A Silent Strength

I've been blessed to have grown up surrounded by an amazing group of women! All, who in their own way, paved the future for me...sometimes unbeknownst to them. Women, like my mother Mary, who made everyone she came in contact with feel as if they were the most important person in the room. To this day, I still consider her the greatest woman I ever met! And my grandmother Caroline, who by herself, raised and supported my mother and her 10 siblings(including infant twins), after my grandfather was tragically killed. And I can't forget my sisters, aunts, cousins and the countless other women God has allowed me to cross paths with.

 I shared with you a few weeks ago about my lovely mother HERE. And as we’ve closed out another “Black History Month” and have entered into "National Women's Month", it would be remiss of me to not mention a woman who was a true trailblazer, not only for myself, but for the nation. Yes, I said the nation!

I don’t know what it is about the women in my family, but they never felt the need to brag, they never tooted their own horn and never put the spotlight on themselves. I guess my job is to do it for them, huh! This post is dedicated to my aunt Sarah Mae Flemming-Brown(my dad’s oldest sister), whom we affectionately called “Aunt Kitty”, she was truly our family heroine, a trailblazer in her own right! Here’s her story……….

Civil Rights Leader

Sarah Mae Flemming, the forerunner of Rosa Parks, for many years remained an unsung hero in the annals of civil rights. It was a little-publicized civil-rights case involving public transportation in Columbia, SC that helped Rosa Parks and her lawyers prevail in a lawsuit challenging segregation on buses in Montgomery, Alabama…this case became the Flemming legacy.

Flemming was born on June 28th, 1933, in the midst of the Great Depression, the eldest of Mack and Rosetta Flemming’s seven children. The granddaughter of slaves, Flemming grew up on her family’s own land - 130 acres, five miles north of what is now downtown Eastover. She would eventually die of a heart attack on that same land, just shy of her 60th birthday.

Flemming slipped into history the morning of June 22, 1954 when she, a black maid, took a front seat on the then segregated city bus operated by South Carolina Electric and Gas (SCE&G). The line dividing the races on South Carolina buses served as one of the most visible daily reminders of segregation. Enforced by bus drivers vested with the powers of a deputy sheriff, the line was inscribed into a body of state laws that had for three generations separated blacks and whites. On Columbia buses, the color line shifted, depending on whether more black or white people were riding. One thing remained firm - whites never sat behind blacks.

On that historic morning Flemming took a seat in what she deemed an appropriate area. After taking her seat, a white Columbia bus driver humiliated the 20 year old black woman from Eastover, blocking her with his arm and accusing her of sitting in the “whites-only” part of the bus. She was ordered by the bus driver to give up her seat in the front of the bus. She refused and the bus driver called the police. Sarah was arrested and subsequently sued South Carolina Electric and Gas, the owners and operators of the bus system in Columbia. She also claimed that she was hit by the driver as she exited the bus. This incident, occurring 17 months before Rosa Parks took her stand against segregation on city buses in Montgomery, Alabama- Flemming challenged segregation on SCE&G buses in Columbia. Sarah Mae did not reach the fame of Mrs. Parks, but she did find success in her fight for equality for African Americans and all citizens of the United States.

Sarah Flemming claimed her rights under the fourteenth amendment of the United States constitution had been violated by the driver’s actions. The 14th Amendment states that any person born in the United States is automatically a citizen of this country. This amendment states all citizens have the right to due process under the law and gives all citizens equal protection. It goes on to state that no citizen should be deprived of their life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness.

Phillip Whittenburg, a young white lawyer, originally took the case. Later he was joined by Thurgood Marshall and Matthew Perry. The NAACP sponsored the suit on behalf of Mrs. Flemming. Although the US Supreme Court had already ruled that segregation on city buses was against the law, the South Carolina Public Service Commission decided to uphold the South Carolina state law which supported segregation. The Flemming case was brought before Justice Timmerman, the judge for the eastern district of South Carolina, on February 16, 1955. Although the suit was based on the same principles as that of Brown v. Board of Education, which ruled that separate was not inherently equal, the judgment declared that Flemming’s claim failed to meet the requirements for relief and the case was dismissed. Justice Timmerman put forth that the Plessy v. Ferguson decision held that separation on public transportation was legal. The fight for equality on South Carolina buses did not end there. 

Mrs. Flemming, the NAACP, and her lawyers appealed the ruling and the decision was reversed. The State Court of Appeals stated in their December 14, 1955 decision that Brown vs. Board did indeed cross all levels of society, including public transportation. The justices stated that "separate but equal" could not be fair and equal treatment of citizens in the United States. This outcome was not the end of the road however, as South Carolina Electric and Gas appealed the State Court’s decision. The US Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit dismissed the appeal on April 23, 1956 and the US Supreme Court upheld the Appeals Court decisions on November 29, 1956.  The ruling was widely ignored, but is cited in the decision on the far-better publicized Rosa Parks case - which led to the end of segregated buses.

In 1955, Flemming’s win in court was big news in black newspapers across the country. The bigger news is that this young woman, in the face of southern Jim Crow politics took a step that forever changed the face of civil rights in the South. 


An amazing story isn't it? I think the MOST amazing thing is, I didn’t even know about any of this until after my aunt passed away! By the way, I was married with children of my own! I told you that the women in my family didn’t toot their own horn, but really Aunt Kitty, you never even mentioned this story not once(well at least not to me)…go figure, lol! And yes, that was THE Thurgood Marshall, first African-American Supreme Court justice, who was one of my aunt’s lawyers. As you can imagine, I am one proud niece. Her story sounds like a scene from the movie “The Help”. Hey I may someday write a screenplay, who knows! ;-) She is definitely our family heroine, a true inspiration, one of many who silently fought behind the scenes so we ALL could have equality. Thank you Aunt Kitty for trailblazing the way by showing us all how to do ourselves well! A big horn toot for you!!

*UPDATE*: Since writing this post over three years ago, there's an update to my aunt's story. I'm so proud to say that as of June 28, 2013 (on what would have been her 80th birthday), Aunty Kitty was honored by the city of Columbia, SC with a street naming ceremony. Now the corner of Main and Washington Streets in downtown Columbia, SC is officially named "Sarah Mae Flemming Way". Aunt Kitty...your legacy lives on!!

*Excerpts taken from "South Carolina African-American Calendar" and "Teaching American History in South Carolina"

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