User:MH1245/Annie Pearl Avery

Annie Pearl Avery (born November 4th 1943) is an American civil rights activist who was born in Birmingham, Alabama. Around the age of ten, Avery was sent to live with relatives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Throughout her life, Annie experienced a number of encounters with police brutality, ultimately encouraging her to become a civil rights activist. After attending a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee meeting in Atlanta, Georgia she was stranded and threatened on the way home in Marietta, Georgia. A few things Avery is most notable for include: the Albany Movement, finishing William Lewis Moore’s march after he was killed, being arrested many times for protesting, and participating in voter registration drives across the South.

Early Life
Annie Pearl Avery was born on November 4th, 1943 to Will and Hattie Townsend. Her great aunt was living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania when her husband passed. She had no children and told Avery’s parents that she was feeling lonely and wanted someone to live with her. Avery, who was one of four children, was sent to live with her Aunt at the age of ten.

When she moved to Pittsburgh, her Aunt told her she could sit wherever she wanted when riding the bus. She attended an integrated school, Gladstone Elementary, which she states was much different than her school in Alabama.

Avery married young and had her first child during high school, causing her to drop out.

Before turning 16, Avery moved back to Alabama and began her activism.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
Avery's activism began when she was around the age of 16. She purchased a bus ticket from Birmingham to Montgomery to be part of the freedom ride. Avery met Wilson Brown at the bus station who was a coordinator for the movement who told her about the nonviolence agreement amongst freedom riders. Avery brought a knife with her for protection, prompting Brown to not allow her to go because he thought she did not understand the concept of nonviolence. The bus that Avery would have been riding on was bombed before the riders were on it and Avery received a refund for her ticket.

In 1961, Wilson Brown asked Avery if she wanted to attend a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Atlanta. This is where she met Ella Baker and at the age of 18 became the Project Manager for SNCC. Baker acted as a "surrogate mother" to Avery because Avery's mother did not approve of her activism. Baker encouraged Avery to participate in the movement.

The committee met during a weekend and afterward when Avery was attempting to get back to Birmingham, the group she was with accidentally ended up in Marietta, Georgia. They went into a bus station and because there was a white woman with the, that indicated they were part of the Civil Rights Movement. The police eventually began following the group and pulled them over. Wilson was arrested and the car they were in was confiscated. The remaining members in the group attempted to find their way back and thought it would be best to return to the bus station. When they arrived, the person at the counter told them they could not stay because they were not customers. Avery bought tickets for everyone in the group so that they could stay at the station and find a way back to Birmingham. While waiting, a group of white people started congregating and harassing the group, calling them derogatory names.

Members of SNCC disclosed that ulcers were so common that they began calling it the "SNCC disease". Despite the dangers that were presented, Avery and others continued to work and register voters throughout the South.

Avery notes that she supports non-violence as a strategy, but that she never personally embraced the idea of it. She never attended a non-violent workshop but used nonviolence as a way to further her activism.

Members of SNCC stayed in Freedom Houses that had to be protected from outsiders and Avery took it upon herself to stand outside of the building with her gun. She was described as a "gun toting cab driver" by other members of the committee.

Civil Rights Activism
Avery found herself in Danville, Virginia where she was appearing in court for a march that she attended. When she arrived at the courthouse, the judge that was there to hear her case was asleep at the podium so Avery and her friend laid down in front of the podium, beginning a 'lie-in' protest. The judge eventually awoke and was angry to see them on the floor and sentenced them to 90 days in solitary confinement. After serving the sentence, Avery returned to Birmingham to rest and the next day woke up to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing where four people were killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan.

Avery helped with voter registration and was arrested and sent to prison again for doing so while in Mississippi.

William Lewis Moore, a white postman demonstrated his support for integration by walking from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi. His body was later found near Gadsden, Alabama. Avery decided to continue his march to Jackson and was arrested minutes later while walking with her sign and was sentenced to 10 weeks in prison. The next day, two others were arrested for attempting the same march. This is where Avery met Diane Nash and Madeleine Sherwood.

On March 7,1965 Avery took part in the Selma to Montgomery marches, also known as Bloody Sunday after Jimmie Lee Jackson was shot and killed during a march. A doctor and a nurse joined the protestors because they were not able to receive medical attention during the march. Avery recalled hearing what she thought were gunshots but was actually teargas being used by police officers. Avery was arrested for having a physical disagreement with police regarding where she was allowed to walk on the street. She notes that she was the only person who was arrested. One of SNCC's attorneys, Peter Hall, posted bail for Avery and she was released a few hours later.

During a demonstration in Montgomery, Avery was approached by a police office who was holding a billie club. Avery grabbed the police officer's club before he could beat her and asked him what he was going to do about it. Avery managed to escape the officer's view and hid amongst other demonstrators and was not arrested.

Although her mother was not originally fond of Avery's activism, one day, Avery returned home and found out that her mother had been arrested for marching in a protest.

National Voting Rights Museum
After the busiest part of Avery's activism, she began working at the National Voting Rights Museum located in Selma, Alabama that is located near the Edmund Pettus Bridge.