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| John Pearlie Pettaway and his daughters, Cheryl Pettaway Colvin (left) and Brenda Pettaway Henderson (right). Photo courtesy of the Pettaway family. |
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first installment of a two-part series on the life and legacy of John Pearlie Pettaway, who left an indelible mark on Selma, Ala., during the Civil Rights Movement.
MEMPHIS, TN – The late John Pearlie Pettaway was 95 years old when the pastor at Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in Selma, Ala., eulogized him on May 31, 2025. After the service, he was laid to rest in Pineview Memory Gardens in Valley Grande, Ala. Pettaway was a deacon at Shiloh and had a penchant for singing. But he was more than that to Cheryl Pettaway Colvin and Brenda Pettaway Henderson, who remember their father as a foot soldier in Selma during the turbulent Civil Rights Movement. “He was a master of many trades,” added Colvin, the youngest of Pettaway and his wife Jeanette James Pettaway’s four children, including Ronald Pettaway, who is deceased, and Deborah Pettaway. Pettaway was born in Autauga County, Ala., on April 20, 1929, according to his birth certificate. But he would use May 20, 1929, as his date of birth. However, before his death on May 16, 2025, he’d eked out a modest living and raised a family, even during perilous times for a Black man in Selma. In Selma, Pettaway was known for his work ethics. It wasn’t unusual for him to work several jobs and purchase vehicles to repair for resale. His last position was with Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala. He was also an entrepreneur and drove a cab. But it was Pettaway’s work in the movement that garnered the most attention and kindled in Colvin and Henderson fond memories and a sense of pride. He didn’t march, per se, but he was active, nonetheless. When Henderson was born, Jeanette James was 15 and living with her mother. But that didn’t stop Pettaway from visiting his first born. “I was 10 years old when he and my mom married,” she said. Henderson described her father as kind, the “fun-type,” and interactive. “He made sure I got to school…had food…and got my homework done,” she said, recalling when he escorted her to the debutante’s ball. “Everybody loved my dad,” Colvin added. Pettaway drove the cab at night for both South Wind Cab Company and Deluxe Cab Company. His passengers included freedom fighters for whom he would ferry to Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church and First Baptist Church for mass meetings in Selma. Pettaway met a white woman from up North who was intrigued by Southern culture. She was a woman of means, Henderson said. “I can remember her saying, ‘You know, I need my daughter to be a part of this.’” Colvin was relatively young at that time but could sort through a few names of people who fought for justice and a few who visited the Pettaway home, such as “Jennifer,” the white woman’s daughter. “She was a very small and timid white girl who lived in the same house with us. She slept in the same bed with me,” said Henderson, who eventually became a foot soldier herself. A retired educator, she is the current chair of Elmore County Democratic Party. When Rev. James Reeb, a white Unitarian Universalist minister and civil rights activist from Boston, came to Selma in 1965 to participate in the marches for voting rights, “My dad brought him to the house with his good friend,” Henderson said. “He came to the house twice.” On March 9, white segregationists brutally beat Rev. Reeb following "Bloody Sunday” two days earlier. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who had urged the minister to come to Selma, delivered his eulogy at Brown Chapel. Pettaway himself was nearly caught up in the melee on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. He was fortunate, though, because he’d hung back at the foot of the bridge and ran for his life. Though Colvin was born in 1962, she was cognizant of the movement via stories that were told by her father and sister. She is now active in the Annual Foot Soldiers Breakfast Foundation in Selma. “I appreciate Mr. Charles Mauldin, the founder,” said Colvin, a certified end-of-life doula providing support to individuals during their final days. “He has done a superb job of making certain that foot soldiers receive recognition.” Copyright 2026 TNTRIBUNE. All rights reserved. |
