Memories of the Shreveport's Civil Rights Movement come to life in a new play
Carolyn Jones was born into the Shreveport Civil Rights struggle by being the daughter of the late longtime pastor of Galilee Missionary Baptist Church, Dr. E. Edwards Jones. She was first Black student at Creswell Elementary in 1966.
However, her lasting achievement is not about being first; it’s about being last. Jones is the last owner of the Modern Beauty Shop in the Allendale neighborhood.
It is a shop with a rich history, spanning decades, that quietly took steps to change the racial climate of Shreveport in the middle to late part of the 20th Century.
“I want to keep the legacy alive, the history, for the sake of those who are not privy to it, for those who need to be enlightened about the contributions of everyday men and women,” Jones said.
She has kept the story alive by remembering what she has heard in those rooms since the days when her mother would take her there as a child when the shop was owned by Mamie Love Wallace and Ann Brewster.
“They motivated the women who sat in those chairs,” Jones recalled.
Those memories of the Shreveport Civil Rights movement including the efforts to teach people how to pass voting tests and lessons learned from a Martin Luther King speech, are the basis of her play, "Beauty and the Ballot Box."
On a recent Sunday afternoon, in the side room of the Wallett Branch of the Shreve Memorial Library, several long tables joined so 10 script readers, facing an audience, could do a table reading. As the laughter echoed in the halls, it became clear that Jones was able to take serious matters and bring them to life with heart.
Angelique Feaster from Mahogany Ensemble Theatre read the part of Mamie Love Wallace not only to support Jones but “to be part of sharing the lived experiences of phenomenal and inspiring women in our community who were passionate about not only being a voice to the voiceless but teaching them how to use their voice to bring about change in the community.”
At the end of the reading, Jones got flowers from her grandson, Conner Haygood, and took a bow in front of the applauding audience. However, it would not be the end, but rather the beginning.
At 2 p.m. Sunday, July 16, in that same room of the Wallette Branch Library, there will be a casting call for the upcoming October performance of the play at the Bossier Arts Council’s East Bank Theatre.
"I feel like its an answered prayer and that I am fulfilling a promise to the ladies," Jones said.
If you go
Casting Call: 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, July 16, Wallette Branch Library, 363 Hearne Ave., Shreveport
Performance - 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 27, and 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, East Bank Theatre, 630 Barksdale Blvd., Bossier City
This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Memories of the Shreveport's Civil Rights Movement come to life in a new play
