Retired Principal Reed Evans Took the High Road
culture, dickson junior high, education, history, principle, reed evans,
Reed Evans remembers how the school bus used to sail right past him when he was a child just because he is black.
He also recalls the time he tried to get a taxi‚ and the driver refused to pick him up.
Experiences like those prompted Evans‚ a retired educator‚ to take a stand in the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
“I went in the military in 1953‚ and I realized I wasn’t able to go in this restaurant or that‚ but I could be shot at‚” says Evans‚ 74. “It was‚ ‘I can’t eat here or there‚’ and ‘I have to ride on the back seat of the bus.’ Those things start to get under your skin.”
When he was in his 20s‚ Evans and his friends began staging sit-ins at the former Davidson’s Café on College Street in Dickson. They did the same at restaurants in downtown Nashville.
“All the restaurants in downtown Dickson were whites only‚” Evans recalls. “Thankfully‚ we never had any violence. The police would come to Davidson’s Café and ask us to leave‚ and we’d walk out peacefully. Finally people here realized what had been wrong too long‚ and in 1964‚ we integrated schools.”
Evans began his teaching career at the all-black Hampton High School. When schools were integrated‚ he was transferred to Dickson County High School‚ where he taught health and driver’s education and served as head baseball coach and assistant football and basketball coach. In 1974‚ he was transferred to Dickson Junior High School as assistant principal‚ and he became principal a year and a half later. Evans retired in 1998.
“I always felt God was in charge. Sometimes the blessing is there‚ you just have to wait for it‚” he says. “We’re all God’s people‚ and there’s something good in every person. It’s just a matter of finding it.”
Story by Jessica Mozo
Photo by Brian McCord
