
RANSOM WAS OFTEN a passenger on the bus
Rosa Parks rode and knew the bus driver. Ransom had to
pay his fare in front but board at the back because he
was not allowed to walk through the white section. The
bus boycott was originally scheduled to last one day:
Dec. 5, 1954. Because of the one-day success the boycott
was extended until all grievances were settled. It
finally ended one year later when the United States
Supreme Court acted to desegregate buses.
I asked
Ransom how the congregation reacted to Dr. King’s
non-violent movement, especially older members. “Dexter
Avenue Baptist Church was a non-traditional southern
Baptist church with professors, doctors, and lawyers: an
educated congregation. These progressive people were
prepared to pay the price for freedom. I learned that
price from my cousin, Medgar Evers, an insurance
salesman who was also field secretary for the Jackson,
Miss. NAACP chapter. He helped black people register to
vote. When he knew he was a target, he moved into my
grandmother’s house to prolong his life. He returned to
his own home one evening and was killed.”
Ransom
finished his education at New Orleans’ Xavier University
— earning a B.S. in music education — and moved to
Chicago where he taught music in the public schools for
five years. Through his connection with the civil rights
movement, he became an Eleanor Roosevelt Intern working
for the American Friends Service Committee to
desegregate housing. He sent white and black couples to
request housing in traditional white areas. This
coincided with King’s search for a northern city to show
racism also existed outside the south and resulted in
the organization of King’s Chicago Freedom Movement.
Ransom directed the Movement’s Southside Action Center
and helped organize open housing demonstrations with
King, triggering an injunction from Mayor Richard. J.
Daley.
IN SPEECHES, Ransom is quick to
remind audiences that often there were more white faces
at these demonstrations than black. He was the city
manager of Resurrection City — the Poor People’s
Campaign — when King was assassinated.
His
housing background brought Ransom to D.C. government to
work on urban renewal and real estate. While there, he
earned a master of divinity from Howard and a doctorate
of ministry at Wesley Theological Seminary.
Eventually, Ransom, wife Louise, and three
children moved to Alexandria where he spent 14 years as
associate pastor at Alfred Street Baptist Church. He
then became special assistant to City Manager Vola
Lawson. His official responsibilities included the
Office of Human Rights, Affirmative Action, and the
Office on Women. Ransom also served as a troubleshooter
for Lawson, assuring that her concerns reached
throughout the community. During this time, he met Lois
Walker who nominated him for the Living Legend Award.
His biggest challenge was creating the "Call to
Community" initiative, a forum for racial and cultural
dialogue to encourage cohesion in the City’s diverse
community. Today’s spin-off is the Student Forum which
broadens exposure of public and private school students
to different races and cultures. The key is to encourage
teens to talk face-to-face about community issues.
Alexandria remains a racially, culturally, financially
diverse city. The Forums help students confront
stereotypes.
RANSOM HAS BEEN involved
throughout Alexandria, chairing the Community
Corrections Resources Board, the Juvenile and Domestic
Relations District Court, and the Community Justice
Board and serving as a board member of the Alexandria
NAACP. He was vice president of Fayette Housing
Corporation, working on affordable housing for
financially indigent residents. Other involvement
includes the Foundation of the Alexandria Bar
Association, helping youth understand court proceedings;
the Alexandria Interfaith Foundation, fostering
cooperation among the clergy; the Potomac Community
Mentoring Program, working with prison inmates; TRIAD,
reducing crimes against seniors; and Choices, providing
mediation and helping gang members make good
choices.
He has created Reach, Inc. and travels
the world fostering racial and cultural dialogue. Recent
travels have included England, Ethiopia, Namibia,
Zimbabwe, Turkmenistan, Ukrain, Ireland and Kosovo. He
wrote one book “I Shall Not Pass this Way Again” about
his quest to find his place in a life of multiple
choices and the role of unconditional faith in
God.
A new book, “Bridging the Divide,” due this
spring, describes America today at one of the most
diverse times and calls us to unite to build an even
greater America. The book is “intended to introduce
brave thoughts and action toward unifying the greatest
nation on earth.”
He also finds time to teach a
class he created at Virginia Theological Seminary,
“Christian Social Ministry.” Ransom sees these
activities as the results of good and solid parental
training and his involvement in the civil rights
movement.
Louise Ransom has been at her
husband’s side for 40 years. Together they have raised
Angela, a psychologist in Richmond; Stephen, a painter
in Fredericksburg; and Gregory, a history and social
studies teacher at Burgundy Farm Country Day School in
Alexandria. Six Ransom grandchildren are evenly divided
among their three children.
It may be hard to
understand Ransom’s lack of rancor and his infectious
humor. How does a man who has been jeered at and
attacked in the north and the south continue to reach
out to everyone? Ransom explains: “When I remember that
man is created in God’s image, I am reminded that God is
in each of us. God is the meaningful part of everyone,
even those who hate us.”
Ransom has taken all the
notes of his life and created not a solo aria but a
chorus of hope and achievement which includes all
people.