Opal Lee, ‘Grandmother of Juneteenth,’ Says There is More to Do

Telisa Franklin, president of Memphis Juneteenth Festival, joins 
Opal Lee, the “Grandmother of the Juneteenth Movement,” for a 
book signing at the Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum. 

Opal Lee (Photos by Wiley Henry)

Opal Lee, the “Grandmother of the Juneteenth Movement,” was in Memphis Aug. 28-31 to promote her children’s book, which is the first leg of the “Change is Possible Tour.” 

Aptly titled “Juneteenth: A Children’s Story,” the book was written by Lee, who was largely responsible for petitioning Congress to set aside June 19 as a federally-recognized holiday. 

“We want you to know that Juneteenth is not a Texas thing, and it's not a Black thing. It’s a ‘we’ thing,” said Lee, 94, who lives in Texas. “Now that we have it as a holiday, we can't rest on our laurels.”

It was in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, when enslaved Blacks learned that they were freed two years after President Lincoln signed into law the Emancipation Proclamation.

Lee arrived in Memphis with her tour manager, Dr. Belay Reddick; Shinita Reddick, his personal assistant and publicist; Dione Sims, Lee’s granddaughter; and Robert Sims Jr., Lee’s great grandson and photographer. 

State Rep. Karen D. Camper, Tennessee General Assembly’s District 87 representative, assisted Dr. Reddick in bringing Lee to Memphis. Telisa Franklin, president of the Memphis Juneteenth Festival, welcomed Lee and her entourage to Memphis.

Lee’s visit, said Franklin, “gave me a spark that should never die, that Juneteenth in Memphis should always be around. And we must continue educating as well as celebrating.” 

Dr. Reddick said Memphis was the first stop on the tour because he thought it would be a good idea to combine Lee’s civil rights activism and her social impact leadership with his interest in mass incarceration.

“We wanted to stop in Memphis first, because it was FedEx that hired me as an ex-felon,” said Dr. Reddick, a mentor coach, youth advocate, and conflict resolution expert who spent two decades in prison for a non-violent offense.

“We want to affect change from incarceration to restoration, because we live in a society that arrests people and throws away the key,” he said. “We have to have a plan to acclimate them back into society.”

Dr. Reddick honed-in on that message and more when he took the pulpit at Pursuit of God Church-Memphis, where members purchased copies of Lee’s book. Before Dr. Reddick’s message, Ricky Floyd, the church’s lead pastor, held a Q & A with Lee and Franklin.

For Lee, it had been a decades-long effort on her part and a 1,400-mile trek from Texas to D.C. that prompted Congress to act. The House vote was 415-14. U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, representing Tennessee’s 9^th Congressional District, cast his vote to make Juneteenth a federal holiday.

On June 17, President Joe Biden paid tribute to Lee at the White House before signing into law the groundbreaking Senate Bill 475, i.e., the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act. 

“There is too much more to do,” said Lee, encouraging more people to get involved. “I’m asking everybody to make yourselves a committee of one. You know people who are not on the same page you’re on.”

Lee is keenly aware that some people may be ignorant of Juneteenth and need to be educated to understand its significance. “It’s left up to you to change their minds,” she said.

Elaine Lee Turner, who operates the Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum, where Lee held a book signing, said, “She is an inspiration to all of us because of her perseverance, stamina, her determination to have Juneteenth proclaimed a national holiday.”

(For copies of Opal Lee’s book, “Juneteenth: A Children’s Story,” log onto https://www.opalswalk2dc.com/store)

Noted Playwright Was a Guiding Light to Young People

Dr. Erma Clanton speaks to the assembly at New Sardis 

Baptist Church during a black history program in 2015. 

(Photo by Wiley Henry)

Dr. Erma Clanton had one life to live. Much of it was devoted to teaching, nurturing, mentoring, developing and illuminating the artistry within young people – whether it was in song, public speaking, or onstage in the theatre. 

Her reputation was widespread. She was known to bring out their best and shaped many of them into professional singers and actors on the local and national stages. A lyricist, playwright, stage director, and educator, she was their guiding light.

Dr. Clanton was born in Memphis on Feb. 5, 1923. She was 98 when she died Aug. 24 and left behind an enduring legacy that loved ones, and those she mentored, had no problem putting into words. The outpouring of love and respect for the pioneering educator/playwright was undeniable.

Deborah Manning Thomas, choked with emotion, reflected on her relationship with Dr. Clanton, whom she had spoken with just a few days before her passing.

“Even though she was planning her funeral…memorial service, we just did not accept the fact that she was gonna leave us so soon. The irony of it all is a bit overwhelming. [But] we accept what God has allowed,” said the singer and actor, who began her career as a young upstart under Dr. Clanton’s tutelage.

Thomas’ vocals were maximized in Dr. Clanton’s theatrical production in 1970 called “An Evening of Soul.” She was an undergraduate student at then-Memphis State University (currently the University of Memphis), where Dr. Clanton was an associate professor.

“She was my mentor and like a mother,” Thomas said. “The first airplane trip I ever took, she was designated as my chaperone. My mother did not trust anyone else with me, but her.” 

Thomas was accompanied to the 1972 Wattstax Festival in Los Angeles, where she was a featured singer. “She was special to me,” Thomas said, “and she called me daughter. That was a blessing.”

Losing Dr. Clanton has been quite painful, she said. “I loved her like I loved my own mother. It hurts. I'm reliving 2002 all over again. That's the year I lost my mother.”

Gospel singer Reginald Gaston thought of Dr. Clanton as a second mother as well. “She taught me quite a bit, not only about the theater, but about life,” said Gaston, a retired educator and retired probation officer.

Gaston was a budding singer in 1973 when he began performing in a few of Dr. Clanton’s productions including an “Evening of Soul,” “God's Trombones,” and “Black and White and Red all Over.”

He said Dr. Clanton’s death is heartbreaking. “She will be sorely missed in this community,” he said. “She gave a lot to the community. She helped people. Period. Sometimes she didn't know them.”

Social media is replete with comments, tributes, sympathies and heartfelt expressions. Many of the posters were mentored by Dr. Clanton or were impacted by her in one way or another.

Thomas said Dr. Clanton “wanted to do something to lift the spirits of the people and to try to bring us together” in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s after the trauma of Dr. Martin L. King’s death.

After graduating from Booker T. Washington High School, Dr. Clanton went to Alabama State University and earned a Bachelor of Science in 1945; a master’s degree in theatre and communication at the former Memphis State University in 1969; and a doctor of humane letters from the Tennessee School of Religion in 2001.

She chose education as her career path and began teaching English and speech at Melrose High School, where her knack for writing and producing plays was apparent. While teaching theatre and communication at the U of M, she produced “Roots, Rhymes & Righteous Times (An Evening of Soul)” in 1971. 

Other productions would follow over the years including “Listen Children,” “God's Trombones,” “Black Pearls of the World,” and “Gifted & Black – On the Right Track.” She retired from the university in 1991.

“She was the GIFT that kept on giving! Erma Clanton played a huge role in my love for stage/theatre. As a child I performed in one of her productions God’s Trombones at Memphis State University,” posted Tracy Bethea, 95.7 Hallelujah FM radio personality on iHeartRadio. “Praying peace and comfort to her family. Her work will continue to shine through soooo many creatives.” 

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, representing Tennessee’s 9^th Congressional District, noted his friendship with Dr. Clanton. He posted: “A wonderful woman who was an icon of theatre and the arts in Memphis. My friend for 50 years. A life well lived.”

Dr. L. LaSimba M. Gray Jr., pastor emeritus of New Sardis Baptist Church, first met Dr. Clanton in the mid-seventies when he headed the Sickle Cell Anemia program. They would become good friends. 

In 1991, “she joined me at the New Sardis Church, and what a joy that was,” he said, noting that Dr. Clanton directed the Christmas and Passion Play productions. “She took on the drama ministry, man, and we went to a whole new level.”

She had magnetism, charisma, Dr. Gray said. “Erma Clanton could do it all and was just a gifted woman, unselfish. I mean, she just gave, gave, gave and gave. She was a beautiful soul.”

A memorial service for Dr. Erma Clanton is Sept. 4 at New Sardis Baptist Church, 7739 E. Holmes Road. Visitation will take place at 11 a.m.; a celebration of life will follow at noon.

Black Pioneer Pharmacist Thankful for Life, Legacy

Dr. Charles A. Champion, the quintessential pharmacist and 
herbalist in Memphis, started Champion’s Pharmacy and Herb
Store in 1981. (Photo by Wiley Henry)

Dr. Charles A. Champion is not shy about praising God for longevity and the path he took that led him to become the quintessential pharmacist and herbalist in Memphis and Shelby County. 

He’s 90 years old, married 64 years to Carolyn Bailey Champion, and has two daughters – Dr. Carol “Cookie” Champion and Dr. Charita Champion Brookins, both pharmacists, holding down Champion’s Pharmacy and Herb Store since their father is semi-retired.

His grandchildren – Charles Edwin Champion, a chemist; Jessica Champion, a financial adviser; and Rikki Brookins, an assistant – are integral to the business as well. They’re a cohesive family intent on keeping the business relevant that their grandfather started Jan. 5, 1981, at 1925 Third Street before moving 10 years later to their current location at 2369 Elvis Presley Blvd.

“It's a godsend situation,” Dr. Champion said. “After we lost our daughter Chandra (in 2014), who was a certified pharmacy technician, she’d produced two children who are able to help us from a financial standpoint and from a scientific standpoint.” 

When asked the secret to his longevity, he said unapologetically, “Live like a champion,” a slogan that was culled from a recent honor he received at Xavier University College of Pharmacy in New Orleans, his alma mater.

He explained it this way: “I have to live in accordance with good health principles. As I counsel people daily, I must be able to convey to them good health practices. From that, I receive longevity… So, what I'm saying is I cannot sit here and tell the customers, or patients, one thing, then do another.” 

To say that Dr. Champion is thankful for life is an understatement. It is just as much a foregone conclusion that his hard work has produced results and a legacy that his children and grandchildren are taking to the next level. 

“You don't want me to start shouting,” he said at the onset of a split-second emotional outburst during an interview. Like pop-ups on the World Wide Web, Dr. Champion will let loose a praise when you least expect it.

It is his faith that propels him – he’s a longtime member of Mt. Olive CME Church – along with his willingness to stay the course despite the difficulties that often arise after small Black businesses move from concept to brick and mortar.

“If it hadn't been for the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church,” Dr. Champion said, “and the local church in Greenfield, Tenn. (his hometown) that guided me and kept me, and wounding up at a Catholic university, I wouldn’t be here.”

But he is here, to say the least, and making a difference in the lives of a many local and online customers looking for herbal remedies for simple ailments or looking for “the Pill-er of the Community” – one of his slogans – to fill their doctor’s prescription.

The majority of Dr. Champion’s customers are Black and come from varied socio-economic backgrounds. White walk-in customers comprise less than five percent of sales; however, 30 percent of them shop online. 

“I'm seeing people 50 and 60 years old that I waited on a number of years ago,” he said. “Then their family is telling other families. So I have served three or four generations.”

Dr. Carol Champion is hoping to expand what her father has built. “I want to expand our territory and be able to grow the online sales,” she said, “and possibly open a west Tennessee location within two to three years.”

A mobile unit was deployed a year ago in August. “Now we are able to go into the small towns,” she said, adding: “I’m trying to do what I can do to keep things going from what he’s built.” 

Dr. Champion’s daughters are running the day-to-day operation and “making decisions, ordering, and everything that is needed. I'm only called in for advice,” he said. “My role now is…I would say…I’m semi-retired due to my age and do the fact of my eyesight.” 

He is visually impaired, but perseveres, nevertheless. “But my mind, as far as I’m concerned, is still active,” he said. “I'm still active in the business. It's just that I'm not physically involved now.”

Here’s what he says about his legacy and leaving behind a blueprint for success that his children and grandchildren can follow: “It's important for the children to be aware of the fact that you need to stay one step ahead. You have to have vision. So, it's important for me to try to instill that in them.”

The bottom line? He’s trying to get them ready to step up to the plate. 

(For more information about Champion’s Pharmacy and Herb Store, contact Dr. Carol “Cookie” Champion at (901) 948-6622 or email her at championsherbstore@gmail.com. The website address is www.championsherbstore.com.)

‘Get the Shot. It May Save Your Life’

Dale and Secelia McNair continue to grapple with COVID-19 after he
spent 72 days in the ICU at St. Frances Hospital. (Photo by Wiley Henry)

MEMPHIS, TN – Dale McNair is struggling to keep his blood oxygen level from cascading down into the danger zone. To help him breathe, he ambles along each day with two oxygen tanks in tow.

Reginald Johnson struggles too, but in a different way. His wife Shirley was deprived of oxygen and struggled mightily to breathe in the ICU at Methodist North Hospital. She didn’t make it.

COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on both families. Dale McNair, however, is fortunate to be alive. His wife Secelia prayed that God would restore his health. He still struggles, though.

The McNairs were married only 18 months when COVID-19 upended their lives. Secelia had gotten vaccinated; Dale had reservations. “I wanted to see how it would do her,” he said.

On April 27, he was admitted to St. Francis Hospital with pneumonia; and then, too, a second COVID-19 test had come back positive. Within a few days, his health had declined significantly.

Due to the scarcity of beds at the hospital, Dale McNair said he was placed in a makeshift room. “I started going down fast,” he said. “All I could think of was I just wished I could breathe again.”

He spent 72 days in the hospital, four weeks of that time on the cusp of death in the ICU. Plus, the ravaging virus had severely weakened his body, left him frail and a wisp of a man, and robbed him of 50 lbs. 

“I called at least twice a day,” said Secelia McNair, standing by her man, even when she couldn’t visit him. “I talked to the day nurses, night nurses, to see how he was doing, what his oxygen levels were.”

She prayed incessantly too and grappled with mental and emotional distress. “I actually started back seeing a counselor during that time,” she said. “Night times were the hardest, because I’m used to him being there.”

Prayer warriors near and far prayed for Dale McNair too. “I had friends that would text me and say they’re praying for me,” he said. “I had friends in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, California…even in other countries.”

The Johnsons were together 45 years, 35 of them in marriage. In March, they celebrated their wedding anniversary, renewed their vows, took off to Las Vegas, and fêted Shirley’s birthday.

The next month, on April 6, Reginald Johnson got himself vaccinated. He took his second shot the morning of April 30, the day the coronavirus took Shirley’s life. Now he’s alone without his better half.  

He said losing Shirley, the mother of their five children, has been painful and worse at night. “I’m hurting now,” he said, his voice unsteady. “I mean it’s just hard. My life…it’s just been torn upside down.” 

He remembers the onset of his wife’s illness. It was April 22, he recalls, when she started coughing. She blamed it on taking a shower, he said, and venturing too quickly into the outdoors.

“My son and I convinced her that she needed to go get tested,” he said. “So she got tested that Thursday. That Friday morning (April 23), they called and told us that she was positive with COVID-19.”

On Sunday morning, April 25, Reginald Johnson said Shirley woke up, sat on the side of the bed, and was gasping for air. “I told her, ‘Baby, you never want to go to the hospital, but you’re gonna go to the hospital by ambulance or you’re gonna go with me.”

He drove her to Methodist North Hospital. The grim news he received afterward wasn’t reassuring. “They said she was breathing 35 times a minute,” he said. “That was the last time I saw my wife alive until they called me on April 30.”

The McNairs and Reginald Johnson shared their stories on WAVN The Trend 104 FM/1240 AM radio station with host and owner Telisa Franklin and the Rev. Ricky Floyd, a community activist and senior pastor of the Pursuit of God Transformation Center in the Frayser community.

Frayser is located in the 38127 zip code area and has the highest COVID-19 cases in Shelby County, according to the Shelby County Health Department. Black and brown residents comprise the majority. It is one of the least vaccinated communities in the county.

Pastor Floyd has a lot to say about this. He believes the right information is not being disseminated. He said, “I feel there’s not been enough communication through the people who are aware, intelligent, and knowledgeable about the virus.”

Meanwhile, the coronavirus has mutated into the highly transmissible Delta variant. Its viral load is 1,000 times infectious and deadlier, the experts said. And it’s spreading like wildfire across the U.S. and abroad.

When it comes down to Black and brown people, Pastor Floyd said it’s a matter of “race, politics and economics.” He added: “It’s a dangerous combination for underprivileged people who don’t have access to healthcare.”

He is encouraging the underprivileged – or anybody, for that matter – to get vaccinated. “I’ve led by example,” he said. “I almost felt like God was having me to be an example that gives the rest of them confidence to take it.”

Dale McNair needed that confidence. But COVID-19 had overwhelmed him before he was ready to commit to the shot. “It not only can save your life,” he said, “but it can save the life of your spouse, your children…”

Reginald Johnson concurs. “Get the shot. It may save your life,” he added.